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The Start
For at least 40,000 years Aboriginal people lived isolated in Australia. About 1000 years ago people from China, India, Arabia, Malaya and the Pacific Islands started to explore the oceans around them. It is most likely that these sailors visited the north coast of Australia and traded with Aboriginal people. -
Period: to
James Cook
James Cook sailed around the east coast of Australia in 1770. He named it New South Wales. By 1869, Tasmania, Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and Queensland were created. They all had their separate governors and they all had their own separate government. -
First Fleet lands in Botany
In 1787, the First Fleet came to Australia by sailing on 11 ships the size of a Manly ferry. They left Portsmouth sailing with more than 1480 adults and children. Most were British and there were also African, American and French convicts on board. Here the Aboriginal people, who had already lived here for 40,000 years, met the British in an uneasy way and started a fight -
convicts and settelers
About one third of migrants (a person that moves from a place to get work) who came to Australia between 1830 and 1850 paid their own way. Convicts and settlers who came to Australia, compared Australia to Europe. This showed that conditions in Australia were very good and with hard work, they could be successful. They enjoyed their time in Australia so they convinced their relatives to come too. -
Policy of Protection
Wherever any of the Europeans went, Aboriginal people were forced out of their homes .The Government wanted to protect all the Aboriginals from any of the settlers so that no violence was caused. In 1788, there had been over 300,000 Aboriginal people in Australia, but by 1888 there was around about 80,000. Governments believed that the best way to help Abopriginalpeople was by creating a new policy of ‘Protection’. They were given food, clothes, blankets and sometimes basic education. -
The six separate colonies
Before 1900, there was no actual country called Australia. There was only New South Wales, Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, and Western Australia. Even though each of them was on the same country, they were governed like six mini countries and there was not much contact between them. Until the 1880s, nobody had the idea of combinding the colonies into one country. -
Bubonic Plague
Bubonic plague came to Sydney in 1900 and soon spread to other Australian states. Throughout seven months, 300 people caught the disease and 100 died. The disease came to Australia on ships from other countries, people could not move into or out of the area. The plague was spread by rats so the government made sure they would all be killed. -
Australia, Multicultral country
After more than 200 years of migration, Australia has become a multicultural country. By 1990, 40% of people in Australia were born in another country and more than 100 languages were spoken.
