Jump to: navigation, searchMain article: Timeline of Australian historyThis article is part of a series on theHistory of AustraliaChronologicalPrehistory16061787178818501851190019011945Since 1945TimelineTopical Monarchy Exploration Constitution Federation Economic Railway Immigration Indigenous Military DiplomaticStates, Territories and cities New South Wales Sydney Victoria Melbourne Queensland Brisbane Western Australia Perth South Australia Adelaide Tasmania Hobart Australian Capital Territory Canberra Northern Territory DarwinPortal icon Australia portal v t ePart of a series on theCulture of AustraliaHistoryPeople[show]LanguagesTraditions[show]Mythology and folkloreCuisineFestivalsReligion[show]Art[show]Literature[show]Music and performing arts[show]Media[show]SportMonuments[show]Symbols[show] Portal icon Culture portalPortal icon Australia portal v t eThe History of Australia refers to the history of the area and people of themonwealth of Australia and its preceding Indigenous and colonial societies. Aboriginal Australians are believed to have first arrived on the Australian mainland by boat from the Indonesian archipelago between 40,000 to 60,000 years ago. They established among the longest surviving artistic, musical and spiritual traditions known on Earth.The first uncontested landing in Australia by Europeans was by Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon in 1606. Other European explorers followed intermittently until, in 1770, James Cook charted the East Coast of Australia[1] for Britain and returned with accounts favouring colonisation at Botany Bay (now in Sydney), New South Wales. A First Fleet of British ships arrived at Botany Bay in January 1788[2] to establish a penal colony. Other colonies were established by Britain around the continent and European explorers went deep into the interior throughout the 19th century. Introduced disease and conflict with the British colonists greatly weakened Indigenous Australians throughout the period.Gold rushes and agricultural industries brought prosperity. Autonomous Parliamentary democracies began to be established throughout the six British colonies from the mid-19th century. The colonies voted by referendum to unite in a federation in 1901, and modern Australia came into being. Australia fought on the side of Britain in the World Wars and became a long-standing ally of the United States when threatened by Imperial Japan during World War II. Trade with Asia increased and a post-war multicultural immigration program received more than 6.5 million migrants from every continent. The population tripled in six decades to around 21 million in 2010, with people originating from 200 countries sustaining the 14th biggest economy in the world.[3]Contents 1 Aboriginal Australia 1.1 Aborigines before European contact 1.2 Impact of European settlement 2 European exploration 2.1 Early explorers 2.2 Plans for colonisation 3 Colonisation 3.1 Establishment of British colonies 3.2 1788: New South Wales 3.3 Establishment of further colonies 3.4 Convicts and colonial society 3.5 Free colony at South Australia 3.6 Explorers 4 From autonomy to federation 4.1 Colonial self-government and the gold rushes 4.2 Bushrangers 4.3 Development of Australian democracy 4.4 Growth of nationalism 4.5 Federation movement 5 Federation 5.1 Foundation of themonwealth of Australia 6 First World War 7 Inter-war years 7.1 1920s: men, money and markets 7.2 Dominion status 7.3 Great Depression 8 Second World War 8.1 Defence policy in the 1930s 8.2 War 8.3 Australian home front 9 Post-war boom 9.1 Menzies and Liberal dominance: 194972 9.2 Post-war immigration 9.3 Economic growth and suburban living 9.4 Alliances 19501972 10 Vietnam War 11 Modern Australia emerging 1960s+ 11.1 Arts and the new nationalism 11.2 Civil rights for all Australians 11.2.1 Indigenous people 11.2.1.1 Papua New Guinea and Nauru 11.2.2 Women 11.3 "It's Time": Whitlam and Fraser 11.4 Hawke and Keating: 19831996 11.4.1 Bicentennary 1988 11.4.2 Economy 11.4.3 Foreign policy 11.5 Howard government: 19962007 11.5.1 Foreign policy 11.5.2 Republicanism 11.5.3 2000 Olympics 12 21st century 12.1 Into the 21st century 12.2 Afghanistan War: 2001present 13 See also 14 References 15 Further reading 15.1 Reference books 15.2 Historical surveys 15.3 Primary sources 16 External linksAboriginal AustraliaRock painting at Ubirr in Kakadu National Park. Evidence of Aboriginal art in Australia can be traced back some 30,000 years.Main article: History of Indigenous AustraliansSee also: Prehistory of Australia and Aboriginal History of Western AustraliaAborigines before European contactThe ancestors of Indigenous Australians are believed to have arrived in Australia some 40,000 to 60,000 years ago, but possibly as early as 70,000 years ago.[4][5] They developed a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, established enduring spiritual and artistic traditions and utilised stone technologies. At the time of first European contact, it has been estimated the existing population was at least 350,000,[6][7] while recent archaeological finds suggest that a population of 750,000 could have been sustained.[8][9] People appear to have arrived by sea during a period of glaciation, when New Guinea and Tasmania were joined to the continent. The journey still required sea travel however, making them amongst the worlds earlier mariners.[10]Kolaia man wearing a headdress worn in a fire ceremony, Forrest River, Western Australia. Aboriginal Australian religious practices associated with the Dreamtime have been practised for tens of thousands of years.A Luritja man demonstrating method of attack with boomerang under cover of shield (1920).The greatest population density developed in the southern and eastern regions, the River Murray valley in particular. Aborigines lived and utilised resources on the continent sustainably, agreeing to cease hunting and gathering at particular times to give populations and resources the chance to replenish. "Firestick farming" amongst northern Australian people was used to encourage plant growth that attracted animals.[11] Aborigines were amongst the oldest, most sustainable and most isolated cultures on Earth prior to European settlement. The arrival of Australia's first people nevertheless affected the continent significantly, and, along with climate change, may have contributed to the extinction of Australia's megafauna.[12] The introduction of the dingo dog by Aboriginal people around 30004000 years ago may, along with human hunting, have contributed to the extinction of the thylacine, Tasmanian Devil, and Tasmanian Native-hen from mainland Australia.[13][14]The earliest human remains found to date are those found at Lake Mungo, a dry lake in the south west of New South Wales.[15] Remains found at Mungo suggest one of the world's oldest known cremations, thus indicating early evidence for religious ritual among humans.[16] According to Australian Aboriginal mythology and the animist framework of the descendants of these early Australians, the Dreaming is a sacred era in which ancestral Totemic Spirit Beings formed The Creation. The Dreaming established the laws and structures of society and the ceremonies performed to ensure continuity of life and land. It was and remains a prominent feature of Australian Aboriginal art.Aboriginal art is believed to be the oldest continuing tradition of art in the world.[17] Evidence of Aboriginal art can be traced back at least 30,000 years and is found throughout Australia (notably at Uluru and Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory).[18][19] In terms of age and abundance, cave art in Australia isparable to that of Lascaux and Altamira in Europe.[20][21]Despite considerable cultural continuity, life for Aborigines was not without significant changes. Some 1012,000 years ago, Tasmania became isolated from the mainland, and some stone technologies failed to reach the Tasmanian people (such as the hafting of stone tools and the use of the Boomerang).