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First Fleet
The first fleet consisted of 11 ships and the goal was to transport prisoners to Australia and establish convict setlement. The First fleet left at Portsmouth England on 13 May 1787. -
First Nations People
The Aboriginal peoples came from south-east Asia at least 50 000 years ago. Gradually they travelled across the land, living in harmony with nature. After the Ice age sea levels rose and the Aboriginal Peoples were stuck in Australia. -
First Nations Peoples: Tools and Shelter
Men and woman used different tools. Men used wooden spears, which sometimes had barbs made from fish bones or echidna spines. They had wooden boomerangs, clubs and throwing sticks, stone hatchets, knives and chisles. In some places men fought with huge wooden swords and shields. The women's main tools were digging sticks, baskets and bark bags, waterproofed with wax. Snail shells and flat stones were useful for slicing, scraping and grinding. -
Allan Cunningham - First Jouneys
Botanist Cunningham made several voyages with Phillip Parker King on the Mermaid and accompanied Oxley on his voyage to Morton Bay in 1823. In 1827 he travelled overland from NSW with 6 convicts and 11 packhorses. He found excelent farming land at the Darling Downs and saw a route througth the Great Dividing Range to the coast. This site is now called Cunningham's Gap National Park.