AUSTRALIA  About 1300 Marco Polo made reference to the reputed existence of a vast southern continent, although there is no evidence that he had specific knowledge of Australia. Some writers have suggested that maps compiled in Europe from the late 1400s show parts of the Australian coastline. Some believe in the theory that the Portuguese were the first Europeans to sight Australia. They think that the continent was sighted by Cristovao de Mendonca around 1522. A number of relics and remains have been interpreted as evidence that the Portuguese reached Australia around this time, 300 years before Cook. These clues include the Mahogany Ship, an alleged Portuguese caravel that was shipwrecked six miles west of Warrnambool, Victoria (but its remains have never been found); the so-called Dieppe maps, secret maps drawn by the Portuguese; a cannon and five keys found near Geelong. Most historians do not accept these relics as proof that the Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach Australia. 
Marco Polo Engraving based on 16th century painting | 
Dieppe Map - 1547 1856 copy held at National Library of Australia |
An early map of the known world, made in 1603 by Father Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit who spent a long time in China, noted in a block space where Australia lies: "No one has ever been to this land in the south, hence we know nothing about it." In smaller characters he brushed the Chinese characters "fire, land" and "Land of Parrots" suggesting the Chinese were aware of and had perhaps sighted, or even landed on, Australia. The first undisputed sighting of Australia by a European was made in 1606 by Willem Janszoon, a Dutch explorer. He followed the coast of New Guinea, missed Torres Straight, and explored the western side of Capt York believing the land was still part of New Guinea. The Dutch made one landing but were attacked by Aborigines so they abandoned further exploration. This was followed by an exploration by Luis Vaez de Torres, who passed through Torres Strait without sighting Australia, but the existence of the strait became a close kept Spanish state secret. In 1616 Dirk Hartog landed on what is now called Dirk Hartog Island off the coast of Western Australia. He left behind an inscription on a pewter plate which can be seen today in Holland. Further voyages by Dutch ships followed, including by Abel Tasman in 1642, a Dutch explorer. In 1644 Tasman established that Australia was made up of four coasts. The Australian state of Tasmania is named for him. Willem de Vlamingh then mapped the west coast in 1697. William Dampier, a former pirate, was the first Englishman to see Australia. He explored the north-west coast in 1688. In 1699 he made another voyage before returning to England. He was the first European to report Australia's peculiar large hopping animals. 
Kangaroo | 
The last four Tasmanian Aboriginies taken around 1860 Truganini, recognized as the last full blooded Aborigine from Tasmania to survive, is seated at far right By 1876 they had been moved to Flinders Island and died through war, persecution and disease | 
Hollandia Nova, 1659 map based on voyages by Abel Tasman and Willem Janszoon This is a 1663 French edition | 
Pewter Plate of Dirk Hartog |
Did Captain Cook discover Australia? No more than Columbus "discovered" America. Sailing the Endeavour for the British Royal Navy, Captain James Cook reached New Zealand in October 1769 and mapped its coast. He then sailed across to south-east Australia which he sighted on 20 April 1770. He claimed the east coast, which he named New South Wales, for Great Britain on 22 August 1770. Cook's expedition identified Botany Bay as a good spot to place a settlement but Sydney Cove was later used as the first settlement in 1788 when the First Fleet arrived under Captain Arthur Phillip. January 26, the day he arrived, is now Australia Day. 
Replica of the Endeavour | 
Captain James Cook |
Britain had just lost its American Colonies and needed to find alternate destinations to place convicts from its overcrowded prisons. Australia became that place. In 1787 the First Fleet of 11 ships with about 1,305 people, which included 736 convicts, 211 marines, 17 convicts' children, 27 marines' wives, 14 marines' children and about 300 officers and others set sail for Botany Bay. They were under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip. When they arrived at the intended destination it was considered unsuitable for colonization and Sydney Cove was selected. The settlement was named after Thomas Townsend, 1st Baron Sydney, the Home Secretary. The French also arrived on the same day with two ships but all they wanted was water and wood before they left, and were not seen again. In 1792 two French ships anchored in the harbour near Tasmania's southernmost point with scientists, cartographers, gardeners, artists and hydrographers. They planted, identified, mapped, marked and recorded and documented the environment and people of the new lands. European settlement in Australia began with convicts, guarded by second-rate soldiers. One in three convicts was Irish. Without knowing Australia's seasonal patterns initial attempts at farming failed and the colony nearly starved. The first few years of the colony were very difficult.  Historical map of Australia and New Zealand 1788-1911Convicts were usually sentenced to seven or fourteen years penal servitude or for the term of their natural lives. They were assigned to various kinds of work. Those with trades were given tasks to fit their skills while the unskilled were assigned to work gangs to build roads and do other such tasks. Female convicts, who made up 20% of the convict population, were usually assigned as domestic servants to the free settlers or soldiers, but some were forced into prostitution. If possible, convicts were assigned to free settlers who would be responsible for feeding and disciplining them. In return, the settlers were granted land. Those convicts not assigned to settlers were housed at barracks. 
Hyde Park Barracks - for men now a museum | 
Pioneer settlers around 1900 |
Discipline was harsh. Convicts who would not work or who disobeyed orders were flogged, put in leg-irons, or transported to a stricter penal colony. When their sentence was finished or if they were granted a pardon most convicts remained in Australia as free settlers and were able to take on convict servants themselves. Gradually the interior and southern parts of Australia were opened to settlement. In 1790 two men arrived who were to change the history of Australia. One was D'Arcy Wentworth whose son, William Charles became an explorer and founded Australia's first newspaper. he also became the leader of the movement to abolish convict transportation and establish representative government. The other was John Macarthur, a Scottish officer and one of the founders of the Australian wool industry, which laid the foundations of Australia's future prosperity. From about 1815 the colony began to grow rapidly as free settlers arrived and new lands were opened up for farming. Settlement was only authorized in 19 counties but many settlers became "squatters" outside the authorized boundaries and became the basis of a powerful landowning class. Transportation of convicts to Sydney ended in 1840 although it continued to other parts of the country until 1868. New Zealand was part of New South Wales from 1788 until 1840 when it was proclaimed a separate colony. The colonies relied heavily on imports from England for survival. The official currency of the colonies was the British pound, but the unofficial currency and most readily accepted trade good was rum. At the time of British settlement in Australia there were about 300,000 aboriginal people inhabiting the land, speaking around 250 languages. (Some estimates put the figures as high as one million.) The population was hunter-gathers with rich oral histories and land-management practices. They lived in semi-permanent settlements in some areas and in others they fished. Political power rested with community elders rather than hereditary chiefs and disputes were settled communally in accordance with an elaborate system of tribal law. Vendettas and feuds were not uncommon but organized violence and warfare was limited or non-existent. Unfortunately, many Aboriginals were killed as the European diseases spread rapidly through their people. The introduction of feral and domestic animals destroyed natural habitat. Fighting wiped out all the Aboriginal population in Tasmania and greatly reduced the numbers in the rest of Australia. A wave of massacres and resistance followed the frontier of European settlement and people were killed on both sides. In 1838, twenty-eight Indigenous people were killed. The convict settlers responsible were hanged. In 1884 over 200 people in Queensland were killed by Indigenous people. In 1928 there was a massacre in the Northern Territory of settlers. As early as the 1830 poisoning of food and water had been recorded. 
Fannie Cochrane Smith, d. 1905 Last Tasmanian Aboriginal | 
Traditional Dance | 
Aborigine walking through the Australian outback |  \
Bathurst Island Men | 
Kids |
For more information see http://www.australianexplorer.com/australian_history.htm and http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/australianhistory/ |
