How did Australia start?

Answer 1

The original name was New Holland, due to the dutch being the first foreigners to find it. Before that the Aboriginals had their own groups and land, sort of like unofficial states. Then when the british settled it was split into colonies that had mostly the same layout and names of the current day states, (although they were slightly different)

Answer 2

Australia was colonised for several reasons:

1. Great Britain chose to expand the British empire, mainly to prevent the French from gaining a foothold in the Australian continent or in that part of the Pacific.

2. Colonisation of Another Country would help to solve the problem of Britain's overcrowded prisons, largely a consequence of the Industrial Revolution, by establishing a new penal colony in a land which showed promise for eventually becoming self-supporting. Britain had been sending its excess prisoners to North America, but the American War of Independence put a stop to the practice. Following this, the English were no longer able to transport surplus prisoners who couldn't legally be executed to North America.

3. Australia could provide commercial and political gains to Britain.

4. Due to war, Britain needed to find an alternative supply of Flax and timber as her Baltic supply was under threat. It was believed that nearby Norfolk Island would provide this.

5. Britain needed a port in the East to promote trade with China and to extend its naval and commercial power.

6. The continent had Natural Resources which England wanted.

It was not until James Cook's successful voyage which involved charting the eastern coast of Australia, that New South Wales was seen as a viable proposition for a convict colony. In particular, it was endorsed by Sir Joseph Banks, the influential botanist who travelled with Cook. Banks was one of three botanists aboard Cook's ship "The Endeavour", and he was a passionate advocate of British settlement and colonisation of the Australian continent. It was largely upon Cook's and Banks's recommendation that Australian ultimately was colonised by the British, and not by another power later.

Colonisation was simplified for Britain, which was able to prove to the satisfaction of the judicial system that Australia was terra nullius - a land without ownership - because the English found difficulty in locating any individual(s) able to negotiate a treaty with the indigenous inhabitants; this concept was first tested and found valid in 1827.

The first permanent settlers arrived in Australia with the First Fleet on 26 January 1788 to set up the new penal colony.

Answer 3

as a prison colony