Australia–United Kingdom relations
In 1766 during his first voyage to the Pacific, Royal Navy captain James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of Australia, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. Seventeen years later, following the loss of its American colonies in 1783, the British Government sent a fleet of ships, the "First Fleet", under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip, to establish a new penal colony in New South Wales. A camp was set up and the flag raised at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788, and the British Crown Colony of New South Wales was formally promulgated on 7 February 1788. Further Crown Colonies were established in Van Diemen's Land (now known as Tasmania) in 1803; Swan River Colony (now known as Western Australia) in 1828; South Australia in 1836; Victoria in 1851; and Queensland in 1859. The six colonies federated in 1901 and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed as a Dominion of the British Empire.
Francis Ormond
Ormond's father adopted an early interest in Britain's southern colonies, which came from stories he heard of the expedition of Hume and Hovel and of Australia Felix. In command of the merchant vessel "John Bull", Captain Ormond was the first to transport British settlers to the newly founded settlement of Melbourne – in the south-east of the Colony of New South Wales – arriving in the bay of Port Phillip in 1840. Upon his first landing in Melbourne, he was so impressed by the pastoralism opportunities the settlement presented, he began plans to move his family to the colony. He purchased the barque "Tuscan" the following year, and set sail with his family for the fledgling Port Phillip District.