what australia looked like before settlement

Full Answer

What was Australia like before European settlers?

Australia's History Before the arrival of European settlers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples inhabited most areas of the Australian continent. Each people spoke one or more of hundreds of separate languages, with lifestyles and cultural traditions that differed according to the region in which they lived.

How many Aboriginal tribes were there in Australia before settlement?

There were between 300,000 to 950,000 Aboriginal people living in Australia when the British arrived in 1788.3 At that time there were approximately 260 distinct language groups and 500 dialects. Land is fundamental to Indigenous people, both individually and collectively.

What was Australia like before the age of exploration?

- Answers What was Australia like before 1788? Before 1788, Australia was a land completely unspoilt by European settlement. There were no settlements or houses, as the Aboriginal tribes were essentially nomadic.

What happened to Sydney's Aboriginal people?

However, once European settlement began, Aboriginal rights to traditional lands were disregarded and the Aboriginal people of the Sydney region were almost obliterated by introduced diseases and, to a lesser extent, armed force.

What was life in Australia like before settlement?

They lived in small communities and survived by hunting and gathering. The men would hunt large animals for food and women and children would collect fruit, plants and berries. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities only used the land for things that they needed - shelter, water, food, weapons.

What was Australia like before European settlement?

For thousands of years prior to the arrival of Europeans, northern Sydney was occupied by different Aboriginal clans. Living primarily along the foreshores of the harbour, they fished and hunted in the waters and hinterlands of the area, and harvested food from the surrounding bush.

What was Australia before Colonisation?

From at least 60,000 B.C. the area that was to become New South Wales was inhabited entirely by indigenous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with traditional social, legal organisation and land rights.

What was Australia before it became Australia?

After Dutch navigators charted the northern, western and southern coasts of Australia during the 17th Century this newly found continent became known as 'New Holland'. It was the English explorer Matthew Flinders who made the suggestion of the name we use today.

What was Australia before it was a country?

Australia, once known as New South Wales, was originally planned as a penal colony. In October 1786, the British government appointed Arthur Phillip captain of the HMS Sirius, and commissioned him to establish an agricultural work camp there for British convicts.

Was anyone in Australia before the Aboriginal?

It is true that there has been, historically, a small number of claims that there were people in Australia before Australian Aborigines, but these claims have all been refuted and are no longer widely debated. The overwhelming weight of evidence supports the idea that Aboriginal people were the first Australians.

Who lived in Australia first?

Aboriginal people are known to have occupied mainland Australia for at least 65,000 years. It is widely accepted that this predates the human settlement of Europe and the Americas.

Who lived in Australia before the British?

aboriginesHISTORICAL BACKGROUND Australian Prehistory: Humans are thought to have arrived in Australia about 30,000 years ago. The original inhabitants, who have descendants to this day, are known as aborigines. In the eighteenth century, the aboriginal population was about 300,000.

How did Aboriginal survive cold?

The people used grease from porcupine, possum, muttonbird, seal and penguin to coat their skin as a waterproof layer and for warmth against the extreme weather conditions. The founding population in this new land became the most southerly living humans in the world during the last Ice Age.

What was Australia's original name?

Terra AustralisIn 1804, the British navigator Matthew Flinders proposed the names Terra Australis or Australia for the whole continent, reserving "New Holland" for the western part of the continent.

How many Aboriginal were killed in Australia?

The research project, currently in its eighth year and led by University of Newcastle historian Emeritus Professor Lyndall Ryan, now estimates more than 10,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lives were lost in more than 400 massacres, up from a previous estimate of 8,400 in 302 massacres.

What if Australia was never Colonised?

Without colonisation, modern technology still would have found its way to our shores just like it has in countries such as Fiji, Solomon Islands & Papua New Guinea etc. Industrialisation & mining however would be nowhere near the levels that we see today and we would be better off for it.

What was Australia like before the British?

Prior to British settlement, more than 500 First Nations groups inhabited the continent we now call Australia, approximately 750,000 people in total. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures developed over 60,000 years, making First Nations Peoples the custodians of the world's oldest living culture.

How did Aboriginal life change after European settlement?

European colonisation had a devastating impact on Aboriginal communities and cultures. Aboriginal people were subjected to a range of injustices, including mass killings or being displaced from their traditional lands and relocated on missions and reserves in the name of protection.

What was Aboriginal health like before colonisation?

Before the arrival of Europeans, the Aboriginal peoples of Australia were a strong and healthy race of hunters and gatherers whose active lifestyle promoted good health.

