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European Exploration- Duch
First Europeans to sail to Australia were the Dutch in 1606, but they didn’t settle there. -
European Exploration- Britsh
Captain James Cook sailed around Australia.
Cook named the area New South Wales, and
Ignored the Aborigines living there & claimed the land for England. -
Prisoners as Colonists
American Revolution forced the British to stop sending prisoners to Georgia (used as a penal colony at the time)
Australia seemed like a good choice to send them: no chance of escape, no colonies around it, and very few native people lived there -
1788
1787 – British ships called the “First Fleet” left England with convicts to establish a prison colony
1788—British prisoners settled in Australia -
New South Wales
1788 to 1832: New South Wales was officially a prison colony consisting mainly of convicts, marines, and the marines’ families.
Only 20% of the first prisoners were women.
The British transported prisoners to Australia until 1868.
By this time, free people from other countries were settling there. -
Port Arthur, Tasmania
From 1833, until the 1850s, it was the destination for the hardest of convicted British and Irish criminals.
Some tales suggest that prisoners committed murder just to escape the desolation of life at the camp. -
The Perfect Colony…
Great Britain saw that Australia was a good location to base its navy in the South Pacific Ocean
It had many opportunities for trade with Asia and the Americas -
Nonprisoner colonization continued…
Major coastal settlements became 7 independent colonies
1861: government officials created boundaries for the colonies that are still in place today -
Commonwealth of Australia was established
Melbourne served as the national capital until Canberra was completed in 1927 -
“White Australia”
They would not allow non-Caucasians to immigrate to Australia.
That has since changed…
Immigration Restriction Act of 1901: restricted migration to people primarily of European descent
Today, Australia has a global, non-discriminatory policy and is home to people from more than 200 countries!
