Discovery and Exploration

Portuguese sailors may have known of Australia's existence early in the 1500's, but there are no records of landings by the Portuguese. In 1606 a Spanish navigator, Luis Vaez de Torres, sailed through the island-dotted strait between Australia and New Guinea that now bears his name.

Also in 1606, the Dutch ship Duyfken sailed along the northern coast in the bay the Dutch named the Gulf of Carpentaria. During the years that followed, Dutch navigators explored several points along Cape York Peninsula and the western coast. They called the land New Holland. In 1642, Abel Janszoon Tasman landed on the island south of New Holland now known as Tasmania. He named it Van Diemen's Land (its name until 1856, when it was officially changed).

The first Englishman to set foot on the mainland was William Dampier, an adventurer, who landed on the northwestern coast in 1688. His unenthusiastic reports did little to quicken English interest in the new land.

Nearly a century passed before the voyage of Captain James Cook. He sighted the southeastern shores of the continent in 1770. Although a large part of New Holland's coastal lands had already been fairly well mapped by then, it was Cook who discovered the most promising region for settlement. He anchored in Botany Bay, near the present site of Sydney. Cook claimed the eastern part of New Holland for Great Britain, naming this area New South Wales.

Australia in 1829Australia in 1829 Western Australia became the third British colony in Australia in 1829. The United Kingdom had established New South Wales in 1788 and Van Dieman's Land in 1825.
Important dates in Australia (1788-1850)
1788 The First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay to establish a prison colony. Arthur Phillip was commander of the fleet and the colony's first governor.
1803 Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) was founded as a prison colony.
1808 Governor William Bligh was deposed by the New South Wales Corps in the Rum Rebellion.
1809 The British sent Lachlan Macquarie to be governor of New South Wales.
1819 John Thomas Bigge released his recommendations for the colony in the Bigge Report. He recommended large land grants and assigned convict labor for men with capital, which helped establish the wool industry.
1829 Western Australia was founded as a free colony.
1830 In Van Diemen's Land, Governor George Arthur attempted to isolate the Tasmanian Aborigines by driving them into Tasman Peninsula. He captured only two Aborigines.
1836 Colonial officials allowed squatters (illegal settlers) outside the limits of occupation to occupy crown land for an annual license fee.
1836 South Australia was founded as a free colony.
1838 A group of Europeans attacked an Aboriginal camp at Myall Creek in New South Wales, killing its inhabitants. Seven of the Europeans were later hanged.
1840 Transportation of convicts to New South Wales was abolished, but transportation to Van Diemen's Land continued.
1850 All colonies except Western Australia were invited to draw up their own constitutions in preparation for self-government.