Dr Charles Margerison, Co-Author, Team Management Systems recently hosted Amazing People of Sydney breakfast. In celebration of Australia Day, Dr Margerison provides a recap of the event.

Governor Phillip would have been proud of us. More than 30 of our colleagues met in Sydney to celebrate him and the 1450 plus people who arrived here in January 1788. We did so at a Team Management Systems (TMS) breakfast meeting held at The Grace Hotel, not far from where he decided to establish the original colony.

We recreated, in good style, the situation. I asked people to join one of three groups - the Convicts or the Marines or the Aborigines. I then asked each group to meet and discuss what they wanted from Governor Phillip.

The convicts said they wanted freedom and justice. The marines said they wanted land grants to make a fortune. The aborigines said they wanted Governor Phillip, and the hundreds of people on the eleven ships, to leave the land they called their home. In my blog, I have outlined how I discovered the outstanding stories of Sydney and its founders.

As you can imagine, our breakfast meeting proved to be an interesting discussion when I unfurled the Types of Work Wheel and asked our TMS-accredited members what they needed to do in order to survive as colonists. Although the conditions in 1788 where different, we agreed that that all eight areas of the Types of Work Wheel would need to be covered and teamwork would be essential.

After a discussion on the Types of Work Wheel, we re-enacted the first court case in Australia. A young convict, called Susannah Holmes, alleged that a ship's captain had stolen money from her. In her native country, of England, it would not have been possible to bring such a case of a convict against a captain to court. But, Governor Phillip allowed it and the convict won the case. That is how I believe the idea of getting a 'fair go' started.

I mentioned to our members that I had written a book called the Amazing People of Sydney. It provides virtual interviews of those who have made Sydney a great city, and includes Bennelong, Banjo Patterson, Mary Reiby, Billy Blue, Elizabeth Macarthur and many other great characters.

It was great to meet so many of our TMS-accredited members in Sydney. We shared our experiences and ideas. We gave thanks to all the colonists and celebrated being Australians.

Dr Charles Margerison