Arthur Phillip

Arthur Phillip was a naval officer of the British Army and colonial administrator. Arthur Phillip was appointed as the Governor of New South Wales, the proposed British penal colony on the eastern coast of Australia by the then Home Secretary, Lord Sydney.

Arthur Phillip was born on 11th October in the year 1738. He was the son of Jacob Phillip, who was a language teacher of Frankfurt, Germany. He was educated at the Greenwich School and was apprenticed in the British naval army. During 1774-78, Arthur Phillip served as a captain in the Portuguese fleet, which he entered during the Spanish-Portuguese War.In 1778, Phillip again returned back to the British Navy. In 1781, he was made a post captain of the English Navy and took charge of 64-gun Europe.

Arthur Phillip was sent to India and then spent a year in southern France. Thereafter, Philip was appointed as the first governor of New South Wales on October 12 in 1786. Though the Britishers mainly saw this place as an outlet for convict settlement, it was the vision of Philip, which prompted free settlers to settle in New South Wales. Thereafter, the Crown gave total administrative and judicial powers in the hands of Arthur Phillip. Gradually, the administration of Norfolk also came under his control.

During the last stage of his life, Arthur Phillip advanced rapidly in the naval hierarchy and on 31st August 1814 he breathed his last.