On This Day
1770-1849 > First Fleet and RN
On This Day - 1770-1849
- October 12, 1799
The Board of Admiralty issued the first signal book to the RN.
- September 13, 1796
The Governor of NSW, CAPT John Hunter, RN, appointed Thomas Moore Master Boat Builder of His Majesty’s Dockyard at Sydney.
- July 25, 1795
A new form of signalling called semaphore was introduced into the RN.
The system was devised by the Reverend Lord George Murray.
- December 13, 1791
Philip Parker King, (son of Governor Phillip Gidley King, RN), was born on Norfolk Island. He was the first Australian to reach flag rank in the RN.
- October 5, 1789
The first boat built in the colony of NSW, the ROSEHILL PACKET, was launched in Sydney Cove.
The boat builder was R. R. Read, the ship’s carpenter of HMS SIRIUS.
- February 11, 1788
HMS SIRIUS landed a party on Garden Island, Sydney, to prepare a ship’s garden.
Three sets of initials, ‘FM’, ‘IR’, and ‘WB’, were carved on a rock on the northern hill.
These are now the oldest marks extant made by white men in Australia.
- February 5, 1788
Governor Arthur Phillip allocated Garden Island, Sydney, to HMS SIRIUS for use as a ship’s garden.