Gringerry Kibba Colebee (c. 1754 – after 1806) also spelt Colebe , Coleby or Colbee , was an eighteenth-century Gadigal man, an Aboriginal Australian people from present-day Sydney , New South Wales . He was known by the Gweagal people as Cadi Colebee .
136-564: After his abduction by British forces and eventual escape, he became a prominent Aboriginal figure during the colonial period as an intermediary between European settlers and the Eora . He was also a subject for many contemporary Australian artists. He is not to be confused with his namesake and brother-in-law Botany Bay Colebee of the Gweagal people. Colebee's age was estimated in 1789 to be 35, giving him an approximate birth year of 1754. According to
272-479: A Mediterranean climate . The south-east ranges from oceanic (Tasmania and coastal Victoria) to humid subtropical (upper half of New South Wales), with the highlands featuring alpine and subpolar oceanic climates . The interior is arid to semi-arid . Driven by climate change , average temperatures have risen more than 1°C since 1960 . Associated changes in rainfall patterns and climate extremes exacerbate existing issues such as drought and bushfires . 2019
408-511: A belt of Brigalow grasslands lie between the coast and the mountains, while inland of the dividing range are large areas of grassland and shrubland. These include the western plains of New South Wales, and the Mitchell Grass Downs and Mulga Lands of inland Queensland. The northernmost point of the mainland is the tropical Cape York Peninsula . The landscapes of the Top End and
544-793: A large wave of immigration from across Europe , with such immigrants referred to as " New Australians ". This required a relaxation of the white Australia policy , which was justified to Australians using the slogan "populate or perish". A member of the Western Bloc during the Cold War , Australia participated in the Korean War and the Malayan Emergency during the 1950s and the Vietnam War from 1962 to 1972. During this time, tensions over communist influence in society led to unsuccessful attempts by
680-646: A base in the Pacific to counter French expansion . Approximately 50,000 convicts are estimated to have been transported to the colonies over 150 years. The First Fleet , which established the first colony, was an unprecedented project for the Royal Navy , as well as the first forced migration of settlers to a newly established colony. The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) saw Britain lose most of its North American colonies and consider establishing replacement territories. Britain had transported about 50,000 convicts to
816-470: A boom in copper mining. By 1850 the settler population had grown to 60,000 and the following year the colony achieved limited self-government with a partially elected Legislative Council. In 1824, the Moreton Bay penal settlement was established on the site of present-day Brisbane as a place of secondary punishment. In 1842, the penal colony was closed and the area was opened for free settlement. By 1850
952-423: A building program, assisted by convict labour, advanced steadily. Between 1788 and 1792, convicts and their gaolers made up the majority of the population; however, a free population soon began to grow, consisting of emancipated convicts, locally born children, soldiers whose military service had expired and, finally, free settlers from Britain. Governor Phillip departed the colony for England on 11 December 1792, with
1088-590: A colony composed of American Loyalists, Chinese and South Sea Islanders (but not convicts). Following an interview with Secretary of State Lord Sydney in March 1784, Matra amended his proposal to include convicts as settlers. Matra's plan can be seen to have “provided the original blueprint for settlement in New South Wales”. A cabinet memorandum December 1784 shows the Government had Matra's plan in mind when considering
1224-461: A date which later became Australia's national day . Most early settlers were convicts , transported for petty crimes and assigned as labourers or servants to "free settlers" (willing immigrants). Once emancipated , convicts tended to integrate into colonial society. Convict rebellions and uprisings were suppressed under martial law, which lasted for two years following the 1808 Rum Rebellion , Australia's only successful coup d'état . During
1360-631: A few dozen marines and officers from the Supply , the rest of the ship's company and the convicts witnessing it from on board ship. The remaining ships of the Fleet were unable to leave Botany Bay until later on 26 January because of a tremendous gale. The new colony was formally proclaimed as the Colony of New South Wales on 7 February. The colony included all of Australia eastward of the meridian of 135° East. This included more than half of mainland Australia and reflected
1496-462: A few months later. Colebee buried his still-living baby with his wife's body, apparently in the concern that the baby would starve. His second wife, Boorea (fl.1790-1806), was "Colebee's favourite" according to David Collins . Colebee and Bennelong, once allies, fought over Bennelong's wife Kurubarabulu (c. 1774 - after 1805) in July 1805 - she later became Colebee's third wife. Colebee exchanged names -
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#17328595701501632-577: A fresh water supply and a safe harbour, which Philip famously described as: being with out exception the finest Harbour in the World [...] Here a Thousand Sail of the Line may ride in the most perfect Security. Phillip named the settlement after the Home Secretary , Lord Sydney. The only people at the flag raising ceremony and the formal taking of possession of the land in the name of King George III were Phillip and
1768-470: A peace agreement and receive a metal hatchet. Compared to the majority of Aboriginal people around Port Jackson , who avoided interaction with the European population, Colebee and Bennelong were the most prominent Sydney Aboriginal men of the era. Colebee is the subject of numerous sketches or drawings. Colebee acted as a guide to the settlers, helping to recover fishing gear and leading a lost soldier back to
1904-567: A place of punishment and reform of convicts. Convicts worked on government farms and public works such as land clearing and building. After 1792 the majority were assigned to work for private employers including emancipists (as transported convicts who had completed their sentence or had been pardoned called themselves). Emancipists were granted small plots of land for farming and a year of government rations. Later they were assigned convict labour to help them work their farms. Some convicts were assigned to military officers to run their businesses because
2040-417: A result, convicts who arrived after 1820 were far less likely to become property owners, to marry, and to establish families. The Bigge reforms also aimed to encourage affluent free settlers by offering them land grants for farming and grazing in proportion to their capital. From 1831 the colonies replaced land grants with land sales by auction at a fixed minimum price per acre, the proceeds being used to fund
2176-509: A separate colony from New South Wales in December 1825 and continued to expand through the 1830s, supported by farming, sheep grazing and whaling. Following the suspension of convict transportation to New South Wales in 1840, Van Diemen's land became the main destination for convicts. Transportation to Van Diemen's Land ended in 1853 and in 1856 the colony officially changed its name to Tasmania. Pastoralists from Van Diemen's land began squatting in
