Documenting Democracy
Australia's Story
Picture album
Captain Cook proclaimed the eastern portion of Australia a British possession
Captain Cook proclaimed the eastern portion of Australia a British possession at various points during the Endeavour's journey along the coast between April and August 1770, as his Instructions required. This travel poster, produced in the 1930s, is an imagined view of the ceremony at Botany Bay, later adapted for the engraving shown here.

Location: National Archives of Australia  [M948, 17]
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The First Fleet brought British law as well as British convicts
The First Fleet brought British law as well as British convicts to found the first Australian Colony at Sydney Cove, formally established by Governor Phillip on 26 January 1788. William Bradley's 'Entrance of Port Jackson 27 January 1788' records in watercolour the 11 ships of the Fleet entering Port Jackson after Botany Bay was found unsuitable. More pictures from First Fleet artists are available at the British Natural History Museum's website The First Fleet Collection.

Location: Mitchell Library  [State Library of New South Wales, Bradley's Journal]
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Sketch map showing the First Fleet at anchor in Sydney Cove
Sketch map showing the First Fleet at anchor in Sydney Cove, with the Tank Stream at the bottom of the sketch, the houses of the Deputy Judge-Advocate and the Governor to the east and the military camp and convicts' tents to the west.

Location: National Library of Australia  [Oswald Ziegler(ed.), Australia 200, Sydney, 1970]
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Figures on the medallion made by Josiah Wedgwood
The figures on the medallion made by Josiah Wedgwood from clay brought back from Sydney Cove in 1789, represent Hope greeting Peace, Art and Labour. Britain's vision for Australia, explained in Erasmus Darwin's accompanying verse, became a founding image of the progress of the Australian colonies under the rule of law. The most recent use of this image was the commemorative plaque for the opening of the Opera House in Sydney in 1986.

[This depiction of the Wedgwood medallion is from an 1892 painted glass door panel in the Chief Secretary's Building in Sydney]
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Lieutenant-General Ralph Darling
Lieutenant-General Ralph Darling took up his appointment as Governor of New South Wales on 19 December 1825.

Location: State Records New South Wales  [CGS 4481, St 18650]
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University of Sydney was established by an 1850 Act of the Parliament of New South Wales
The University of Sydney was established by an 1850 Act of the Parliament of New South Wales. The other colonies followed, founding the universities of Melbourne (1853), Adelaide (1874), Tasmania (1890), Queensland (1909), and Western Australia (1910).

Location: State Records New South Wales  [CGS 4481, No. 414]
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