Australian History

Discovery and British Colonization

It is thought that ancestors of the Australian Aborigines, who reached the continent from Indonesia or Papua New Guinea, first populated Australia. That probably happened over 50,000 years ago. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Dutch, French and Portuguese traders and explorers discovered and mapped parts of the continent. Over thousands of years the local Aboriginal inhabitants had mapped the land in their own way, but to the European world the east coast was still unknown and uncharted.

The British settled six colonies, each one with its own laws and customs. These differences were a significant problem to Australia's economic development. However the discovery of gold in the 1850s was to change the face of the colony. The huge influx of immigrants boosted the economy and changed the colonial social structures. Aborigines were forced off their tribal lands as new settlers took up land for farming or mining. This can be categorized as genocide, since the Aboriginal population was murdered en masse by poisoning of their food and water supply and by the removal of their food resources. Even up to the early seventies the Australian government was still systematically removing Aboriginal children from their families, in an attempt to replace their own cultural identity with so-called Christian values.

Today one speaks of the 'Stolen Generation'.
Entire generations being separated from their roots greatly impaired the survival of some tribes and others came close to being wiped out completely. Nowadays, the Australian government is trying hard to rectify the racist measures taken by its predecessors. In 1993 the Native Title Act was passed; the first step in creating a legal regime that respects native title rights and traditions.

Australia as a Federation

After the great economic upturn in the middle of the century, Australia experienced the 'Great Crash' period in the 1890s, which caused high levels of unemployment and the bankruptcy of many businesses. As a result the creation of a federation became more than necessary. It was also a means of preventing other nations from gaining control of land (the Germans and French were still expanding into the region). The six colonies accepted rule by one common jurisdiction. In the late 1900s the British Government created the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia then became a federal nation on 1 January 1901 (although many of the legal and cultural ties with England remained). By being federalist, Australia's system of government divided its power into national and local units. Melbourne, the second largest city, was chosen to be the seat of government while Canberra was still being developed. Nowadays Canberra serves as the capital.

The Independence Process

In the following 40 years, Australia remained under British control. Only in 1942 did it become officially autonomous with the passage of the Statute Westminster Adoption Act on October 9. This act meant the demise of the British Empire and the birth of the British Commonwealth, of which Australia was a part. The United Kingdom could still engage in foreign affairs on behalf of Australia and make laws for it when requested, but the nation was independent, having autonomy in foreign affairs and the power to run its own army. But it was only in 1986, with the Australian Act, that the country truly cut its ties to the United Kingdom. Although still sharing a common monarch, the Queen would no longer have any political powers over Australia.

Post-war Era

Australian troops did not hesitate to fight alongside the British in the two World Wars. Fearing a Japanese invasion during the Second World War II, Australia forged an alliance with the USA. The United States promptly dispatched the Japanese from New Guinea. Australia subsequently supported the USA in both the Korean and Vietnam wars. In 1951 Australia signed a mutual defence agreement with the US and New Zealand, called the ANZUS Pact of 1951.

The post-war era was a boom time in Australia. There was an urgent demand for raw materials and manpower. After the Second World War Australia introduced an immigration programme, in order to populate the island. Many Jews found their new home there and more than two million Europeans entered the country after the war. In the 1980s Australia accepted a large number of Asian refugees, especially from Vietnam. These immigrants rapidly found work and some level of integration, helping to turn the monocultural and conservative pre-war Australia into a multicultural and forward-looking nation.