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The first European to land in Australia is Dutch explorer Captain Willem Janszoon.
While Indigenous Australians have inhabited the continent for tens of thousands of years, and traded with nearby islanders, the first documented landing in Australia by a European was in 1606. The Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon landed on the western side of Cape York Peninsula and charted about 300 km of coastline. -
English explorer William Dampier explores the western coast of Australia.
Abel Tasman was the first of the European explorers known to have reached New Zealand, in December 1642. His time here was brief. -
James cook arrives in austrila
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Captain James Cook lands at Botany Bay with his ship, the HMS Endeavour.
In 1770, Lieutenant (later Captain) James Cook landed at Botany Bay's Inscription Point. He and his Endeavour crew stayed in the area for eight days and had a dramatic impact on Australian history. Located near Silver Beach on the Kurnell Peninsula headland, Cook's landing place is a popular Sydney attraction. -
the Aboriginal Genocide started
at least 20,000 Aboriginal people were killed. After European settlers arrived in 1788, thousands of aborigines died from diseases; colonists systematically killed many others. At first contact, there were over 250,000 aborigines in Australia. The massacres ended in 1920 leaving no more than 60,000 aborigines left. -
covers the early colonial period of Australia's history
The history of Australia from 1788 to 1850 covers the early colonial period of Australia's history, from the arrival in 1788 of the First Fleet of British ships at Sydney, who established the penal colony, the scientific exploration of the continent and later, the establishment of other Australian colonies.