European maritime exploration of Australia
Cook's first expedition carried botanist Joseph Banks, for whom a great many Australian geographical features and the genus Banksia and a number of plant species e.g. Grevillea banksii were named. The reports of Cook and Banks in conjunction with the loss of England's penal colonies in America after they gained independence and growing concern over French activity in the Pacific, encouraged the foundation by the British of a colony at Botany Bay. The First Fleet led by Captain Arthur Phillip left England on 13 May 1787 to found a penal colony in Australia. It reached Botany Bay in mid-January 1788. Phillip had decided to move the settlement to Sydney Cove in Port Jackson, but the British ships were unable to leave Botany Bay until 26 January because of a tremendous gale.
South Australian Company
In January 1836 four ships sailed from England on behalf of the "Company". They developed a settlement at Kingscote on Kangaroo Island, in July 1836, but when farming proved unviable, they transferred their settlement to the mainland. The "Company" provided basic infrastructure for the new colony, as well as sold or leased land to immigrants who came to settle. All told, nine ships, which may be termed the First Fleet of South Australia, arrived in the new colony:
Under the Acts that established the Colony, the UK government appointed Commissioners to oversee implementation of the Acts; Thirteen based in London with a Resident Commissioner stationed in the colony. Those first appointed were Colonel Robert Torrens (Chairman), Rowland Hill (Secretary), G. Barnes (Treasurer), George Fife Angas, E. Barnard, William Hutt, J. G. Shaw-Lefevre, W. A. Mackinnon M.P., S. Mills, Jacob Barrow Montefiore, G. Palmer, and J. Wright. The first Resident Commissioner was James Hurtle Fisher.