2312-521: A settlement in Van Diemen's Land (modern Tasmania ) in 1803, partly to forestall a possible French settlement. The British settlement of the island soon centred on Launceston in the north and Hobart in the south. For the first two decades the settlement relied heavily on convict labour, small-scale farming and sheep grazing, sealing, whaling and the "dog and kangaroo" economy where emancipists and escaped convicts hunted native game with guns and dogs. From
2448-516: A settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land (present-day Tasmania ), and in 1813, Gregory Blaxland , William Lawson and William Wentworth crossed the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, opening the interior to European settlement. The British claim extended to the whole Australian continent in 1827 when Major Edmund Lockyer established a settlement on King George Sound (modern-day Albany ). The Swan River Colony (present-day Perth )
2584-548: A short distance off the north-east coast and extends for more than 2,000 km (1,200 mi). Mount Augustus , claimed to be the world's largest monolith, is located in Western Australia. At 2,228 m (7,310 ft), Mount Kosciuszko is the highest mountain on the Australian mainland. Even taller are Mawson Peak , at 2,745 m (9,006 ft), on the remote Australian external territory of Heard Island , and, in
2720-561: A symbolic act of friendship - with Kurubarabulu's brother, Wárungin Wángubile Kólbi (also known as Botany Bay Colebee ). Colebee's violence towards women was well-known. In October 1790 he severely battered Boorong, Bennelong's third wife, and in May 1791 he attempted to abduct a girl from Government House. He killed Aboriginal man Yeranibe and his wife in 1797. It is possible Colebee died in 1806, as records do not mention him after that year. He
2856-411: A wide variety of landscapes, with tropical rainforests in the north-east, mountain ranges in the south-east, south-west and east, and desert in the centre. The desert or semi-arid land commonly known as the outback makes up by far the largest portion of land. Australia is the driest inhabited continent; its annual rainfall averaged over continental area is less than 500 mm. The population density
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#17328595701502992-436: Is 3.4 inhabitants per square kilometre, although the large majority of the population lives along the temperate south-eastern coastline. The population density exceeds 19,500 inhabitants per square kilometre in central Melbourne. In 2021 Australia had 10% of the global permanent meadows and pastureland. Forest cover is around 17% of Australia's total land area. The Great Barrier Reef , the world's largest coral reef, lies
3128-413: Is a constitutional monarchy , a parliamentary democracy and a federation . The country has maintained its mostly unchanged constitution alongside a stable liberal democratic political system since Federation in 1901. It is one of the world's oldest federations, in which power is divided between the federal and state governments. The Australian system of government combines elements derived from
3264-569: Is now Southeast Asia. It is uncertain how many waves of immigration may have contributed to these ancestors of modern Aboriginal Australians. The Madjedbebe rock shelter in Arnhem Land is possibly the oldest site showing the presence of humans in Australia. The oldest human remains found are the Lake Mungo remains , which have been dated to around 41,000 years ago. Aboriginal Australian culture
3400-609: Is one of only two pristine Archaean 3.6–2.7 Ga (billion years ago) crusts identified on the Earth. Having been part of all major supercontinents , the Australian continent began to form after the breakup of Gondwana in the Permian , with the separation of the continental landmass from the African continent and Indian subcontinent. It separated from Antarctica over a prolonged period beginning in
3536-460: Is one of the oldest continuous cultures on Earth. At the time of first European contact, Aboriginal Australians belonged to wide range of societies, with diverse economies spread across at least 250 different language groups . Estimates of the Aboriginal population before British settlement range from 300,000 to 3 million. Aboriginal Australians cultures were (and remain) deeply connected with
3672-472: Is said to have regularly engaged in ritual revenge battles, and he may have died in a “payback battle”. History of Australia (1788%E2%80%931850) The history of Australia from 1788 to 1850 covers the early British colonial period of Australia 's history. This started with the arrival in 1788 of the First Fleet of British ships at Port Jackson on the lands of the Eora , and the establishment of
3808-411: Is unique. About 85% of flowering plants, 84% of mammals, more than 45% of birds , and 89% of in-shore, temperate-zone fish are endemic . Australia has at least 755 species of reptile, more than any other country in the world. Besides Antarctica, Australia is the only continent that developed without feline species. Feral cats may have been introduced in the 17th century by Dutch shipwrecks, and later in
3944-731: The Colonial Office that it be formally adopted. In 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially by that name. The first official published use of the new name came with the publication in 1830 of The Australia Directory by the Hydrographic Office . Colloquial names for Australia include " Oz ", " Straya " and " Down Under ". Other epithets include "the Great Southern Land", "the Lucky Country" (from
4080-524: The Commonwealth of Australia , is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent , the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands . Australia has a total area of 7,688,287 km (2,968,464 sq mi), making it the sixth-largest country in the world and the largest country by area in Oceania . It is the world's oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with some of
4216-579: The Gulf Country —with their tropical climate—include forest, woodland, wetland, grassland, rainforest and desert. At the north-west corner of the continent are the sandstone cliffs and gorges of The Kimberley , and below that the Pilbara . The Victoria Plains tropical savanna lies south of the Kimberley and Arnhem Land savannas, forming a transition between the coastal savannas and the interior deserts. At
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4352-542: The Indian Ocean Dipole and the El Niño–Southern Oscillation , which is correlated with periodic drought , and the seasonal tropical low-pressure system that produces cyclones in northern Australia. These factors cause rainfall to vary markedly from year to year. Much of the northern part of the country has a tropical, predominantly summer-rainfall ( monsoon ). The south-west corner of the country has
4488-529: The Iraq War from 2003 to 2009. The nation's trade relations also became increasingly oriented towards East Asia in the 21st century, with China becoming the nation's largest trading partner by a large margin. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic , several of Australia's largest cities were locked down for extended periods and free movement across the national and state borders was restricted in an attempt to slow
4624-638: The Menzies Government to ban the Communist Party of Australia , and a bitter split in the Labor Party in 1955. As a result of a 1967 referendum , the federal government gained the power to legislate with regard to Indigenous Australians, and Indigenous Australians were fully included in the census . Pre-colonial land interests (referred to as native title in Australia) was recognised in law for
