Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE REST OF AUSTRALIA
“White” Australia was always used to distinguish
the Anglo-Saxon population from that of the Aboriginal population. These days,
though, a walk through any of the major cities would show that things have
changed dramatically. About 100,000 people emigrate to Australia each year. Of
these, approximately 12% were born in the U.K. or Ireland and 11% in New
Zealand. More than 21% hail from China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, or the Philip-
pines. Waves of immigration have brought in millions of people since the end of
World War II. At the last census in 1996, more than a quarter of a million Aus-
tralian residents were born in Italy, for example, some 186,000 in the former
Yugoslavia, 144,000 in Greece, 118,000 in Germany, and 103,000 in China. So
what's the typical Australian like? Well, he's hardly Crocodile Dundee.
3 Australian History 101
IN THE BEGINNING
In the
beginning there was the
Dreamtime
—
at least according to the Aborigines of
Australia. Between then and now, per-
haps, the supercontinent referred to as
Pangaea
split into two huge continents
called
Laurasia
and
Gondwanaland.
Over millions of years, continental drift
carried the landmasses apart. Laurasia
broke up and formed North America,
Europe, and most of Asia. Meanwhile,
Gondwanaland divided into South
America, Africa, India, Australia and
New Guinea, and Antarctica.
Giant
marsupials
evolved to roam the conti-
nent of Australia: Among them were a
plant-eating animal that looked like a
wombat the size of a rhinoceros; a giant
squashed-face kangaroo standing 3m
(10 ft.) high; and a flightless bird the
same size as an emu, but four times
heavier. The last of these giant marsu-
pials are believed to have died out some
40,000 years ago, possibly helped
towards extinction by Aborigines.
EARLY EXPLORERS
The exis-
tence of Australia had been in the
minds of Europeans since the Greek
astronomer Ptolemy drew a map of the
world in about
A
.
D
. 150 showing a
large land mass in the south, which he
believed had to be there to balance out
the land in the northern hemisphere.
He called it
Terra Australia Incognita
—
the unknown southland.
Evidence suggests Portuguese ships
reached Australia as early as 1536 and
Dateline
■
120,000
B
.
C
.
Evidence suggests
Aborigines living in Australia.
60,000
B
.
C
.
Aborigines living in
Arnham Land in the far north
fashion stone tools.
■
24,500
B
.
C
.
The world's oldest known
ritual cremation takes place at Lake
Mungo.
■
1606
A
.
D
.
Dutch explorer Willem
Jansz lands on far north coast of
Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania).
■
1622
First English ship to reach
Australia wrecks on the west coast.
■
1642
Abel Tasman charts the
Tasmanian coast.
■
1770
Capt. James Cook lands at
Botany Bay.
■
1787
Capt. Arthur Phillip's First Fleet
leaves England with convicts aboard.
■
1788
Captain Phillip raises British flag
at Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour).
■
1788-1868
Convicts are transported
from England to the colony of
Australia.
■
1793
The first free settlers arrive.
■
1830
Governor Arthur lines up 5,000
settlers across Van Diemen's Land to
walk the length of the island to cap-
ture and rid it of all Aborigines.
■
1850
Gold discovered in Bathurst,
New South Wales.
■
1852
Gold rush begins in Ballarat,
Victoria.
■
1853
The last convict arrives in
Van Diemen's Land and to celebrate,
the colony is renamed Tasmania after
Abel Tasman.
■
1860
The white population of Aus-
tralia reaches more than one million.
■