This work investigates the daily realities, logistical challenges, and social interactions of the First Fleet and the initial settlement at Sydney Cove during the year 1788. John Cobley, a meticulous historian, compiles a vast array of primary source documents, including journals, official dispatches, and personal letters from the officers, convicts, and marines who established the penal colony. By organizing these records chronologically, the author provides a granular, day-by-day account of the survival efforts, encounters with the Eora people, and the administrative struggles inherent in founding a remote outpost of the British Empire.

This compilation is regarded as a foundational reference for historians and researchers interested in the early colonial period of Australia. Its reliance on raw, unvarnished primary source material offers an objective, albeit dense, look at the logistical and human complexities of the 1788 settlement.