Botany Bay

Botany Bay inlet, New South Wales, SE Australia, just S of Sydney. It was visited in 1770 by James Cook, who proclaimed British sovereignty over the east coast of Australia. The site of the landing is marked by a monument on Inscription Point. The bay was named by Cook and Sir Joseph Banks because of the interesting flora on its shores. Although Australia's first penal colony was often called Botany Bay, its actual site was at Sydney on Port Jackson. The bay is now an important cargo port with chemical facilities and an oil refinery.

Botany Bay, discovered on 29 April 1770 by Captain Cook, who named it, probably to honour the botanists aboard HMS Endeavour led by Sir Joseph Banks. Banks later (1786) advocated Botany Bay as an ideal place for a penal colony. The 1st Fleet landed there on 20 January 1788 and, finding Banks's account much exaggerated, moved on to Port Jackson, landing there at Sydney Cove. Nevertheless, the name Botany Bay became synonymous with Australia, first as a convict settlement,