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	Combs &c. Families of New South Wales, AU

Last updated   06 February 2007
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New South Wales, the first European settlement in Australia, began on 26th January 1788 with the arrival of Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet from England. His flagship was the Sirius. He decided on Farm Cove in Sydney Harbour as the place to raise the Union Jack because Botany Bay that he knew about from Captain Cook's earlier (1770) discovery of the East Coast of Australia proved to have no fresh water supply. There were about 850 convicts and guards on board the 9 transport ships and 2 small warships. In these more enlightened times we place a lot more emphasis than in former histories of the penal settlement on the fact that we Europeans invaded an already occupied land and stole it from the indigenous inhabitants. But maybe, our memory of the fact that many of our ancestors were transported far from home often for petty crimes has contributed to our traditional championing of the underdog and led to most Australians now acknowleding the Aborigines' original claim to the land.

See also this site: Early European Settlement

Thanks to Linda Combe

Registry of Births

Extracted from NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages - Historical Index Search

Deaths

LC Note: The inclusion of parent's names in the death records allows for all sorts of backwards and forwards searches that are really quite productive. I have found this NSW bdm website very user friendly as it is possible to search on unusual first names alone. There is quite a helpful guide on how to use the site so I would encourage people to use it for themselves, as well as consult the data presented here.