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Period: to
Colonisaiton of Australia
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First European Factory
The establishment of factories by other European powers along the trade routes explored by Portugal and Spain started in the 17th century, first by the Dutch and then by the English. For example the Dutch East India Company (VOC), founded in 1602. -
The First Sighting of Australia
The Dutch vessel Duyfken, captained by Willem Janszoon landed near the modern day town of Weipa and the Pennefather River, but they were attacked by the Indigenous people. Janszoon proceeded down the coast for about 350 km. He stopped in some places, but was met by hostile natives and some of his men were killed. At the final place, he initially had friendly relations with the natives, but after he forced them to hunt for him violence broke out. -
Slavery in the United States
The first 19 or so Africans were brought near Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619, by Dutch traders who had seized them from a captured Spanish slave ship. -
Steam Engines - Thomas Savery
Thomas Savery was an English military engineer and inventor. He had been working on solving the problem of pumping water out of coal mines, his machine consisted of a closed vessel filled with water into which steam under pressure was introduced. This forced the water upwards and out of the mine shaft. -
The Seed Drill - Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull invented the seed drill. It would sow seeds in uniform rows and cover up the seed in the rows. Before this invention sowing seeds was done by hand by scattering seeds on the ground. Tull considered this method wasteful since many seeds did not take root. The first prototype seed drill was built from the foot pedals of Jethro Tull's local church organ. -
The Flying Shuttle - John Kay
John Kay invented the flying shuttle, an improvement to looms that enabled weavers to weave faster. The original shuttle contained a bobbin on to which the weft (the crossways yarn) yarn was wound. It was normally pushed from one side of the warp (the series of yarns that extended lengthways in a loom) to the other side by hand. Large looms needed two weavers to throw the shuttle. The flying shuttle was thrown by a leaver that could be operated by one weaver -
The Agricultural Revolution
The agricultural revolution was a period of agricultural development between the 18th century and the end of the 19th century. There was a massive and rapid increase in agricultural productivity and vast improvements in farm technology. -
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in the period from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840. This transition included going from hand production methods to machines, new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes, improved efficiency of water power, the increasing use of steam power and the development of machine tools. -
Spinning Jenny - James Hargreaves
The original spinning jenny used eight spindles instead of the one found on the spinning wheel. The labor saving devices threatened workers and in 1768 a group of spinners broke into Hargreaves' house and destroyed his spinning jenny machines, in fear that the machines would take work away from them. -
Discovery of Australia
Captain James Cook discovered Terra Australis and claimed the continent in the name of the British Crown. -
United States Declaration of Independence
It announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, were to become known as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. This also stopped Britain from sending convicts into America. -
Power Loom - Edmund Cartwright
The power loom was a steam-powered, mechanically operated version of a regular loom, an invention that combined threads to make cloth. -
Arrival of the First Fleet
The First Fleet is the 11 ships which left Great Britain on 13 May 1787 to find a penal colony that would become the first European settlement in Australia. The fleet consisted of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports, carrying more than 1,000 convicts, marines and seamen, and a vast quantity of stores. It took between 250 and 252 days from first to last arrival. -
Settlement in Sydney
It was the site chosen by Captain Arthur Phillip between 21 and 23 January 1788 for the British penal settlement which is now the city of Sydney. Phillip discovered that the once recommended Botany Bay offered neither a secure anchorage nor a reliable source of fresh water. Sydney Cove offered both of these, being serviced by a fresh water creek which was soon to be known as Tank Stream. -
The Cotton Gin- Eli Whitney
Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin revolutionized the cotton industry in the United States. Before his invention, farming cotton required hundreds of hours to separate the cottonseed from the raw cotton fibers. Simple seed-removing devices have been around for centuries, however, Eli Whitney's invention automated the seed separation process. His machine could generate up to fifty pounds (22.7kg) of cleaned cotton daily, making cotton production profitable for the southern states. -
Interchangable Parts - Eli Whitney
Eli Whitney created interchangeable parts for guns. The price was low because they were easy and fast to make. It allowed relatively unskilled workers to produce large numbers of weapons quickly and at lower cost, and made repair and replacement of parts infinitely easier.
The catch was that the quality of the guns was not as efficient as those that were hand made. The choice was between quality versus quantity, and most factory workers chose quantity. -
U.S.A Slavery Ban
During and after the American Revolutionary War, between 1777 and 1804, anti-slavery laws or constitutions were passed in every state north of the Ohio River and the Mason-Dixon Line. By 1810, 75 percent of all African Americans in the North were free. By 1840, virtually all African Americans in the North were free. -
Luddite Revolution
The Luddites were 19th-century English weavers that protested against newly developed labour-saving machinery from 1811 to 1817. They were being put out of work by the introduction of machinery and by being replaced with less-skilled, low-wage labourers. They responded by organizing to attack and smash the new machines. -
Great Potato Famine
In Ireland, the Great Famine was a period of mass starvation, disease and emigration between 1845 and 1852. It is also known as the Great Potato Famine because one-third of the population was solely reliant on potatos for a number of reasons. During the famine approximately 1 million people died and a million more emigrated from Ireland, causing the island's population to fall by between 20% and 25%. The proximate cause of famine was a potato disease commonly known as potato blight. -
Australian Gold Rush
The first gold rush in Australia began in May 1851 after prospector Edward Hargraves claimed to have discovered payable gold near Bathurst, at a site he called Ophir. Before the end of the year, the gold rush had spread to many other parts of the state where gold had been found, not just to the west, but also to the south and north of Sydney. -
Eureka Stockade
The Eureka Stockade was an organised rebellion of gold miners of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, who revolted against the colonial authority of the United Kingdom. The Battle of the Eureka Stockade was fought between miners and the Colonial forces of Australia. The rebellion came about because the digger's opposed the government miners' licences. The licences were a way for the government to tax the diggers. Licence fees had to be paid regardless of whether a digger's claim resulted in any gold. -
End of convicts in Australia
Western Australia's convict era came to an end with the finishing of penal transportation by Britain. In May 1865, the colony was advised of the policy change, and told that Britain would send one convict ship in each of the years 1865, 66 and 67 and after that transportation would stop. In agreement with this, the last convict ship to Western Australia, left Britain in 1867 and arrived in W.A on 10 January 1868. Over the 80 years more than 165,000 convicts were transported to Australia. -
Federation of Australia
The Federation of Australia was when the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia formed one nation. They agreed to have a federal government that was responsible for matters concerning the whole nation. When the Constitution of Australia came into force, on 1 January 1901, the colonies collectively became states of the Commonwealth of Australia.
