The colonists were proud and loyal members of the British Empire. Britain was seen as the 'mother country', the great protector of their security and interests.
British colonies were established in 1788 and on 1 January 1901 these colonies united to become the nation of Australia. This event is known as Federation and resulted in the creation of Australia as a constitutional monarchy with the monarch as our Head of State.
James Cook was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer, he reached the south-eastern coast of Australia on 19 April 1770, his expedition became the first recorded Europeans to have encountered Australia's eastern coastline.
Australia's 6 British colonies became one nation on 1 January 1901. The Constitution is one of the Commonwealth of Australia's founding documents.
British settlement of Australia began as a penal colony governed by a captain of the Royal Navy. Until the 1850s, when local forces began to be recruited, British regular troops garrisoned the colonies with little local assistance.
The islands were settled by different seafaring Melanesian cultures such as the Torres Strait Islanders over 2500 years ago, and cultural interactions continued via this route with the Aboriginal people of northeast Australia.
The first known landing in Australia by Europeans was in 1606 by Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon on Australia's northern coast. Later that year, Spanish explorer Luís Vaz de Torres sailed through, and navigated, what is now called Torres Strait and associated islands.
Indigenous people have lived in Australia more than 65,000 years ago, according to scientific evidence of human occupation1. To put this in perspective, this is ten times older than the ancient Egyptian pyramids.
Examples of first world countries include the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. Several Western European nations qualify as well, especially Great Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, and the Scandinavian countries.
Australia was colonised about 20,000 years before humans first arrived in Europe, according to new research.
After Dutch navigators charted the northern, western and southern coasts of Australia during the 17th Century this newly found continent became known as 'New Holland'. It was the English explorer Matthew Flinders who suggested the name we use today.
Records show that about 18 Chinese settlers had immigrated to Australia before 1848. The earliest known Chinese immigrant to arrive in Sydney is reported to have been Mak Sai Ying. Born in Guangzhou (Canton) in 1798, he arrived as a free settler in New South Wales in 1818 and purchased land at Parramatta.
The name was popularised by the explorer Matthew Flinders from 1804, and it has been in official use since 1817, replacing "New Holland," an English translation of the Dutch name, first given by Abel Tasman in 1643 as the name for the continent.
When Britain declared war against Germany in August 1914, Australia, as a dominion of the British Empire, was automatically also at war.
Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, 1900: Original Public Record Copy (1900). The Australian Constitution does not contemplate any state or territory leaving Australia. The only legal path to secession would be by a national referendum.
After German troops entered Belgium on 4 August, the United Kingdom declared war on Germany. Australia, a dominion of the British Empire, willingly joined the war to aid the mother country. Australia pledged an immediate force of 20,000 troops, with more to follow.
1. Iran. Iran is the oldest country in the world founded in 3200 B.C. and has a topography characterized by numerous mountains and mountain ranges. Iran was established as a country in 3200 B.C.
List of Countries of the First World. The term First World originally refers to the capitalist, industrialized countries, within the Western European and United States' sphere of influence, (e.g. member states of the NATO).
A strong and open economy
Australians enjoy some of the highest living standards in the world despite being home to only 0.3 per cent of the global population. Since 1992, our economy has grown faster than any other major developed country.
Australia is home to the oldest continuing living culture in the entire world. The richness and diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures in Australia is something we should all take pride in as a nation.
It is generally held that Australian Aboriginal peoples originally came from Asia via insular Southeast Asia (now Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, East Timor, Indonesia, and the Philippines) and have been in Australia for at least 45,000–50,000 years.
Aboriginal people are known to have occupied mainland Australia for at least 65,000 years. It is widely accepted that this predates the modern human settlement of Europe and the Americas.
Between 11,000 and 14,000 Aboriginal people died, compared with only 399 to 440 colonisers. The tallies of the dead are not the only measure of what took place, according to Dr Bill Pascoe, a digital humanities specialist and key researcher on the project. “We are always using conservative estimates,” Pascoe said.
A coastal town located on the east bank of the mouth of the Tamar River, George Town is Australia's third oldest European settlement and Australia's oldest town.
The oldest human remains in Australia were found at Lake Mungo in south-west New South Wales, part of the Willandra Lakes system. This site has been occupied by Aboriginal people from at least 47,000 years ago to the present.