As early as 1606, ships of the Dutch East India Company and Spanish navigators had already arrived in the waters belonging to Australia. 1642, abel Tasman, a Dutch sailor, drew a nautical chart of part of Tasmania's coast. Englishman william dampier landed on the west coast twice at 1688 and 1699. 1770, Captain james cook of the British Royal Navy went to the South Pacific on the "Endeavour" for scientific investigation, intending to draw a map of the east coast once known as "New Holland" and declared this place as British land.
After the American War of Independence, Britain needed to establish a new exile to replace its colony in the North Atlantic. So, the naturalist Sir joseph banks and Captain Cook drew a map of Australia's east coast in 1768- 177 1 year, which prompted this southern continent to be used as a prisoner colony.
1788, the first fleet consisting of 1 1 ships arrived in Jackson harbor, which is now Sydney harbor. These ships carry 1500 people, half of whom are prisoners.
1October 26th, Governor Philip arrived in Sydney. Now this day is designated as Australia's National Day.
After the early hard years, the criminal exile gradually developed into a prosperous town, and people began to look for new venues, and successively established settlements in Tasmania (then known as Vandermonde) and Brisbane today. Explorers also found a road through the blue mountains, and soon developed from Sydney to the west. At that time, land grabs and speculators drove their cattle to distant places and opened up new settlements.
Matthew flinders, the captain and cartographer, sailed around the Australian mainland and mapped most of the coastline. 18 14 years, he suggested calling this continent "Australia". Subsequently, explorers began to explore this vast unknown land, and this work has been going on continuously for most of the19th century.
Scattered settlements were built in what are now called Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Together with the settlements in Sydney, Hobart and Brisbane, they became the capitals of six Australian states. 1840, Britain stopped transporting criminals to New South Wales, but the activities of transporting criminals to Western Australia continued until 1868.
19 In the 1950s, the gold rush promoted the further development of immigration activities. The lack of labor force, endless jungle and getting rich through agriculture, mining and trade are all factors that form Australia's unique social mechanism and thoughts and feelings.
1854, the Victorian gold miners' uprising against official persecution was suppressed by the armed forces, resulting in the death of both sides. But this incident has led to a series of reforms, the core of which is to recognize the rights of citizens.
190 1 year 1 month 1 day, that is, on the first day of the 20th century, the original six colonies formed a federation, namely the Commonwealth of Australia. The British monarch is still the monarch of Australia in form, but Australia is an independent democracy.
Australia's participation in World War I was the pride of the whole nation. 19 14 When Britain declared war on Germany, Australia thought it had entered a war period. The First Royal Australian Army sent a special brigade to Egypt to conduct military training with the New Zealand Army, which is the origin of the "ANZ Corps".
19 15 On April 25th, Australian and New Zealand troops landed in Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey, which was part of the whole operational plan to regain the control of the Turkish army over the Da Daniil Strait. The movement under the command of the British army made serious mistakes in terrain prediction, so the battle plan finally failed. However, the ANZ Corps stayed there for eight months before being ordered to retreat. ANZ's courage and resourcefulness were recorded in the history of war, and April 25th was designated as ANZ Day. Now every year, a national commemoration will be held on this day to remember all the victims of the war. In Australia, every city has a war memorial. In addition, there are some public buildings, churches and monuments to commemorate the victims of the war.
During the First World War, Australian troops showed their courage and combat effectiveness in the cavalry battles between Egypt and Palestine and in the trenches on the western front of France and Belgium. The pioneers of the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Flying Corps, have also made outstanding achievements.
During the period between the two world wars, the situation was unpredictable and unstable because a large number of veterans were eager to rebuild their lives. The national economy, which relies heavily on the export of primary products, shows signs of instability. 1929-33, since the collapse of some major stock markets in the northern hemisphere, the world has experienced the Great Depression, and Australia has experienced quite serious unemployment and social unrest. Being able to obtain long-term employment and support the family has always been a national feature that Australians are proud of. In the late 1930s, although the economy had recovered, the memory of the Great Depression remained in the hearts of more than one generation. Everyone is determined to ensure that this social recession will not happen again.
