Event Cinemas
Greater Union Organisation Pty Ltd, trading as Event Cinemas, Greater Union, GU Filmhouse and Birch Carroll & Coyle, is Australia's leading cinema chain. Expansion into New Zealand and Fiji has aimed to increase international market share, under Australian parent company Event Hospitality and Entertainment; the Event Cinemas cinema chain has had a great impact on the Australian culture and film industry, has a history of mergers and acquisitions and liquidations that span over a century. From 1906 to 1911, during the silent era, Australia was the most prolific producer of feature films in the world, a period which included the creation of the first feature-length film The Kelly Gang; this creative and fertile period in Australian film history was created by competition between West's Pictures, Spencer's Pictures and Amalgamated Pictures. On 4 May 1912 the three joined to form The General Film Company of Australasia. On 4 January 1913 it merged with The Greater J. D. Williams Amusement Co and restructured to become The Combine, a famous partnership between exhibition wing Union Theatres and the production and distribution wing Australasian Films.
The Combine monopoly was influential on the early twentieth century Australian film industry. However, it came under heavy criticism for its low interest in producing Australian films, its preference for imported cinema, its reluctance to exhibit Australian films by other producers. Film icon and director Raymond Longford, whose independent production company had come under attack by the group, said in 1927 that "had it not been for the activities of that firm in its endeavour to crush it in its infancy, the local picture would now be 10 years at least advanced to the height now attained by the Americans." Historians have traced the sharp decline of the Australian film industry in 1913 to the repercussions of these series of takeovers and mergers. James Sabine has said that "the stranglehold of The Combine forced a decline in local production and contributed to many Australian production companies closing their doors." The Combine continued to grow into the 1920s during the genesis of the Hollywood era with its focus on exhibiting American films.
The Great Depression saw Union Theatres being liquidated in 1931 and its assets purchased by newly formed Greater Union Theatres. This new company split from Australasian Films, established the Hollywood-model subsidiary Cinesound Productions, expanded into radio and newspaper, kept its major focus on building and managing cinemas. Due to The Depression, Greater Union Theatres merged into the General Film Corporation with Hoyts, a competitor who had secured Fox Film as a shareholder. In 1937 Norman Rydge removed the company from the previous merger. In 1945 in the last year of World War II there was a box office boom and the British Rank Organisation purchased a half share in Greater Union Theatres. During this time Greater Union acquired the rights of ownership of many theatres across the country including what became the Phoenician Club in Broadway, Sydney in 1943 owned by McIntyre's Broadway Theatres and established as a cinema in 1911. In 1958 the four holding companies in the Greater Union Theatres group were merged into the Rydge family Amalgamated Holdings Limited, in 1965 Greater Union Theatres was renamed the Greater Union Organisation.
In 1980 billionaire Alan Rydge was appointed Chairman of AHL to become the youngest chairman of an Australian public company. In 1984 AHL regained control over the now defunct Rank Organisation's half share, meaning that it once again became Australian owned. In 1987 GUO merged with Village Roadshow to form the distribution company Roadshow Film Distributors. In 1991 GUO acquired Carroll & Coyle. In 2003 AHL and Village Roadshow combined to form Australian Theatres. Since 2009 a number of cinemas have been renamed from Greater Union Cinemas to Event Cinemas. On 22 December 2015 AHL was renamed Event Entertainment. Event Cinemas have over sixty cinema venues around Australia, many of which are located in large shopping centres; the cinema complexes comprise multiple screens. The below locations do not include sites that operate under the joint venture between Village Roadshow and Event Hospitality & Entertainment known as Australian Theatres. Australian Capital Territory ManukaNew South Wales Beverly Hills - trading as GU Filmhouse Blacktown - trading as Skyline Drive-In Bondi Junction Burwood Campbelltown Castle Hill Centennial Park - trading as Moonlight Cinema Sydney Coffs Harbour - trading as BCC Cinemas Cronulla - trading as GU Filmhouse Glendale Hornsby Hurstville Kotara Lismore Liverpool Macquarie Miranda Parramatta Shellharbour - trading as Greater Union Sydney CBD - colloquially known as George St Top Ryde City Tuggerah Wollongong - trading as Greater UnionNorthern Territory Casuarina - trading as BCC Cinemas PalmerstonQueensland Brisbane City Broadbeach - colloquially known as Pacific Fair Browns Plains Cairns Central Cairns Earlville - trading as BCC Cinemas Cairns Smithfield Capalaba - trading as BCC Cinemas Carindale Chermside Coolangatta - trading as BCC Cinemas Coomera Indooroopilly Ipswich - trading as BCC Cinemas Kawana Loganholme Mackay City - trading as BCC Cinemas Mackay Mount Pleasant - trading as BCC Cinemas Maroochydore - trading as BCC Cinemas Mt Gravatt - colloquially known as Garden City Morayfield - trading as BCC Cinemas Noosa - trading as BCC Cinemas North Lakes Robina Roma Street Parkland - trading as Moonlight Cinema Brisbane Rockhampton North - trading as BCC Cinemas Southport - colloquially known as Australia Fair Springfield Strathpine - trading as BCC Cinemas Toombul - trading as BCC Cinemas Toowoomba - trading as BCC Cinemas Grand Central Toowoomba - tra