4760-701: The Pacific Community ; the Commonwealth of Nations ; and the defence and security organisations ANZUS , AUKUS , and the Five Eyes . It is also a major non-NATO ally of the United States. The name Australia (pronounced / ə ˈ s t r eɪ l i ə / in Australian English ) is derived from the Latin Terra Australis ( ' southern land ' ), a name used for a hypothetical continent in
4896-465: The Parramatta region as a promising area for expansion, and moved many of the convicts from late 1788 to establish a small township, which became the main centre of the colony's economic life. This left Sydney Cove only as an important port and focus of social life. Poor equipment and unfamiliar soils and climate continued to hamper the expansion of farming from Farm Cove to Parramatta and Toongabbie , but
5032-520: The Permian and continuing through to the Cretaceous . When the last glacial period ended in about 10,000 BC, rising sea levels formed Bass Strait , separating Tasmania from the mainland. Then between about 8,000 and 6,500 BC, the lowlands in the north were flooded by the sea, separating New Guinea, the Aru Islands , and the mainland of Australia. The Australian continent is moving toward Eurasia at
5168-481: The Port Philip District (1836). The grazing of cattle and sheep expanded inland, leading to increasing conflict with Aboriginal people on their traditional lands. The growing population of free settlers, former convicts and Australian-born currency lads and lasses led to public demands for representative government . Penal transportation to New South Wales ended in 1840 and a semi-elected Legislative Council
5304-643: The Port Phillip hinterland on the mainland in 1834, attracted by its rich grasslands. In 1835, John Batman and others negotiated the transfer of 100,000 acres of land from the Kulin people. However, the treaty was annulled the same year when the British Colonial Office issued the Proclamation of Governor Bourke stating that all unalienated land in the colony was vacant Crown Land, irrespective of whether it
5440-663: The Territory of Papua and New Guinea in 1949 and gained independence from Australia in 1975. In 1914, Australia joined the Allies in fighting the First World War, and took part in many of the major battles fought on the Western Front . Of about 416,000 who served, about 60,000 were killed and another 152,000 were wounded. Many Australians regard the defeat of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) at Gallipoli in 1915 as
5576-514: The Torres Strait Islands . The Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent " New Holland " during the 17th century, and although no attempt at settlement was made, a number of shipwrecks left men either stranded or, as in the case of the Batavia in 1629, marooned for mutiny and murder, thus becoming the first Europeans to permanently inhabit
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5712-696: The Tweed River . A series of disputes between northern pastoralists and the government in Sydney led to increasing demands from the northern settlers for separation from New South Wales. In 1857, the British government agreed to the separation and in 1859 the colony of Queensland was proclaimed. The settler population of the new colony was 25,000 and the vast majority of its territory was still occupied by its traditional owners . Between 1788 and 1868, approximately 161,700 convicts (of whom 25,000 were women) were transported to
5848-678: The bombing of Darwin and other Japanese attacks on Australian soil , led to a widespread belief in Australia that a Japanese invasion was imminent , and a shift from the United Kingdom to the United States as Australia's principal ally and security partner. Since 1951, Australia has been allied with the United States under the ANZUS treaty. In the decades following World War II, Australia enjoyed significant increases in living standards, leisure time and suburban development. Governments encouraged
5984-426: The emu and the kookaburra . Australia is home to many dangerous animals including some of the most venomous snakes in the world. The dingo was introduced by Austronesian people who traded with Indigenous Australians around 3000 BCE . Many animal and plant species became extinct soon after first human settlement, including the Australian megafauna ; others have disappeared since European settlement, among them
6120-584: The governor-general at the federal level and by the governors at the state level, who by section 63 of the Constitution and convention act on the advice of their ministers. Thus, in practice the governor-general acts as a legal figurehead for the actions of the prime minister and the Cabinet. The governor-general may in some situations exercise reserve powers : powers exercisable in the absence or contrary to ministerial advice. When these powers may be exercised
6256-594: The "baptism of fire" that forged the new nation's identity . The beginning of the campaign is commemorated annually on Anzac Day , a date which rivals Australia Day as the nation's most important. From 1939 to 1945, Australia joined the Allies in fighting the Second World War. Australia's armed forces fought in the Pacific , European and Mediterranean and Middle East theatres . The shock of Britain's defeat in Singapore in 1942, followed soon after by
6392-575: The "island continent" and is sometimes considered the world's largest island . Australia has 34,218 km (21,262 mi) of coastline (excluding all offshore islands), and claims an extensive exclusive economic zone of 8,148,250 square kilometres (3,146,060 sq mi). This exclusive economic zone does not include the Australian Antarctic Territory . Mainland Australia lies between latitudes 9° and 44° south , and longitudes 112° and 154° east . Australia's size gives it
6528-421: The 1820s free settlers were encouraged by the offer of land grants in proportion to the capital the settlers would bring. Almost 2 million acres of land was granted to free settlers in the decade, and the number of sheep in the island increased from 170,000 to a million. The land grants created a social division between large landowners and a majority of landless convicts and emancipists. Van Diemen's Land became
6664-428: The 18th century by European settlers. They are now considered a major factor in the decline and extinction of many vulnerable and endangered native species. Seafaring immigrants from Asia are believed to have brought the dingo to Australia sometime after the end of the last ice age—perhaps 4000 years ago—and Aboriginal people helped disperse them across the continent as pets, contributing to the demise of thylacines on
6800-524: The 1964 book of the same name ), "the Sunburnt Country", and "the Wide Brown Land". The latter two both derive from Dorothea Mackellar 's 1908 poem " My Country ". Indigenous Australians comprise two broad groups: Human habitation of the Australian continent is estimated to have begun 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, with the migration of people by land bridges and short sea crossings from what
6936-529: The 2018 Environmental Performance Index . There are more than 1,800 animals and plants on Australia's threatened species list, including more than 500 animals. Paleontologists discovered a fossil site of a prehistoric rainforest in McGraths Flat , in South Australia, that presents evidence that this now arid desert and dry shrubland / grassland was once home to an abundance of life. Australia
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#17328595701507072-635: The Australian Antarctic Territory, Mount McClintock and Mount Menzies , at 3,492 m (11,457 ft) and 3,355 m (11,007 ft) respectively. Eastern Australia is marked by the Great Dividing Range , which runs parallel to the coast of Queensland, New South Wales and much of Victoria. The name is not strictly accurate, because parts of the range consist of low hills, and the highlands are typically no more than 1,600 m (5,200 ft) in height. The coastal uplands and
