Overview
In 1788 the First Fleet under Governor Arthur Phillip reached Sydney Cove, founding the British penal colony of New South Wales. For decades convicts were transported there and formed the base of the new society.
Key developments
The wool industry underpinned the economy, and exploration and settlement pushed inland. That settlement dispossessed Indigenous peoples and sparked conflict — the frontier wars — across the country.
End and transition
As free immigrants grew more numerous, convict transportation shrank and was largely ended in the east by the 1840s. Around 1850 demands for self-government rose, and the coming gold rushes would transform society.