Filling In The MapWhen the First Fleet arrived in Australia in 1788, Governor Arthur Phillip selected a sheltered cove as the site of Australias first colony. Australia is a big place. It covers 7. 7 million square kilometres. Filling In The Map is a history of the explorers who charted the coastlines, scaled the mountains, and crossed the deserts in search of farmland and freshwater and filled the map of Australia.