Australia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Australia - Essay Example They were thought to have arrived here from the South East Asia during the last ice age. The belief is that the aboriginals numbered at least one million and scatter across 300 clans with at least 250 languages and 700 dialects between them. Due to the relatively dry environment of the country, the aboriginals were forced to become nomadic tribes traveling on a quest of trade, finding water, and food. Australia was founded in unforgiving territory. Stemming from the outback desserts, tropical rain forests, and snow capped mountains, the early aboriginals believe in the myth that the totemic spirits ancestors are all connected to nature, the past, present, and future (â€Å"Australias History†). This was the state of Australia before the British colonized the land for their own means. It was Captain James Cook who in the 17th century chartered the east coast in the name of Britain. When he first landed on Australian soil, the continent was recognized by most sailors as New Holland. Britain was more than happy to claim the land because its location made it perfect to use as a penal colony. As a new outpost, the penal colony came into being on January 26 1788 with the first British inhabitants alighting in Australia. A fleet of 11 ships carried 1.500 people with more than half of them being convicts. By 1868 it is believed that at least 160,000 men and women had settled in Australia as convicts being punished or banished by Britain. Of course life was different for the free settlers who came in during the 1790s. The convicts were constant under threat of losing their lives in the harsh conditions and even harsher treatment from the officers of the colony. Suffering alongside the convicts were the aboriginals who were displaced, their lands, stolen, and their tradit ional lifestyle and practices no longer fitting into the new world of Australia as