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James Cook was the first British to set foot in Australia. He arrived after a long journey, and claimed the territory he "discovered" for the English crown. -
Sydney Cove is the first colony built by the British. It was a penal colony because it was inhabited by convicts. It was made to make the British jails emptier. At this time, 1030 settlers populated Australia. -
In 1803, the British officially claimed Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land at the time) for British crown. It became a separate colony from New South Wales in 1825. -
A part of the poor or disadvantaged British people made the decision to move in the new territory in South Pacific. They wanted a better quality of life and wanted the emancipation. -
It was a big advancement for Australians that half of them were born there. It eventually helped them for their first requests of independence. -
Edward Hargraves, a gold prospector, found a small amount of gold near Bathurst, New South Wales in 1851. -
The new province of Victoria was a former part of the south of NSW. It was named after the British Queen at the moment, the Queen Victoria. -
Every state and internal territory (except the Jervis Bay Territory) is self-governing with its own independent executive government, legislature, and judicial system, while the rest only have local government status overseen by federal departments. -
Queensland is the last colony to be created. It still exists nowadays. It came after the decision to divide again the state of New South Wales -
The Western Australia was less populated compared to other colonies so it didn't get self government at the same time. But when it got self government, Australia was still apart of British empire. But the 6 colonies weren't united at the time. -
The 1891 Constitutional Convention was held in Sydney in March 1891 to consider a draft Frame of Government for the proposed federation of the British colonies in Australia and New Zealand. There were 46 delegates at the Convention. Among the delegates was Sir Henry Parkes, known as the "Father of Federation". The Convention approved a draft largely written by Andrew Inglis Clark from Tasmania and Samuel Griffith from Queensland, but the colonial parliaments failed to act to give effect to it. -
After the referendums by state in 1899-1900, the mainly answer was for Australia's independence. So the 1st of January 1901, the independent Australia was proclaimed.