All About Australia The Australia Flag

Where is Australia?

Australia is made of states, cities and territories Australia is made of states, cities and territories. Draw the map of Australia and label the following Victoria (Capital City - Melbourne) *Northern Territory (Darwin) New South Wales (Sydney) *Queensland (Brisbane) Australian Capital Territory (Canberra) *Tasmania (Hobart) Western Australian (Perth) South Australia (Adelaide)

HISTORY 40, 000 years before Europeans arrived in Australia, Indigenous people lived here. (Europeans = people from Europe. Indigenous people = Original people of the region, Aboriginal people) The first European settlers did not understand the Aboriginal people, this led to many problems.

Australian History Captain James Cook, an Englishman, travelled to Australia in 1770 from England. He named it Terra Australis. He was the first European to sail along the eastern coast of Australia in 1770. His ship was called The Endeavour. Captain Cook claimed Australia for the land of England. He believed that Australia was a good place to settle as the land was green and the Aboriginals were friendly. He believed it was a good place to settle. Earlier explorers such as Willem Jansz, a Dutchman, had sailed along the Gulf of Carpenteria in 1606.

Australian History On 26 January 1788, the First Fleet of eleven British ships carrying 1000 people sailed into Australia’s east coast, Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour). Most of the people were ‘convicts’ about to start life in a ‘penal colony’. Between 1788 and 1868, some 150 000 convicts were transported to New South Wales. Most were promised land or to be taken home at the end of their sentence. Most ended up settling here. By 1810, convicts made up 60% of the population. Between 1831 and 1851, some 200 000 people emigrated to the Australian colonies. By 1851, the convicts only made up 2% of the population. (Convict = a person declared guilty of a crime and sent away to serve his/her time in a jail or prison.)

Australian History When the Europeans first settled in Australia in 1788, they took over the land, not understanding that the Aboriginal people believed that the land was theirs. The Europeans saw no evidence of settlement or cultivation, therefore they saw it as ‘free for the taking’. Aboriginal law and European law was different and this led to misunderstandings and conflict. Aboriginal people are very ‘spiritual’, and each tribe has a totem, a sign of its people’s spiritual link to the land. It might be an animal, plant, natural feature such as a weather pattern or rock formation. Each individual also has a totem that they identify with and feel protected by.

Australian History Australia’s Indigenous people were guided by their elders. They worked together, sharing their food and knowledge, and living in harmony with their environment. Aboriginal people lived off the land, foods eaten depended on the location of their tribe. Some foods included nuts, seeds, bush fruit, fish, birds, eggs, reptiles, witchetty grubs, possum, kangaroo, turtle, crocodile and other animals. Australia’s Indigenous people traditionally were nomadic – moving from place to place as they hunted and gathered food.

Australian History Many lives were also cut short due to European diseases such as measles, whooping cough and others. The Europeans wanted the Aborigines to act and live as they did. Some Aborigines were pushed off the land and others were shot. However, some settlers made friends with the Aborigines.