Australia is one of my favourite places in the world so I’ve decided to write the following article about Australia to give you more information on this great country. I hope you find the following article informative.

Australia’s History

Aborigines were the first inhabitants of Australia and they have inhabited the country for roughly 40,000 years. They originally came from Southeast Asia and there was said to be between 500,000 to 1000,000 aborigines in 1606 when the Europeans settled in the country but there is roughly 350,000 in Australia now.

In 1606 a ship sighted Australia, this ship contained Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese sailors. The Dutch landed in 1606 at the Gulf of Carpentaria. Then in 1616 the territory was names New Holland. In 1688 the British arrived but it wasn’t until 1770 when a gentleman called Captain James Cook arrived on the land did Britain take possession. It was then called New South Wales. A colony was set up in Sydney which then was known as Port Jackson in 1788 and England sent around 161,000 convicts to the settlement. They continued to transport convicts over until 1839 when it was suspended.

The convicts who settled in the country established six colonies-

1. New South Wales (established in 1786)

2. Tasmania/ The Van Diemen’s Land (established in 1825)

3. Western Australia (established in 1829)

4. South Australia (established in 1834)

5. Victoria (established in 1851)

6. Queensland (established in 1859)

There was plenty of gold rushes and mining of minerals as the land hasn’t be farmed before. Sheep farming and grain also became an informant economic enterprise. The colonies later became states and a commonwealth of Australia was established in 1901. They incorporated a constitution of British parliamentary and U.S. federal traditions.

Free compulsory education was bought in along with maternity allowances and sickness and old age pension.