January 26, 1788

First Fleet

The First Fleet assembles at Sydney Cove and British occupation begins

Friendship collided with Prince of Wales while leaving Botany Bay, then Charlotte struck Friendship — yet all eleven ships reached Port Jackson by nightfall.

26 January 1788, into Port Jackson

Arthur Phillip's journal records that HMS Sirius and the remaining First Fleet ships joined him at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788, where he intended to fix the settlement.

The transports, store ships and Sirius evacuated Botany Bay that day. All eleven ships — two Royal Navy vessels, six convict transports and three store ships — were safely in Port Jackson by nightfall.

Several collided on the way out. Friendship struck Prince of Wales, and Charlotte then struck Friendship; the convoy completed the move regardless.

Why not Botany Bay

Phillip had found Botany Bay exposed and deficient in suitable soil and reliable fresh water. Reconnaissance of Port Jackson revealed a protected deep-water cove where ships could anchor near a freshwater stream, and he chose it before the 26 January transfer.

John Hunter brought Sirius and the convoy across while Phillip was already at Sydney Cove aboard Supply. The landing began permanent British occupation on Gadigal Country, where Aboriginal people had lived for thousands of years.

The ceremony, and the dates that follow

A British shore party displayed the colours and marked possession for George III, but the surviving journals leave it uncertain whether that happened on 26 or 27 January. Philip Gidley King's journal appears to place the ceremony on the morning after the convoy anchored.

The roughly 1,500 people the fleet carried did not all disembark that day. Women convicts began coming ashore on 6 February.

Government was formally proclaimed on 7 February, when David Collins read Phillip's commission and the colony's legal instruments.

Sources

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How this was checked

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What the sources leave uncertain

The fleet's arrival and assembly on 26 January are secure. The exact day and sequence of the flag and possession ceremony are less certain: some accounts place it on 26 January, while Philip Gidley King's journal appears to place the ceremony on the morning after the convoy anchored.
First Fleet population totals vary depending on whether crew, births, deaths, transfers, and people who embarked but did not complete the voyage are counted. The often-repeated figure of 1,373 is not a reliable count of people who stepped ashore on 26 January.
The Aboriginal name for Sydney Cove appears in early records with several spellings, commonly standardized today as Warrane.