[22] The land was not always kind; Aboriginal people of southeastern Australia endured "more than a dozen volcanic eruptions(including) Mount Gambier, a mere 1,400 years ago."[23] There is evidence that when necessary, Aborigines could keep control of their population growth and in times of drought or arid areas were able to maintain reliable water supplies.[citation needed] In south eastern Australia, near present day Lake Condah, semi-permanent villages of beehive shaped shelters of stone developed, near bountiful food supplies.[24] For centuries, Macassan trade flourished with Aborigines on Australia's north coast, particularly with the Yolngu people of northeast Arnhem Land.By 1788, the population existed as 250 individual nations, many of which were in alliance with one another, and within each nation there existed several clans, from as few as five or six to as many as 30 or 40. Each nation had its own language and a few had multiple, thus over 250 languages existed, around 200 of which are now extinct. "Intricate kinship rules ordered the social relations of the people and diplomatic messengers and meeting rituals smoothed relations between groups," keeping group fighting, sorcery and domestic disputes to a minimum.[25]The mode of life and material cultures varied greatly from nation to nation. Some early European observers like William Dampier described the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of the Aborigines as arduous and "miserable". Captain Cook on the other hand, speculated in his journal that the "Natives of New Holland" might in fact be far happier than Europeans. Watkin Tench, of the First Fleet, wrote of an admiration for the Aborigines of Sydney as good natured and good humoured people, though he also reported violent hostility between the Eora and Cammeraygal peoples, and noted violent domestic altercations between his friend Bennelong and his wife Barangaroo.[26] 19th century settlers like Edward Curr observed that Aborigines "suffered less and enjoyed life more than the majority of civilized(sic) men."[27] Historian Geoffrey Blainey wrote that the material standard of living for Aborigines was generally high, higher than that of many Europeans living at the time of the Dutch discovery of Australia.[28]Permanent European settlers arrived at Sydney in 1788 and came to control most of the continent by end of the 19th century. Bastions of largely unaltered Aboriginal societies survived, particularly in Northern and Western Australia into the 20th century, until finally, a group of Pintupi people of the Gibson Desert became the last people to be contacted by outsider ways in 1984.[29][29] While much knowledge was lost, Aboriginal art, music and culture, often scorned by Europeans during the initial phases of contact, survived and in time came to be celebrated by the wider Australianmunity.Impact of European settlementTwo of the Natives of New Holland Advancing, Tobat (1770), sketched by Cook's illustrator Sydney Parkinson.Portrait of the Aboriginal explorer and diplomat Bungaree in British dress at Sydney in 1826.Main article: Australian frontier warsThe navigator James Cook claimed the east coast of Australia for Britain in 1770, without conducting negotiations with the existing inhabitants. The first governor, Arthur Phillip, was instructed explicitly to establish friendship and good relations with the Aborigines and interactions between the early neers and the ancient landowners varied considerably throughout the colonial periodfrom the mutual curiosity displayed by the early interlocutors Bennelong and Bungaree of Sydney, to the outright hostility of Pemulwuy and Windradyne of the Sydney region,[30] and Yagan around Perth. Bennelong and apanion became the first Australians to sail to Europe, where they met King George III. Bungaree apanied the explorer Matthew Flinders on the first circumnavigation of Australia. Pemulwuy was accused of the first killing of a white settler in 1790, and Windradyne resisted early British expansion beyond the Blue Mountains.[31]According to the historian Geoffrey Blainey, in Australia during the colonial period: "In a thousand isolated places there were occasional shootings and spearings. Even worse, smallpox, measles, influenza and other new diseases swept from one Aboriginal camp to another ... The main conqueror of Aborigines was to be disease and its ally, demoralisation".[32]Even before the arrival of European settlers in local districts, European disease often preceded them. A smallpox epidemic was recorded in Sydney in 1789, which wiped out about half the Aborigines around Sydney." It then spread well beyond the then limits of European settlement, including much of southeastern Australia, reappearing in 182930, killing 4060 percent of the Aboriginal population.[33]The impact of Europeans was profoundly disruptive to Aboriginal life and, though the extent of violence is debated, there was considerable conflict on the frontier. At the same time, some settlers were quite aware they were usurping the Aborigines place in Australia. In 1845, settler Charles Griffiths sought to justify this, writing; "The questiones to this; which has the better right the savage, born in a country, which he runs over but can scarcely be said to occupy ... or the civilized man, whoes to introduce into this ... unproductive country, the industry which supports life."[34]From the 1960s, Australian writers began to re-assess European assumptions about Aboriginal Australia with works including Alan Moorehead's The Fatal Impact (1966) and Geoffrey Blainey's landmark history Triumph of the Nomads (1975). In 1968, anthropologist W.E.H. Stanner described the lack of historical accounts of relations between Europeans and Aborigines as "the great Australian silence."[35][36] Historian Henry Reynolds argues that there was a "historical neglect" of the Aborigines by historians until the late 1960s.[37] Earlymentaries often tended to describe Aborigines as doomed to extinction following the arrival of Europeans. William Westgarths 1864 book on the colony of Victoria observed; "the case of the Aborigines of Victoria confirms it would seem almost an immutable law of nature that such inferior dark races should disappear."[38] However, by the early 1970s historians like Lyndall Ryan, Henry Reynolds and Raymond Evans were trying to document and estimate the conflict and human toll on the frontier.Proclamation issued in Van Diemen's Land in 1816 by Lieutenant-Governor Arthur, which explains the precepts of British Justice in pictorial form for the Tasmanian Aboriginals. Tasmania suffered a higher level of conflict than the other British colonies.[39]Truganini, a Tasmanian Aboriginal who survived the outbreak of disease and conflicts which followed the British colonisation of Van Diemen's Land.Many events illustrate violence and resistance as Aborigines sought to protect their lands from invasion and as settlers and pastoralists attempted to establish their presence. In May 1804, at Risdon Cove, Van Diemen's Land,[40] perhaps 60 Aborigines were killed when they approached the town.[41] The British established a new outpost in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in 1803. Although Tasmanian history is amongst the most contested by modern historians, conflict between colonists and Aborigines was referred to in some contemporary accounts as the Black War.[42] Thebined effects of disease, dispossession, intermarriage and conflict saw a collapse of the Aboriginal population from a few thousand people when the British arrived, to a few hundred by the 1830s. Estimates of how many people were killed during the period begin at around 300, though verification of the true figure is now impossible.