What year was Australia first settled?
What year was Australia first settled as a British penal colony? 1788. 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...
Who was first settled Australia?
Humans first settled in Australia as early as 65,000 years ago Artifacts reveal a people skilled with stone tools, other crafts
How did settlement shape Australia?
With the exploration and settlement of New South Wales, Sydney grew quickly; the British government provided free land, free convict labour, free capital works, and guaranteed markets for the produce of the new colony. Trading links with the rest of the world were quickly established.
Was Australia a settled or a conquered country?
They were treated as individuals, not as groups or communities. The decision to classify the ‘new’ country of Australia as a settled colony, rather than as conquered or ceded, meant that the new settlers brought with them the general body of English law, including the criminal law.
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When was gold discovered in Australia?
The discovery of gold in Australia is traditionally attributed to Edward Hammond Hargraves, near Bathurst, New South Wales, in February 1851 . Traces of gold had nevertheless been found in Australia as early as 1823 by surveyor James McBrien. As by English law all minerals belonged to the Crown, there was at first, "little to stimulate a search for really rich goldfields in a colony prospering under a pastoral economy". Richard Broome also argues that the California Gold Rush at first overawed the Australian finds, until "the news of Mount Alexander reached England in May 1852, followed shortly by six ships carrying eight tons of gold".
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.
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 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?"
What was the colony of New South Wales?
The British colony of New South Wales was established in 1788 as a penal colony . 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 of the east coast of Australia in 1770, now aroused new interest. In particular, Sir Jospeh Banks, the influential Botanist who had accompanied Cook on the voyage, strongly supported "Botany Bay" as a site for a new British settlement and convict colony. For this and for related strategic and commercial reasons, the British government decided, to embark on the new settlement project.
Who were the first judges of the peace in Australia?
Originally, Governor Phillip, Lieutenant-Governor Ross and Judge Advocate David Collins acted as Justices of the Peace. Phillip was later given the right to appoint additional Justices of the Peace. Like their English counterparts, these Justices of the Peace, or magistrates, undertook both judicial and administrative duties.
What did the New South Wales military do?
The officers quickly gained significant land holdings and monopoly control over trade, especially of rum and alcohol imports.
What happened to the New South Wales Corps?
The New South Wales Corps remained in control until 1810 when the British government sent a new Governor (Macquarie) with his own regiment, disbanding the New South Wales Corps.
Who were the early governors of New South Wales?
The Early Governors of New South Wales. Governor Phillip (1788-92) was succeeded as Governor by Governors John Hunter, 1795-1800, Philip Gidley King, 1800-06, and William Bligh, 1806-08 (the famous Captain Bligh of the "Mutiny on the Bounty"). Until 1824, the military governors of New South Wales were absolute rulers, ...
Where did the convicts settle?
Finding the area unsuitable for settlement, they actually settled at Sydney Cove in Port Jackson ( or Sydney Harbour as it is better known) on January 26, the date now celebrated nationally as "Australia Day".
Who arrested Bligh and took over the colony?
On January 26, 1808, the troops, led by Lt-Col. George Johnston, arrested Bligh and took over control of the Colony.
What is the second earliest European settlement in Australia?
Parramatta is considered to be the second earliest European settlement in Australia after Sydney. The British founded both Sydney and Parramatta in 1788. Today, the latter is a suburb and major business hub in the Sydney metropolitan area.
When did the Australians first come to Sydney?
Before the British arrived in Sydney, the area was already inhabited by about 4,000 to 8,000 people.The Indigenous Australians and Europeans first came in contact with one another on April 29, 1770, when Lieutenant James Cook landed at Botany Bay.
What is the capital of Australia?
Kingston is the capital of Australia’s Norfolk Island. As one of the oldest towns in the country, Kingston is associated with great cultural and historical significance. The town was established on March 6, 1788 by Lieutenant Philip Gidley King and of its first 22 settlers, 9 male, and 6 female convicts were also included.
Why is Kingston called Sydney?
Initially, Kingston was known as Sydney Bay or Sidney and was later called the Town of Sydney to honor the British Home Secretary, Viscount Sydney. The old town of Kingston today exists as several irregular winding lanes at the Kingston Pier’s head.
What was the most important building in the Windsor settlement?
The most notable building from this initial period is the Francis Greenway's Saint Matthew's Anglican Church of Windsor. The importance of the Windsor settlement was realized when in 1813 there was a report that France would attack the granary in Windsor to cut off grain supply to Sydney.
Where is the oldest town in Australia?
4. Windsor. Windsor, one of the oldest towns in Australia is located in New South Wales to the northwest of Sydney. The town is based on banks of the Hawkesbury River and houses a population of 1,803. European settlement in Windsor first started in about 1791 ...