7208-718: The Australian colonies of New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land and Western Australia. Historian Lloyd Robson has estimated that perhaps two-thirds were thieves from working class towns, particularly from the Midlands and north of England. The majority were repeat offenders. The literacy rate of convicts was above average and they brought a range of useful skills to the new colony including building, farming, sailing, fishing and hunting. The small number of free settlers meant that early governors also had to rely on convicts and emancipists for professions such as lawyers, architects, surveyors and teachers. The first governors saw New South Wales as
7344-545: The Australian mainland. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken , captained by Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon . He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, and made landfall on 26 February 1606 at the Pennefather River near the modern town of Weipa on Cape York. Later that year, Spanish explorer Luís Vaz de Torres sailed through and navigated
7480-462: The British, as it showed the interest of France in the new land. Nevertheless, on 2 February Lieutenant King, at Phillip's request, paid a courtesy call on the French and offered them any assistance they may need. The French made the same offer to the British, as they were much better provisioned than the British and had enough supplies to last three years. Neither of these offers was accepted. On 10 March
7616-593: The Commonwealth of Australia. This continued a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom, highlighted by the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942 , and culminating in the Australia Acts of 1986. Australia is a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy comprising six states and ten territories . Its population of more than 28 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on
7752-420: The Eora, he was a senior member of his people - more distinguished than fellow Aboriginal man Woollarawarre Bennelong , who was deferential to him. It is likely that Colebee's totem was the white-bellied sea eagle . His face was described as being heavily scarred by smallpox. The Eora had endured a smallpox epidemic in April 1789. According to convict Thomas Watling , Colebee was a common Aboriginal name in
7888-432: The French Government his surprise that the Spanish had not protested at a colony strategically place to challenge Spanish interests in the region. King points out that supporters of the penal colony frequently compared the venture to the foundation of Rome, and that the first Great Seal of New South Wales alluded to this. Phillip, however, wrote, "I would not wish Convicts to lay the foundations of an Empire...[.]" After
8024-552: The French expedition, having taken on water and wood, left Botany Bay, never to be seen again. Governor Phillip was vested with complete authority over the inhabitants of the colony. His intention was to establish harmonious relations with local Aboriginal people and try to reform as well as discipline the convicts of the colony. Early efforts at agriculture were fraught and supplies from overseas were scarce. Between 1788 and 1792 about 3546 male and 766 female convicts were landed at Sydney. Many new arrivals were sick or unfit for work and
8160-439: The Islands adjacent in the Pacific" between the latitudes of Cape York and the southern tip of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). King argues that an unofficial British map published in 1786 ( A General Chart of New Holland ) showed the possible extent of this claim. In 1817, the British government withdrew the extensive territorial claim over the South Pacific, passing an act specifying that Tahiti, New Zealand and other islands of
8296-400: The Murro-ore-dial (Pathway Place) clan. Colebee and Daringa's daughter, Panieboolong, was born in December 1790. A few days after the birth, Colebee, his wife and baby spent a night at Governor Phillip's house. Despite special attention from influential colonial figure Elizabeth Macarthur , Panieboolong died at the age of about five months. In 1795, Daringa gave birth to another child and died
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#17328595701508432-405: The New World from 1718 to 1775 and was now searching for an alternative. The temporary solution of floating prison hulks had reached capacity and was a public health hazard, while the option of building more jails and workhouses was deemed too expensive. Sir Joseph Banks , the eminent scientist who had accompanied Lieutenant James Cook on his 1770 voyage, recommended Botany Bay , then known to
8568-414: The Pitt government announced its intention to send convicts to Botany Bay. The Government incorporated the settlement of Norfolk Island into their plan, with its attractions of timber and flax, proposed by Banks's Royal Society colleagues, Sir John Call and Sir George Young. There has been a longstanding debate over whether the key consideration in the decision to establish a penal colony at Botany Bay
8704-399: The South Pacific were not within His Majesty's dominions. However, it is unclear whether the claim ever extended to the current islands of New Zealand. On 24 January 1788 a French expedition of two ships led by Admiral Jean-François de La Pérouse had arrived off Botany Bay, on the latest leg of a three-year voyage. Though amicably received, the French expedition was a troublesome matter for
8840-586: The Southern Hemisphere since ancient times. Several 16th-century cartographers used the word Australia on maps, but not to identify modern Australia. When Europeans began visiting and mapping Australia in the 17th century, the name Terra Australis was applied to the new territories. Until the early 19th century, Australia was best known as New Holland , a name first applied by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1644 (as Nieuw-Holland ) and subsequently anglicised. Terra Australis still saw occasional usage, such as in scientific texts. The name Australia
8976-403: The Sydney area. On 25 November 1789, Colebee and Bennelong were abducted from Manly Cove by Lt. William Bradley , on the orders of Governor Arthur Phillip , who wanted to use the two men to understand Aboriginal society and customs. The two men were shackled in a guarded hut by the Governor's house. Colebee escaped after three weeks of captivity, on the night of 12 December 1789, by severing
9112-541: The area of the modern state as well as modern Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the Northern Territory. The Proclamation of Governor Bourke , (10 October 1835) reinforced the doctrine that Australia had been terra nullius when settled by the British in 1788, and that the Crown had obtained beneficial ownership of all the land of New South Wales from that date. The proclamation stated that British subjects could not obtain title over vacant Crown land directly from Aboriginal Australians, effectively quashing
9248-443: The assisted migration of workers. From 1821 to 1850 Australia attracted 200,000 immigrants from the United Kingdom. Although most immigrants settled in towns, many were attracted to the high wages and business opportunities available in rural areas. However, the system of land grants, and later land sales, led to the concentration of land in the hands of a small number of affluent settlers. Australia Australia , officially