[43][44] In 1830 Governor George Arthur sent an armed party (the Black Line) to push the Big River and Oyster Bay tribes out of the British settled districts. The effort failed and George Augustus Robinson proposed to set out unarmed to mediate with the remaining tribespeople in 1833.[45] With the assistance of Truganini as guide and translator, Robinson convinced remaining tribesmen to surrender to an isolated new settlement at Flinders Island, where most later died of disease.[46][47]In 1838, at least twenty-eight Aborigines were murdered at the Myall Creek in New South Wales, resulting in the unprecedented conviction and hanging of seven white settlers by the colonial courts.[48] Aborigines also attacked white settlers in 1838 fourteen Europeans were killed at Broken River in Port Phillip District, by Aborigines of the Ovens River, almost certainly in revenge for the illicit use of Aboriginal women.[49] Captain Hutton of Port Phillip District once told Chief Protector of Aborigines George Augustus Robinson that "if a member of a tribe offend, destroy the whole."[50] Queenslands Colonial Secretary A.H. Palmer wrote in 1884 "the nature of the blacks was so treacherous that they were only guided by fear in fact it was only possible to rulethe Australian Aboriginalby brute force"[51] The most recent massacre of Aborigines was at Coniston in the Northern Territory in 1928. There are numerous other massacre sites in Australia, although supporting documentation varies.From the 1830s, colonial governments established the now controversial offices of the Protector of Aborigines in an effort to avoid mistreatment of Indigenous peoples and conduct government policy towards them. Christian churches in Australia sought to convert Aborigines, and were often used by government to carry out welfare and assimilation policies. Colonial churchmen such as Sydney's first Catholic archbishop, John Bede Polding strongly advocated for Aboriginal rights and dignity[52] and prominent Aboriginal activist Noel Pearson (born 1965), who was raised at a Lutheran mission in Cape York, has written that Christian missions throughout Australia's colonial history "provided a haven from the hell of life on the Australian frontier while at the same time facilitating colonisation".[53]Aboriginal farmers at Loddon Aboriginal Protectorate Station at Franklinford, Victoria in 1858.Hermannsburg Mission in the Northern Territory.The Caledon Bay crisis of 19324 saw one of the last incidents of violent interaction on the 'frontier' of indigenous and non-indigenous Australia, which began when the spearing of Japanese poachers who had been molesting Yolngu women was followed by the killing of a policeman. As the crisis unfolded, national opinion swung behind the Aboriginal people involved, and the first appeal on behalf of an Indigenous Australian to the High Court of Australia was launched. Following the crisis, the anthropologist Donald Thompson was dispatched by the government to live among the Yolngu.[54] Elsewhere around this time, activists like Sir Douglas Nicholls weremencing their campaigns for Aboriginal rights within the established Australian political system and the age of frontier conflict closed.Frontier encounters in Australia were not universally negative. Positive accounts of Aboriginal customs and encounters are also recorded in the journals of early European explorers, who often relied on Aboriginal guides and assistance: Charles Sturt employed Aboriginal envoys to explore the Murray-Darling; the lone survivor of the Burke and Wills expedition was nursed by local Aborigines, and the famous Aboriginal explorer Jackey Jackey loyally apanied his ill-fated friend Edmund Kennedy to Cape York.[55] Respectful studies were conducted by such as Walter Baldwin Spencer and Frank Gillen in their renowned anthropological study The Native Tribes of Central Australia (1899); and by Donald Thompson of Arnhem Land (c.19351943). In inland Australia, the skills of Aboriginal stockmen became highly regarded and in the 20th century, Aboriginal stockmen like Vincent Lingiari became national figures in their campagins for better pay and conditions.[56]The removal of indigenous children, which the Human Rights and Equal Opportunitymission argue constituted attempted genocide,[57] had a major impact on the Indigenous population.[58] Such interpretations of Aboriginal history are disputed by Keith Windschuttle as being exaggerated or fabricated for political or ideological reasons.[59] This debate is part of what is known within Australia as the History Wars.European explorationEarly explorersMain article: European exploration of AustraliaExploration by Europeans until 1812 1605-6 Pedro Fernandez de Quiros and Luis Vaez de Torres 1606 Willem Janszoon 1616 Dirk Hartog 1619 Frederick de Houtman 1644 Abel Tasman 1696 Willem de Vlamingh 1699 William Dampier 1770 James Cook 17971799 George Bass 18011803 Matthew Flinders1644 Chart of Hollandia Nova.1744 Chart of Hollandia Nova Terra Australis.Australia named New Holland, in 1794 Samuel Dunn Map of the WorldSeveral writers have tried to prove that Europeans visited Australia during the 16th century. Kenneth McIntyre and others have argued that the Portuguese had secretly discovered Australia in the 1520s.[60] The presence of a landmass labelled "Jave la Grande" on the Dieppe Maps is often cited as evidence for a "Portuguese discovery". However, the Dieppe Maps also openly reflected the iplete state of geographical knowledge at the time, both actual and theoretical.[61] And it has been argued that Jave la Grande was a hypothetical notion, reflecting 16th century notions of cosmography.[62] Although theories of visits by Europeans, prior to the 17th century, continue to attract popular interest in Australia and elsewhere, they are generally regarded as contentious and lacking substantial evidence.It is however, the crew of a Dutch ship, led by Willem Janszoon, which is credited with the first authenticated European landing in Australia in 1606.[63] That same year, a Spanish expedition sailing in nearby waters and led by Pedro Fernandez de Quiros had landed in the New Hebrides and, believing them to be the fabled southern continent, named the land: "Terra Austral del Espiritu Santo (Southern Land of the Holy Spirit).[64] Later that year, De Quiros' deputy Luís Vaez de Torres sailed through Australia's Torres Strait and may have sighted Australia's northern coast.[65]In 1616, Dutch sea-captain Dirk Hartog sailed too far whilst trying out Henderik Brouwer's recently discovered route from the Cape of Good Hope to Batavia, via the Roaring Forties. Reaching the western coast of Australia, he landed at Cape Inscription in Shark Bay on 25 October 1616. His is the first known record of a European visiting Western Australia's shores.In 1622-3 the despatch yacht Leeuwin, was the first recorded ship to round the south west corner of the Australian continent, and gave her name to Cape Leeuwin.[66]In 1627 the South coast of Australia was accidentally discovered by Francis Thyssen on board the ship 'Gulden Seepaart'. The land was named 'Land van P. Nuyts', in honour of the highest ranking passenger, the Honourable Pieter Nuyts, extraordinary Councillor of India,[67]In 1628 a squadron of Dutch ships was sent, under the auspices of the Governor of the Dutch East Indies, Pieter Carpenter, to explore the northern coast of Australia. These ships made extensive examinations, particularly in the Gulf of Carpentaria, so named in honour of the Governor.[66]Although Abel Tasman is best known for his voyage of 1642; in which he became the first known European to reach the islands of Van Diemen's Land (later Tasmania) and New Zealand, and to sight the Fiji islands, he also contributed significantly to the mapping of Australia proper. With three ships on his second voyage (Limmen, Zeemeeuw and the tender Braek) in 1644, he followed the south coast of New Guinea westward. He missed the Torres Strait between New Guinea and Australia, but continued his voyage along the Australian coast and ended up mapping the north coast of Australia making observations on the land and its people.