First Fleet

Cook charted Australia's east coast in 1770, laying the groundwork for the later decision to send the First Fleet, which was led by Captain Arthur Phillip.

Australia Day is a national holiday that is held each year on 26 January - the anniversary of Britain's First Fleet landing at Sydney Cove in 1788.

"You’d think that it was just a bunch of happy free settlers and not-so-happy convicts who jumped off the First Fleet... and bingo, there you've got modern Australia," he says.

On 26 January every year - which marks the 1788 landing of Britain's First Fleet in Sydney Cove - two competing stories about Australia are told.

The holiday on 26 January is the anniversary of the 1788 landing of Britain's First Fleet at Sydney Cove and the start of the colonial era.