| First Fleet |
Eleven ships commanded by Captain Arthur Phillip which brought the contingent of seamen, marines and some families, and convicts to the first European settlement on the East Coast of Australia.
The Fleet sailed from Potsmouth on 12 May 1787
| SHIP | Captain/Master | Tonnage | Type
| HMS Sirius | Captain Arthur Phillip | 520 | Sixth Rate Warship
| HMS Supply | Lieutenant H. L. Ball | 170 | Armed Tender
| Alexander | Duncan Sinclair | 452 | Convict Transport
| Lady Penrhyn | William C. Sever | 333 | Convict Transport
| Charlotte | Thomas Gilbert | 335 | Convict Transport
| Scarborough | John Marshall | 430 | Convict Transport
| Friendship | Walton | 274 | Convict Transport
| Prince of Wales | John Mason | 350 | Convict Transport
| Fishburn | R. Brown | 378 | Storeship
| Golden Grove | Sharp | 375 | Storeship
| Borrowdale | R. Hobson | 275 | Storeship
| |
Anchored at Botany Bay on 18 January 1788
& Sydney Cove 26 January 1788
| La Perouse |
Compte Jean Francois de Galaup de LA PEROUSE (1741-1788) commanded a French exploration expedition of two ships. They arrived off Botany Bay on 24th January 1788 (six days after the arrival of the First Fleet), but because of bad weather did not enter Botany Bay until 26th January 1788.
| SHIP | TYPE
| La Boussol | Merchant Ship commissioned into French Navy
| Astrolobe | Merchant Ship commissioned into French Navy
| |
They sailed from Botany Bay on 10 March 1788 and no more was heard of them for forty years until remains of the Ships' wreckage was found in on Tucopia Island near the New Hebrides Group.
| Second Fleet |
Term applied to a second group of six ships carrying convicts and supplies to the new settlement at Sydney Cove and which also carried the first detachments of the New South Wales Corps.
| Ship | Type | Sailed | Arrived Sydney
| Guardian | Warship convertd to Storeship | Sept. 1789 | Wrecked
| Justinian | Supply Ship | January 1790 | 20th June 1790
| Lady Juliana | Convict Transport | 29th July 1789 | 3rd June 1790
| Surprize | Convict Transport | December 1789 | 26th June 1790
| Neptune | Convict Transport | December 1789 | 28th June 1790
| Scarborough | Convict Transport | December 1789 | 28th June 1790
| |
| Third Fleet |
Term applied to a third group of eleven ships carrying convicts and supplies to the new settlement at Syndey Cove. Around 1800 convicts survived the trip and landed at Sydney.
| Ship | Type of Ship
| Queen | Convict Transport
| Atlantic | Convict Transport
| William and Ann | Convict Transport
| Britannia | Convict Transport
| Matilda | Convict Transport
| Salamander | Convict Transport
| Albermarle | Convict Transport
| Mary Anne | Convict Transport
| Admiral Barrington | Convict Transport
| Active | Convict Transport
| Gorgon | Store Ship
| |
All the ships left England in early 1791. The first to arrive in Sydney was the Mary Ann on the 9th July 1791 and the last oned arrive on 17th October 1791.