William Pitt, Earl of Chatham.

Engraving of William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (1708 – 1778).

Pitt was a British statesman of the Whig group who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain in the middle of the 18th century. Pitt was instrumental in establishing a penal colony in Australia. Convicts were originally transported to the Thirteen Colonies in North America, but after the American War of Independence ended in 1783, the newly formed United States refused to accept further convicts.The Pitt government took the decision to settle what is now Australia and found the penal colony in August 1786. The First Fleet of 11 vessels carried over a thousand settlers, including 778 convicts. The Colony of New South Wales was formally proclaimed by Governor Arthur Phillip on 7 February 1788 at Sydney.