[68]By the 1650s, as a result of the Dutch discoveries, most of the Australian coast was charted reliably enough for the navigational standards of the day, and this was revealed for all to see in the map of the world inlaid into the floor of the Burgerzaal ("Burger's Hall") of the new Amsterdam Stadhuis ("Town Hall") in 1655.[69] This was based on the 1648 map by Joan Blaeu, Nova et Accuratissima Terrarum Orbis Tabula, that incorporated Abel Tasman's discoveries, subsequently reproduced in the map, Archipelagus Orientalis sive Asiaticus published in the Kurfürsten Atlas (Atlas of the Great Elector).[70] In 1664 the French geographer, Melchisédech Thévenot, published in Relations de Divers Voyages Curieux a map of New Holland which he said he had drawn from the world map on the pavement of the Amsterdam Town Hall, but which he more probably copied from Blaeu's atlas.[71] Thévenot divided the continent in two, between Nova Hollandia to the west and Terre Australe to the east of a latitude staff running down the meridian equivalent to longitude 135 degrees East of Greenwich.[72] Emanuel Bowen reproduced Thevenot's map in hisplete System of Geography (London, 1747), re-titling it Aplete Map of the Southern Continent and adding three inscriptions promoting the benefits of exploring and colonizing the country. One inscription said: "It is impossible to conceive a Country that promises fairer from its Situation than this of TERRA AUSTRALIS, no longer incognita, as this Map demonstrates, but the Southern Continent Discovered. It lies precisely in the richest climates of the World... and therefore whoever perfectly discovers and settles it will be infalliably possessed of Territories as Rich, as fruitful, and as capable of Improvement, as any that have hitherto been found out, either in the East Indies or the West." Bowens map was re-published in John Campbells editions of John Harris' Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca, or Voyages and Travels (17441748, and 1764).[73] This book also rmended a voyage be undertaken to explore the east coast of New Holland, with a view to a British colonization of the country: The first Point, with respect to a Discovery, would be, to send a small Squadron on the Coast of Van Diemen's Land, and from thence round, in the same course taken by Captain Tasman, by the Coast of New Guiney; which might enable the Nations that attempted it, toe to an absolute Certainty with regard to itsmodities andmerce... By this means all the back Coast of New Holland, and New Guiney, might be roughly examined; and we might know as well, and as certainly, as the Dutch, how far a Colony settled there might answer our Expectations.[74]Although various proposals for colonisation were made, notably by Pierre Purry from 1717 to 1744, none was officially attempted.[75] Indigenous Australians were less able to trade with Europeans than were the peoples of India, the East Indies, China, and Japan. The Dutch East Indiapany concluded that there was "no good to be done there". They turned down Purrys scheme with thement that, "There is no prospect of use or benefit to thepany in it, but rather very certain and heavy costs".With the exception of further Dutch visits to the west, however, Australia remained largely unvisited by Europeans until the first British explorations. John Callander put forward a proposal in 1766 for Britain to found a colony of banished convicts in the South Sea or in Terra Australis to enable the mother country to exploit the riches of those regions. He said: "this world must present us with many things entirely new, as hitherto we have had little more knowledge of it, than if it had lain in another planet".[76] In 1769, Lieutenant James Cook inmand of the HMS Endeavour, traveled to Tahiti to observe and record the transit of Venus. Cook also carried secret Admiralty instructions to locate the supposed Southern Continent: "There is reason to imagine that a continent, or land of great extent, may be found to the southward of the track of former navigators."[77] This continent was not found, as it only existed in the form of the yet to be discovered Antarctica, a much shrunken version of the Terra Australis imagined by Alexander Dalrymple and his fellow members of the Royal Society who had urged the Admiralty to undertake this mission.[78] To save something useful from the expedition, Cook decided to survey the east coast of New Holland, the only major part of that continent that had not been charted in some form by Dutch navigators.[79] On 19 April 1770, the crew of the Endeavour sighted the east coast of Australia and ten days later landed at Botany Bay. Cook charted the east coast to its northern extent and, along with the ship's naturalist, Joseph Banks, who subsequently reported favourably on the possibilities of establishing a colony at Botany Bay. Cook formally took possession of the east coast of New Holland on 21/22 August 1770, and noted in his journal that he could, "land no more upon this Eastern coast of New Holland, and on the Western side I can make no new discovery the honour of which belongs to the Dutch Navigators and as such they may lay Claim to it as their property [italicised words crossed out in the original] but the Eastern Coast from the Latitude of 38 South down to this place I am confident was never seen or viseted by any European before us and therefore by the same Rule belongs to great Brittan [italicised words crossed out in the original].[80] Cook was careful therefore to take possession only of that part of the coastline not previously visited by Dutch navigators, i.e. from latitude 38ºS, Point Hicks, north of Van Diemens Land, to Cape York, East of Carpentaria.[81]In 1772, a French expedition led by Louis Aleno de St Aloüarn, became the first Europeans to formally claim sovereignty over the west coast of Australia, but no attempt was made to follow this with colonisation.[82]The ambition of Swedens King Gustav III to establish a colony for his country at the Swan River in 1786 remained stillborn.[83] It was not until 1788 that economic, technological and political conditions in Great Britain made it possible and worthwhile for that country to make the large effort of sending the First Fleet to New South Wales.[84]Plans for colonisationMain article: History of Australia (17881850)An engraving from "Australia: the first hundred years", by Andrew Garran, 1886 showing natives of the Gweagal tribe opposing the arrival of Captain James Cook in 1770[citation needed].Seventeen years after Cook's landfall on the east coast of Australia, the British government decided to establish a colony at Botany Bay.The American Revolutionary War of (17751783) saw Britain lose most of its North American colonies and consider establishing replacement territories. In 1779 Sir Joseph Banks, the eminent scientist who had apanied James Cook on his 1770 voyage, rmended Botany Bay as a suitable site for settlement, saying that "it was not to be doubted that a Tract of Land such as New Holland, which was larger than the whole of Europe, would furnish Matter of advantageous Return."[85] Under Banks guidance, the American Loyalist James Matra, who had also travelled with Cook, produced "A Proposal for Establishing a Settlement in New South Wales" (23 August 1783), proposing the establishment of a colonyposed of American Loyalists, Chinese and South Sea Islanders (but not convicts).[86]Matra reasoned that: the country was suitable for plantations of sugar, cotton and tobacco; New Zealand timber and hemp or flax could prove valuablemodities; it could form a base for Pacific trade; and it could be a suitablepensation for displaced American Loyalists.