Emeritus Professor Alan Frost (History, La Trobe University) tells the real story of The First Fleet, and the establishing of the Botany Bay settlement in Australia. In 1787 a convoy of eleven ships, carrying about 1500 people, set out from England for Botany Bay. According to the conventional account, it was a shambolic affair: under-prepared, poorly equipped and ill-disciplined. Alan Frost draws on previously forgotten records to debunk these persistent myths. He shows that the voyage was in fact meticulously planned – reflecting its importance to the British government’s secret ambitions for imperial expansion. Copyright 2011 La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.