the first fleet landed in sydney cove in 1768.
the first fleet landed in sydney cove in 1768.
when did the first fleet land in sydney cove?
1768
in 1788 the establishment of the penal settlement at sydney cove occurred in the precinct. early maps and views of the site indicate that alluvial mud flats extended from the mouth of the tank stream (at the head of the sydney cove) along the western shoreline of the cove approximately far as the present day museum of contemporary art australia (mca), formerly the 1952 maritime services board building. it is likely that the first fleet disembarked on the western side of sydney cove, along a foreshore of small sandy beaches and rocky outcrops that extended north from the present day mca building. for its first forty years the primary function of the colony of new south wales was a penal settlement. initially the settlement was provisioned entirely by the commissariat. the topography of sydney cove determined the command structure of the settlement following the arrival of the first fleet on 26 january 1788. the civil authorities settled to the east of the tank stream and the military authorities to the west. the pattern of settlement also determined the control of access to ships, stores and the waterfront.
sydney cove west archaeological precinct
the site has state significance as a convict landing place. the general area for the landing of the first fleet is likely to have been the western foreshores of sydney cove, somewhere north of the former maritime services board building. the third fleet are known to have landed at the hospital wharf in 1791. sydney cove west archaeological precinct has state significance for its associations with governor john hunter, who established the colonial dockyard in 1797; with the military administrator lieutenant colonel joseph foveaux who commissioned and started the commissariat stores building in 1809; with governor macquarie who completed the 1810 and commissioned the 1812 commissariat stores buildings and improved and enlarged the dockyard in 1818-22 with additional premises and four new docks; with significant early emancipists isaac nichols and mary reibey who built their residences, warehouse and the colony's first post office on the site of first fleet park between 1798 and 1811; with the convicts of the third fleet who disembarked at hospital wharf in 1791, and with lieutenant-colonel george barney, colonial engineer, for the construction of this section of circular quay between 1844 and 1859.
sydney cove west archaeological precinct