[87] Following an interview with Secretary of State Lord Sydney in 1784, Matra amended his proposal to include convicts as settlers, considering that this would benefit both "Economy to the Publick, & Humanity to the Individual".[88]Matras plan provided the original blueprint for settlement.[89] Records show the government was considering it in 1784.[90] The London newspapers announced in November 1784 that: A plan has been presented to the [Prime] Minister, and is now before the Cabinet, for instituting a new colony in New Holland. In this vast tract of land.every sort of produce and improvement of which the various soils of the earth are capable, may be expected.[91] The Government also incorporated the settlement of Norfolk Island into their plan, with its attractions of timber and flax, proposed by Banks Royal Society colleagues, Sir John Call and Sir George Young.[92]At the same time, humanitarians and reformers were campaigning in Britain against the appalling conditions in British prisons and hulks. In 1777 prison reformer John Howard wrote The State of Prisons in England and Wales, exposing the harsh conditions of the prison system to "genteel society"."[93] Penal transportation was already well established as a central plank of English criminal law and until the American Revolution about a thousand criminals per year were sent to Maryland and Virginia.[94] It served as a powerful deterrent to law-breaking. According to historian David Hill, "Europeans knew little about the geography of the globe" and to "convicts in England, transportation to Botany Bay was a frightening prospect." Echoing John Callander, he said Australia "might as well have been another planet."[95]In 1933, Sir Ernest Scott, stated the traditional view of the reasons for colonisation: It is clear that the only consideration which weighed seriously with the Pitt Government was the immediately pressing and practical one of finding a suitable place for a convict settlement .[96] In the early 1960s, historian Geoffrey Blainey questioned the traditional view of foundation purely as a convict dumping ground. His book The Tyranny of Distance[97] suggested ensuring supplies of flax and timber after the loss of the American colonies may have also been motivations, and Norfolk Island was the key to the British decision. A number of historians responded and debate brought to light a large amount of additional source material on the reasons for settlement.[98] This has most recently been set out and discussed by Professor Alan Frost.[99]The decision to settle was taken when it seemed the outbreak of civil war in the Netherlands might precipitate a war in which Britain would be again confronted with the alliance of the three naval Powers, France, Holland and Spain, which had brought her to defeat in 1783. Under these circumstances, the strategic advantages of a colony in New South Wales described in James Matra's proposal were attractive.[100] Matra wrote that such a settlement could facilitate attacks upon the Spanish in South America and the Philippines, and against the Dutch East Indies.[101] In 1790, during the Nootka Crisis, plans were made for naval expeditions against Spains possessions in the Americas and the Philippines, in which New South Wales was assigned the role of a base for refreshment,munication and retreat. On subsequent occasions into the early 19th century when war threatened or broke out between Britain and Spain, these plans were revived and only the short length of the period of hostilities in each case prevented them from being put into effect.[102]The German scientist and man of letters Georg Forster, who had sailed under Captain James Cook in the voyage of the Resolution (17721775), wrote in 1786 on the future prospects of the English colony: "New Holland, an island of enormous extent or it might be said, a third continent, is the future homeland of a new civilized society which, however mean its beginning may seem to be, nevertheless promises within a short time to be very important."[103] And the merchant adventurer and would-be colonizer of southwestern Australia under the Swedish flag, William Bolts, said to the Swedish Ambassador in Paris, Erik von Staël in December 1789, that the British had founded at Botany Bay, a settlement which in time will be of the greatest importance to themerce of the Globe.[104]ColonisationEstablishment of British coloniesArthur Phillip, first Governor of New South Wales.A General Chart of New Holland including New South Wales & Botany Bay with The Adjacent Countries and New Discovered Lands, published in An Historical Narrative of the Discovery of New Holland and New South Wales, London, Fielding and Stockdale, November 1786.Convict remains at Norfolk Island.Port Arthur, Tasmania a notorious prison outpost.The Foundation of Perth 1829 by George Pitt Morison.Adelaide in 1839. South Australia was founded as free-colony, without convicts.Melbourne Landing, 1840; watercolor by W. Liardet (1840)Sir George Bowen, first Governor of Queensland.The territory claimed by Britain included all of Australia eastward of the meridian of 135 East and all the islands in the Pacific Ocean between the latitudes of Cape York and the southern tip of Van Diemens Land (Tasmania). The western limit of 135 East was set at the meridian dividing New Holland from Terra Australis shown on Emanuel Bowen'splete Map of the Southern Continent,[105] published in John Campbells editions of John Harris' Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca, or Voyages and Travels (17441748, and 1764).[106] It was a vast claim which elicited excitement at the time: the Dutch translator of First Fleet officer and author Watkin Tench's A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay wrote: "a single province which, beyond all doubt, is the largest on the whole surface of the earth. From their definition it covers, in its greatest extent from East to West, virtually a fourth of the whole circumference of the Globe".[107] Spanish navalmander Alessandro Malaspina, who visited Sydney in MarchApril 1793 reported to his government that: The transportation of the convicts constituted the means and not the object of the enterprise. The extension of dominion, mercantile speculations and the discovery of mines were the real object.[108] Frenchman François Péron, of the Baudin expedition visited Sydney in 1802 and reported to the French Government: How can it be conceived that such a monstrous invasion was aplished, with noplaint in Europe to protest against it? How can it be conceived that Spain, who had previously raised so many objections opposing the occupation of the Malouines (Falklands Islands), meekly allowed a formidable empire to arise to facing her richest possessions, an empire which must either invade or liberate them?[109]The colony included the current islands of New Zealand. In 1817, the British government withdrew the extensive territorial claim over the South Pacific. In practice, the governors' writ had been shown not to run in the islands of the South Pacific.[110] The Church Missionary Society had concerns over atrocitiesmitted against the natives of the South Sea Islands, and the ineffectiveness of the New South Wales government to deal with the lawlessness. As a result, on 27 June 1817, Parliament passed an Act for the more effectual Punishment of Murders and Manslaughtersmitted in Places not within His Majesty's Dominions, which described Tahiti, New Zealand and other islands of the South Pacific as being not within His Majesty's dominions.[111]1788: New South WalesThe British colony of New South Wales was established with the arrival of the First Fleet of 11 vessels under themand of Captain Arthur Phillip in January 1788. It consisted of over a thousand settlers, including 778 convicts (192 women and 586 men).