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48,000 BCE
The first inhabitants of Australia
We presume that Australia's aboriginal people arrived by boat from Asia during the last Ice Age. They lived across the continent and were split in 300 clans with their own language or dialect. They lived with and thanks to the nature and the animals. They had their own religions and beliefs too, always connected to the nature. -
British colonisation
Captain James Cook claimed the east coast of Australia for Britain. 160 000 persons came to Australia as convicts. They took aboriginal people for prisoners, women were sexually abused, men had to work all day long for Britain and could be hung for crimes or other stupid reasons. Australia was taken to the aboriginal people who lived there for thousands of years. -
Further into the continent
Britain colonizers began to go deeper into the country to have more territory. Aboriginal people went deeper into the country too with water and guns to protect themselves. Some big cities were settled and step by step, Australia was totally convicted by British people. -
Incredible discovery
New South Wales offered an incredible natural resource for Britain! Gold was discovered but lots of men and woman captured in the colonies had to come in New south Wales and Victoria to work in the mines and to harvest gold for the British state. This discovery generated a lot of money for Melbourne and Sydney but also a lot of violence. -
Modern Australia
Thanks to the investments of gold and wool, Australian cities became very famous and modern. Melbourne and Sydney were as stylish as known around the whole world! -
New nation is born
The six states of Australia became one and only nation thanks to the single constitution on 1 of January 1901. Australia is today home for people from more than 200 countries, maybe thanks to the first spoken language, English, international language. -
The Stolen Generation
To eliminate the aboriginal culture as main objectif, the British government removed lots of Aboriginal children of their native family and placed them in European families. Parents as children didn't know where they were and it was absolutely impossible for them to find their family back. -
Devastating war
The first World War touched Australia too. More than 400 000 men went fighting in the war and 60 000 of them died during the war, but also thousands of them were wounded. After the war, a new American fashion arrived in Australia, new cinemas, new music and cars made the British Empire feeling well after the war. Then, the Great Depression arrived and the country was "turned of" again, only sport was a nice distraction. The economy wasn't great, social and economic divisions increased it. -
Post-war boom
After the war, lots of Europeans migrated to Australia to find a job in the booming manufacturing sector. That explosion of job opportunities has promoted lots of national projects as the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme near Canberra. Australia began to export metal, wools, meat and lots more. The entire economy rose thanks to these factors. -
Actual Australia
The actual government and politicians introduces some laws, reforms, elections to make Australia a modern and prosperous country. The country abandoned the "White Australia policy", embraced multiculturalism and introduced equal pay for women, something very difficult for lots of European countries still now!
We can say Australia is a well conducted country but there are still some ambiguities about the Aboriginal People and their lands.