9384-438: The centre and Phanerozoic sedimentary basins , metamorphic and igneous rocks in the east. The Australian mainland and Tasmania are situated in the middle of the tectonic plate and have no active volcanoes, but due to passing over the East Australia hotspot , recent volcanism has occurred during the Holocene , in the Newer Volcanics Province of western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia. Volcanism also occurs in
9520-420: The colonies was achieved after a decade of planning, constitutional conventions and referendums , resulting in the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia as a nation under the new Australian Constitution . After the 1907 Imperial Conference , Australia and several other self-governing British settler colonies were given the status of self-governing dominions within the British Empire. Australia
9656-430: The colony as a strategic base against Spanish interests were occasionally made after 1788, but never implemented. Macintyre argues that the evidence for a military-strategic motive in establishing the colony is largely circumstantial and hard to reconcile with the strict ban on establishing a shipyard in the colony. Karskens points out that the instructions provided to the first five governors of New South Wales show that
9792-429: The colony. He appointed emancipists to key government positions including Francis Greenway as colonial architect and William Redfern as a magistrate. His policy on emancipists was opposed by many influential free settlers, officers and officials, and London became concerned at the cost of his public works. In 1819, London appointed J. T. Bigge to conduct an inquiry into the colony, and Macquarie resigned shortly before
9928-550: The command of Captain Arthur Phillip set sail for Botany Bay. A few days after arrival at Botany Bay the fleet moved to the more suitable Port Jackson where a settlement was established at Sydney Cove , known by the Indigenous name Warrane, on 26 January 1788. This date later became Australia's national day, Australia Day . The colony was formally proclaimed by Governor Phillip on 7 February 1788 at Sydney. Sydney Cove offered
10064-570: The condition of healthy convicts also deteriorated due to the hard labour and poor food. The food situation reached crisis point in 1790 and the Second Fleet which finally arrived in June 1790 had lost a quarter of its passengers through sickness, while the condition of the convicts of the Third Fleet appalled Phillip. From 1791, however, the more regular arrival of ships and the beginnings of trade lessened
10200-698: The continent. In 1770, Captain James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named " New South Wales " and claimed for Great Britain. Following the loss of its American colonies in 1783, the British Government sent a fleet of ships, the First Fleet , under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip , to establish a new penal colony in New South Wales . A camp was set up and the Union Flag raised at Sydney Cove , Port Jackson , on 26 January 1788,
10336-583: The convict system culminated in its abolition in the eastern colonies by the 1850s. Initially a free colony, Western Australia practised penal transportation from 1850 to 1868. The six colonies individually gained responsible government between 1855 and 1890, thus becoming elective democracies managing most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire . The Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, notably foreign affairs. In
10472-702: The country's economy. It ranks highly for quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, civil liberties and political rights. Australia is a middle power , and has the world's thirteenth-highest military expenditure . It is a member of international groups including the United Nations; the G20 ; the OECD ; the World Trade Organization ; Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ; the Pacific Islands Forum ;
10608-516: The creation of a settlement in New South Wales. The major alternative to Botany Bay was sending convicts to Africa. From 1775 convicts had been sent to garrison British forts in west Africa, but the experiment had proved unsuccessful. In 1783, the Pitt government considered exiling convicts to a small river island in Gambia where they could form a self-governing community, a "colony of thieves", at no expense to
10744-654: The departure of Phillip, trade developed with visiting ships and farming spread to more fertile lands on the fringes of Sydney. The New South Wales Corps was formed in England in 1789 as a permanent regiment of the British Army to relieve the marines who had accompanied the First Fleet. Officers of the Corps soon became involved in the corrupt and lucrative rum trade in the colony. Governor William Bligh (1806 – 1808) tried to suppress
10880-493: The district had a population of 75,000 Europeans, 2,000 Indigenous inhabitants and 5 million sheep. In 1851, the Port Phillip District separated from New South Wales as the colony of Victoria. In 1826, the governor of New South Wales, Ralph Darling , sent a military garrison to King George Sound (the basis of the later town of Albany ), to deter the French from establishing a settlement in Western Australia. In 1827,
11016-410: The dry climate, and a lack of capital and labour. By 1850 there were a little more than 5,000 settlers, half of them children. The colony accepted convicts from that year because of the acute shortage of labour. The Province of South Australia was established in 1836 as a privately financed settlement based on the theory of "systematic colonisation" developed by Edward Gibbon Wakefield . The intention
11152-459: The early 2010s after the 2000s Australian drought . Although most of Australia is semi-arid or desert, the continent includes a diverse range of habitats from alpine heaths to tropical rainforests . Fungi typify that diversity—an estimated 250,000 species—of which only 5% have been described—occur in Australia. Because of the continent's great age, extremely variable weather patterns, and long-term geographic isolation, much of Australia's biota
11288-481: The eastern seaboard. Canberra is the nation's capital, while its most populous cities are Sydney and Melbourne , both with a population of more than 5 million. Australia's culture is diverse, and the country has one of the highest foreign-born populations in the world . It has a highly developed market economy and one of the highest per capita incomes globally . Its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade relations are crucial to
11424-551: The feeling of isolation and improved supplies. In 1788, Phillip established a subsidiary settlement on Norfolk Island in the South Pacific where he hoped to obtain timber and flax for the navy. The island, however, had no safe harbour, which led the settlement to be abandoned and the settlers evacuated to Tasmania in 1807. The island was subsequently re-established as a site for secondary transportation in 1825. Phillip sent exploratory missions in search of better soils, fixed on
11560-755: The first time when the High Court of Australia held in Mabo v Queensland (No 2) that Australia was neither terra nullius ( ' land belonging to no one ' ) or "desert and uncultivated land" at the time of European settlement. Following the abolition of the last vestiges of the White Australia policy in 1973, Australia's demography and culture transformed as a result of a large and ongoing wave of non-European immigration, mostly from Asia. The late 20th century also saw an increasing focus on foreign policy ties with other Pacific Rim nations. The Australia Acts severed
