Editing Immigration to Australia (section)

=== Penal transportation ===
{{Main|Convicts in Australia}}
[[File:Black-eyed Sue and Sweet Poll of Plymouth taking leave of their lovers who are going to Botany Bay.jpeg|thumb|right|Women in England mourning their loved ones who are to be transported to the penal colony at [[Botany Bay]], 1792]]
European migration to Australia began with the British [[penal colony|convict settlement]] of [[Sydney Cove]] on 26 January 1788. The [[First Fleet]] comprised 11 ships carrying 775 convicts and 645 officials, members of the crew, marines, and their families and children. The settlers consisted of petty criminals, second-rate soldiers and a crew of sailors. There were few with skills needed to start a self-sufficient settlement, such as farmers and builders, and the colony experienced hunger and hardships. Male settlers far outnumbered female settlers. The [[Second Fleet (Australia)|Second Fleet]] arrived in 1790 bringing more convicts. The conditions of the transportation was described as horrific and worse than slave transports. Of the 1,026 convicts who embarked, 267 (256 men and 11 women) died during the voyage (26%); a further 486 were sick when they arrived of which 124 died soon after. The fleet was more of a drain on the struggling settlement than of any benefit. Conditions on the [[Third Fleet (Australia)|Third Fleet]], which followed on the heels of the Second Fleet in 1791, were a bit better. The fleet comprised 11 ships. Of the more than 2000 convicts brought onto the ships, 173 male convicts and 9 female convicts died during the voyage. Other transport fleets bringing further convicts as well as freemen to the colony would follow. By the end of the [[penal transportation]] in 1868, approximately 165,000 people had entered Australia as convicts.