History of Australia
Australia
Aboriginal
Australia
Aboriginal
Harold Thomas, an artist and an Aboriginal, designed the Aboriginal Flag in 1971. The flag was designed to be an eye-catching rallying symbol for the Aboriginal people and a symbol of their race and identity. The black represents the Aboriginal people, the red the earth and their spiritual relationship to the land, and the yellow the sun, the giver of life.
Canberra is the Capitol.
The gracile australopithecines is divided into two subgroups: A. africanus and A. afarensis. Both were small in stature (1- 1.5 meters), had similar brain size (400- 500 ml), and rather light body structures. However, A. afarensis was more ape-like, as it predate A. africanus by 1.5 million years, or so. Scientists still wonder how A. afarensis got around. Most theorize that is used both bipedalism and quadrupedalism, as its body had not yet fully developed to handle absolute bipedalism. A. africanus was probably bipedal, but its muscle structure is arranged in a way that it probably moved like the baboons of today, only with more use of bipedalism.
About 4.4 millions years ago, a different type of primate emerged. Paleontologists classify the first bipedal primates as hominids. These first hominids had not yet developed the large brain, teeth structure, and skeletal features we identify as Homo. Instead, they predate, and sometimes overlap the first Homo species. They are known as the australopithecines. There are two types of australopithecine: gracile and robust.
It is not known how these species directly affected human evolution. However, there are three theories: the first has A. afarensis as a common ancestor for all Homo's. One fork of the tree leads to Homo, the other fork leads to A. africanus, A. boiseiand A. robustus. Another theory has A. afarensis being the common ancestor of A. africanusat one fork, and the robust australopithecine at another.
This theory has modern humans evolving from A. africanus. The last theory has A. africanus and A. afarensis branching off from a common ancestor. A. africanus spawned modern humans, and A. afarensis became the robust australopithecines. Either way, it is known that humans evolved from the gracile australopithecine, and the robust died off along the way.
At Bathurst, New South Wales, fossilized skulls identified as being of two distinct late Java man types unrelated to the Aborigine. An earlier cranium from Katoomba is believed to be as much as 500,000 years old.
In Central NSW extensive megalithic stone alignments and other astronomical structures dating back 10,000 to 15 000 years and which suggests the former presence in Australia of a highly advanced civilization of unknown origin. These structures include standing stones weighing 20 tons and carved stone heads. In Western NSW 3 large human heads have been found carved out of granite boulders. The heads were found near mysterious stone alignment and other formations.
Discoveries of aboriginal art engravings in the Kimberley's (Northern Territory) indicate aboriginals may have inhabited Australia for more than 116,000 to 176,000 years, and they had arrived by watercraft.
Australia has always been separated by at least 60 kilometers of water since the glacial maximum of 140,000 years ago - yet bushfires could have easily alerted those living north of the continent of its existence.
The Sydney region, referred then by the local aborigines as Warrane, itself has been inhabited for at least 50,000 years. Only recently have 50,000 years old grindstones been found in the Sydney region, predating any previous finds worldwide.
The west and north coast of Australia had been visited quite frequently by Europeans in the 17th century. Europeans first charted the east coast, in 1770, by the well known Pacific explorer, Captain James Cook. On April 29, 1770, on Possession Island he claimed the whole east coast for King George III and called it New South Wales.
The British did nothing about their new acquisition till after a number of years, when at the urgings of Joseph Banks (the botanist with the Cook expedition), decided to establish a colony in this far flung corner of the earth.
"By the discoveries and enterprise of our officers many new countries which know no sovereign, and that hold out the most enticing allurements to European adventurers. None are more inviting than New South Wales" - Joseph Banks
In no small measure this was due to the American War of Independence preventing Britain sending her convicts to the American colonies. Some of the more unusual crimes that people were convicted of and sentenced to being sent to the colonies included setting fire to under wood and stealing children with their apparel.
The First Fleet, commissioned by Thomas Townshend, Baron Sydney, set sail for Botany Bay on May 13, 1787, led by Captain Arthur Phillip. The fleet comprised of the frigate HMS Sirius, four store ships, the armed tender Supply, the Golden Grove, Borrowdale, Fishburn and six transports, the Scarborough, Lady Penrhyn, Friendship, Charlotte, the Prince of Wales and the Alexander.
The fleet assembled at Mother Bank, the Isle of Wright, later arriving at Cape Town to take aboard plants, fruit trees and animals. The HMS Supply, along with the ships Scarborough, Friendship and Alexander sailed ahead of the fleet, first sighting the NSW coast on the 3rd of January, 1788.
