The history of Australia

Australia´s history

The first settlers in Australia were the aborigines. They emigrated from Asia to Australia for approximately 30.000 years ago. There is not much information about this period, because the aborigines had a primitive culture. They had learned to live in the bush, and relied on the nature and its resources.

However Australia really became interesting in the 1606, where Dutch explorers discovered the island of Australia, but at the given time, it had not much interest for the European powers. That came later in 1770, when a British explorer rediscovered Australia and started to map the coastline. Afterwards the British declared Australia for Terra Nullius, Latin for no man’s land, and later in 1786 they made Australia a British colony and claimed the land for the crown. Australia was made a colony for a number of different reasons. First it gave the British more land, and also stopped the French and Spanish from taking the land. Secondly the British prisons were overflowing with convicts, and the British Parliament came up with the idea, that they could sail the prisoners to Australia. Therefore the British sent the first fleet of prisoners in 1787, to Australia to start a penal colony. The first fleet consisted of 11 ships and about 1530 people. The first settlement laid the foundation of Sydney. In the following years the British sent more convicts, and free settlers to Australia, and the colony grew. But they started to get into problems with the indigenous population. As the British expanded there colony’s they pushed the Aborigines away. During the eighteenth century the number of aborigines declined dramatically. Not only were they killed by the diseases that the Europeans brought with them, they were also killed by gunshots and poison. The aborigines stood no chance, because the Europeans were technological superior.  

  

During the eighteenth century the colony continued to grow, but they were still subjects to the British crown. However people started to want their own country, and in 1911 the Australian Capital Territory was established. Although the Australians had their own country, they still had close ties with the British Crown. This came very clear during World War 1. Australia was not directly attacked, but they decided to join the on the British side.

This happened again in 1939, when the Second World War erupted. Again they helped the British, but this time they also had to deal with the Japanese, in the Pacific Ocean.

You can also see Australia´s ties to Britain, in their flag. Union Jack is in the top left corner.

 During the nineteenth century Australia has evolved into a strong and independent nation. Their culture and lifestyle resembles the European lifestyle, because it is a former colony. However the original population, the aborigines, still has a role in the society despite that the Europeans have tried to wipe out the aborigines with a number of methods. In the beginning they simply tried to kill them. But later in the eighteenth and nineteenth they tried a different method. They tried to breed them out. The aboriginal children were taken away from their parents, and were sent to special schools, or adopted into white families. The white even worked with breeding programs for the aborigines. This move by the government, later led to the concept “The Stolen Generation”