Ancient Australia timeline

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    Ancient Australia timeline

  • Willem Janzoom

    Willem Janzoom (dutch) lands on the gulf of Carpentaria
  • Luis Vaez de Torres

    Luis Vaez de Torres (Spanish) lands on the Islands and strait that still bear his name
  • Dirk Hartog

    Dirt Hartog (Dutch) lands on the west coast of Australia and leaves an engraved power plate
  • Abel Tasman

    Abel Tasman (Dutch) names Van Diemen's land (Tasmania) claiming it as part if Nieuw Holland (New Holland)
  • Australia was called New Holland

    The name New Holland was first applied to the western and northern coast of Australia in 1644 by the Dutch seafarer Abel Tasman, best known for his discovery of Tasmania (called by him Van Diemen's Land).
  • William Dampier

    William Dampier (British) camps at Karrakatta Bay near Broome
  • William Dampier

    William Dampier (British) lands where Hartog did, renaming it shark bay
  • James Cook

    James Cook (British) lands in Botoany Bay. Cook incorrectly declares Australia as terra nullius
  • Captain Arthur Phillip

    Captain Arthur Phillip arrives with First Fleet to establish British Colony at Sydney Cove
  • British started killing the aboriginal people

    Starting in 1794, mass killings were first carried out by British soldiers, then by police and settlers – often acting together – and later by native police, working under the command of white officers, in militia-style forces supported by colonial governments
  • Captain Matthew Flinders

    Captain Matthew Flinders (British) and Bungaree (Kuringgai) circumnavigate Australia
  • First Nations People

    The first nations oeoples begin to be forced into missions
  • The British naming Australia

    The British government formally names the great Southern land "australia"
  • The Black War

    The Black War of Tasmania starts
  • Port Phillip Colony

    Port Phillip colony separates from NSW, and is named Victoria. The Australian gold rush begins