The first inhabitants were the Aborigines who immigrated there from India. They spread over the land and later formed over 200 different tribes
In the 15th century, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman discovered Van Diamens Land, but the inhabitants of that area were not friendly, thereby causing the explorers not to settle there. The explorers didn’t bother about the place until the 18th century, when British sailor Captain James Cook explored the east coast of Australia, which he later renamed New South Wales. Later in 1788, the first settlement was created and Sydney was founded with Sir Arthur Phillips as the first governor. Mathew Flinders also explored the country and was the one to name it Australia. The native settlers were not comfortable with this settlement, which over time escalated into two major wars that started in 1798 and lasted until 1816, and the British army overcame the Aborigines due to their sophisticated weapons and machinery
Initially, the land was unsuitable for settlement because it was covered in barren agricultural land, but in 1850, gold was discovered, attracting a lot of explorers from around the world who all wanted a piece of the treasure.
In the year 1901, the different Australian Colonies decided to unite to call themselves the Federation and declared Sir Edmund Barton its first prime minister .
It will interest you to know that Australia was always welcoming to immigrants because, in the early 20th century, the government passed a strict immigration law known as “white Australia” to prohibit immigrants from non-European countries from entering Australia.
The economy began to grow under Prime Minister Billy Huges, but that didn’t hold for long as during the Second World War, Japan bombed Australia multiple times in order to save the nation Australia was forced into a treaty with the United States which later helped them defeat Japan in 1942. The white Australian policy ended in the 1970’s, and immigrants from all over the world were welcomed. Since then, the economy of the nation grew more and with its abundant resources, it was able to become one of the greatest nations in the world as we know it today
