| Copyright | ||
|
Home The Self-governing Colonies and their History Australia and New Zealand |
Australia and New ZealandA distinguished historian has said that just as the great fact in the history of England during the eighteenth century was the rise of the United States, so the great fact in the history of Eng land in the nineteenth century was the progress of Australia. And certainly that progress has been extraordinary. A Spanish admiral in 1606 was, perhaps, the first European to sight the coast of Australia. In the course of the same century Dutch seamen explored its western shore and also discovered Tasmania, whilst at the end of it came the voyage of the famous English buccaneer, Captain Dampier. But not till 1770, when Captain Cook, after exploring New Zealand, sailed along 2000 miles of the more fertile east coast, were its possibilities for European settlement realized.2 Eighteen years later, in 1788—the year before the French Revolution broke out—the first British expedition arrived at Port Jackson and laid the foundation of the colony of New South Wales. Some of the early settlers were prisoners transported by the British Government; but it must be remembered that in those days the penal code was very severe (p. 607), and many persons were transported for the most trivial offences, whilst others were political prisoners whose views were too advanced for the Government of that day; and before long, moreover, what undesirable elements existed were completely swamped by the number of free settlers who arrived. The colony, like other colonies, had its initial difficulties; but in 1797 Macarthur, by buying at the Cape some of the merino sheep which the King of Spain had presented to the Dutch Government, laid the foundation of the gigantic wool industry of Australia; whilst, later on, various discoveries enabled the colony to develop beyond the Blue Mountains, which at first seemed definitely to check its progress westward.Gradually other colonies were formed out of the original territories of New South Wales. In Tasmania the first settlement was made in 1803. South Australia, as its capital, Adlaide, suggests, was founded in the reign of William IV. colonies. Victoria, whose capital, Melbourne, seems to perpetuate the happy connection of the Queen and her first primer minister, became a separate colony in 1851; and Queensland followed suit eight years later. Meantime the first settlement was made in the west in 1829, and developed into the colony of West Australia. In the early fifties came the discoveries of gold in New South Wales and Victoria, which led to an enormous immigration; and this was very shortly followed by the grant of self-government to nearly all the colonies (1855). To describe the later development of Australia requires a book to itself, and all we can note is that in 1900 the various provinces were federated together and became the Commonwealth of Australia. The two islands of Zealand were annexed by Great Britain in 1840. There were severe hostilities for some time with the natives, the Maoris; who fought cleverly and bravely behind their fortified stockades. The country has prospered as a British colony, and self-government was granted to it in 1855, fifty years later it became the Dominion of New Zealand. In its government and policy it is perhaps the most democratic of all the colonies in the British Empire. |
Chronology |
| copyright by uuo-ununoctium.info |