Australian History

The continent Australia was originally part of the giant land mass Gondwanaland. Over hundreds of millions of years the land separated and Australia took on the shape it is known by today. After the extinction of the dinosaurs, the original founders of Australia were the Aboriginal people, who history shows, have been in Australia for at least 40 000 years. Before the European settlement of 1788, it is estimated the minimum population was 315,000 with 250 individual nations and over 250 languages.

There is much debate as to who was the first European to actually discover Australia. Whilst English Captain James Cook (not actually a Captain at the time of landing) is generally hailed as the founder of Australia in 1770, it is accepted that Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch explorers actually arrived first. The Dutchman Willem Jansz is the first known European to have landed on Australian soil in 1606 however he believed himself to be in New Guinea and after his men engaged in a fight with the natives, left the country believing that no good could be done with the land.

In 1786, England, needing to find a place for a new convict settlement, decided that the land Captain Cook had discovered 16 years earlier would be ideal. So about 1500 men, women and children set sail on 12th May 1787, led by Captain Arthur Phillip in what is known as ˜The First Fleet". They reached Botany Bay in New South Wales and Captain Phillip went ashore at Sydney Cove on 26th January 1788, marking the day that Australians classify as the beginning of Australia and known today as Australia Day. Van Diemen's Land, now known as Tasmania, was discovered in 1803. Between 1824 and 1863 separate colonies were created from parts of New South Wales to become the states that are known today. The transportation of convicts to Australia was phased out between 1840 and 1868.

A Gold Rush began in Australia in the early 1850's bringing an influx of immigrants from Great Britain, Ireland, Europe, North America and China. The gold led to a period of prosperity, but eventually the economic expansion came to an end and the 1890s marked a period of economic depression.

On 1 January 1901, after a decade of planning, the federation of the colonies and the Commonwealth of Australia was born. His Majesty King George V proclaimed Australia as a Dominion in 1911 of the British Empire. In 1919 at the end of WW1, Australia achieved Independent Sovereign Nation status for the first time and in January 1920 British rule ceased. No ruling British Monarch held any valid legal power of authority since. Australia also became a foundation member state of the United Nations in 1945.

The Great Depression brought economic hardship to all of Australia. With its extreme dependence on exports, Australia is thought to have been one of the hardest-hit countries in the western world along with Canada and Germany. Unemployment reached a record high of 29% in 1932. The shock of Britain's defeat in Asia in 1942 and the threat of Japanese invasion caused Australia to turn to the United States as a new ally and protector.

The Australian government realised following WWII, after narrowly preventing a Japanese invasion and suffering attacks on Australian soil for the first time, the country must "populate or perish". A massive immigration program brought traditional migrants from the United Kingdom along with, for the first time, large numbers of southern and central Europeans. Australia's booming economy stood in sharp contrast to war-ravaged Europe and two million immigrants arrived between 1948 and 1975. Since the 1970s and the abolition of the White Australia policy from Asia and other parts of the world, Australia's demography, culture and image of itself has been radically transformed. Since 1951, Australia has been a formal military ally of the U.S and the final constitutional ties between Australia and Britain ended in 1986 with the passing of the Australia Act, ending any British role in the Australian States.After the Australian public rejected the 1999 referendum to become a republic, Australia remains a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II.