[112] A few days after arrival at Botany Bay the fleet moved to the more suitable Port Jackson where a settlement was established at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788.[113] This date later became Australia's national day, Australia Day. The colony was formally proclaimed by Governor Phillip on 7 February 1788 at Sydney.Sydney Cove offered a fresh water supply and a safe harbour, which Philip described as:[114] 'being with out exception the finest Harbour in the World [...] Here a Thousand Sail of the Line may ride in the most perfect Security. Governor Phillip was vested withplete authority over the inhabitants of the colony. Enlightened for his Age, Phillip's personal intent was to establish harmonious relations with local Aboriginal people and try to reform as well as discipline the convicts of the colony. Phillip and several of his officers most notably Watkin Tench left behind journals and accounts of which tell of immense hardships during the first years of settlement. Often Phillip's officers despaired for the future of New South Wales. Early efforts at agriculture were fraught and supplies from overseas were scarce. Between 1788 and 1792 about 3546 male and 766 female convicts were landed at Sydney many "professional criminals" with few of the skills required for the establishment of a colony. Many new arrivals were also sick or unfit for work and the conditions of healthy convicts only deteriorated with hard labour and poor sustenance in the settlement. The food situation reached crisis point in 1790 and the Second Fleet which finally arrived in June 1790 had lost a quarter of its 'passengers' through sickness, while the condition of the convicts of the Third Fleet appalled Phillip. From 1791 however, the more regular arrival of ships and the beginnings of trade lessened the feeling of isolation and improved supplies.[115]The Hawkesbury and Nepean Wars (17901816) were largely fought in the Greater Western Sydney region and was considered to be the first conflict between settlers and the indigenous.Phillip sent exploratory missions in search of better soils, fixed on the Parramatta region as a promising area for expansion, and moved many of the convicts from late 1788 to establish a small township, which became the main centre of the colony's economic life. This left Sydney Cove only as an important port and focus of social life. Poor equipment and unfamiliar soils and climate continued to hamper the expansion of farming from Farm Cove to Parramatta and Toongabbie, but a building programme, assisted by convict labour, advanced steadily. Between 178892, convicts and their gaolers made up the majority of the population but after this, a population of emancipated convicts began to grow who could be granted land and these people pioneered a non-government private sector economy and were later joined by soldiers whose military service had expired and finally, free settlers who began arriving from Britain. Governor Phillip departed the colony for England on 11 December 1792, with the new settlement having survived near starvation and immense isolation for four years[115] On the 16 February 1793 the first free settlers arrived. The settlers : Thomas Rose, with his wife and four children, Edward Powell, Thomas Webb, Joseph Webb, and Frederick Meredith.[116]Establishment of further coloniesAfter the founding of the colony of New South Wales in 1788, Australia was divided into an eastern half, named New South Wales, under the administration of the colonial government in Sydney, and a western half named New Holland. The western boundary of 135 East of Greenwich was based on theplete Map of the Southern Continent, published in Emanuel Bowensplete System of Geography (London 1747), and reproduced in John Campbells editions of John Harris' Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca, or Voyages and Travels (174448, and 1764). Bowens map was based on one by Melchisédech Thévenot and published in Relations des Divers Voyages (1663), which apparently divided New Holland in the west from Terra Australis in the east by a latitude staff situated at 135 East. This division, reproduced in Bowens map, provided a convenient western boundary for the British claim because, as Watkin Tench subsequentlymented in A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay, By this partition, it may be fairly presumed, that every source of future litigation between the Dutch and us, will be for ever cut off, as the discoveries of English navigators only areprized in this territory.[117] Thévenot said he copied his map from the one engraved in the floor of the Amsterdam Town Hall, but in that map there was no dividing line between New Holland and Terra Australis. Thévenot's map was actually copied from Joan Blaeu's map, Archipelagus Orientalis sive Asiaticus, published in 1659 in the Kurfürsten Atlas (Atlas of the Great Elector); this map was a part of Blaeu's world map of 1648, Nova et Accuratissima Terrarum Orbis Tabula, which first showed the land revealed by Abel Tasman's 1642 voyage as Hollandia Nova and which served as the basis for the Amsterdam Town Hall pavement map.[118] Longitude 135 East reflected the line of division between the claims of Spain and Portugal established in the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, which had formed the basis of many subsequent claims to colonial territory. An Historical Narrative of the Discovery of New Holland and New South Wales, published in November 1786, contained "A General Chart of New Holland, including New South Wales & Botany Bay, with The Adjacent Countries, and New Discovered Islands", which showed all the territory claimed under the jurisdiction of the Governor of New South Wales.[119]Romantic descriptions of the beauty, mild climate, and fertile soil of Norfolk Island in the South Pacific led the British government to establish a subsidiary settlement of the New South Wales colony there in 1788. It was hoped that the giant Norfolk Island pine trees and flax plants growing wild on the island might provide the basis for a local industry which, particularly in the case of flax, would provide an alternative source of supply to Russia for an article which was essential for making cordage and sails for the ships of the British navy. However, the island had no safe harbor, which led the colony to be abandoned and the settlers evacuated to Tasmania in 1807.[120] The island was subsequently re-settled as a penal settlement in 1824.In 1798, George Bass and Matthew Flinders circumnavigated Van Diemen's Land, proving that it was an island. In 1802, Flinders successfully circumnavigated Australia for the first time.Van Diemen's Land, now known as Tasmania, was settled in 1803, following a failed attempt to settle at Sullivan Bay in what is now Victoria. Other British settlements followed, at various points around the continent, many of them unsuccessful. The East India Trademittee rmended in 1823 that a settlement be established on the coast of northern Australia to forestall the Dutch, and Captain J.J.G.Bremer, RN, wasmissioned to form a settlement between Bathurst Island and the Cobourg Peninsula. Bremer fixed the site of his settlement at Fort Dundas on Melville Island in 1824 and, because this was well to the west of the boundary proclaimed in 1788, proclaimed British sovereignty over all the territory as far west as Longitude 129˚ East.[121]The new boundary included Melville and Bathurst Islands, and the adjacent mainland. In 1826, the British claim was extended to the whole Australian continent when Major Edmund Lockyer established a settlement on King George Sound (the basis of the later town of Albany), but the eastern border of Western Australia remained unchanged at Longitude 129˚ East. In 1824, a penal colony was established near the mouth of the Brisbane River (the basis of the later colony of Queensland). In 1829, the Swan River Colony and its capital of Perth were founded on the west coast proper and also assumed control of King George Sound. Initially a free colony, Western Australia later accepted British convicts, because of an acute labour shortage.Convicts and colonial societyMain article: Convicts in AustraliaBlack-eyed Sue and Sweet Poll of Plymouth, England mourning their lovers who are soon to be transported to Botany Bay (published in London in 1792)Between 1788 and 1868, approximately 161,700 convicts (of whom 25,000 were women) were transported to the Australian colonies of New South Wales, Van Diemens land and Western Australia.