Chapter II
EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT
1770–1830
British Arrival and Settlement
In April 1770, the Endeavour, commanded by Captain James Cook, sailed into a large bay on the east coast of Australia, now known as Botany Bay. Cook named the region New South Wales and claimed it for King George III, noting a promising natural harbour further north, which would later become Port Jackson.
In 1787, the First Fleet, made up of 11 ships carrying over 750 convicts, marines, and officers, set sail for New South Wales under the leadership of Captain Arthur Phillip. Arriving at Botany Bay in January 1788, Phillip found the terrain unsuitable and moved the fleet north to Port Jackson. There, he chose a deep-water cove with a freshwater stream, known to the Gadigal people as Warrane, and named it Sydney Cove.
The first settlement took shape quickly. A tent hospital was set up at Tallawoladah (now The Rocks), and the governor’s house was built nearby. As more ships arrived, the colony expanded. The harbour foreshores were cleared, and land was granted to settlers and former convicts. Sydney grew into a busy port town.
1788–1790
The Legacy of Dawes Point
Around the same time, in April 1788, Governor Arthur Phillip ordered the construction of a makeshift observatory on the western headland of Warrane (Sydney Cove), a place known to the Gadigal as Tar-Ra. Lieutenant William Dawes, a skilled astronomer with the First Fleet, selected the site for its clear views of the harbour. Although Dawes initially named it Maskelyne Point after the Astronomer Royal, it soon became known as Dawes Point in his honour.
From his simple timber observatory, Dawes recorded the colony’s first meteorological observations and began compiling the first dictionary of the Dharug language. He built strong relationships with local Aboriginal people, including Bennelong and his wife, Barangaroo, who regularly visited him at the observatory. Working closely with a young Cammeraygal woman named Patyegarang, Dawes carefully recorded vocabulary and phrases that remain vital to understanding Sydney’s early Indigenous languages.
Although the original observatory was later replaced by a more substantial stone building and then a military fort, Dawes’ work at Tar-Ra left a lasting legacy in both scientific and Indigenous cultural history.
1800
Campbell’s Wharf
By 1800, the area was further transformed when Scottish merchant Robert Campbell arrived. He built Wharf House just south of the present-day Park Hyatt Sydney and developed the colony’s first private wharf and warehouse at a cove known to the Gadigal as Meeliahwool. Later named Campbell’s Cove, it became the heart of his flourishing trading business, helping turn The Rocks into a thriving waterfront and commercial gateway for the growing colony.