Arthur Phillip (1738-1814) received his Commission as Governor of the convict settlement at New South Wales in October 1786. On arrival in New South Wales, he rejected Botany Bay as the site for the colony and settled instead at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788.

He held on to a vision of the colony as a thriving township of strategic benefit to Britain. He hoped to live amicably with the local Aboriginal people, and saw the colony as a place where convicts could make something of themselves.

Phillip returned to England in December 1792. Two Aboriginal men, Bennelong and Yemmerawannie, travelled with him.