[122] Historian Lloyd Robson has estimated that perhaps two thirds were thieves from working class towns, particularly from the midlands and north of England. The majority were repeat offenders.[123] Whether transportation managed to achieve its goal of reforming or not, some convicts were able to leave the prison system in Australia; after 1801 they could gain "tickets of leave" for good behaviour and be assigned to work for free men for wages. A few went on to have successful lives as emancipists, having been pardoned at the end of their sentence. Female convicts had fewer opportunities.A painting depicting the Castle Hill Rebellion of 1804A propaganda cartoon of the arrest of Governor William Bligh during the Rum Rebellion of 1808.Businesswoman Elizabeth Macarthur helped establish the merino wool industry.The humanitarian, Caroline Chisolm was a leading advocate for women's issues and family friendly colonial policy.Some convicts, particularly Irish convicts, had been transported to Australia for political crimes or social rebellion, so authorities were consequently suspicious of the Irish and restricted the practice of Catholicism in Australia. The Irish led Castle Hill Rebellion of 1804 served to increase suspicions and repression.[124] Church of England clergy meanwhile worked closely with the governors and Richard Johnson, chaplain to the First Fleet was charged by Governor Arthur Phillip, with improving "public morality" in the colony and was also heavily involved in health and education.[125] The Reverend Samuel Marsden (17651838) had magisterial duties, and so was equated with the authorities by the convicts, bing known as the 'flogging parson' for the severity of his punishments[126]The New South Wales Corps was formed in England in 1789 as a permanent regiment to relieve the marines who had apanied the First Fleet. Officers of the Corps soon became involved in the corrupt and lucrative rum trade in the colony. In the Rum Rebellion of 1808, the Corps, working closely with the newly established wool trader John Macarthur, staged the only successful armed takeover of government in Australian history, deposing Governor William Bligh and instigating a brief period of military rule in the colony prior to the arrival from Britain of Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1810.[127]Macquarie served as the last autocratic Governor of New South Wales, from 1810 to 1821 and had a leading role in the social and economic development of New South Wales which saw it transition from a penal colony to a budding free society. He established public works, a bank, churches, and charitable institutions and sought good relations with the Aborigines. In 1813 he sent Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson across the Blue Mountains, where they found the great plains of the interior.[128] Central, however to Macquarie's policy was his treatment of the emancipists, whom he decreed should be treated as social equals to free-settlers in the colony. Against opposition, he appointed emancipists to key government positions including Francis Greenway as colonial architect and William Redfern as a magistrate. London judged his public works to be too expensive and society was scandalised by his treatment of emancipists.[129] Egalitarianism woulde to be considered a central virtue among Australians.The first five Governors of New South Wales realised the urgent need to encourage free settlers, but the British government remained largely indifferent. As early as 1790, Governor Arthur Phillip wrote; "Your lordship will see by myletters the little progress we have been able to make in cultivating the lands ... At present this settlement only affords one person that I can employ in cultivating the lands..."[130] It was not until the 1820s that numbers of free settlers began to arrive and government schemes began to be introduced to encourage free settlers. Philanthropists Caroline Chisholm and John Dunmore Lang developed their own migration schemes. Land grants of crown land were made by Governors, and settlement schemes such as those of Edward Gibbon Wakefield carried some weight in encouraging migrants to make the long voyage to Australia, as opposed to the United States or Canada.[131]Early colonial administrations were anxious to address the gender imbalance in the population brought about by the importation of large numbers of convict men. Between 1788 and 1792, around 3546 male to 766 female convicts were landed at Sydney.[132] Women came to play an important role in education and welfare during colonial times. Governor Macquarie's wife, Elizabeth Macquarie took an interest in convict women's welfare.[133] Her contemporary Elizabeth Macarthur was noted for her 'feminine strength' in assisting the establishment of the Australian merino wool industry during her husband John Macarthur's enforced absence from the colony following the Rum Rebellion.[134] The Catholic Sisters of Charity arriving in 1838 and set about pastoral care in a women's prison, visiting hospitals and schools and establishing employment for convict women.[135] The sisters went on to establish hospitals in four of the eastern states, beginning with St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney in 1857 as a free hospital for all people, but especially for the poor.[136] Caroline Chisholm (18081877) established a migrant women's shelter and worked for women's welfare in the colonies in the 1840s. Her humanitarian efforts later won her fame in England and great influence in achieving support for families in the colony.[137] Sydney's first Catholic Bishop, John Bede Polding founded an Australian order of nuns the Sisters of the Good Samaritan in 1857 to work in education and social work.[138] The Sisters of St Joseph, were founded in South Australia by Saint Mary MacKillop and Fr Julian Tenison Woods in 1867.[139][140][141] MacKillop travelled throughout Australasia and established schools, convents and charitable institutions. She was canonised by Benedict XVI in 2010, bing the first Australian to be so honoured by the Catholic Church.[142]From the 1820s, increasing numbers of squatters[143] occupied land beyond the fringes of European settlement. Often running sheep on large stations with relatively few overheads, squatters could make considerable profits. By 1834, nearly 2 million kilograms of wool were being exported to Britain from Australia.[144] By 1850, barely 2,000 squatters had gained 30 million hectares of land, and they formed a powerful and "respectable" interest group in several colonies.[145]In 1835, the British Colonial Office issued the Proclamation of Governor Bourke, implementing the legal doctrine of terra nullius upon which British settlement was based, reinforcing the notion that the land belonged to no one prior to the British Crown taking possession of it and quashing any likelihood of treaties with Aboriginal peoples, including that signed by John Batman. Its publication meant that from then, all people found occupying land without the authority of the government would be considered illegal trespassers.