Less than 20 years after Captain Cook first landed at Botany Bay, Britain established the first permanent European settlement in Australia. An expedition led by Arthur Philip of 11 ships carrying convicts, stores and settlers, left Portsmouth for Australia in the spring of 1787.

It is apparent from his account that Phillip immediately saw the benefits of a permanent settlement in Australia. There are copious references to the medicinal properties of plants found nearby and remarks on the stability of the climate which he noted was ‘equal to the finest in Europe’.