Australia
- PDF / 900,872 Bytes
- 34 Pages / 577.587 x 739.162 pts Page_size
- 9 Downloads / 202 Views
Commonwealth of Australia
Zealand’s east coast. By the middle of the century the Dutch had charted the western part of Australia, calling it New Holland. But while the Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish made the early running in charting the continent, it was the discovery of the east coast by Capt. James Cook in 1770 that prompted colonization. Over several voyages he charted the Torres Strait and 8,000 kilometres of coastline. Having lost their penal settlements in the American War of Independence, the British decided to send convicts to Australia. Botany Bay was selected as the first settlement. By 1800 convicts had established legal rights as crown subjects. Many freed men were able to make a successful living. However, there were several uprisings against penal rule culminating in the Rum Rebellion of 1808, in which John Macarthur led a troop of New South Wales officers against Gov. William Bligh. The response of the British government was to appoint Lachlan Macquarie, who promoted reform. His tenure began a period of development in which Australia ceased to be primarily a penal settlement. The crossing of the Blue Mountains in 1813 was the first of many expeditions which led to discovery of vast areas of grazing land, although sealing and whaling were more important than agriculture until the 1830s. Macquarie’s benevolent despotism rewarded freed men and
Capital: Canberra Population projection, 2020: 25·60m. GNI per capita, 2014: (PPP$) 42,261 HDI/world rank, 2014: 0·935/2 Internet domain extension: .au KEY HISTORICAL EVENTS The Australian landmass, reaching northwards to Papua New Guinea and including Tasmania in the south, was inhabited in prehistoric times until adverse climatic conditions led to an exodus between 15,000 and 25,000 years ago. Stone tools date to 2000–1000 BC. The Aboriginal society was based on extended family groups. At maximum there were 1m. Aborigines, using 200 different languages. By the early 18th century contact was made with traders from the area of modern Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Australia was sighted in 1522 by compatriot explorers of the Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan and in 1642 the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman mapped what is now Tasmania and part of New 124
AUSTRALIA
several of the more talented were appointed to official posts. He did much to develop Sydney, instigating public works and establishing a bank and currency. His policies caused concern in London and in 1822 he was forced to resign. The Aboriginal question remained unresolved. The early assumption that the Aboriginal people were nomadic meant that Britain had claimed much of the Australian land without an agreement of purchase from the natives. There was some peaceful interaction with the Aborigines but resentment grew as British encroachment damaged Aboriginal culture. Diseases brought in by the colonists decimated the Aboriginal population. By the late 18th century there was widespread and persistent conflict. The most notable Aboriginal resistance leader was Pemulwuy (killed in 1802) who fought battles at Ha
Data Loading...