Why did European settlement in Australia?

After the American War of Independence, Britain, in a time of social upheaval at the beginnings of massive agricultural, industrial and social change, was faced with overcrowded prisons and prison ships and no suitable destination to transport their convicts Lieutenant James Cook's discovery and annexation for Britain ...

What was Britain's claim to Australia?

The territory claimed by Britain included all of Australia eastward of the meridian of 135° East and all the islands in the Pacific Ocean between the latitudes of Cape York and the southern tip of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). The western limit of 135° East was set at the meridian dividing New Holland from Terra Australis shown on Emanuel Bowen 's Complete Map of the Southern Continent, published in John Campbell's editions of John Harris' Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca, or Voyages and Travels (1744–1748, and 1764). It was a vast claim which elicited excitement at the time: the Dutch translator of First Fleet officer and author Watkin Tench 's A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay wrote: "a single province which, beyond all doubt, is the largest on the whole surface of the earth. From their definition it covers, in its greatest extent from East to West, virtually a fourth of the whole circumference of the Globe." Spanish naval commander Alessandro Malaspina, who visited Sydney in March–April 1793 reported to his government that: "The transportation of the convicts constituted the means and not the object of the enterprise. The extension of dominion, mercantile speculations and the discovery of mines were the real object." Frenchman François Péron, of the Baudin expedition visited Sydney in 1802 and reported to the French Government: "How can it be conceived that such a monstrous invasion was accomplished, with no complaint in Europe to protest against it? How can it be conceived that Spain, who had previously raised so many objections opposing the occupation of the Malouines ( Falkland Islands ), meekly allowed a formidable empire to arise to facing her richest possessions, an empire which must either invade or liberate them?"

How many people settled in New South Wales?

It consisted of over a thousand settlers, including 778 convicts (192 women and 586 men). A few days after arrival at Botany Bay the fleet moved to the more suitable Port Jackson where a settlement was established at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788. This date later became Australia's national day, Australia Day. The colony was formally proclaimed by Governor Phillip on 7 February 1788 at Sydney. Sydney Cove offered a fresh water supply and a safe harbour, which Philip described as being, 'with out exception the finest Harbour in the World [...] Here a Thousand Sail of the Line may ride in the most perfect Security'.

What was the largest city in Australia in 1950?

After World War II and by the 1950s, Australia had a population of 10 million, and the most populous urban centre was its oldest city, Sydney. It has retained its status as Australia's largest city ever since.

What was the role of the Commonwealth in the Aboriginal community?

Following federation Aboriginal affairs was a state responsibility, although the Commonwealth became responsible for the Aboriginal population of the Northern Territory from 1911 . By that date the Commonwealth and all states except Tasmania had passed legislation establishing Protectors of Aborigines and Protection Boards with extensive powers to regulate the lives of Aboriginal Australians including their ownership of property, place of residence, employment, sexual relationships and custody of their children. Reserves were established, ostensibly for the protection of the Aboriginal population who had been dispossessed of their land. Church groups also ran missions throughout Australia providing shelter, food, religious instruction and elementary schooling for Indigenous people.

How many convicts were transported to Australia?

Between 1788 and 1868, approximately 161,700 convicts (of whom 25,000 were women) were transported to the Australian colonies of New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land and Western Australia. Historian Lloyd Robson has estimated that perhaps two-thirds were thieves from working class towns, particularly from the Midlands and north of England. The majority were repeat offenders. Whether transportation managed to achieve its goal of reforming or not, some convicts were able to leave the prison system in Australia; after 1801 they could gain "tickets of leave" for good behaviour and be assigned to work for free men for wages. A few went on to have successful lives as emancipists, having been pardoned at the end of their sentence. Female convicts had fewer opportunities.

What was the boundary of Australia?

