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On 18 January 1788 the First Fleet  arrived at Botany Bay , which Joseph Banks had declared suitable for a penal colony after he returned from a journey there in 1770. Captain Arthur Phillip, the fleet's commander, brought a small party of marines and seamen ashore, but found the location unsuitable because the harbour was unsafe and the area lacked fresh water. (//The Oxford Companion to Australian History //). The fleet then relocated to Port Jackson. On 21 January 1788 Phillip, with a party of officers and marines, landed at an unnamed place, believed to be the beachfront at Camp Cove  (known as 'cadi' to the local Cadigal people ). This occasion marked the first landing of members of the First Fleet within Port Jackson, and the first known European landing in Sydney Harbour. After moving further into the harbour, on 26 January 1788, Phillip raised the British flag at Sydney Cove . 751 convicts and their children disembarked, along with 252 marines and their families. Two more convict fleets arrived in 1790 and 1791, and the first free settlers arrived in 1793. From 1788 to 1823, the Colony of New South Wales was officially a penal colony comprised mainly of convicts, marines and the wives of the marines. The early convicts were all sent to the colony, but by the early 1800s they were also being sent directly to destinations such as Norfolk Island , Van Diemen's Land , Port Macquarie  and Moreton Bay . Twenty per cent of these first convicts were women. The majority of women convicts, and many free women seeking employment, were sent to the 'female factories' as unassigned women. The female factories were originally profit-making textile factories. The Parramatta Factory grew as an enclave for pregnant women and also served as an orphanage from the 1830s. ||
 *  Convicts and the British colonies in Australia

**__ Resource Annotation Charlotte Dooley __** ** Grammar Activity: Understanding the conventions of the chosen text type ** Students will use the modelled factual text to shape an understanding of the appropriate conventions needed for the construction of a factual recount text. Fundamental to a factual recount is the consistent use of its conventions. Such conventions include; particular nouns (or pronouns) to name people, places and things, general human and non-human nouns in historical recounts where the focus is on generalising about events and the actions of groups of people, use of action verbs (past tense) to refer to historical events references to ‘time’ in theme position – expressed by conjunctions, time connectives, time adverbials or dependant clauses, lexical cohesion showing repetition, synonyms and collocation (Droga & Humphry, 2003, p. 141). Students will come to understand the purpose of using such grammatical features in the context of the factual recount text presented. This understanding is crucial as the students construct their own written text using grammatical features characteristic to this particular text type so as to create a text with a specific purpose.

This particular resource, a written account from the Australian Government website, relates to the Key Learning Area, HSIE as it recounts describes events and actions related to the British colonisation of Australia. This aligns directly to the HSIE content strand of //Change and Continuity:// //Significant Events and People// (CCS2.1) which is the overarching outcome for the unit. In addition to this, it provides an introduction to some of the changes consequences of these events, such as the arrival of the first fleet, the penal colony and convict life, with particular emphasis on women convicts. Aside from this, however, the resource is aimed at assisting students to attain the English outcome //RS2.8// from the //Language Structures & Features// substrand. More specifically this will be achieved through the discussion of the grammatical features that are characteristic of to the focused text type. To aid this discussion, students will use the Interactive Whiteboard to identify and draw out the grammatical features embedded in the text in a hands-on, engaging medium.

Whilst this resource is effective in modelling specific conventions constituting a factual recount, it is crucial that explicit discussion and demonstration of the translation of these conventions is workable in a multitude of contexts. That is, students need to be aware that despite the fluidity of the subject/s explored, the conventions remain constant with the text type. An example of this for a factual recount; the text must maintain consistent use of the past tense in order to effectively describe past events. This notion relates to all uses of grammar in order to maintain flow and ease for the reader.

__ References __

Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (2001) //Convicts and the British Colonies// [] Retrieved 29 September, 2010

Droga, L. and Humphrey, S. (2003). //Grammar and Meaning: An introduction for Primary Teachers.// NSW: Target Texts.

Board of Studies (2006) //K-6 English Syllabus//

** Board of Studies (2006) //K-6 HSIE Syllabus// **