The Movie Masters Cinema Group
Grand Cinemas and Ace Cinemas are a Western Australian chain of cinema multiplexes. The chain is operated by The Movie Masters cinema group; the Movie Masters Cinema Group was formed in the 1990s as a co-operative initiative between the locally owned and operated WA cinema companies and Grand Cinemas. The organisation is based in Western Australia. Ace Cinemas, a Western Australian owned company, was founded as one of Australia’s first drive-in operators in the 1950s. Grand Cinemas was formed as a family business in 1928, with a group of cinemas in the city. During the drive-in era, the company relocated to the suburbs, as people no longer wanted to drive into the city just to see a movie. Grand Cinemas was responsible for the construction of the Cinema City opposite the Perth Town Hall. In 1994, Grand Cinemas further developed the cinema scene with the launch of their megaplex at Warwick in Western Australia, offering the first suburban cinema complex in Perth's Northern Suburbs (prior to that patrons had to travel to the Innaloo Greater Union complex.
The Movie Masters brand was formed to allow Ace Cinemas and Grand Cinemas to compete against the multi-national exhibition chains, such as Greater Union and Hoyts. The group operates 10 locations. Midland Gate Rockingham Shopping Centre Lakeside Joondalup Shopping City Currambine, Western Australia - Currambine Central Warwick, Western Australia - Warwick Grove Shopping Centre Bunbury, Western Australia Armadale, Western Australia - Armadale Central Westfield Whitford City - Closed May 13, 2016On July 2016 it was confirmed that Event Cinemas will reopen at the centre but now just named Event Cinemas instead of Greater Union; the Ace Cine Gold Lounge is a luxury cinema located in the two biggest auditoriums at Midland and Rockingham. The concept was revealed in the 1990s; the two seating areas are accessed via a private lounge containing a licensed bar. Patrons can order food and drinks during a screening. Due to WA law stating that people under 18 years of age cannot enter a licensed area without a parent and/or guardian present, the company does not allow anyone under the specified age access to the Gold Lounge.
Grand Cinemas Gold Longue started in 2014. The first one opened in Warwick, it contains 1 bar. In 2016, Currambine Central shopping centre opened an outlet which features two Gold Lounge auditoriums. Event Cinemas had run the cinemas at Lakeside Joondalup and Westfield Whitford City however these have been sub-leased to Grand Cinemas. On May 13, 2016 Grand Cinemas at Westfield Whitford City closed. On July 7, 2016 the development video of the centre was released and the Event Cinemas logo was seen. Australian Theatres Event Cinemas Reading Cinemas Village Roadshow Warner Village Cinemas Regent Cinemas Movie Masters Homepage
Palace Cinemas (Central Europe)
Palace Cinemas is a central European cinema chain with multiplex cinemas in the Czech Republic and Hungary. Palace Cinemas was a joint venture of United Cinemas International, now it is owned by ARGUS Capital Partners L. P. Founded in 1999 together with two experienced media entrepreneurs, Palace has grown into the regional leader by developing its own high quality sites as well as through market consolidation, having made major acquisitions of its competitors in 2002, 2005 and 2006. In Slovakia Palace Cinemas operated multiplex cinemas in the capital city Bratislava in Aupark Shopping Center, Polus City Center and Eurovea Galleria. All these multiplexes were sold by argus to Cinema City in the span of 2011. Cinema City Aupark has a total capacity of 2,338 seats. By the number of seats it was the 5th largest site of the Palace Cinemas chain. Screens #4, #9 and #10 are digital. Screens #4 and #9 are used for 3D-projections
New Zealand
New Zealand is a sovereign island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, the South Island —and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 2,000 kilometres east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and 1,000 kilometres south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia and Tonga; because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal and plant life; the country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington. Sometime between 1250 and 1300, Polynesians settled in the islands that were named New Zealand and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand. In 1840, representatives of the United Kingdom and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands.