11696-402: The government's original motives were in establishing the colony, by the 1790s it had at least achieved the imperial objective of providing a harbour where vessels could be careened and resupplied. On 13 May 1787, the First Fleet of 11 ships and about 1,530 people (736 convicts, 17 convicts' children, 211 marines, 27 marines' wives, 14 marines' children and about 300 officers and others) under
11832-456: The government. In 1785, a parliamentary select committee chaired by Lord Beauchamp recommended against the Gambia plan, but failed to endorse the alternative of Botany Bay. In a second report, Beauchamp recommended a penal settlement at Das Voltas Bay in modern Namibia. The plan was dropped, however, when an investigation of the site in 1786 found it to be unsuitable. Two weeks later, in August 1786,
11968-470: The head of the expedition, Major Edmund Lockyer , formally annexed the western third of the continent as a British colony. In 1829, the Swan River colony was established at the sites of modern Fremantle and Perth , becoming the first convict-free and privatised colony in Australia. However, much of the arable land was allocated to absentee owners and the development of the colony was hampered by poor soil,
12104-412: The heart of the country are the uplands of central Australia . Prominent features of the centre and south include Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock), the famous sandstone monolith, and the inland Simpson , Tirari and Sturt Stony , Gibson , Great Sandy, Tanami , and Great Victoria deserts, with the famous Nullarbor Plain on the southern coast. The Western Australian mulga shrublands lie between
12240-555: The initial plans for the colony were limited. The settlement was to be a self-sufficient penal colony based on subsistence agriculture. Trade, shipping and ship building were banned in order to keep the convicts isolated and so as not to interfere with the trade monopoly of the British East India Company . There was no plan for economic development apart from investigating the possibility of producing raw materials for Britain. Christopher and Maxwell-Stewart argue that whatever
12376-470: The interior deserts and Mediterranean-climate Southwest Australia . Lying on the Indo-Australian Plate , the mainland of Australia is the lowest and most primordial landmass on Earth with a relatively stable geological history. The landmass includes virtually all known rock types and from all geological time periods spanning more than 3.8 billion years of the Earth's history. The Pilbara Craton
12512-417: The island of New Guinea (considered geologically as part of the Australian continent), and in the Australian external territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands . Seismic activity in the Australian mainland and Tasmania is also low, with the greatest number of fatalities having occurred in the 1989 Newcastle earthquake . The climate of Australia is significantly influenced by ocean currents, including
12648-620: The land and the environment, with stories of The Dreaming maintained through oral tradition , songs , dance and paintings. Certain groups engaged in fire-stick farming , fish farming , and built semi-permanent shelters . These practices have variously been characterised as " hunter-gatherer ", " agricultural ", "natural cultivation" and "intensification". Torres Strait Islander people first settled their islands at least 2,500 years ago. Culturally and linguistically distinct from mainland Aboriginal peoples, they were seafarers and obtained their livelihood from seasonal horticulture and
12784-462: The last autocratic Governor of New South Wales , from 1810 to 1821, and had a leading role in the social and economic development of New South Wales, which saw it transition from a penal colony to a budding civil society. He established a bank, a currency and a hospital, and commissioned extensive public works. Central to Macquarie's policy was his treatment of the emancipists , whom he considered should be treated as social equals to free-settlers in
12920-447: The least fertile soils. It is a megadiverse country , and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates including deserts in the interior and tropical rainforests along the coast . The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south-east Asia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, during the last glacial period . By the time of British settlement, Aboriginal Australians spoke 250 distinct languages and had
13056-650: The line of division between the claims of Spain and Portugal established in the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. Watkin Tench subsequently commented in A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay , "By this partition, it may be fairly presumed, that every source of future litigation between the Dutch and us, will be for ever cut off, as the discoveries of English navigators only are comprized in this territory". The claim also included "all
13192-554: The local Gweagal people as Kamay, as a suitable site. Banks accepted an offer of assistance from the American Loyalist James Matra in July 1783. Matra had visited Botany Bay with Banks in 1770 as a junior officer on the Endeavour commanded by James Cook. Under Banks's guidance, he rapidly produced "A Proposal for Establishing a Settlement in New South Wales" (24 August 1783), with a fully developed set of reasons for
13328-420: The locally born exceeded the convict population of New South Wales. From the 1820s, grazing of sheep and cattle expanded rapidly, and the colony spread beyond the official bounds of settlement. In 1825, the western boundary of New South Wales was extended to longitude 129° East, which is the current boundary of Western Australia. As a result, the territory of New South Wales reached its greatest extent, covering
13464-494: The location for the future federal capital of Canberra . While it was being constructed, Melbourne served as the temporary capital from 1901 to 1927. The Northern Territory was transferred from the control of South Australia to the Commonwealth in 1911. Australia became the colonial ruler of the Territory of Papua (which had initially been annexed by Queensland in 1883) in 1902 and of the Territory of New Guinea (formerly German New Guinea ) in 1920. The two were unified as
13600-448: The mainland. Australia is also one of 17 megadiverse countries. Australian forests are mostly made up of evergreen species, particularly eucalyptus trees in the less arid regions; wattles replace them as the dominant species in drier regions and deserts. Among well-known Australian animals are the monotremes (the platypus and echidna ); a host of marsupials , including the kangaroo , koala , and wombat , and birds such as
13736-466: The mid-19th century, explorers such as Burke and Wills charted Australia's interior. A series of gold rushes beginning in the early 1850s led to an influx of new migrants from China , North America and continental Europe, as well as outbreaks of bushranging and civil unrest; the latter peaked in 1854 when Ballarat miners launched the Eureka Rebellion against gold license fees. The 1860s saw
13872-496: The nature of the colony and make transportation "an object of real terror". The food ration for convicts was cut and their opportunities to work for wages restricted. More convicts were assigned to rural work gangs, bureaucratic control and surveillance of convicts was made more systematic, isolated penal settlements were established as places of secondary punishment, the rules for tickets of leave were tightened, and land grants were skewed to favour free settlers with large capital. As