[146]Separate settlements and later, colonies, were created from parts of New South Wales: South Australia in 1836, New Zealand in 1840, Port Phillip District in 1834, later bing the colony of Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. The Northern Territory was founded in 1863 as part of South Australia. The transportation of convicts to Australia was phased out between 1840 and 1868.Massive areas of land were cleared for agriculture and various other purposes in the first 100 years of Europeans settlement. In addition to the obvious impacts this early clearing of land and importation of hard-hoofed animals had on the ecology of particular regions, it severely affected indigenous Australians, by reducing the resources they relied on for food, shelter and other essentials. This progressively forced them into smaller areas and reduced their numbers as the majority died of newly introduced diseases and lack of resources. Indigenous resistance against the settlers was widespread, and prolonged fighting between 1788 and the 1920s led to the deaths of at least 20,000 Indigenous people and between 2,000 and 2,500 Europeans.[147] During the mid-late 19th century, many indigenous Australians in south eastern Australia were relocated, often forcibly, to reserves and missions. The nature of many of these institutions enabled disease to spread quickly and many were closed as their populations fell.Free colony at South AustraliaMain article: History of South Australia1835 advertisementA group in Britain led by Edward Gibbon Wakefield sought to start a colony based on free settlement rather than convict labour. In 1831 the South Australian Landpany was formed amid a campaign for a Royal Charter which would provide for the establishment of a privately financed "free" colony in Australia.[148]While New South Wales, Tasmania and (although not initially) Western Australia were established as convict settlements, the founders of South Australia had a vision of a colony with political and religious freedoms, together with opportunities for wealth through business and pastoral investments. The South Australia Act [1834], passed by the British Government which established the colony reflected these desires and included a promise of representative government when the population reached 50,000 people. South Australia thus became the only colony authorised by an Act of Parliament, and which was intended to be developed at no cost to the British government. Transportation of convicts was forbidden, and 'poor Emigrants', assisted by an Emigration Fund, were required to bring their families with them.[148] Significantly, the Letters Patent enabling the South Australia Act 1834 included a guarantee of the rights of 'any Aboriginal Natives' and their descendants to lands they 'now actually occupied or enjoyed'.[149]In 1836, two ships of the South Australia Landpany left to establish the first settlement on Kangaroo Island. The foundation of South Australia is now generallymemorated as Governor John Hindmarsh's Proclamation of the new Province at Glenelg, on the mainland, on 28 December 1836.[150] From 18431851, the Governor ruled with the assistance of an appointed Executive Council of paid officials. Land development and settlement was the basis of the Wakefield vision, so land law and regulations governing it were fundamental to the foundation of the Province and allowed for land to be be bought at a uniform price per acre (regardless of quality), with auctions for land desired by more than one buyer, and leases made available on unused land. Proceeds from land were to fund the Emigration Fund to assist poor settlers toe as tradesmen and labourers.[151] Agitation for representative government quickly emerged.[152] Most other colonies had been founded by Governors with near total authority, but in South Australia, power was initially divided between the Governor and the Residentmissioner, so that government could not interfere with the business affairs or freedom of religion of the settlers. By 1851 the colony was experimenting with a partially elected council.[153]ExplorersMain article: European exploration of AustraliaIn 1798-9 George Bass and Matthew Flinders set out from Sydney in a sloop and circumnavigated Tasmania, thus proving it to be an island.[154] In 180102 Matthew Flinders in The Investigator lead the first circumnavigation of Australia. Aboard ship was the Aboriginal explorer Bungaree, of the Sydney district, who became the first person born on the Australian continent to circumnavigate the Australian continent.[154] Previously, the famous Bennelong and apanion had be the first people born in the area of New South Wales to sail for Europe, when, in 1792 they apanied Governor Phillip to England and were presented to King George III.[154]Matthew Flinders led the first successful circumnavigation of Australia in 1801-2.In 1813, Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Wentworth succeeded in crossing the formidable barrier of forested gulleys and sheer cliffs presented by the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. At Mount Blaxland they looked out over "enough grass to support the stock of the colony for thirty years", and expansion of the British settlement into the interior could begin.[155]In 1824 the Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane,missioned Hamilton Hume and former Royal Navy Captain William Hovell to lead an expedition to find new grazing land in the south of the colony, and also to find an answer to the mystery of where New South Wales' western rivers flowed. Over 16 weeks in 182425, Hume and Hovell journeyed to Port Phillip and back. They made many important discoveries including the Murray River (which they named the Hume), many of its tributaries, and good agricultural and grazing lands between Gunning, New South Wales and Corio Bay, Port Phillip.[156]Charles Sturt led an expedition along the Macquarie River in 1828 and discovered the Darling River. A theory had developed that the inland rivers of New South Wales were draining into an inland sea. Leading a second expedition in 1829, Sturt followed the Murrumbidgee River into a 'broad and noble river', the Murray River, which he named after Sir George Murray, secretary of state for the colonies. His party then followed this river to its junction with the Darling River, facing two threatening encounters with local Aboriginal people along the way. Sturt continued down river on to Lake Alexandrina, where the Murray meets the sea in South Australia. Suffering greatly, the party had to row hundreds of kilometres back upstream for the return journey.[157]Surveyor General Sir Thomas Mitchell conducted a series of expeditions from the 1830s to 'fill in the gaps' left by these previous expeditions. He was meticulous in seeking to record the original Aboriginal place names around the colony, for which reason the majority of place names to this day retain their Aboriginal titles.[158]The Polish scientist/explorer Count Paul Edmund Strzelecki conducted surveying work in the Australian Alps in 1839 and became the first European to ascend Australia's highest peak, which he named Mount Kosciuszko in honour of the Polish patriot Tadeusz Kosciuszko.[159]John Longstaff, Arrival of Burke, Wills and King at the deserted camp at Cooper's Creek, Sunday evening, 21st April 1861, oil on canvas, 1907, National Gallery of Victoria.European explorers made their last great, often arduous and sometimes tragic expeditions into the interior of Australia during the second half of the 19th century some with the official sponsorship of the colonial authorities and othersmissioned by private investors. By 1850, large areas of the inland were still unknown to Europeans. Trailblazers like Edmund Kennedy and the Prussian naturalist Ludwig Leichhardt, had met tragic ends attempting to fill in the gaps during the 1840s, but explorers remained ambitious to discover new lands for agriculture or answer scientific enquiries. Surveyors also acted as explorers and the colonies sent out expeditions to discover the best routes for lines ofmunication. The size of expediti