Port Jackson

"...we had the satisfaction of finding the finest harbour in the world, in which a thousand sail of the line may ride in the most perfect security...” Governor Phillip Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is an inlet of the South Pacific Ocean. The harbour is the location of the first European settlement in Australia, and has continued to play a key role in the history and development of Sydney. The first recorded European discovery of Sydney Harbour, was by Lt James Cook in 1770 - Cook named the inlet after Sir George Jackson, the Judge Advocate of the Fleet. On 21 January 1788, after arriving at Botany Bay, Governor Arthur Phillip took a longboat and two cutters up the coast and landed at Sydney Cove before returning to Botany Bay on 24 January 1788. Phillip returned to Sydney Cove in H.M. Armed Tender ‘Supply’ on 26 January 1788, where he established the first colony in Australia, later to become the city of Sydney.