When was Parramatta first settled?
Soon, by November 2, 1788 , a settlement in the region was started. It was initially called George Rose but later the original indigenous name, Parramatta was used again. The first grain in Australia was cultivated here and also the site was where the Australian wool industry first developed.
What is the second oldest settlement in Australia?
Parramatta. New South Wales. Second oldest settlement in Australia. Now a part of the Sydney urban area. 1788. Kingston. Norfolk Island. Island settled as part of the Colony of New South Wales. It is now a separate territory of Australia.
When did the British colonize Australia?
In 1788 , the British Empire began colonising Australia, constructing permanent towns and farms. Aboriginal people began living in permanent settlements, some by choice while others were forced.
When was Christmas Island inhabited?
The Cocos-Keeling Islands and Christmas Island have only been inhabited since the 1880s. Information for them can be found in the table below. Norfolk Island was first settled by Polynesians in the 13th or 14th century. In 1788 the British colonised the island, by that time the Polynesians had been gone for hundreds of years.
Which country ruled the island of Nauru?
From 1947 to 1966, Australia administered the island of Nauru, which has been inhabited for at least three thousand years. The Nauruan people traditionally lived in permanent villages. Nauru is now an independent sovereign country formally called the Republic of Nauru. Australia governed the Territory of New Guinea (1920–1941), ...
Who inhabited Australia?
Australia proper. For 40,000–70,000 years, the Australian mainland and Tasmania have been inhabited by the Australian Aboriginal people , and the Torres Strait Islands (now part of Queensland) by Torres Strait Islanders.
Which islands have never been inhabited?
The Ashmore and Cartier Islands have never been inhabited, but are regularly visited by traditional Indonesian fishers.
What were the first Australians?
The First Australians. Much of our knowledge about the earliest people in Australia comes from archaeology. The physical remains of human activity that have survived in the archaeological record are largely stone tools, rock art and ochre, shell middens and charcoal deposits and human skeletal remains.
Where did the first humans come from in Australia?
The early occupation of Australia. The earliest accepted dates for human occupation of Australia come from sites in the Northern Territory. The Madjedbebe (previously called Malakunanja II) rock shelter in Arnhem Land has been dated to around 65,000 years old ( Nature, 2017).
What is the oldest evidence of human arrival in Australia?
Mineral pigments, such as ochre, provide the oldest evidence for human arrival in Australia. Used pigments have been found in the earliest occupation levels of many sites, with some pieces dated at about 55,000 years old. This suggests that art was practised from the beginning of colonisation. Natural pigments were probably used for a range of purposes including burials, cave painting, decoration of objects and body art. Such usage still occurs today.
How old is the skull of the Aboriginal people?
One of the key remains from this site was that of a 12,000 year old skull discovered in 1940. It is one of the earlier prehistoric Aboriginal remains found in Australia.
What was the first sea crossing?
The settlement of Australia is the first unequivocal evidence of a major sea crossing and rates as one of the greatest achievements of early humans. However the motive and circumstances regarding the arrival of the first Australians is a matter for conjecture. It may have been a deliberate attempt to colonise new territory or an accident after being caught in monsoon winds.
How did Australia and New Guinea separate?
For much of its history Australia was joined to New Guinea, forming a landmass called Sahul. These countries were finally separated by rising sea levels about 8,000 years ago. Genetic evidence supports the close ties between these two countries – the Indigenous peoples from these regions are more closely related to each other than to anyone else in the world, suggesting a recent common ancestry.
When was the Mungo Woman discovered?
Mungo Woman, also referred to as ‘Lake Mungo 1’ (WLH 1), was discovered in 1968 . At 42,000 years old, this is the most securely dated human burial in Australia and the earliest ritually cremated remains found anywhere in the world. The cremation process shrinks bone and has made the skeleton of this originally small-bodied woman even smaller. Dr Alan Thorne reconstructed the skull from over 300 fragments.
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.
