Education Matters

History

Pre-1700s

It is currently believed that native people from Papua New Guinea either walked across a land bridge that was exposed during the last Ice Age, or they island hopped to Australia about 60,000 years ago. These people established themselves in all parts of Australia and produced possibly the oldest continuous culture in human history.

The number of Aboriginal people living in Australia before European migration was between 300,000 to one million. Their population consisted of 500 different cultural groups that spoke 250 different languages. The Aborigines were hunters and gatherers. They moved with the seasons, and took with them only those possessions that were necessary for the hunting and preparation of food. In areas of plentiful food sources they remained in a relatively small area. In dry regions they were forced to travel over large areas to obtain food and water. Traditional Aboriginal society is a complex network of kinship relationships. All members of the family unit have their own role and responsibilities. No formal government or authority exists, but social control is maintained by a sophisticated system of beliefs called the Dreaming. These beliefs are expressed in their music, art, and dance. A rich oral tradition exists in which Dreamtime stories about the time of creation or about recent history is preserved and passed down the generations.

In the 1600s, Dutch explorers visited the northern and western coasts of Australia and discovered Tasmania. The first British explorer to the area was William Dampier, who landed on the northwest coast in 1688.

1700s

In 1770 James Cook first discovered and mapped the eastern coast of Australia. Cook claimed the whole of eastern Australia for Great Britain, and he named it “New South Wales”. The European settlement of Australia began in 1788 when a British penal colony was established on the east coast. Britain had a number of reasons to colonize Australia:
To relieve the overcrowded prisons in Britain and to use Australia as a base for trade with South East Asia and China, Britain colonized Australia. Captain Arthur Phillip, who commanded eleven ships full of convicts, military guards and officials, arrived in Australia on January 18, 1788 at Botany Bay. After 8 days this group of 1,373 people, including 732 convicts, moved a few kilometers north to Port Jackson. Their settlement here later grew into the city of Sydney.
Australia Day is now celebrated on 26 January each year to commemorate the start of settlement at Port Jackson.

1800s

From this point on, the colonisation of Australia grew rapidly and expanded across the entire continent. Within the next hundred years, additional colonies were established near present day Hobart, Brisbane, Perth, and Melbourne. The distance from Britain and the new environment made life extremely difficult for the colonists. From these conditions a national character of toughness, independence and perseverance emerged.

Great Britain sent over 160,000 convicts to Australia over the following 80 years. More settlers from Great Britain and Ireland arrived in the mid 1800s with the rise of the wool industry and the discovery of gold. Between 1852 and 1889 about 40,000 Chinese immigrants came to Australia in search of gold. Governing the colonies directly from Britain was difficult because they were so far from Britain. The colonists also wanted to be self-governing, so in 1850 the British Government gave the colonies the power to make their own laws. By the end of the 19th century Australia consisted of six self-governing colonies: New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. Each colony was a distinct political entity with its own parliament, governor, laws and regulations.

1900s

It was eventually agreed that the colonies needed to join together to protect and promote their common interests. So, a national government was created on January 1, 1901 and this event is known as Federation. This produced a united country and resulted in important feelings of pride and patriotism in the Australian public.

Australia faced its first challenge as a nation when it entered World War I. Soldiers from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (called the ANZACs), and British soldiers landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey on April 25, 1915. They fought an unsuccessful battle that lasted for 8 months and resulted in 26,111 Australian casualties. However, the fighting and personal qualities of the ANZACs contributed to an Australian identity and helped to unite the Australian people as a nation.

ANZAC Day is a national holiday on the 25th of April that commemorates the contributions and sacrifices of all men and women from the armed services.
Almost a million Australians served in World War II. The Australian mainland came under direct attack for the first time as Japanese aircraft bombed Darwin and Japanese submarines attacked Sydney Harbor. The war made Australia feel vulnerable to an invasion, so this influenced its decision to encourage the migration of people from about 200 countries. After the war, vast numbers of displaced people immigrated to Australia. In total about 5.9 million new settlers came and they helped to ease Australia’s labour shortages. Their arrival has influenced all aspects of Australian society.