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).
Colonial forces of Australia
In 1802, amidst the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, concerns about French interest in Australia drove an expansion of the British colony. French explorers had been encountered in the Pacific and in order to secure any strategic locations within the southern station of the Pacific Ocean which might have been of use to France, King dispatched an expedition to settle Van Diemen's Land. John Bowen, a 23-year-old lieutenant, had arrived in Sydney aboard HMS "Glatton", on 11 March 1803. King considered him the right man for the task, and towards the end of August 1803, Bowen left for Van Diemen's Land aboard the whaler . Accompanying him were three female and 21 male convicts, guarded by a company of the New South Wales Corps, as well as a small number of free settlers. A second ship, the , joined them and in early September 1803 a settlement was established at Risdon Cove.