Overview
Colonisation
The decision to establish a colony in Australia was made by Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney. This was taken for two reasons: the ending of transportation of criminals to North America following the American Revolution, as well as the need for a base in the Pacific to counter French expansion. Approximately 50,000 convicts are estimated to have been transported to the …
European exploration
While the actual date of original exploration in Australia is unknown, there is evidence of exploration by William Dampier in 1699, and the First Fleet arrived in 1788, eighteen years after Lt. James Cook surveyed and mapped the entire east coast aboard HM Bark Endeavour in 1770. In October 1795 George Bass and Matthew Flinders, accompanied by William Martin, sailed the boat Tom Thum…
Aboriginal resistance and accommodation
Aboriginal reactions to the arrival of British settlers were varied, but often hostile when the presence of the colonists led to competition over resources, and to the occupation of Aboriginal lands. European diseases decimated Aboriginal populations, and the occupation of land and degradation of food resources sometimes led to starvation. By contrast with New Zealand, no valid treaty wa…
Politics and government
Traditional Aboriginal society had been governed by councils of elders and a corporate decision-making process, but the first European-style governments established after 1788 were autocratic and run by appointed governors—although English law was transplanted into the Australian colonies by virtue of the doctrine of reception, thus notions of the rights and processes established by …
Economy and trade
The instructions provided to the first five governors of New South Wales show that the initial plans for the colony were limited. The settlement was to be a self-sufficient penal colony based on subsistence agriculture. Trade, shipping and ship building were banned in order to keep the convicts isolated and so as not to interfere with the trade monopoly of the British East India Company. There wa…
Religion, education, and culture
Since time immemorial in Australia, Indigenous people had performed the rites and rituals of the animist religion of the Dreamtime. The permanent presence of Christianity in Australia however, came with the arrival of the First Fleet of British convict ships at Sydney in 1788. As a British colony, the predominant Christian denomination was the Church of England, but one tenth of all the convicts wh…
Representations in literature and film
• Marcus Clarke's 1874 novel, For the Term of his Natural Life, and the 1983 television adaptation of the novel.
• Eleanor Dark's 1947 Timeless Land trilogy, which spans the colonisation from 1788 to 1811. The 1980s television drama, The Timeless Land, was based on this trilogy.
• D. Manning Richards. Destiny in Sydney: An epic novel of convicts, Aborigines, and Chinese embroiled in the birth of Sydney, Australia. First book in Sydney series. Washingt…
• Marcus Clarke's 1874 novel, For the Term of his Natural Life, and the 1983 television adaptation of the novel.
• Eleanor Dark's 1947 Timeless Land trilogy, which spans the colonisation from 1788 to 1811. The 1980s television drama, The Timeless Land, was based on this trilogy.
• D. Manning Richards. Destiny in Sydney: An epic novel of convicts, Aborigines, and Chinese embroiled in the birth of Sydney, Australia. First book in Sydney series. Washington DC: Aries Books, 2012. ISBN 9…
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 s…
Colonisation
Although various proposals for the colonisation of Australia were made prior to 1788, none were attempted. In 1717, Jean-Pierre Purry sent a plan to the Dutch East India Company for the colonisation of an area in modern South Australia. The company rejected the plan with the comment that, "There is no prospect of use or benefit to the Company in it, but rather very certain and heavy costs".
Indigenous prehistory
Humans are believed to have arrived in Australia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago. As hunter-gatherers, they established enduring spiritual and artistic traditions and used a range of implements adapted to their environments. Recent estimates of the population at the time of British settlement range from 500,000 to one million.
Early European exploration
Although a theory of Portuguese discovery in the 1520s exists, it lacks definitive evidence. The Dutch East India Company ship, Duyfken, captained by Willem Janszoon, made the first documented European landing in Australia in 1606. That same year, a Spanish expedition sailing in nearby waters and led by Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernandes de Queirós had landed in the New Hebri…
From autonomy to federation
Imperial legislation in 1823 had provided for a Legislative Council nominated by the governor of New South Wales, and a new Supreme Court, providing additional limits to the power of governors. A number of prominent colonial figures, including William Wentworth. campaigned for a greater degree of self-government, although there were divisions about the extent to which a future l…
Federation
The Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed by the Governor-General, Lord Hopetoun on 1 January 1901, and Barton was sworn in as Australia's first prime minister. 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 support the …
First World War
When the United Kingdom declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914, the declaration automatically involved all of Britain's colonies and dominions. The outbreak of war came in the middle of the 1914 federal election campaign during which Labor leader Andrew Fisher promised to defend Britain "to the last man and the last shilling." Both major parties offered Britain 20,000 Australian …
When the United Kingdom declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914, the declaration automatically involved all of Britain's colonies and dominions. The outbreak of war came in the middle of the 1914 federal election campaign during which Labor leader Andrew Fisher promised to defend Britain "to the last man and the last shilling." Both major parties offered Britain 20,000 Australian …
Inter-war years
After the war, Prime Minister Billy Hughes led a new conservative force, the Nationalist Party, formed from the old Liberal party and breakaway elements of Labor (of which he was the most prominent), after the deep and bitter split over Conscription. An estimated 12,000 Australians died as a result of the Spanish flu pandemic of 1919, almost certainly brought home by returning soldiers.