History of Australia

People have lived in Australia for more than 50,000 years. The first people in Australia were the Aboriginal people. They came by boat from the islands of what is now Indonesia. They lived in all parts of Australia. Their lives were simple, but they had few needs. They lived by hunting, fishing and gathering food. They lived in tribes, and they spoke many different languages.

In 1606 the first people from Europe found Australia. They came by sea from the Netherlands, France, and Britain. First they found the north and west coast. This was dry and empty land, and they found no reason to stay. But in 1770 an English sailor, Captain James Cook, found the east coast of Australia. He called it New South Wales, and claimed it for Britain. He thought it would be a good place to settle.

In 1788 the British sent a fleet of ships to settle Australia. Britain needed a place to send its convicts (people who had been sent to jail for theft and other crimes). Its jails were full. This First Fleet settled at a place they called Sydney. For the first few years they had not much food, and life was very hard. But soon they began to farm, and more people came. Sydney grew, and new towns were started.

Soon people from Sydney found other parts of Australia. George Bass and Matthew Flinders sailed south to Tasmania. Hamilton Hume and William Hovell went south by land. They found the Murray River, and good land in Victoria. Thomas Mitchell went inland, and found more rivers. Others went north and found Queensland. Soon more towns and cities were started. Then, gold was found in 1851. Many more people wanted to come to Australia. The country grew very fast, and some people became very rich.

As the towns and farms spread across Australia, the Aboriginal people were pushed off their land. Some were killed, and many died from illness and hunger. Soon few were left, and they were made to live on small reserves. Few Australians at that time cared what happened to the Aboriginal people.

In 1840 Britain stopped sending convicts to Australia. The people in Australia wanted to run their own country, and not be told what to do from London. So in 1855 New South Wales, Victoria and the other colonies established their own Parliaments, where they could make their own laws.

By 1900 the six colonies in Australia had grown so much that they decided to join together to form one new country, the Commonwealth of Australia. This was called Federation, and happened in 1901. But Australia was still part of the British Empire, and still felt very close to Britain and the British King. Australia soon had its own money, and its own Army and Navy.

Because Australia was a very big country, and was so close to Asia, the Australians feared that people from Asia might take the country over. So they passed a law that only people from Britain or other "white" countries could come to Australia. This was called the White Australia Policy. It lasted for more than 50 years.

In Australia at this time the trade unions were very strong, and they started a political party, the Labor Party. Australia passed many laws to help the workers. Australia was also one of the first places in the world where women could vote.

In 1914, the First World War started in Europe. Australia joined in on the side of Britain and France, against Germany. Australian soldiers were sent to Gallipoli, in Turkey. They fought bravely, but were beaten by the Turks. Today Australia remembers this battle every year on ANZAC Day. More than 60,000 Australians were killed in the war.

In 1939 the Second World War broke out. Again Australia joined in to help Britain. But in 1941 Japan attacked Australia, and Australians had to fight close to home for the first time. Many people feared that Japan would invade Australia. But with help from the United States, the Japanese were stopped. After the war, Australia became a close friend of the United States.

When the war ended, Australia felt that it needed many more people to fill the country up. So the government said it would take in all the people in Europe who had lost their homes in the war. Over the next 20 years, millions of people came to Australia. They came from Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia and other countries in Europe. Later they also came from countries like Turkey and Lebanon.

In the 1970s the White Australia Policy was ended. Many people came to Australia from China, Vietnam and other countries in Asia. Australia began to think of itself as an Asian country for the first time. But some Australians did not like this and said that Australia should stay a "white" or European country.

In the 1960s and 70s Australia became one of the richest countries in the world. It sent soldiers to help in other countries, like East Timor. It also supported the United States in wars in Korea, Vietnam and the two Gulf Wars. Some Australians protested against these wars. Australia's democracy meant that both sides could say what they thought.

Today Australia is a rich, peaceful and democratic country. But it still has many problems. Some people are still poor, mainly those who do not have jobs, or whose farms do not make enough money. The Aboriginal people want some of their lands back, and Australians do not agree on what to do about this. Australia also has a problem with refugees - people who come to Australia by boat saying they have nowhere else to go. Some Australians want to let them stay, but many other Australians do not want to let them in.