page_title: Colonial forces of Australia
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Colonial forces of Australia / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: A General Chart of New Holland including New South Wales &amp; Botany Bay with The Adjacent Countries and New Discovered Lands, published in An Historical Narrative of the Discovery of New Holland and New South Wales, London, Fielding and Stockdale, November 1786.
context_page_description: Until Australia became a Federation in 1901, each of the six colonies were responsible for their own defence. From 1788 until 1870 this was done with British regular forces. In all, 24 British infantry regiments served in the Australian colonies. Each of the Australian colonies gained responsible government between 1855 and 1890, and while the Colonial Office in London retained control of some affairs, and the colonies were still firmly within the British Empire, the Governors of the Australian colonies were required to raise their own colonial militia. To do this, the colonial Governors had the authority from the British crown to raise military and naval forces. Initially these were militias in support of British regulars, but British military support for the colonies ended in 1870, and the colonies assumed their own defence. The separate colonies maintained control over their respective militia forces and navies until 1 March 1901, when the colonial forces were all amalgamated into the Commonwealth Forces following the creation of the Commonwealth of Australia.
context_section_description: Australia was first formally claimed by Great Britain on 22 August 1770 by James Cook RN, however it was not settled until 26 January 1788 with the arrival of the First Fleet. Frustrated in 1783 by the loss of their American colonies on the signing of the Treaty of Paris which formally ended the American Revolutionary War, the British sought a new destination for the transportation of convicts. The fleet, consisting of 11 ships, had arrived in Australia with just over 1100, of which around 750 convicts under the guard of marines, to establish a colony with convict labour at Port Jackson.
  Initially the colony was run as an open prison under the governance of Royal Navy Captain Arthur Phillip. Later, as more free settlers were attracted to Australia and transportation was ceased in the mid-1800s, the nature of the colonies changed as Australia began to emerge as a modern, self-sustaining society and after the 1850s the colonies were progressively granted responsible government, allowing them to manage most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire. Nevertheless, the Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, including foreign affairs and defence. As a result, until the 1870s when the last imperial troops were withdrawn, British regular troops constantly garrisoned the colonies. During their postings to Australia, most of the regiments rotated duties in the various colonies, and often had detachments located in geographically diverse locations at the same time.
caption: A General Chart of New Holland including New South Wales & Botany Bay with The Adjacent Countries and New Discovered Lands, published in An Historical Narrative of the Discovery of New Holland and New South Wales. (London, Fielding and Stockdale, November 1786).
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