Founding of Sydney

Sydney was founded as a British penal colony when Captain Arthur Phillip, commander of the First Fleet, landed at Sydney Cove on the south shore of Port Jackson, and raised the British flag. He named the settlement after Lord Sydney, the British Home Secretary. The area had been inhabited for many thousands of years by Aboriginal people, among them the Gadigal clan of the Eora nation, who were severely affected by disease and loss of land. The early colony struggled with shortages of food, but grew, and became the capital of New South Wales. The date of the landing is observed in Australia as Australia Day, although many Indigenous Australians regard it as a day of mourning.

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