14008-554: The new settlement having survived near starvation and immense isolation for four years. A number of foreign commentators pointed to the strategic importance of the new colony. Spanish naval commander Alessandro Malaspina , who visited Sydney in March–April 1793 reported to his government that imperialism and trade were the real objects of the colony. Frenchman François Péron , of the Baudin expedition visited Sydney in 1802 and reported to
14144-602: The next two decades, social and economic reforms, together with the establishment of a Legislative Council and Supreme Court , saw the penal colony transition to a civil society. The indigenous population declined for 150 years following European settlement, mainly due to infectious disease. British colonial authorities did not sign any treaties with Aboriginal groups . As settlement expanded, tens of thousands of Indigenous people and thousands of settlers were killed in frontier conflicts while settlers dispossessed surviving Indigenous peoples of most of their land. In 1803,
14280-489: The officers did not want to be directly associated with trade. These convicts learnt commercial skills which could help them work for themselves when their sentence ended or they were granted a "ticket of leave" (a form of parole). Female convicts were usually assigned as domestic servants to the free settlers, many being forced into prostitution. Convicts soon established a system of piece work which allowed them to work for wages once their allocated tasks were completed. Due to
14416-498: The oldest living culture in the world. Australia's written history commenced with Dutch exploration of most of the coastline in the 17th-century. British colonisation began in 1788 with the establishment of the penal colony of New South Wales . By the mid-19th century, most of the continent had been explored by European settlers and five additional self-governing British colonies were established, each gaining responsible government by 1890. The colonies federated in 1901, forming
14552-460: The outbreak of civil war in the Netherlands might precipitate a war in which Britain would be again confronted with the alliance of the three naval Powers, France, Holland and Spain, which had brought her to defeat in 1783. Under these circumstances a naval base in New South Wales which could facilitate attacks on Dutch and Spanish interests in the region would be attractive. Specific plans for using
14688-483: The penal colony of New South Wales as part of the British Empire . It further covers the European scientific exploration of the continent and the establishment of the other Australian colonies that make up the modern states of Australia. After several years of privation, the penal colony gradually expanded and developed an economy based on farming, fishing, whaling, trade with incoming ships, and construction using convict labour. By 1820, however, British settlement
14824-428: The political systems of the United Kingdom (a fused executive , constitutional monarchy and strong party discipline ) and the United States ( federalism , a written constitution and strong bicameralism with an elected upper house), resulting in a distinct hybrid. Federal government power is partially separated between three groups: Charles III reigns as King of Australia and is represented in Australia by
14960-521: The population of Brisbane had reached 8,000 and increasing numbers of pastoralists were grazing cattle and sheep in the Darling Downs west of the town. However, several attempts to establish settlements north of the Tropic of Capricorn had failed, and the settler population in the north remained small. Frontier violence between settlers and the Indigenous population became severe as pastoralism expanded north of
15096-572: The protection of threatened species. Numerous protected areas have been created under the National Strategy for the Conservation of Australia's Biological Diversity to protect and preserve unique ecosystems; 65 wetlands are listed under the Ramsar Convention , and 16 natural World Heritage Sites have been established. Australia was ranked 21st out of 178 countries in the world on
15232-475: The rate of 6 to 7 centimetres a year. The Australian mainland's continental crust , excluding the thinned margins, has an average thickness of 38 km, with a range in thickness from 24 km to 59 km. Australia's geology can be divided into several main sections, showcasing that the continent grew from west to east: the Archaean cratonic shields found mostly in the west, Proterozoic fold belts in
15368-533: The remaining constitutional ties between Australia and the United Kingdom while maintaining the monarch in her independent capacity as Queen of Australia . In a 1999 constitutional referendum , 55% of voters rejected abolishing the monarchy and becoming a republic. Following the September 11 attacks on the United States, Australia joined the United States in fighting the Afghanistan War from 2001 to 2021 and
15504-651: The report of the inquiry was published. In 1820, British settlement was largely confined to a 100 kilometre radius around Sydney and to the central plain of Van Diemen's Land. The settler population was 26,000 on the mainland and 6,000 in Van Diemen's Land. Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 the transportation of convicts increased rapidly and the number of free settlers grew steadily. From 1821 to 1840, 55,000 convicts arrived in New South Wales and 60,000 in Van Diemen's Land. However, by 1830, free settlers and
15640-419: The resources of their reefs and seas. Agriculture also developed on some islands and villages appeared by the 1300s. By the mid-18th century in northern Australia, contact, trade and cross-cultural engagement had been established between local Aboriginal groups and Makassan trepangers , visiting from present-day Indonesia. The Dutch are the first Europeans that recorded sighting and making landfall on
15776-491: The rise of blackbirding , where South Sea Islanders were coerced or abducted into indentured labour, mainly by Queensland colonists. From 1886, Australian colonial governments began removing many Aboriginal children from their families and communities, justified on the grounds of child protection and forced assimilation policies. The Second Boer War (1899–1902) marked the largest overseas deployment of Australia's colonial forces . On 1 January 1901, federation of
15912-499: The rope connected to his leg irons. Bennelong escaped in early 1790. Colebee was present at the spearing of Governor Philip on 7 September 1790. For some time, Colebee and Bennelong refused invitations to meet with the European settlers, but eventually in September they brought their families to the settlers’ town. Other Aboriginal people followed in their example. On 18 October, Colebee met Phillip, probably at Farm Cove , to conclude
16048-470: The rum trade and the illegal use of Crown Land, resulting in the Rum Rebellion of 1808. The Corps, working closely with the newly established wool trader John Macarthur , staged the only successful armed takeover of government in Australian history, deposing Bligh and instigating a brief period of military rule prior to the arrival from Britain of Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1810. Macquarie served as
16184-466: The settlement. He occasionally dined at Government House , and became increasingly dependent on the European settlers. He lived at the settlement three or four days per week. Despite his attempt, he failed to bring in Bidjigal warrior Pemulwuy , who had killed Governor Phillip's gamekeeper John McIntyre. Colebee's first wife was a fisherwoman named Daringa, whose half-brother was Moorooboora , leader of
