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The first Europeans to sail to Australia were the Dutch in 1606, but they didn't settle there. -
The American Revolution the British to stop sending prisoners to Georgia and had to find a new place to send the prisoners. -
Captain James Cook sailed around Australia and named is the New South Wales -
British ships left England with convicts to establish a prison colony -
Great Britain saw that Australia was a good location to base its navy in the South Pacific Ocean -
British prisoners settled in Australia. -
New South Wales was officially a penal colony consisting mainly of convicts, marines, and the marines’ families. -
It was the destination for the hardest of convicted British and Irish criminals, those who were secondary offenders having re-offended after their arrival in Australia. -
Nonprisoner colonization continued and major coastal settlements became 7 independent colonies -
Immigration Restriction Act of 1901: restricted migration to people primarily of European descent This was dismantled after the Second World War. Today, Australia has a global, non-discriminatory policy and is home to people from more than 200 countries!