Kurnell on Botany Bay
Over the past few weeks, Mary and I have visited the sites where the first European visitors came ashore in our land- Kurnell on Botany Bay where Captain Cook landed in 1770, and Camp Cove just inside the entrance to Sydney Harbour where Captain Phillip came ashore on 21 January 1788.
But our early settlement was not just a question of history but of more importantly of geography. Captain Cook visited Botany Bay in autumn and generally experienced "gentle breezes and pleasant weather". He came ashore on the southern and more sheltered side of the Bay and found a water supply to water his ships.
Captain Phillip however, on bringing the First Fleet to Botany Bay some eitghteen years later, did not find Botany Bay an ideal place for settlement. There was poor sandy soil that was unsuitable for growing crops; there was a lack of sufficient fresh water; parts of the Bay had shallow water and thus the ships could not be moored close to shore; and it was buffeted by strong southerly winds.
What a decision for Captain Phillip in January 1788, in command of the eleven Ships of the First Fleet and some 1350 men, women and children, when he had to venture north to find a more suitable place for settlement.
He intended to explore Broken Bay. But there was another bay which was sighted and marked, but not entered by Captain Cook, which he named Port Jackson, after George Jackson, Judge-Advocate of the Fleet.
On the afternoon of 21 January 1788, Captain Phillip and his party sailed into Port Jackson and went ashore at present day Camp Cove, a sheltered beach just inside the entrance to what is today our beautiful Sydney Harbour.
Captain Phillip explored Port Jackson further and chose Sydney Cove as the place of settlement as it had a "good spring of water".
Over the past few weeks, Mary and I have visited the sites where the first European visitors came ashore in our land- Kurnell on Botany Bay where Captain Cook landed in 1770, and Camp Cove just inside the entrance to Sydney Harbour where Captain Phillip came ashore on 21 January 1788.
But our early settlement was not just a question of history but of more importantly of geography. Captain Cook visited Botany Bay in autumn and generally experienced "gentle breezes and pleasant weather". He came ashore on the southern and more sheltered side of the Bay and found a water supply to water his ships.
Captain Phillip however, on bringing the First Fleet to Botany Bay some eitghteen years later, did not find Botany Bay an ideal place for settlement. There was poor sandy soil that was unsuitable for growing crops; there was a lack of sufficient fresh water; parts of the Bay had shallow water and thus the ships could not be moored close to shore; and it was buffeted by strong southerly winds.
What a decision for Captain Phillip in January 1788, in command of the eleven Ships of the First Fleet and some 1350 men, women and children, when he had to venture north to find a more suitable place for settlement.
He intended to explore Broken Bay. But there was another bay which was sighted and marked, but not entered by Captain Cook, which he named Port Jackson, after George Jackson, Judge-Advocate of the Fleet.
On the afternoon of 21 January 1788, Captain Phillip and his party sailed into Port Jackson and went ashore at present day Camp Cove, a sheltered beach just inside the entrance to what is today our beautiful Sydney Harbour.
Captain Phillip explored Port Jackson further and chose Sydney Cove as the place of settlement as it had a "good spring of water".
An entry in the journal of one of the officers of the First Fleet describes the beauty of Port Jackson as:
“having the finest terra’s, lawns and grottos, with distinct plantations of the tallest and most stately trees ever seen in any nobleman’s grounds in England, cannot excel in beauty those which nature now presented to their view. The singing of the various birds amongst the trees, and the fight of numerous parraquets, lorrequets, cockatoos, and macaws, made all round appear like in enchantment; the stupendous rocks from the summit of the hills and down to the very water’s edge hanging over in a most awful manner from above, and forming the most commodious quays by the water. The moulds here are a foot and a half down as rich as any garden in England will afford; there are also many very lofty firs, and here is also the cabbage-tree.“having the finest terra’s, lawns and grottos, with distinct plantations of the tallest and most stately trees ever seen in any nobleman’s grounds in England, cannot excel in beauty those which nature now presented to their view. The singing of the various birds amongst the trees, and the fight of numerous parraquets, lorrequets, cockatoos, and macaws, made all round appear like in enchantment; the stupendous rocks from the summit of the hills and down to the very water’s edge hanging over in a most awful manner from above, and forming the most commodious quays by the water. The moulds here are a foot and a half down as rich as any garden in England will afford; there are also many very lofty firs, and here is also the cabbage-tree.
From extensive research from the Historical Records of New South Wales, Volumes 1 and 2, [Sydney Government Printer, 1892-1901], I have compiled the following chronologies on the History Services NSW website:
- A chronology of Captain Cook's discovery and exploration of Botany Bay. Go to
http://www.historyservices.com.au/resource_material_botany_bay.htm - A Chronology of the First Fleet Arrival at Botany Bay and subsequent Settlement at Sydney Cove in Port Jackson. Go to: http://www.historyservices.com.au/resource_material_first_fleet_chronology.htm
