The First Fleet was frighteningly underprepared for the task which faced it. Little was known about the climate, animal or plant life of the land mass, and many of Cook's encounters with the Aborigines had been hostile, at least in part. As Cook said in his diaries,"All they seem'd to want for us was to be gone".
The Fleet consisted mainly of convicts with officers to guard them. There were many more men than women - around four men for every woman - and this caused problems in the settlement for many years.
Few people in the Fleet had any experience of cultivating the land and this, combined with poor soil in the area, lead to the development of farms around Parramatta, but, more seriously, to near starvation in the first years of settlement. Food shortages were severe and the fledgling colony eagerly awaited on the arrival of the Second Fleet in 1790.
The Second Fleet did provide badly needed food and supplies, but created other problems for the new colony. 48 people had died on the voyage of the First Fleet, this had risen to 278 on the Second Fleet voyage. Sickness and disease were so rife, most of those who survived were barely able to walk, the Fleet has come to be known as the 'Death Fleet'.
In spite of the problems, however, the settlement grew, and is now the site of Australia's largest city - Sydney.
[European Discovery and Settlement of Australia]