In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire and in 1907 it became a dominion. Today, the majority of New Zealand's population of 4.9 million is of European descent. Reflecting this, New Zealand's culture is derived from Māori and early British settlers, with recent broadening arising from increased immigration; the official languages are English, Māori, NZ Sign Language, with English being dominant. A developed country, New Zealand ranks in international comparisons of national performance, such as quality of life, education, protection of civil liberties, economic freedom. New Zealand underwent major economic changes during the 1980s, which transformed it from a protectionist to a liberalised free-trade economy; the service sector dominates the national economy, followed by the industrial sector, agriculture. Nationally, legislative authority is vested in an elected, unicameral Parliament, while executive political power is exercised by the Cabinet, led by the prime minister Jacinda Ardern.
Queen Elizabeth II is the country's monarch and is represented by a governor-general Dame Patsy Reddy. In addition, New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes; the Realm of New Zealand includes Tokelau. New Zealand is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, ASEAN Plus Six, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Pacific Community and the Pacific Islands Forum. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and named it Staten Land "in honour of the States General", he wrote, "it is possible that this land joins to the Staten Land but it is uncertain", referring to a landmass of the same name at the southern tip of South America, discovered by Jacob Le Maire in 1616. In 1645, Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland. British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand. Aotearoa is the current Māori name for New Zealand.
It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the whole country before the arrival of Europeans, with Aotearoa referring to just the North Island. Māori had several traditional names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui for the North Island and Te Waipounamu or Te Waka o Aoraki for the South Island. Early European maps labelled the islands North and South. In 1830, maps began to use North and South to distinguish the two largest islands and by 1907 this was the accepted norm; the New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of the North Island and South Island had never been formalised, names and alternative names were formalised in 2013. This set the names as North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui, South Island or Te Waipounamu. For each island, either its English or Māori name can be used. New Zealand was one of the last major landmasses settled by humans. Radiocarbon dating, evidence of deforestation and mitochondrial DNA variability within Māori populations suggest New Zealand was first settled by Eastern Polynesians between 1250 and 1300, concluding a long series of voyages through the southern Pacific islands.
Over the centuries that followed, these settlers developed a distinct culture now known as Māori. The population was divided into iwi and hapū who would sometimes cooperate, sometimes compete and sometimes fight against each other. At some point a group of Māori migrated to Rēkohu, now known as the Chatham Islands, where they developed their distinct Moriori culture; the Moriori population was all but wiped out between 1835 and 1862 because of Taranaki Māori invasion and enslavement in the 1830s, although European diseases contributed. In 1862 only 101 survived, the last known full-blooded Moriori died in 1933; the first Europeans known to have reached New Zeala
Video Ezy
Video Ezy is an Australian-based rental and retail chain, offering DVD, Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and Video Games and other digital content. The brand consists of fewer than 40 franchised stores over 1200 kiosks. At its peak, Video Ezy had over 500 stores and in the 1980s and'90s, the company expanded into Asia. Between 2011 and 2014, Video Ezy launched rental kiosks. Consumer prices to rent are much lower, no membership cards are required, DVDs, Ultra HD Blu-rays and Blu-rays can be returned to any kiosk machine nationwide; the now defunct franchise's fall is attributed to the rise of online piracy and the local introduction of streaming services such as Netflix, Foxtel Now and Amazon Prime. Video Ezy commenced trading in 1983, when Kevin Slater opened his first store in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville renting out a small selection of VHS and Betamax format movies; the first franchised store opened in September 1984 at Miranda. The franchisees at Miranda were Bill Coe. Other stores to open in quick succession were in the Sydney suburbs of Bankstown and Chatswood.
