First Fleet - Experiences Following Arrival

First Fleet - Experiences Following Arrival

by Melita Ivers

Multiple Choice

Where did Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet first arrive?

• Yarra Bay

• Botany Bay

• Batemans Bay

Multiple Choice

British people practised farming and land ownership. They couldn’t understand the Aboriginal people's:

• Food choices

• Family life

• Relationship with the land

• I'm not sure

Aboriginal peoples have lived on the continent now known as Australia for more than 50,000 years.

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Theirs is one of the oldest living civilisations in the world.

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Aboriginal peoples are one of two Indigenous cultural groups in Australia. The other group is the Torres Strait Islander peoples.

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Both groups share a close connection to the land, to waterways, and to living things. However, the Aboriginal peoples have their own distinct cultural practices, languages, and beliefs.

Multiple Choice

Aboriginals from the _________ tribe saw the First Fleet arrive.

• Cardigal

• Eora

• I'm not sure

The arrival of the First Fleet immediately affected the Eora nation, the traditional Aboriginal owners of the Sydney area.

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Violence between settlers and the Eora people started as soon as the colony was set up. The Eora people fought the colonisers. This conflict was mainly over land and food.

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Phillip was speared during a meeting with Eora at Manly in 1790, but he recovered and continued as the colony’s first governor for two more years. He returned to England in 1792 with two Indigenous men: Bennelong, who later returned to Australia, and Yemmerrawannie, who died in England.

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Thousands of Eora people died as a result of European diseases like smallpox.

Multiple Choice

Convicts worked up to:

• 5 hours a day

• 10 hours a day

• 12 hours a day

• 18 hours a day

Multiple Choice

 

The government handed out clothes to the convicts called:

• Rags

• Pyjamas

• Slops

• Wool

Multiple Choice

When the convicts first arrived in Australia, they lived in:

• Brick houses

• Slab Huts

• Tents

Convict Housing

​Convicts lived in very basic housing, which consisted of many slab huts. These shelters were made of slabs of wood that were split from wood. They were made from wattle and daub too.

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​The houses usually contained two bedrooms, a chimney and a kitchen. Sometimes the kitchens were outside to avoid a fire.

Multiple Choice

Convicts were sent to Australia to work as a form of punishment. This meant that:

• They were locked up in a new prison in Australia.

• They had to work long and labour-intensive days to create the new colony.

• They were given freedom to start a new life.

• I am not sure.

Multiple Choice

If convicts were punished, they usually were:

• Whipped by the cat o'nine tails

• Sent back to their hut to rest

• Forced to pay a fine

• I am totally unsure

Convict Work Life​

​The convicts assigned to free settlers were responsible for doing whatever their masters needed to have done.

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For male convicts, this included hard physical tasks such as cutting down trees and constructing buildings.

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Female convicts often did domestic work such as cooking and cleaning.

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Convicts with special skills—such as leather work, blacksmithing, or carpentry—were tasked with building the colonies. Some female convicts were sent to what was known as convict female factories. These were places of hard labor where they made materials such as spun wool or flax.

Multiple Choice

A 'Ticket of Leave' was usually given to a convict when:

• They were being punished and had to be sent away.

• They showed good behaviour. This meant could live freely and earn money.

• They could visit their family in Britain for a holiday.

• I'm not sure

​Convicts could received rewards for good behaviour!

• Ticket of Leave – allowed convicts to work for themselves in a specific place, but they still had to follow rules and report to the authorities.

• Certificate of Freedom – given to convicts when they had served their sentence of seven or 14 years. This meant they were no longer a convict.

• Conditional Pardon – given to well-behaved convicts who had been transported for life. This allowed them freedom, but they were not to leave the colony.

• Absolute Pardon – gave very well-behaved convicts complete freedom; they could stay in the colony or to return home

Multiple Choice

Very few convicts knew how to farm the land. They struggled with the hot and dry conditions so they couldn't grow crops. This meant:

• They needed to expand the new colony

• They had to go back to Britain

• They received better tools and farming equipment from the government

• I'm really not sure

Multiple Select

The Europeans believed that because they were civilised Christians (meaning that they had towns, tools and technologies and believed in God and Jesus), that they:

• They believed that they are equal to people who are different to them. 

• Were superior to people who lived differently. 

• They believed it was their duty to educate the people to live like them and share their religious views.

Multiple Choice

The British authorities didn't respect Aboriginal people because:

• Aboriginal people didn't speak English and had their own languages.

• Aboriginal people didn't farm land or build houses like they did.

• Aboriginal people didn't share any tools and food with them.

​The British Intentions

​The intentions of the British was to be friendly to the people and persuade them to eventually adopt the British way of life. They were expected to:

• ​Change their clothing

• ​Change their language

• ​Change their religion, values and behaviour.

Open Ended

Do you think the Aboriginal people were happy with the British settlers? Why or why not?