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Arthur Phillip Facts & Worksheets

Captain Arthur Phillip was a British Royal Navy officer who became the first Governor of New South Wales.

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Captain Arthur Phillip was a British Royal Navy officer who became the first Governor of New South Wales. He founded the British penal colony – the first permanent European settlement in Australia – that is now the city of Sydney in Australia.

See the fact file below for more information on the Arthur Phillip or alternatively, you can download our 22-page Arthur Phillip worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION

  • Arthur Phillip was born on October 11, 1738 on Cheapside Street, London, England.
  • He was born the youngest child of Jacob Phillip, a teacher and Royal Navy seaman, and Elizabeth Breach, a seafarer’s widow.
  • Arthur’s father died in 1739.
  • In 1751, he was accepted into the Greenwich Hospital School, a charity school for the sons of poverty-stricken seamen, where he was a competent student.
  • He became literate and learned navigational skills and cartography in the charity school.
  • Arthur studied in Greenwich Hospital School for two and a half years.
  • Afterwards, he signed a seven-year apprenticeship contract aboard Fortune, a 210-ton whaling vessel, at the beginning of the 1754 whaling season.

ARTHUR THE VOYAGER

  • As an apprentice, Phillip was in charge of stripping fatty tissues from whale carcasses and packing the blubber into barrels.
  • It was not an easy life being an apprentice aboard Fortune because the food was scarce.
  • Phillip continued to be an apprentice until July 1755.
  • In October 1755, he enlisted in the Royal Navy and assumed the rank of ordinary seaman aboard the HMS Buckingham.
  • As part of the HMS Buckingham crew, Phillip rendered active service in the Seven Years’ War.
  • He transferred to HMS Stirling Castle in 1762.
  • The Siege of Havana in 1762 led to Phillip’s promotion to Lieutenant.
  • Phillip retired on half pay and returned to England after the Seven Years’ War ended in 1763.
  • On July 19, 1763, Phillip married Margaret Denison and moved to Glasshayes in Lyndhurst, Hampshire.
  • He was able to build a farm in Glasshayes, known as the Vernals Farm.
  • He and his wife separated in 1769.

RETURN TO THE NAVY

  • In 1774, Phillip returned to active service as captain of the Portuguese fleet in the Portuguese-Spanish War.
  • In 1778, Phillip returned to serve in the English Navy and obtained command of HMS Basilisk in 1779, then HMS Europa in 1781.
  • After peace treaties were signed and ended the wars, Phillip retired on half pay on May 25, 1784.

GOVERNOR PHILLIP

  • On October 12, 1786, Phillip was appointed the command of HMS Sirius and the duty of founding a British penal colony in New South Wales.
  • He became the first Governor of New South Wales.
  • The voyage to Australia was planned to span eight months and Phillip had to first assemble his fleet.
  • In building a new settlement, Phillip initially planned to assemble people with farming and construction backgrounds.
  • However, what he got was convicts accompanied by troops.
  • On May 13, 1787, eleven ships of the First Fleet set sail from Portsmouth, England to Australia.
  • The journey was not easy; the fleet experienced the threat of famine on the Kurnell Peninsula. Nonetheless, they successfully established settlement at Port Jackson on February 15, 1788.
  • Despite the struggle of building a permanent colony amidst limited supplies and prolonged starvation periods, Governor Phillip focused on establishing order.
  • Instead of running the colony as a prison camp, he administered based largely on the courts of law.
  • He also adopted a conciliatory policy towards the Eora Aborigines who were settled around Sydney Harbour.
  • Personally, he extended friendship towards an Eora native named Bennelong.
  • Even with a policy that declared that the indigenous tribe must be treated well and fairly, complete trust was never formed between the Aborigines and the settlers.
  • The Eora tribe was later wiped out because of diseases brought to the land by the European settlers.

STABLE COLONY AND RETURN TO ENGLAND

  • The colony finally stabilised in 1790 and became well-established by 1792 after the arrival of two more fleets.
  • The colony established a whaling industry, farming, trade, importing of sheep, and agriculture.
  • Because of poor health, he resigned from his governorship in 1792 and set sail to England aboard the Atlantic, together with his Eora friend Bennelong.
  • He left the European colony with a population of more than 4,000 (of whom around 75% were convicts.)
  • Phillip made it to London in May 1973.

LIFE AFTER GOVERNORSHIP

  • In 1794, Phillip married Isabella Whitehead, and lived in Bath, England where he recovered to good health.
  • In 1796, he returned to serve at sea in the wars against the French.
  • He was promoted to Rear-Admiral in 1799.
  • At 67 years old, he retired from the Navy with the rank of Admiral of the Blue.
  • Arthur Phillip died in Bath in 1814.
  • Various places in Australia were named after the governor, such as Phillip Island in Victoria, Phillip Island in Norfolk Island, and Phillip Street in Sydney.

Arthur Phillip Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about Arthur Phillip across 22 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Arthur Phillip worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Captain Arthur Phillip who was a British Royal Navy officer who became the first Governor of New South Wales. He founded the British penal colony – the first permanent European settlement in Australia – that is now the city of Sydney in Australia.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Arthur Phillip Facts
  • All About Arthur
  • New South Wales
  • False Alarm
  • Before and After Governorship
  • Service in the Navy
  • Life as Governor
  • Explorers of Australia
  • According To Arthur
  • If I Were Governor
  • Letter to the Late Governor

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Link will appear as Arthur Phillip Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, July 19, 2019

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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