In the majority of these stores, Kevin funded 50% of the capital required to open. By 1986, Video Ezy comprised 18 stores, by August 1987, there were 34 stores located across New South Wales and Queensland. Expansion followed throughout other Australian states before opening its first international location in Auckland, New Zealand in 1988, with the Master Licence commencing in 1991 under Video Ezy International. In March 1999, Video Ezy Australasia Pty Ltd expanded into the Asian market with its first outlet opening in Bangkok, Thailand. In late 2000, Video Ezy introduced EzyRetail, a video store specific point of sale Windows-based system used by Video Ezy; the software was first developed by Radek Soucek and Robert Gongorra and allowed information to be centrally created and pushed down the line to stores, both as real-time and locally stored data. It provided comprehensive reporting capabilities, inventory management and collection abilities, giving the store network one of the most comprehensive databases in retail history.
This new system replaced VideoMinder, a DOS-based system once used by Blockbuster and some older Video Ezy franchisees. In 2001, the first Video Ezy outlet opened in Singapore within the Jelita Shopping Centre. Since the Singapore network has comprised a mixture of corporate-owned and franchised stores located in either outdoor shopping strips like, Holland Village, residential towers such as, International Plaza, or large shopping centres such as, VivoCity. Unlike Australia, Video Ezy Singapore can operate in most shopping centres due to 7-day-week late night shopping hours and its population less reliant on private automobiles needing to park outside stores. In 2003, Video Ezy sold its corporate-owned stores in Australia leaving only 2 stores–Narellan and Rosehill, some 10 minutes from its new Head Office at Rhodes–although in 2006 it had acquired additional corporate-owned stores. In 2003, Video Ezy went on to market a subscription model with DVD Unlimited. In that year, Video Ezy commenced selling and renting'Ezy Exclusive' TV series and movies on DVD such as, Kingpin, Will & Grace, The Believer and other exclusive titles from Hallmark Entertainment and NBC.
These titles were branded with Video Ezy's logo and carried different artwork to DVDs sold outside the Region 4 market. In August 2005, business partners, Paul Uniacke and Edward Nedelko - who between them owned 24 Video Ezy franchises in Victoria - purchased the shares held in Video Ezy Australasia Pty Ltd by Perpetual Trustees and Ivany Investments to become majority shareholders in the company, they replaced Robert Maidment as Executive Chairman. At that stage Video Ezy-branded outlets numbered, 560 in Australia, 156 in New Zealand, 128 in Thailand, 135 in Indonesia, 19 in Singapore, 9 in Malaysia, 1 in Fiji and 1 in the United Arab Emirates. In February 2007, seeking to rationalise its international operations and concentrate on its home United States market, sold its entire Australian store network to Video Ezy Australasia Pty Ltd. At the time, Blockbuster Australia comprised 370 outlets nationwide - 29 owned by the company and 341 owned by franchisees. Video Ezy had 518 Australian outlets, all of them being owned by franchisees, pushing the combined group's market share to 40% of the country's video rental sector.
Video Ezy committed to the master franchise agreement with Blockbuster for 10 years operating the brand with the possibility of renewal for a further 10 years after that. As a consequence of the deal, the company changed its name from Video Ezy Australasia Pty Ltd to Franchise Entertainment Group. In January 2009, Franchise Entertainment Group bought failed video retail chain, EzyDVD from receivers, Ferrier Hodgson, for an estimated $10 million; the transaction included, the EzyDVD brand and online business, the 25-store franchise network, in addition to stock, plant and the remaining 11 company-owned stores. FEG CEO Paul Uniacke said to the media after the deal, "We don't have video rental stores in high-traffic areas such as the major malls because you can't rent a DVD and the next day just park your car and return to it; the EzyDVD stores are in all the major mall chains and this cements us well and in this market." Soon after, EzyDVD's head office and distribution facility in Torrensville closed, only 3 branded stores remain in Launceston, Browns Plains and Elizabeth.
