The
First Fleet was the
fleet[?] of
sailing ships that brought the original
settlers[?] and
convicts to
Australia from
England. Captain
Arthur Phillip led the fleet out of
Portsmouth,
England on
May 13,
1787 with eleven ships full of convicts to establish a
penal colony in Australia. The fleet landed in
Sydney Cove[?] in what would later become
Sydney,
Australia on
January 26,
1788 (now known as
Australia Day). On
January 28 they established the first permanent
European settlement on the continent at
Botany Bay[?].