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Dutch in Australia
They were the first to land in Australia but following attacks by Aborigines, they decided not to settle there -
James Cook
After many years Captain James Cook, of British origins, sailed around Australia.
He claims this land for England by defeating the Aborigines who were there -
Prisoners
Australia also seemed like a good place to exile prisoners of war, because it wasn't there possibility of escape e only a few minorities of indigenous people lived nearby.
For this reason in 1787 British ships full of prisoners sailed to Australia and in 1788 the prisoners were settled in Australia.
British transported prisoners to Australia until 1868. -
Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia
To Porth Arthur, until 1850, the worst British and Irish criminals were sent because it had some of the harder security measures of the British penal system.
This island took the name of Island of the Dead, for all the people who died in prison camps -
Australia
In 1901 was established the Commonwealth of Australia and Melbourne was the capitol until 1927 which became Canberra. -
White Australia
At the beggining Australia wanted a policy called “White
Australia,” in which it didn't allow non-Caucasians to immigrate to Australia.
This is why an immigration restriction law was made in 1901.
This law imposed limits on immigrating to Australia to Europeans.
This law was canceled only after the Second World War. -
The revenge of the Aborigines
So there wasn't much left of the Aborigines. He had been forbidden to teach their children their language and many didn't know their origins, they were a lost generation.
But in 1967 the government began passing relief laws for the Aborigines.
The Aborigines farmers began to ask for equal wages, and slowly there was an improvement in this population -
Australia today
In 1986, with the Australia Act, all legal links with the British Empire were severed.
Since then Australia has been a parliamentary democracy with the queen Elizabeth II -
Elections
Despite all the progress made, in the 1999 election 55% of Australians voted to become an independent country.