The western boundary of 135° East of Greenwich was based on the Complete Map of the Southern Continent, published in Emanuel Bowen 's Complete System of Geography (London 1747), and reproduced in John Campbell's editions of John Harris' Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca, or Voyages and Travels (1744–48, and 1764). Bowen's map was based on one by Melchisédech Thévenot and published in Relations des Divers Voyages (1663), which apparently divided New Holland in the west from Terra Australis in the east by a latitude staff situated at 135° East. This division, reproduced in Bowen's map, provided a convenient western boundary for the British claim because, as Watkin Tench subsequently commented in A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay, "By this partition, it may be fairly presumed, that every source of future litigation between the Dutch and us, will be for ever cut off, as the discoveries of English navigators only are comprized in this territory". Thévenot said he copied his map from the one engraved in the floor of the Amsterdam Town Hall, but in that map there was no dividing line between New Holland and Terra Australis. Thévenot's map was actually copied from Joan Blaeu 's map, Archipelagus Orientalis sive Asiaticus, published in 1659 in the Kurfürsten Atlas (Atlas of the Great Elector); this map was a part of Blaeu's world map of 1648, Nova et Accuratissima Terrarum Orbis Tabula, which first showed the land revealed by Abel Tasman 's 1642 voyage as Hollandia Nova and which served as the basis for the Amsterdam Town Hall pavement map. Longitude 135° East reflected the line of division between the claims of Spain and Portugal established in the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, which had formed the basis of many subsequent claims to colonial territory. An Historical Narrative of the Discovery of New Holland and New South Wales, published in November 1786, contained "A General Chart of New Holland, including New South Wales & Botany Bay, with The Adjacent Countries, and New Discovered Islands", which showed all the territory claimed under the jurisdiction of the Governor of New South Wales.

When did Australia become a Commonwealth?

The Commonwealth of Australia came into being when the Federal Constitution was proclaimed by the Governor-General, Lord Hopetoun, on 1 January 1901. From that point a system of federalism in Australia came into operation, entailing the establishment of an entirely new national government (the Commonwealth government) and an ongoing division of powers between that government and the States. The first Federal elections were held in March 1901 and resulted in a narrow plurality for the Protectionist Party over the Free Trade Party with the Australian Labor Party (ALP) polling third. Labor declared it would offer support to the party which offered concessions and Edmund Barton 's Protectionists formed a government, with Alfred Deakin as Attorney-General.

Where did Cook land?

Cook landed first a little south of Sydney Harbour in April 1770, at Botany Bay - so named by the accompanying Botanist, Sir Joseph Banks, for the huge quantity of new specimens the visit yielded. Banks later helped convince the British Government that Botany Bay would be a suitable site for a convict settlement.

What was the population of New South Wales?

The population of New South Wales was at least 100,000 with many tribal, clan and language groups. There were several tribes living in the Sydney region including the Kuringai whose appearance prompted the first Governor, Captain Arthur Phillip, to describe them as "Manly", the description surviving in the name of one of Sydney's best-known beach suburbs.

What was the power of the Stuart Kings?

During the seventeenth century in England, the King and the Parliament struggled for supremacy. The Stuart Kings believed in the divine right of Kings to rule, and did everything they could to prevent Parliament from restricting that right.

What were the consequences of the Glorious Revolution of 1688?

The consequences, however, were revolutionary. This Glorious Revolution of 1688 succeeded, finally, in controlling the powers of English monarchs. A Bill of Rights was passed, which, among other things, declared that from that time no monarch could make or suspend laws without the consent of the Parliament.

What was the first evidence of specific agreements being made between King and Barons?

In 1215 the barons were powerful enough to force the Magna Carta upon an unwilling King. The Charter is almost the first evidence of specific agreements being made between King and barons, and shows that the lords were able to force restrictions on the power of the King.

Where did Cook live when he first settled?

In fact, when the first European settlement came, 18 years later, it took place a few kilometres north of Botany Bay, in Sydney Harbour which Cook had not entered.

When did the Great Council of the King's Tenants-in-Chief take place?

During the reign of Henry I, between 1100 and 1135, we know that a Great Council of the King's tenants-in-chief, his archbishops and his bishops was an integral part of the governmental and legal administration of the realm. By 1213 we have written evidence of knights being summoned to a meeting of the Great Council.

Was Australia a European country?

Australia has not yielded readily to development by Europeans. Even on the relatively favoured eastern periphery, the first European settlers were perplexed by the environment. Later, when they penetrated the mountains of the Great Dividing Range, they had to fight even harder against searing droughts, sudden floods, and voracious bushfires. They also continued to clash, often ruthlessly, with Aboriginal communities. Pioneer settlers took pride in conquering the continent’s prodigious distances, and that became a national trait. The spread of railway networks in the latter part of the 19th century and the subsequent introduction of the automobile, the airplane, radio, television, and the Internet gradually reduced the friction of distance, but the conquest was far from complete even by the beginning of the 21st century.

Is Australia arid or semiarid?

