The story of the early years of the first penal settlement of Botany Bay has often been told. By far the best account is Fletcher's Colonial Australia before 1850 (1976). I do not intend to examine the details of the first two decades, nor to repeat what was said about Aborigines in Part III.

The First Fleet, landing its complement of some 717 convicts and 273 members of the Marines and their families, together with a handful of civil officials and their families, embarked on a high-risk venture half the world away from Britain. The newcomers were totally different from the Aborigines in lifestyle and approach to life and economy. The foundation process of colonial economy is accordingly introduced here to juxtapose what the newcomers attempted to achieve in the ancient Aboriginal environment. Their arrival punctuated the existence of Aborigines around the arrival point and their impact spread quickly far afield.

The first settlement can be seen from either of two perspectives. One is the beginning of a colonial success story — and a remarkable one it was. This is the tradition. On the other hand, the two decades after 1788 were preliminary, experimental and exceptional, quite apart from the settlement's convict foundations. After 1792, turbulent, uncertain, experimental and exceptional relations and prospects within the colony ended in a constitutional crisis that enforced a new order.