The Making of a Nation
Australia is a nation state. A nation state is a geographical area that has central leadership and a people who share many similar experiences, values and ideas. In the first half of the 19th century, Australia was made up of six colonies, each independently governed from Britain. There was no overall sense of Australia as one country. Over the second half of the century, increasing numbers of people became aware of how much the peoples in the six colonies had in common. They began to push for self-government and for greater political, social, economic and cultural unity. This movement led to the federation of the six colonies to create the Australian Commonwealth in 1901.
But Before We Begin Let's Make Sure we are All on the Same Page
In summary, human habitation of Australia began somewhere between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago when the the ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians made their way from Africa, through Southeast Asia to the land they called Gondwanaland.
On the 26 Feburary 1606 Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon became the first recorded European to set foot on Australia, or as he liked to call it, New Holland. The Dutch then spent the next 100 years charting the western and northern coastlines of New Holland, before dismissing the landmass as uninhabitable and abandoning plans for colonisation.
English explorer and privateer William Dampier became the first British subject to land in Australia in 1688. He liked it so much that he landed again in 1699.
In 1770, Captain James Cook mapped the east coast of New Holland, renamed it New South Wales, and claimed the land mass for Great Britain. Despite having met and intermingled with the aboriginal people of the land, Cook claimed the land as Terra Nullius, which is a Latin term which legally declares a place as “land belonging to no-one”.
The British government then decided that New South Wales was the perfect solution to it’s overcrowded goal problem, and declared it a penal colony.
On 26 January 1788 Captin Arthur Phillip led the First Fleet into Port Jackson and ofically established the British Crown Colony of New South Wales. Separate colonies were also established at Van Diemen’s Land, now Tasmania, in 1825, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851 and Queensland in 1859.
New Holland was renamed Terra Australia, shortened to Australia in 1824 because Captain Matthew Flinders decided it would be so.
The separate colonies then became one big happy nation in 1901 when federation united them all under one federal government and one constitution.
But Before We Begin Let's Make Sure we are All on the Same Page
In summary, human habitation of Australia began somewhere between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago when the the ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians made their way from Africa, through Southeast Asia to the land they called Gondwanaland.
On the 26 Feburary 1606 Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon became the first recorded European to set foot on Australia, or as he liked to call it, New Holland. The Dutch then spent the next 100 years charting the western and northern coastlines of New Holland, before dismissing the landmass as uninhabitable and abandoning plans for colonisation.
English explorer and privateer William Dampier became the first British subject to land in Australia in 1688. He liked it so much that he landed again in 1699.
In 1770, Captain James Cook mapped the east coast of New Holland, renamed it New South Wales, and claimed the land mass for Great Britain. Despite having met and intermingled with the aboriginal people of the land, Cook claimed the land as Terra Nullius, which is a Latin term which legally declares a place as “land belonging to no-one”.
The British government then decided that New South Wales was the perfect solution to it’s overcrowded goal problem, and declared it a penal colony.
On 26 January 1788 Captin Arthur Phillip led the First Fleet into Port Jackson and ofically established the British Crown Colony of New South Wales. Separate colonies were also established at Van Diemen’s Land, now Tasmania, in 1825, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851 and Queensland in 1859.
New Holland was renamed Terra Australia, shortened to Australia in 1824 because Captain Matthew Flinders decided it would be so.
The separate colonies then became one big happy nation in 1901 when federation united them all under one federal government and one constitution.
That is all very good, but