Extensive arid and semiarid areas in Western Australia, Northern Territory, and South Australia are routinely labeled as actually or virtually uninhabited. This description also applies to remote sections of west-central Queensland and to scattered patches of dry or mountainous wilderness in Victoria, New South Wales, and Tasmania. On the northern and central mainland some large Aboriginal reserves punctuate the open territory.

What was the main reason for the arrival of free settlers in Australia in the 1850s?

The wool industry and the gold rushes of the 1850s provided an impetus for free settlers to come to Australia. Scarcity of labour, the vastness of the land and new wealth based on farming, mining and trade made Australia a land of opportunity. Yet during this period, Indigenous Australians suffered enormously.

What did the founders of Australia want?

They wanted Australia to be harmonious, united and egalitarian, and had progressive ideas about human rights, the observance of democratic procedures and the value of a secret ballot.

What is the history of Australia?

Australia's History. Before the arrival of European settlers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples inhabited most areas of the Australian continent. Each people spoke one or more of hundreds of separate languages, with lifestyles and cultural traditions that differed according to the region in which they lived.

How did the First World War affect Australia?

The impact of war. The First World War had a devastating impact on Australia. In 1914 the male population of Australia was less than 3 million, yet almost 400 000 of them volunteered to fight in the war. As many as 60 000 died and tens of thousands more were wounded.

What happened after the war in Australia?

After the war Australia entered a boom period. Millions of refugees and migrants arrived in Australia, many of them young people happy to embrace their new lives with energy and vigour. The number of Australians employed in the manufacturing industry had grown steadily since the beginning of the century.

How many convicts were in the first fleet of ships?

Britain decided to use its new outpost as a penal colony; the First Fleet of 11 ships carried about 1500 people—half of them convicts. The fleet arrived in Sydney Harbour on 26 January 1788, and it is on this day every year that Australia Day is celebrated.

What was the economy like in the 1950s?

The economy developed strongly in the 1950s with major nation-building projects such as the Snowy Mountains Scheme, a hydro-electric power scheme located in Australia’s southern alps.

What was Australia before 1901?

The Before and After of Australian 1901 History. 1. Australia Before 1901 – The Period of British Dominance. 2. Reaction to British Invasion of Australia. 3. 1890s The Era of Light and Hope for the Australians – The Path to Freedom. 4. Hindrances in the Freedom Movement.

What was the impact of the British invasion of Australia?

Catholic Britishers also marked their impact on the Australian aboriginal culture and society. Soon, the Australian tribes and colonies were on the mercy of the British. They need British support for the survival and import of goods to their country. Thus, the British invasion of Australia established a powerful influence on society both economically and culturally.

How did Australia become a nation?

Australia, a country and a nation, originated from the British rule by immense struggles. Also, untiring efforts of their people, representatives, and leaders. Their realisation to the unjust dominancy of foreign rulers and invaders gave them the power and spirit to fight as a nation. Also, to take their country back and save it from a foreign culture, tradition, and rule. The focus remained on their educational, social, cultural, political values, and identity to ultimate progress and move forward as an independent Australian society.

What was the first nation to be established after the 1899 referendum?

8. Federation of Australia. They accomplished the 1901 founding of a nation after the 1899 referendum in which most of the colonies voted in favour and developed an agreement. Finally, on the 5 th July 1900, they passed the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act and on 9 th July 1900, Queen Victoria accepted it.

Why did people want to unite all the colonies?

People thought more logically and wanted to unite all the colonies to work for a single cause of freedom as a united nation. They put this idea into account by sending the colonies representatives to various holdings and conventions, to work and agree on a single page of forming a federation system of Australia.

What are the three branches of the Australian Constitution?

The Federation of Australia should now transform as the Commonwealth of Australia. The three major branches should be Parliament, Judicature, and Executive.

When did the British arrive in Australia?

The arrival of the British in Australia dates back to 1788 when the first British fleet under the commands of James Cook a British voyager, arrived at the bay of Sydney and New South Wales. The Australian aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islander people present the original inhabitants of Australia.

How long ago was Sahul occupied by humans?

Archaeologists mostly fall into two major camps concerning the initial human occupation of Sahul, the first of which suggests that the initial occupation occurred between 45,000 and 47,000 years ago . A second group supports the initial settlement site dates between 50,000-70,000 years ago, based on evidence using uranium series, luminescence, and electron spin resonance dating. Although there are some who argue for a much older settlement, the distribution of anatomically and behaviorally modern humans leaving Africa using the Southern Dispersal Route could not have reached Sahul much before 75,000 years ago.