Most of its sales are now generated from the website. In August 2010, Paul Uniacke and Edwa
Lend-Lease
The Lend-Lease policy, formally titled An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States, was an American program to defeat Germany and Italy by distributing food and materiel between 1941 and August 1945. The aid went to the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, Free France, other Allied nations, it included warplanes, along with other weaponry. The policy was signed into law on March 11, 1941, ended overnight without prior warning when the war against Japan ended; the aid was free for all countries, although goods in transit when the program ended were charged for. Some transport ships were returned to the US after the war, but all the items sent out were used up or worthless in peacetime. In Reverse Lend Lease, the U. S. was given no-cost leases on army and naval bases in Allied territory during the war, as well as local supplies. The program was under the direct control of the White House, with Roosevelt paying close attention, assisted by Harry Hopkins, W. Averell Harriman, Edward Stettinius Jr..
Roosevelt sent them on special missions to London and Moscow, where their control over Lend Lease gave them importance. The budget was hidden away in the overall military budget, details were not released until after the war. A total of $50.1 billion was involved, or 11% of the total war expenditures of the U. S. In all, $31.4 billion went to Britain and its Empire, $11.3 billion to the Soviet Union, $3.2 billion to France, $1.6 billion to China, the remaining $2.6 billion to the other Allies. Reverse lend-lease policies comprised services such as rent on bases used by the U. S. and totaled $7.8 billion. The terms of the agreement provided that the materiel was to be used until destroyed. In practice little equipment was in usable shape for peacetime uses. Supplies that arrived after the termination date were sold to Britain at a large discount for £1.075 billion, using long-term loans from the United States. Canada was not part of Lend Lease; however it operated a similar program called Mutual Aid that sent a loan of C$1 billion and C$3.4 billion in supplies and services to Britain and other Allies.
This program ended the United States' pretense of neutrality and was a decisive change from non-interventionist policy, which had dominated United States foreign relations since 1931. After the defeat of France during June 1940, the British Commonwealth and Empire were the only forces engaged in war against Germany and Italy, until the Italian invasion of Greece. Britain had been paying for its material with gold as part of the "cash and carry" program, as required by the US Neutrality Acts of the 1930s, but by 1941 it had liquidated so many assets that its cash was becoming depleted. During this same period, the U. S. government began to mobilize for total war, instituting the first-ever peacetime draft and a fivefold increase in the defense budget. In the meantime, as the British began becoming short of money and other supplies, Prime Minister Winston Churchill pressed President Franklin D. Roosevelt for American help. Sympathetic to the British plight but hampered by public opinion and the Neutrality Acts, which forbade arms sales on credit or the lending of money to belligerent nations, Roosevelt came up with the idea of "lend–lease".
As one Roosevelt biographer has characterized it: "If there was no practical alternative, there was no moral one either. Britain and the Commonwealth were carrying the battle for all civilization, the overwhelming majority of Americans, led in the late election by their president, wished to help them." As the President himself put it, "There can be no reasoning with incendiary bombs."In September 1940, during the Battle of Britain the British government sent the Tizard Mission to the United States. The aim of the British Technical and Scientific Mission was to obtain the industrial resources to exploit the military potential of the research and development work completed by the UK up to the beginning of World War II, but that Britain itself could not exploit due to the immediate requirements of war-related production; the shared technology included the cavity magnetron, the design for the VT fuze, details of Frank Whittle's jet engine and the Frisch–Peierls memorandum describing the feasibility of an atomic bomb.
Though these may be considered the most significant, many other items were transported, including designs for rockets, gyroscopic gunsights, submarine detection devices, self-sealing fuel tanks and plastic explosives. During December 1940, President Roosevelt proclaimed the U. S. A. would be proposed selling munitions to Britain and Canada. Isolationists were opposed, warning it would result in American involvement with what was considered by most Americans as an European conflict. In time, opinion shifted as increasing numbers of Americans began to consider the advantage of funding the British war against Germany, while staying free of the hostilities themselves. Propaganda showing the devastation of British cities during The Blitz, as well as popular depictions of Germans as savage rallied public opinion to the Allies after the defeat of France. After a decade of neutrality, Roosevelt knew that th
Sydney
Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Port Jackson and extends about 70 km on its periphery towards the Blue Mountains to the west, Hawkesbury to the north, the Royal National Park to the south and Macarthur to the south-west. Sydney is made up of 40 local government areas and 15 contiguous regions. Residents of the city are known as "Sydneysiders"; as of June 2017, Sydney's estimated metropolitan population was 5,230,330 and is home to 65% of the state's population. Indigenous Australians have inhabited the Sydney area for at least 30,000 years, thousands of engravings remain throughout the region, making it one of the richest in Australia in terms of Aboriginal archaeological sites. During his first Pacific voyage in 1770, Lieutenant James Cook and his crew became the first Europeans to chart the eastern coast of Australia, making landfall at Botany Bay and inspiring British interest in the area.
