Activity 1: Analysing the map

Step 1: Map analysis

Share this map with your students and encourage them to study it carefully. Pay special attention to the title and reference sections. Help students understand unfamiliar terms used in the map, such as “marquee,” “smithy,” and “observatory,” by explaining their meanings in context.

Step 2: Brainstorming tasks in the new settlement

Using the map, brainstorm tasks that were crucial to establishing the settlement at Sydney Cove after the arrival of the First Fleet. For example:

• What would people need to do to build homes and workplaces?
• How would they grow food or find water?
• What roles would people like blacksmiths, doctors, or convicts play in the survival of the colony?

Step 3: Role-playing life in the new colony

Ask your students to imagine they are one of the people living in Sydney Cove during the first months of the settlement. They could be a commander, blacksmith, doctor, or convict. Using the map as a guide, students should write a diary entry about their day. Encourage them to think about:

• Where they went in the settlement
• How they got there
• What tasks they performed
• Who they interacted with

Activity 2: Comparing early and later views of Sydney Cove

Step 1: Examining the changes

Show your students a painting by Richard Read (c. 1765–c. 1827), created in about 1820. This artwork gives a later perspective of Sydney Cove, over 30 years after the First Fleet arrived.

Step 2: Class discussion

Invite your students to compare Fowkes’ 1788 sketch with Read’s 1820 painting. As a class, discuss the changes that occurred in Sydney Cove over those early decades of European settlement. Consider:

• What new buildings and structures appeared?
• How did the settlement grow and develop?
• What might life have been like in 1788 compared to 1820?