Where was the earliest coastal site in New Guinea?

The earliest coastal site in New Guinea is at its extreme eastern end , an open site on the uplifted coral terraces, which has yielded dates of 40,000 years or older for large tanged and waisted flakes axes.

How big is Sahul?

Today, Sahul has no native terrestrial animal larger than about 40 kilograms (100 pounds), but for most of the Pleistocene, it supported diverse large vertebrates weighing up to three metric tons (about 8,000 pounds). Ancient extinct megafaunal varieties in Sahul include a giant kangaroo ( Procoptodon goliah ), a giant bird ( Genyornis newtoni ), and a marsupial lion ( Thylacoleo carnifex ).

What continent is Sahul?

Sahul is the name given to the single Pleistocene-era continent which connected Australia with New Guinea and Tasmania. At the time, the sea level was as much as 150 meters (490 feet) lower than it is today; rising sea levels created the separate landmasses we recognize. When Sahul was a single continent, many of the islands ...

What happened to the megafaunal extinction?

As with other megafaunal extinctions, the theories about what happened to them include overkill, climate change, and human-set fires. One recent series of studies (cited in Johnson) suggests that the extinctions were concentrated between 50,000-40,000 years ago on mainland Australia and slightly later in Tasmania.

What is the north Sahul?

The north Sahul consists of the island of New Guinea; the southern part is Australia including Tasmania.

How long ago did the megafauna extinction last?

However, also as with other megafaunal extinction studies, the evidence also shows a staggered extinction, with some as early as 400,000 years ago and the most recent about 20,000 . The most likely is that extinction happened at different times for different reasons. Sources:

What was the landscape of pre-colonial Australia?

Revealing pre-colonial Australia as a landscape of grassy patches, open woodlands and abundant wildlife, Gammage’s groundbreaking book details how Aboriginal people followed an extraordinarily complex system of land management. This system used fire and the life cycles of native plants to ensure plentiful wildlife and plant foods throughout the year, all based, says Marcia Langton, on an encyclopaedic knowledge of their environments, seasonal weather patterns and biota.

Who wrote the book that rewrites the history of Aboriginal land management before white colonisation?

Professor Marcia Langton tells why the book that rewrites the history of Aboriginal land management before white colonisation makes it to her list of the 10 greatest books ever written. By Gabrielle Murphy. Share selection to: Unlike New Zealanders, whose education is rich in Maori language, history and customs, ...

What is 1788 landscape?

The historiographical device, she explains, is using ‘1788’ as a character exemplifying the landscape of entire continent at the time – from the northern-most tip of the mainland, to the southern-most point of Tasmania, and coastal and inland places in between. A landscape that was referred to, reference after reference in writing, by white explorers, settlers and surveyors as being akin to “a gentleman’s park”, “a landlord’s estate,” and in the paintings of early colonial artists .

What is the difference between Australians and New Zealanders?

Unlike New Zealanders, whose education is rich in Maori language, history and customs, most Australians have only a sketchy understanding of the traditions of their country’s first peoples.

What is the assumption that our land has always been a natural and untamed wilderness?

One such assumption is that our land of “droughts and flooding rains” has always been a natural and untamed wilderness. Another is that the early colonial painters distorted their views of Australia with romantic and nostalgic overlays that harked back to the European landscapes of their birth. A further, and more problematic misconception, is that the country’s traditional owners were primitive hunters and gatherers who wandered the land relying on chance for survival.

Where is traditional land management still used?

Traditional methods of land management are still used in Arnhem Land at the top end of the Australian landmass. Map via Wikimedia Commons

Who painted the second cataract in Launceston?

These two images of the second cataract of the North Esk river near Launceston provide a stark comparison of the landscape today (photographed by Bill Gammage in 2008) and in 1809 as painted by John William Lewin (Mitchell Library, SLNSW, PXD 388/6). Pictures supplied.

Overview

The history of Australia is the story of the land and peoples of the continent of Australia.
People first arrived on the Australian mainland by sea from Maritime Southeast Asia between 50,000 and 65,000 years ago, and penetrated to all parts of the continent, from the rainforests in the north, the deserts of the centre, and the sub-Antarctic islands of Tasmania and Bass Strait. The artistic, musical and spiritual traditions they established are among the longest surviving suc…

Indigenous prehistory

Early European exploration

Colonisation

From autonomy to federation

Federation

First World War

Inter-war years