Question: who was the commander chosen to lead the colony

title: Arthur Phillip
text: By 1790 the situation had stabilised . The population of about 2,000 was adequately housed and fresh food was being grown . Phillip assigned a convict , James Ruse , land at Rose Hill ( now Parramatta ) to establish proper farming , and when Ruse succeeded he received the first land grant in the colony . Other convicts followed his example . Sirius was wrecked in March 1790 at the satellite settlement of Norfolk Island , depriving Phillip of vital supplies . In June 1790 the Second Fleet arrived with hundreds more convicts , most of them too sick to work . Statue