The Discovery of Australia
The Discovery of Australia
In June of 1769, aboard the Endevour, Captain James Cook completed his scientific assignment to observe a transit of the planet Venus across the face of the sun from Tahiti in the South Pacific. Afterwards, Cook and his crew headed westward; their secret mission was to find the undiscovered southern land, Terra Australias Incognita. Many geographers believed it had to exist to counterbalance the northern continents. They were ordered to travel as far south as the fortieth parallel in their search. They succeeded the early morning of April 20, 1770. They sailed around what is now known as the state of Victoria to map the coastline, and on April 28, Cook finally found an opening in the cliffs that looked promising enough to drop their anchor and replenish their supplies to make it back to England. Aboard the Endevour, a Scientific Officer named Joseph Banks suggested naming the area Botany Bay, on seeing the large number of different flora and fauna observed. Getting supplies was harder then they thought. When they tried to come ashore, they were confronted by members of the local clan. Little groups would appear from through the trees and stand for a moment to shout and throw a spear or two. Then they would vanish again into the bush.
In 1779, the British government decided they needed a new penal colony as far away as possible from Britain. Joseph Banks suggested the place Australia, then known as New South Whales. On May 13, 1787, eleven ships left Britain with two years provision and a cargo of 759 convicts. All together there were 1,530 convicts. After an eight-month voyage, they sailed into Botany Bay. The captain of the fleet, Arthur Philips, decided it wasn’t a good place for a settlement, so then they sailed north up the coast into Port Jackson, the city now known as Sydney. The first settlement was very hard, and many of the people didn’t have the skills, such as farming and carpentry, to tame the land. Starvation was always a big problem back then.