The First Fleet

In this sequel to Botany Bay: the real story, Alan Frost continues the story by examining the establishment of the First Fleet to Australia in 1788. Frost argues that many writers of Australian history have neglected to study the original records recording the developments prior to the initial convict settlement at Sydney Cove. The author therefore spent many years in England going through eighteenth century archives before writing these two books.

Part of the conclusion p 214:

The First Fleet was a very expensive venture. ... the Pitt administration spend largely to make the New South Wales colony succees.
It did so because it saw that a colony in the southwest Pacific Ocean would be clearly in the nation's interest, not only because it would provide a solution to a troubling penal problem, but also because it would acieve other objects - most immediately a base and a source of naval materails, and more generally as a point of interchange for an intended vast marketing network.

The five sections of the book cover Planning a Convict Colony, Assembling the Fleet, Preparing to Sail, The Voyage and The Cost. This book is definitely worth reading by anyone interested in Australian history, but especially if you have convict ancestors.