Botany Bay is a 1953 American adventure film directed by John Farrow and starring Alan Ladd, James Mason and Patricia Medina.

[2] While the story includes characters loosely based on real figures (Gilbert and Phillips) and the ship Charlotte, it is a largely fictional telling of the First Fleet's arrival in Australia in 1788.

In 1787 a group of prisoners lodged in Newgate Jail receive notice that their death sentences are commuted to life imprisonment in New South Wales.

Gilbert, the captain, offers one pretty female prisoner, Sally, free run of the ship on certain conditions.

Governor Phillip refuses to hang Tallant and sentences him to hard labour in the penal colony in Botany Bay, New South Wales.

Gilbert is hit by a spear and killed, but Tallant takes command and British firepower pushes them back.

As the prisoners now have muskets, they take charge again, but as Tallant checks them for injuries, he notices plague swellings on some of the soldiers.

Rather than escape, Tallant returns to Botany Bay and warns the governor of Charlotte's arrival, which would otherwise expose the colony to the fatal disease raging onboard.

[6] The film was originally planned to be made in 1946, starring Ray Milland with location shooting in Australia.