16320-470: The settlers and established viable communities, often on small areas of their traditional lands, where many aspects of their cultures were maintained. The decision to establish a colony in Australia was made by Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney . This was taken for two reasons: the ending of transportation of criminals to North America following the American Revolution , as well as the need for
16456-402: The sheep. They also worked in trades and small business. Emancipists employed about half of the convicts assigned to private masters. After 1815 wages and employment opportunities for convicts and emancipists deteriorated as a sharp increase in the number of convicts transported led to an oversupply of labour. A series of reforms recommended by J. T. Bigge in 1822 and 1823 also sought to change
16592-415: The shortage of labour, wage rates before 1815 were high for male workers although much lower for females engaged in domestic work. In 1814, Governor Macquarie ordered that convicts had to work until 3pm, after which private employers had to pay them wages for any additional work. By 1821 convicts, emancipists and their children owned two-thirds of the land under cultivation, half the cattle and one-third of
16728-709: The spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus . Surrounded by the Indian and Pacific oceans, Australia is separated from Asia by the Arafura and Timor seas, with the Coral Sea lying off the Queensland coast, and the Tasman Sea lying between Australia and New Zealand. The world's smallest continent and sixth-largest country by total area , Australia—owing to its size and isolation—is often dubbed
16864-406: The thylacine. Many of Australia's ecoregions, and the species within those regions, are threatened by human activities and introduced animal, chromistan , fungal and plant species. All these factors have led to Australia's having the highest mammal extinction rate of any country in the world. The federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 is the legal framework for
17000-454: The treaty between John Batman and the Aboriginal people of the Port Phillip area. By 1850 the settler population of New South Wales had grown to 180,000, not including the 70–75 thousand living in the area which became the separate colony of Victoria in 1851. After hosting Nicholas Baudin's French naval expedition in Sydney in 1802, Governor Phillip Gidley King decided to establish
17136-615: Was Australia's warmest recorded year, and the 2019–2020 bushfire season was the country's worst on record . Australia's greenhouse gas emissions per capita are among the highest in the world. Water restrictions are frequently in place in many regions and cities of Australia in response to chronic shortages due to urban population increases and localised drought. Throughout much of the continent, major flooding regularly follows extended periods of drought, flushing out inland river systems, overflowing dams and inundating large inland flood plains, as occurred throughout Eastern Australia in
17272-423: Was badly hit by the depression of 1841–44, and overproduction of wheat and overinvestment in infrastructure almost bankrupted it. Conflict with Indigenous traditional landowners also reduced the protections they had been promised. In 1842, the settlement became a Crown colony administered by the governor and an appointed Legislative Council. The economy recovered from 1845, supported by wheat farming, sheep grazing and
17408-413: Was established in 1829, evolving into the largest Australian colony by area, Western Australia . In accordance with population growth, separate colonies were carved from New South Wales: Tasmania in 1825, South Australia in 1836, New Zealand in 1841, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. South Australia was founded as a free colony—it never accepted transported convicts. Growing opposition to
17544-621: Was established in 1842. In 1850, Britain granted Van Diemen's Land, South Australia and the newly created colony of Victoria semi-representative Legislative Councils. British settlement led to a decline in the Aboriginal population and the disruption of their cultures due to introduced diseases, violent conflict and dispossession of their traditional lands. Aboriginal resistance to British encroachment on their land often led to reprisals from settlers including massacres of Aboriginal people . Many Aboriginal people, however, sought an accommodation with
17680-540: Was largely confined to a 100-kilometre (62 mi) radius around Sydney and to the central plain of Van Diemen's land . From 1816, penal transportation to Australia increased rapidly and the number of free settlers grew steadily. Van Diemen's Land became a separate colony in 1825, and free settlements were established at the Swan River Colony in Western Australia (1829), the Province of South Australia (1836), and in
17816-527: Was occupied by traditional landowners . Its publication meant that from then, all people found occupying land without the authority of the government would be considered illegal trespassers. In 1836, Port Phillip was officially recognised as a district of New South Wales and opened for settlement. The main settlement of Melbourne was established in 1837 as a planned town on the instructions of Governor Bourke. Squatters and settlers from Van Diemen's Land and New South Wales soon arrived in large numbers, and by 1850
17952-565: Was one of the founding members of the League of Nations in 1920, and the United Nations in 1945. The Statute of Westminster 1931 formally ended the ability of the UK to pass federal laws without Australia's consent. Australia adopted it in 1942, but it was backdated to 1939 to confirm the validity of legislation passed during World War II. The Australian Capital Territory was formed in 1911 as
18088-466: Was popularised by the explorer Matthew Flinders , who said it was "more agreeable to the ear, and an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the Earth". The first time that Australia appears to have been officially used was in April 1817, when Governor Lachlan Macquarie acknowledged the receipt of Flinders' charts of Australia from Lord Bathurst . In December 1817, Macquarie recommended to
18224-410: Was the pressing need to find a solution to the penal management problem, or whether broader imperial goals — such as trade, securing new supplies of timber and flax for the navy, and the desirability of strategic ports in the region — were paramount. Leading historians in the debate have included Sir Ernest Scott , Geoffrey Blainey , and Alan Frost . The decision to settle was taken when it seemed
18360-616: Was to be planned with a generous provision of churches, parks and schools. Land was to be sold at a uniform price and the proceeds used to secure an adequate supply of labour through selective assisted migration. Various religious, personal and commercial freedoms were guaranteed, and the Letters Patent enabling the South Australia Act 1834 included a guarantee of the rights of "any Aboriginal Natives" and their descendants to lands they "now actually occupied or enjoyed". The colony
18496-537: Was to found a free colony based on private investment at little cost to the British government. Power was divided between the Crown and a Board of Commissioners of Colonisation, responsible to about 300 shareholders. Settlement was to be controlled to promote a balance between land, capital and labour. Convict labour was banned in the hope of making the colony more attractive to "respectable" families and promote an even balance between male and female settlers. The city of Adelaide
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