In 1788, the First Fleet of convicts, led by Arthur Phillip, founded Sydney as a British penal colony, the first European settlement in Australia. Phillip named the city Sydney in recognition of 1st Viscount Sydney. Penal transportation to New South Wales ended soon after Sydney was incorporated as a city in 1842. A gold rush occurred in the colony in 1851, over the next century, Sydney transformed from a colonial outpost into a major global cultural and economic centre. After World War II, it experienced mass migration and became one of the most multicultural cities in the world. At the time of the 2011 census, more than 250 different languages were spoken in Sydney. In the 2016 Census, about 35.8% of residents spoke a language other than English at home. Furthermore, 45.4% of the population reported having been born overseas, making Sydney the 3rd largest foreign born population of any city in the world after London and New York City, respectively. Despite being one of the most expensive cities in the world, the 2018 Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranks Sydney tenth in the world in terms of quality of living, making it one of the most livable cities.
It is classified as an Alpha+ World City by Globalization and World Cities Research Network, indicating its influence in the region and throughout the world. Ranked eleventh in the world for economic opportunity, Sydney has an advanced market economy with strengths in finance and tourism. There is a significant concentration of foreign banks and multinational corporations in Sydney and the city is promoted as Australia's financial capital and one of Asia Pacific's leading financial hubs. Established in 1850, the University of Sydney is Australia's first university and is regarded as one of the world's leading universities. Sydney is home to the oldest library in Australia, State Library of New South Wales, opened in 1826. Sydney has hosted major international sporting events such as the 2000 Summer Olympics; the city is among the top fifteen most-visited cities in the world, with millions of tourists coming each year to see the city's landmarks. Boasting over 1,000,000 ha of nature reserves and parks, its notable natural features include Sydney Harbour, the Royal National Park, Royal Botanic Garden and Hyde Park, the oldest parkland in the country.
Built attractions such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the World Heritage-listed Sydney Opera House are well known to international visitors. The main passenger airport serving the metropolitan area is Kingsford-Smith Airport, one of the world's oldest continually operating airports. Established in 1906, Central station, the largest and busiest railway station in the state, is the main hub of the city's rail network; the first people to inhabit the area now known as Sydney were indigenous Australians having migrated from northern Australia and before that from southeast Asia. Radiocarbon dating suggests human activity first started to occur in the Sydney area from around 30,735 years ago. However, numerous Aboriginal stone tools were found in Western Sydney's gravel sediments that were dated from 45,000 to 50,000 years BP, which would indicate that there was human settlement in Sydney earlier than thought; the first meeting between the native people and the British occurred on 29 April 1770 when Lieutenant James Cook landed at Botany Bay on the Kurnell Peninsula and encountered the Gweagal clan.
He noted in his journal that they were somewhat hostile towards the foreign visitors. Cook was not commissioned to start a settlement, he spent a short time collecting food and conducting scientific observations before continuing further north along the east coast of Australia and claiming the new land he had discovered for Britain. Prior to the arrival of the British there were 4,000 to 8,000 native people in Sydney from as many as 29 different clans; the earliest British settlers called the natives Eora people. "Eora" is the term the indigenous population used to explain their origins upon first contact with the British. Its literal meaning is "from this place". Sydney Cove from Port Jackson to Petersham was inhabited by the Cadigal clan; the principal language groups were Darug and Dharawal. The earliest Europeans to visit the area noted that the indigenous people were conducting activities such as camping and fishing, using trees for bark and food, collecting shells, cooking fish. Britain—before that, England—and Ireland had for a long time been sending their convicts across the Atlantic to the American colonies.
That trade was ended with the Declaration of Independence by the United States in 1776. Britain decided in 1786 to found a new penal outpost in the territory discovered by Cook some 16 years ear