History
Aboriginal people
More than 50,000 years ago, during an Ice
Age Aboriginal people from South East Asia
came to Australia by boat. It was believed
that around one million Aboriginal people
lived as hunters and gatherers in Australia
until the arrival of English settlers in
1788. They spoke 250 different languages and
700 dialects. They lived in huts of grass,
leaves and barks and used sharp flake stone
spearheads and sharply pointed woods as
weapons.
Aboriginal people believe
in the timeless, magical realm of the
Dreamtime. According to Aboriginal legend,
totemic spirit ancestors forged all aspects
of life during the Dreamtime of the world’s
creation. These spirit ancestors continue to
connect the natural phenomena, as well as
past, present and future through every part
of Aboriginal culture.
Britain era
When British Govt heard
about a very large land in South, they sent
James Cook to Pacific Ocean to discover
Australia. Captain Cooks finally reached the
east coast of Australia in 1770 and named it
New South Wales.
It was during this time
England needed extra space for its convicts
and therefore in 1788 the first fleet of
eleven ships arrived to Australia carrying
convicts, marines, sailors, few settlers and
enough food for two years. This time of
point Farming was introduced by Britain in
Australia.
On the 26th January,
1788,
the flag was raised and New South Wales was
claimed in the name of King George III of
England, and the new settlement was called
Sydney.
The
Aboriginal people suffered more after
British settlement in Australia when Britain
took over the lands and changed the life
styles. By 1820 a brick house was built for
the Governor and also the church, Hospital
and convict barracks.
After the settlement in Sydney, other
places started developing such as Norfolk
Island to Tasmania and up the coast to New
castle where coal was found. The climate in
Tasmania was easy for the farmers to grow
crops there. West part from Sydney was
filled by mountains which the settlers named
it Blue Mountains and was not able to get
through to other side until the year 1813.
However in 1813,
Gregory Blaxland,
William Lawson and
William Charles Wentworth Crossed
the Mountains and found land on other side
which was good for farming. There on wards a
road was built and the Governor Lachlan
Macquarie founded the town of Bathurst which
is on the other side of the Mountains.
Gold brought recognition
and wealth to Australia in 1851 leading to a
large population of Migrants from Great
Britain, Ireland, continental Europe, North
America and China entering the country. The
population grew rapidly from 76,000 to
530,000 in nine years after the Gold
discovery. By 1880’s Sydney and Melbourne
was developed in to modern cities because of
the high wealth Gold brought in to the
country.
Independent Government
formation and Final moments with Britain
By the late 1880 majority
people, lived in Australia were native born
and of which 90% of them were British and
Irish Origins.
In January 1, 1901 six
colonies became a federation and the
Commonwealth of Australia was formed.
Federal constitution was declared by the
Governor General Lord Hopetoun. The first
Federal Election was held in March 1901 and
Edmund Barton, the first Australian
president was elected.
The first Law passed by
the Australian Government was Immigration
Restriction Act 1901 which was enforced to
restrict immigration from Asia. However the
law was abandoned in 1950 and many people
from China, Vietnam, Malaysia and Asia
migrated to Australia. Present Australia is
now the home for people from more than 200
countries.
During the period of
1911, Australia achieved Independent
Sovereign Nation status after World War One
and after some time Australia Act 1986 was
passed to remove the remaining relationships
with Britain.
Australia has six states
which includes New South Wales, Queensland,
South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and
Western Australia. It has two territories
which are Northern Territory and Australian
Capital Territory. Although these two
function as states, Common wealth Parliament
has the ultimate power to override any
legislation of their parliaments.
