-
Period: to
The Industrial Revolution
Machinery started to take over people's jobs. High unemployment was roaming over the city of Britain. This made jobs quicker, easier and more efficient, but citizens of Britain had other ideas. They thought that this was bad due to high unemployment. -
Arrival
Captain Arthur Phillip arrived in Sydney Cove in January, 1788. Phillip founded the penal settlement of New South Wales and was given authority over the entire eastern half of the continent. -
Britain's prisons - First Fleet Arrival on 24th January, 1788
In 1788, Britain's prisons were getting too full, and America weren't allowing anymore prisoners. Crime levels increased and became more and more frequent. This was a big problem, and there was nowhere to go, except Australia. 164,000 convicts were transported to the Australian colonies between 1788 and 1868 on board 806 ships. Captain Cook, free settlers and carried officers, crew, marines and their families, also journeyed to New Holland. This all started because of the American Civil War. -
Van Diemen's Land
Van Diemen's Land separated from New South Wales to become the second colony in Australia. Britain claimed the whole of Australia after establishing the colony of Western Australia in 1829. -
New South Wales' Border
The border of New South Wales had been moved west, with Western Australia covering the remaining third of the mainland continent. -
The Gold Rush
The discovery of gold at Bathurst added a further source of wealth to New South Wales. By the second half of the 1800s, larger country towns were developing and becoming centres of prosperity in their own right. The gold rush was responsible for a massive increase in the city's population, which jumped from 39,000 to 200,000 in 20 years. Improved transport and an expansive building program made Sydney a truly metropolitan centre. -
Victoria and the Gold Rush
The Southern part of New South Wales broke away to become the separate colony of Victoria. The settlement of Melbourne, the centre of the new colony, had been founded by John Batman in 1835 after a rare 'treaty' with local Wurundjeri Elders. This treaty would later be ignored as more settlers began to arrive, initially mainly from Tasmania and a pastoral industry was established. However, it was the discovery of gold at places such as Ballarat and Bendigo that changed the fortunes of the colony. -
Period: to
American Civil War
Despite being across the world from the conflict, the Australian colonies were affected by the American Civil War both economically and by immigration. The Australian cotton crop became more important to England, which had lost its American sources, and it served as a supply base for Confederate blockade runners. Immigrants from Europe seeking a better life also found Australia preferable to war-torn North America. -
The borders being finalised
The colonial borders had been finalised. The continent of Australia was home to six different colonies, each with its own administration( the NT was part of NSW from 1825 - 1863 and part of SA from 1863 - 1911). -
Marvellous Melbourne
'Marvellous Melbourne' on the banks of the Yarra River had become a booming city in the 1880s. -
Railway Station
The new railway station at Albury, New South Wales was built to impress due to its grand style of its architecture.
