Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 8,994
John Hudson (13 years old) and Elizabeth Beckford (70) found Australia!
On January 26, 1788, eleven British ships dropped anchor in Sydney Bay on the Australian coast.
It is about the two warships HMS "Sirius"...
... and HMS "Supply"...
... the transport ships "Alexander", "Charlotte", "Friendship", "Lady Penrhyn", "Prince of Wales", "Scarborough"...
... and the three supply ships "Borrowdale", "Fishburn" and "Golden Grove".
The small fleet of 550 crew members under the command of Captain at Sea Arthur Phillip...
...on the flagship HMS "Sirius" anchored in Portsmouth on May 13, 1787 to bring an unusual cargo to Australia: 756 prisoners - men and women!
In England they don't know what to do with them and would like to get rid of them - so someone had the idea of deporting them to Australia to colonize the subcontinent.
Convicts had been exiled to North America since 1611, but with the start of the American Revolutionary War in 1775 and recognition by the United States in 1783, this was no longer possible.
As a way out, convicts were housed on disused and dismantled warships called hulks on the Thames and elsewhere, where they vegetated in appalling conditions.
For fear of epidemics and revolts, Home and Colonial Secretary Lord Sydney...
... set up a committee of experts to find a new transfer location.
Botany Bay in Australia was chosen, which according to James Cook's reports seemed suitable. In early 1787, the first criminals, sentenced to several years in exile - often for comparatively minor crimes such as stealing food - were brought from dungeons and hulks onto the ships. The youngest was John Hudson (13 years old), the eldest Elizabeth Beckford (70).
Contrary to James Cook's reports, Botany Bay proved unsuitable for a settlement; Arthur Phillip looked for a better place and found Sydney Cove, a small cove of Port Jackson....:
The new settlement, which the convicts had yet to build (for which they partly used the wood of some ships), was named "Sydney" in honor of the Colonial Minister...:
Today we speak of Captain Phillip's fleet as the 'First Fleet' - and the day it dropped anchor in said bay is now celebrated as Australia's official national day.
So: Happy Birthday, Aussies!
Although I don't want to hide the fact that there are not quite a few Australians who have a slightly different view of things - and that certainly not entirely wrong. ...:
On January 26, 1788, eleven British ships dropped anchor in Sydney Bay on the Australian coast.
It is about the two warships HMS "Sirius"...
... and HMS "Supply"...
... the transport ships "Alexander", "Charlotte", "Friendship", "Lady Penrhyn", "Prince of Wales", "Scarborough"...
... and the three supply ships "Borrowdale", "Fishburn" and "Golden Grove".
The small fleet of 550 crew members under the command of Captain at Sea Arthur Phillip...
...on the flagship HMS "Sirius" anchored in Portsmouth on May 13, 1787 to bring an unusual cargo to Australia: 756 prisoners - men and women!
In England they don't know what to do with them and would like to get rid of them - so someone had the idea of deporting them to Australia to colonize the subcontinent.
Convicts had been exiled to North America since 1611, but with the start of the American Revolutionary War in 1775 and recognition by the United States in 1783, this was no longer possible.
As a way out, convicts were housed on disused and dismantled warships called hulks on the Thames and elsewhere, where they vegetated in appalling conditions.
For fear of epidemics and revolts, Home and Colonial Secretary Lord Sydney...
... set up a committee of experts to find a new transfer location.
Botany Bay in Australia was chosen, which according to James Cook's reports seemed suitable. In early 1787, the first criminals, sentenced to several years in exile - often for comparatively minor crimes such as stealing food - were brought from dungeons and hulks onto the ships. The youngest was John Hudson (13 years old), the eldest Elizabeth Beckford (70).
Contrary to James Cook's reports, Botany Bay proved unsuitable for a settlement; Arthur Phillip looked for a better place and found Sydney Cove, a small cove of Port Jackson....:
The new settlement, which the convicts had yet to build (for which they partly used the wood of some ships), was named "Sydney" in honor of the Colonial Minister...:
Today we speak of Captain Phillip's fleet as the 'First Fleet' - and the day it dropped anchor in said bay is now celebrated as Australia's official national day.
So: Happy Birthday, Aussies!
Although I don't want to hide the fact that there are not quite a few Australians who have a slightly different view of things - and that certainly not entirely wrong. ...:
