How Did The First Fleet Affect Australian Society

The First Fleet is known today as the first eleven ships that carried the convicts that are now recognised as the Founders of Australia. (Hill, 2008.) In 1787, 1500 criminals were shipped off to the land of Australia found by Captain James Cook, from Portsmouth, England. The voyage was nearly 20,900 kilometres and it took 252 days. The European settlers, had a significant impact on the land and people of Australia, including the introduction of disease, convict labour, and malnutrition.

One of the impacts of the European settlers landing in Australia was convict labour. Governor Philip founded a system of labour in which people were employed according to their skills. Jobs included brick makers, carpenters, nurses, servants, cattlemen, shepherds

The diseases brought by the Europeans included smallpox, tuberculosis, influenza, measles, whooping cough and the common cold. The consequences of these diseases for the recipients were deadly and life threatening, especially since a common cold was extremely difficult for these people to overcome. A year after the First Fleet arrived, in 1789, a smallpox outbreak killed numbers of the Indigenous people that lived in the area that we know today as Sydney. (Carter, 2005.) The disease spread to surrounding communities and the number of victims increased rapidly. As the settlement in Australia continued to grow, the numbers of Indigenous Australians drastically reduced. This occurred because they had never been exposed to such diseases before and their immune systems were too weak to fight the harsh sicknesses. Because of this, a ridiculous number of deaths arose. (Moore, 2008.) The remaining people were devastated by the huge numbers of deaths in their communities. Indigenous people tried to use their traditional medicines to fight the different diseases but this proved unsuccessful, as not only were the medicines not strong enough, but the European settlers had destroyed many of the resources normally found on the land that were used for illness relief. (History

The population began to fall into two categories: those who worked for the settlers, and those who tried to maintain their traditional lifestyle. (Migration Heritage, 2015.) The European settlement created new industries on the land they claimed which required workers. Government-run businesses created positions for Indigenous people. These people worked and in return, received food as pay. Now, it is thought that as the workers were being paid in food, famine wouldn't be a problem but this was incorrect. This food was often inadequate compared to the traditional diets of the people. Flour, sugar, tea and sometimes bits of meat were what they received as payment for a day's work. These rations were poor and for some if they were lucky, it supplemented other food that they still found on the land, while for others this was all they had. The loss of land to the Europeans meant Indigenous people were no longer able to hunt and gather food. Nature which was also a food source such as trees and plants were removed or destroyed. Waterways were polluted by the manure from large animals. This reduced the amount of food they could receive, collect and obtain which led to famine and starvation in some of the more remote areas. Indigenous people were lucky if they lived in fertile areas near the coast as these areas had