They arrived at Botany Bay on the 18th of January, where upon anchoring, it was discovered there was no fresh water locally available. When the rest of the fleet arrived on the 19th, much to Phillip's surprise, it was decided to go further north, to Port Jackson (now also known as Sydney Harbour).
There they were to find a lush, pristine forest in a cove fed by a stream (now called the Tank Stream), where it was decided they would settle. A formal flag raising ceremony was held by Arthur Phillip on the shore to proclaim the Colony of New South Wales, in the name of the King of England on the 26th of January, 1788.
Captain Arthur Phillip was later to name the cove they landed at Sydney Cove, in honor of Thomas Townshend, Baron Sydney (1733-1800), the minister responsible for the Colony. Later usage of the name-dropped 'Cove' and the area became known as Sydney.
Sydney began its life as a penal colony, with a total of 568 male and 191 female convicts with 13 children, 206 marines with 26 wives and 13 children, and 20 officials having made the voyage.
Their earliest huts were composed of cabbage-tree palm, while the convicts were housed in huts made of boards wattled with slender twigs and plastered with clay. By 1790, however, there were 40 convicts employed making bricks and tiles, 50 brick laborers, and 4 stonemasons. The total convict population that year was 730 persons, with 413 under medical treatment. In fact free settlers did not begin arriving until 1793. See The Rocks, for more history on these early colonial days.
It was a rough life and for 30 years the colony struggled, with the soldiers of the NSW Corps toiling with the convicts to ensure survival. As late as 1820, a convict's weekly ration consisted of 7lbs. of flour, 7lbs. of meat, 1lb. of sugar, 8oz of tea and 3 and 1/2lbs. of maize.
There was a shortage of coinage in NSW, and rum, an easily produced spirit from sugarcane, began to be used as currency. Needless to say, this was to slow Sydney's development considerably, as it is all too easy to for soldiers and convicts to drink compared to trading it for food, clothes and supplies. The colony, not making money, could not pay its bills nor buy the many things it needed from elsewhere.
The soldiers of the NSW corps, whose officers had the monopoly on this endless supply of rum, dominated the early governors of the colony. Originally formed to protect the fledgling colony from perceived threats of other European powers, they also served as police.
When the hapless Governor William Bligh - recently returned from his mutiny on the Bounty - tried to stem this corruption of the NSW Corps, he was imprisoned by them in the infamous Rum Rebellion.
However, the Rum Corps were to find out like the Bounty's crew, he was not a man to be trifled with. Forced once again to sail to Indonesia as he had after the mutiny on the Bounty, he thereby ensured the British authorities in England would be fully informed of the situation.
With the arrival of Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1810 (along with the 87th Regiment) the NSW Rum Corps were sent packing back to England. It is interesting to note that only recently was the NSW police commissioner replaced by another policeman from England, the well spoken Peter Ryan, again, very much to the relief and approval from the government and people of NSW.
The colony, with the population of Sydney being about 10,000, metamorphosed. Much of what you see in Sydney today is a result of Macquarie's leadership and vision.
The coins that the original settlers did have, were the George III two pence, called the Cartwheel penny because of its size. In 1812, in order to relieve the problems caused by the lack of coins, Governor Macquarie bought Spanish dollars from India.
He then had holes cut in them to discourage exportation. These well known Australian coins were called the Holey Dollar (even then they had a sense of humor) for the larger part of the coin while the piece cut from the middle was called the Dump. Declared legal tender Sept. 30th, 1813, the Dump was worth about 15 pence, while the Holey Dollar was valued at 5 shillings sterling.
With the crossing of the Blue Mountains in 1813 and the subsequent discovery of the prosperous hinterland, the way was finally clear for the growth and development of modern Sydney.
Transportation of convicts to New South Wales (NSW) was finally abolished in 1840 and shortly afterwards, in 1842, Sydney was declared a city. The population grew rapidly during this period, helped by the discovery of gold and the gold rush of 1850 - one year after the Californian gold rush of 1849. Australia received many American and Chinese immigrants at the same time.
In 1901 the six British colonies in Australia formed a federation to become the Commonwealth of Australia. This marks the period of the modern country. Sydney continued to grow and by 1925 became a metropolis of 1 million people. This grew to 2 million by 1963.
Today Sydney has diverse demographics with people from over one hundred countries contributing to its population of nearly 4 million.
- Encyclopedia Britannica
ANCIENT AND LOST CIVILIZATIONS INDEX
ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF ALL FILES