First Fleet Teaching Resources

Explore the First Fleet in your primary school history lessons with printable worksheets, slide decks, timelines and more teaching resources designed by teachers for teachers like you.

This teaching resource collection is aligned to the Australian curriculum, and it includes printable and digital activities designed to help students better understand the arrival of British ships in Botany Bay, remember when the First Fleet landed, explore the sailors' clams of terra nulius and learn about the effect of their arrival on First Nations people.

New to teaching this portion of the Australian history curriculum? Read on for a primer from our teacher team, including a definition of First Fleet that you can share with your students, a look at the names of the ships and key dates from this point in history.

What Is the First Fleet? A Kid-Friendly Definition

Wondering how to start off your history lesson on the First Fleet? Let's start with a kid-friendly definition that you can share with your students to help as you introduce this Australian history lesson.

The First Fleet is the name we use to describe a group of British ships that arrived in Australia in 1788.

The First Fleet was made up of 11 ships, and they carried about 1,500 people, including convicts, marines, British naval officers and their families.

When Did the First Fleet Arrive in Australia?

After sailing around the world for a period of eight months, the First Fleet arrived in the waters of modern-day Australia on 18 January 1788.

It moved to its final stop on 26 Janury 1788. This is the day marked as Australia Day.

Where Did the First Fleet Land First?

Captained by British naval Captain Arthur Phillip, the leader of the expedition, the First Fleet initially landed in Botany Bay, but that isn't where the fleet would end up.

The fleet's captain decided the area was not to his liking. so the British ships moved on from there. They would end up sailing a short distance north to the area known as Port Jackson, which is now part of Sydney, the capital of New South Wales.

The land was home to the Eora, the Aboriginal people who inhabited the Port Jackson area before the arrival of the First Fleet.

However, the British colonists who had sailed on the First Fleet claimed the land as their own and drove the Eora from their homes.

The British claimed that terra nullius — a Latin term meaning 'land belonging to no one' — justified the British claim to Australian land despite the presence of First Nations peoples.

The ship's captain, Captain Phillip, would eventually go on to be named governor of New South Wales. Meanwhile, the arrival of the British colonisers led to the dispossession of land, violence, and the disruption of Aboriginal cultures and ways of life.

What Were the Names of the First Fleet Ships?

The 11 ships of the fleet included two Royal Navy ships, three store ships and six convict transports. Each had its own name, including:

• Alexander
• Borrowdale
• Charlotte
• Fishburn
• Friendship
• Golden Grove
• Lady Penrhyn
• Prince of Wales
• Scarborough
• Sirius
• Supply