by Bryan Owen
The Marines [not known as Royal Marines until 1802] have a special relationship with the Australian Nation, due to the fact that they played a large part in the voyages of discovery aboard all the ships in Captain Cook's voyages.
Later in 1787-88 there were 247 Marines aboard the 11 ships of The First Fleet, under the command of Capt. Arthur Philip, [First Governor of NSW] to establish the colony known as New South Wales.
They performed a variety of duties during their tour of duty, from Lt. Governor - Maj. Ros; Judge Advocate - Capt Collins [who later became Governor of Tasmania]; and Capt.'s Tench & Clark along with Lt. Dawes, who were mainly responsible for the settlement and township of Rose Hill [Parramatta].
Also, let us not forget the 70 other Marines along with 3 of their sons, which included Lt Johnson [later Major Johnson], who commanded the corps during the quelling of the uprising at the Battle of Vinegar Hill; and stayed on after their tour of duty to form the nucleus of the New South Wales Corps, which garrisoned the colony after 1892.