During World War II, Australian troops went to fight overseas again. The Australian armed forces have made outstanding contributions to the victory of their allies in Europe, Asia and the Pacific. In this case, 1942, the war spread to Australia, and the coast of Australia was attacked by Japan three times. The first time, the Japanese air force bombed Darwin, the second time and the third time, small submarines attacked Sydney and Newcastle. Australian Air Force personnel work in coordination with the Royal Air Force. The navy and the army fought on the battlefields in Europe and North Africa. In the Pacific Ocean, Australian soldiers and pilots joined forces with American troops near Australia.
With the end of World War II, Australia entered a period of prosperity. In wartime, men joined the army to fight, and many women took part in all kinds of labor instead of them in factories. In peacetime, women can still continue to work. The output of primary products such as wheat and wool has increased, but the proportion of Australian workers employed in the agricultural sector has begun to decline.
Before the war, Australia generally adopted a foreign policy of actively supporting Britain and Europe. After the war, it became more independent in policy and obviously focused on Asia. From 65438 to 0949, the Chifley government of the Labour Party presided over the post-war reconstruction work, but failed in the general election, and the Liberal Party headed by robert menzies came to power. Menzies served as Australian Prime Minister *** 16, and the Liberal Party he led was in charge of the Australian regime for 23 years.
In the "menzies era", Australia was in a period of prosperity, and people's living standards were constantly improving. The proportion of private housing has increased from less than 40% in 1947 to more than 70% in 1960. Due to the important immigration policy adopted by the government, the ethnic structure of the Australian population has also changed significantly. 1947- 1983, the number of new immigrants increased by more than 3 million, of which more than 60% were not British, and they started a new life in Australia. During the period of 1947- 1988, the national population more than doubled, with a total population of160,000. 1966, menzies retired. This year Australia announced the implementation of the decimal currency system. After menzies retired, the Liberal Party-Rural Party Coalition Government continued to be in power until 1972.
1965- 1972, Australia sent troops to Vietnam. As a result, there was a big debate in China, and people were increasingly opposed to Australia's participation in the war and enlistment. In this case, the Coalition government led by Wang Yuanyuan began to reduce the number of troops sent to Vietnam in 1970. 1972, the Labour Party led by Goff Whitlam proposed in the general election that Australia should stop participating in the Vietnam War. Labour won the election. After Whitlam took office, the few Australian military personnel left in Vietnam quickly withdrew to China.
During Whitlam's three years in power, great changes have taken place in Australian social and economic policies, including reforms in health, education, diplomacy, social security and labor relations, and a series of laws and regulations have been formulated and passed. However, Whitlam's government did not get a majority in the House of Lords, which made it difficult for him to legislate further. In addition, there have been some serious setbacks, including the exposure of some ministers for not making regular loans. 1975, the opposition Liberal-Rural Party led by Malcolm Frazier announced that most of its members in the House of Lords refused to pass the appropriation bill, thus denying some special government appropriations. Fraser raised these questions in order to force an election. The deadlock was finally resolved by Governor john kerr. The Governor announced that he had withdrawn his appointment to the Whitlam government and appointed Fraser as interim prime minister. In the general election soon after, the Freedom Alliance won by an overwhelming majority.
During the seven years from 1975 to 1983, the Fraser government put forward many important reform measures, including the financial relationship between the federal and state, freedom of the press, the establishment of the federal Ombudsman's office to investigate and handle citizens' complaints about government work, and the rights of indigenous people to land and nature reserves. However, the long-term economic recession and increasing unemployment have made the government face serious difficulties. 1983, the Liberal Party-Rural Party lost in the general election, so the Labour Party headed by bob hawke came to power. 1983 199 1 year, with bob hawk as prime minister; 199 1- 1996, with Paul keating as prime minister. Labour Party in power 13 years.
When Hawke and Keating were prime ministers, they further implemented reform measures, including actively changing economic policies and promoting trade unions, employers and the government to cooperate to solve economic problems. However, unemployment is still the main anxiety of people, and the economic policies implemented by the government are often criticized and accused. 196 In the general election, the Labour Party was defeated by the Liberal Party-National Party Coalition headed by john howard.