Region of the Australian Colonies, Australia, Oceania

The Australian Colonies Britain's first contact with Australia came with Captain Cook's voyage in the ship Endeavour, landing in 1770 where he claimed it as a British territory The process of colonization began in 1788. A fleet of 11 ships, containing 736 convicts, some British troops and a governor set up the first colony of New South Wales. This presented the ideal opportunity for Britain to get rid of its convicts (after the 13 colonies in America became the US in 1776) and in the next 60 years about 160,000 were transported to Australia Thousands of other British settlers subsequently migrated to Australia as they were attracted by the easily available land (which led to conflicts with the Aborigines) and they could make a living raising sheep or by catching seals and whales. In 1826 the settlers began colonizing Western Australia; the colony of South Australia was set up in 1834. A whole new wave of migration was sparked off in the 1850s by the discovery of gold and the white population of Australia rose by around half a million in 10 years (while the Aboriginal population decreased) In 1889, amid calls from London for the establishment of an intercolonial Australian army, and with the various colonies independently constructing railway lines, New South Wales Premier Henry Parkes addressed a rural audience in his "Tenterfield Oration", stating that the time had come to form a national executive government: "Australia [now has] a population of three and a half millions, and the American people numbered only between three and four millions when they formed the great commonwealth of the United States. The numbers were about the same, and surely what the Americans had done by war, the Australians could bring about in peace, without breaking the ties that held them to the mother country." ================================================================================================= Australian Penal Colonies The colonies were created from the establishment of the European presence in the 1780s and during the nineteenth century; the term "colony" had referred to settlements and larger land areas at that time Colony State Year opened / closed" Cockatoo Island New South Wales 1839/1869" Rose Hill New South Wales 1787?" Sydney Cove New South Wales 1788/1840" Moreton Bay Queensland 1824" Redcliffe Queensland 1823/1824" Maria Island Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) 1825/1851" Port Arthur Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land)" Richmond Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land)" Risdon Cove Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land)" Sarah Island Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) 1822/1833" The island was a part of the Macquarie Harbour Penal Station Saltwater River Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land)" Sullivan's Cove Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land)" King George's Sound Western Australia 1826/1832" Swan River Colony Western Australia 1850/1868" Norfolk Island Other 1788/1855" [ See web link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Australia#Federation_movement ]