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Britain in 1776, Australia was a vast,
largely unknown land. The history of
Europe was already centuries old .
Australia's abor iginal inhabitants
were few in number and scattered
over expansive territories.
Colonial Europeans had practi–
cally ignored this nation to be. It
was simply too far away to be of
great importance. Spanish explor–
ers sailed the st.rai t between Aus–
tralia and New Guinea as early as
1606. Had thei r sailors landed at
what was to become Sydney Har–
bour, the continent could have been
claimed for Spain .
In that same century Dutch saiJ–
ors charted a portion of Australian
coastline, but found nothing they
deemed worthy of claiming. Even
the French sighted Australia in the
1760s and had the chance to claim
the continent- but didn't.
Or what if the Malays or other
Asían peoples had fully realized
what lay to their south ? The his–
tory and culture of the land would
have been quite ditferent.
The land of Australia remained a
sleeping giant waiting to be awak–
ened. Then in 1770, British explor–
er Captain James Cook discovered
the welt-watered and fer tile eastern
seaboard and claimed it for the
British Crown. How ditferent this
land might have been had Australia
July / August 1985
already been the terri tory of anoth–
er European power or had Captain
Cook simply sailed on, taking no
note of the promise the land held.
British interest at that time was at
borne and on the American colonies
where unrest reached a crescendo.
It
was not till 1787 that the first
fleet of colonial ships made the
12,000-mile journey from England
to Sydney. It was a rather inauspi–
cious beginning. Eleven ships with
about 1,000 settlers made the
treacherous voyage. For many it
was a one-way ticket-convicts
were being sent to relieve the
increasing burdeos on British jails.
One thing the new Australian
settlers needed to be was hardy and
tough. To carve out the nation was
not going to be easy.
Perhaps that's where the Austra–
lian temperament and stereotypical
image was born. A rugged people
pioneering a rugged land.
lt
took
courage and determination. But it
resulted in a strong and prosperous
society important to today's econo–
my.
The Developing Years
From. this fledgling beginning in
the 1780s a modero Austral ia was
born. Many more one-way tickets
were given to English, Scottish and
Irish who were sent to this faraway
colony. Soon native-born Austra-
¡:
liaos were growing to maturity to
S
begin their part in the pioneering
~~
process.
~
By 1800 the Industrial Revolu–
tion was in full swing. Britain led
~
the way and textiles formed the
z
backbone of a changing economy.
~
Wool was an essential ítem in the
~
new world order. In Australia graz–
ing land for sheep rapidly became
the center of national development.
The frontiers , initially limited to
coastal regions, expanded into the
interior.
The struggle to settle Australia
was different from many other
nations. There were no wars with
outside nations to bloody her soil.
No revolution to establish an inde–
pendent nation-Australia remains
loyal to the British Crown and was
always important to Empire and
Commonwealth. It was not till the
Second World War that Australians
fully realized they could be sub–
jected to the throes of warfare.
As the nation pressed its way into
world prominence, natural resources
played an important role. Coal pro–
vided fue! for increasing industriali–
zat ion. Then, in the mid-1 800s, the
discovery of gold brought prospec–
tors by the droves. The population of
Au strali a grew and diversified.
When the goldfields played out,
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