In
1699 William Dampier makes a second voyage to Australia for
the British. He sails along 1600 kilometres of coastline and
gives the fullest description of Australia to that time, but
he was so critical of the land and its people that several decades
pass before interest is shown again.
The Dutch captain Roggeveen sails across the Pacific Ocean in
1721-22. He charts Easter Island, home of the giant stone statues,
Samoa and the Solomon Islands. All these places had been unknown
to the Europeans before. The Frenchman Bougainville sails around
the world between 1766-68 and explores the Polynesian and Melanesian
islands.
The most famous of all the scientific explorers was Captain
James Cook. He made three main voyages through the Pacific,
in 1768-71, 1772-75 and 1776-80. Cook charted the east coast
of Australia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Tonga and the Sandwich
Islands (later called Hawaii). On the last voyage, Cook was
killed in Hawaii during a dispute with a group of local natives
in 1779, although he was usually on good terms with the islanders.
(Click here to see Cook's home, originally in England, it was
moved and rebuilt in Melbourne, Australia.)
Cook claimed Australia for Britain, but it was not until 1787,
that a fleet of 11 ships set sail. The expedition arrived at
Botany Bay on 18 January 1788 with 1530 people aboard, 736 of
whom were convicts. The original landing at Botany Bay is disastrous
due to poor soil and water, and the colonists relocate to the
superb harbour of Port Jackson, which later grows into the city
of Sydney.
When the British first settled at Botany Bay, it is believed
there were about 300,000 Aboriginals living in Australia. The
clan-based nature of their society, with no kings or queens
or ruling class, meant an organized resistance to the Europeans
was not possible. Because the Europeans did not recognize any
political system among the Aboriginals, or any system of land
ownership that they were familiar with, they felt they could
take any land they wanted. Most Aboriginal clans were nomadic,
but others lived in permanent settlements. Remote tribes were
linked by trade routes which crisscrossed the country. Along
these trade routes, large numbers of people would often meet
for "exchange ceremonies". Not only goods were traded,
but songs, stories and dances were passed along as well.
The effect of European settlement was disastrous. Many Aboriginals
were driven off their land by force and many more died from
the unknown diseases brought by the newcomers. Sheep and cattle
ranching destroyed natural habitats and waterholes. Aboriginal
attacks on settlers were met with vicious reprisals. Aboriginals
were sometimes hunted for sport. On the island of Tasmania,
the Aboriginals were wiped out completely. On the mainland,
traditional Aborginal society only survived in remote desert
or rainforest areas.
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1,500 years ago / 2,000
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years ago / 10,000 years ago
