Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse
The expedition continued to Australia, arriving off Botany Bay on 24 January 1788. There Lapérouse encountered a British convoy (known later as the "First Fleet") led by Captain Arthur Phillip RN, who was to establish the penal colony of New South Wales. While it had been intended that the colony would be located at Botany Bay, Phillip had quickly decided that the site was unsuitable and the colony would instead be established at Sydney Cove in Port Jackson. High winds – which had hindered Lapérouse's ships in entering Botany Bay – delayed the relocation until 26 January (later commemorated as Australia Day).
History of Darwin
Lieutenant John Lort Stokes of HMS "Beagle" was the first British person to spot Darwin harbour on 9 September 1839, 69 years after the first European settlement of Australia. The ship's captain, Commander John Clements Wickham, named the port after Charles Darwin, the English naturalist who had sailed with them both on the earlier second expedition of the "Beagle". It was not until 1869 that a permanent European settlement was established by the South Australian Government who had control of the Territory at that time.