History. The Commonwealth of Australia is the sixth largest country in the world (geographically), the only one to occupy an entire continent

Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is the sixth largest country in the world (geographically), the only one to occupy an entire continent, and the largest in Australasia. Australia includes the island of Tasmania, which is an Australian State. New Zealand is to the southeast; and Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and East Timor to its north. The name 'Australia' comes from the Latin phrase terra australis incognita (" unknown southern land", see Terra Australis).

History

Australia is thought to have been inhabited for at least 50, 000 years, since the remote ancestors of the current Australian Aborigines arrived from present-day Southeast Asia.

The land was not discovered by Europeans until the 17th century, when it was sighted and visited by several expeditions: the Spanish Luis Vaez de Torres (1606) and the Dutch explorers Willem Jaszoom (1606), Jan Carstensz (1623), Dirck Hartog and Abel Tasman. The Dutch called the continent New Holland.

The first English explorers were Willem Dampier in 1688 and James Cook, who claimed eastern two-thirds of the continent for Britain in 1770 despite orders from King George III to first conclude a treaty with the indigenous population. His report to London that Australia was uninhabited provided impetus for the establishment of a penal colony there following the loss of the American colonies. The colony of New South Wales was established in Sydney by captain and governor Arthur Phillip on January 26, 1788 as a British Crown Colony. The date of arrival of the First Fleet later became the date of Australia Day. The Colony of Van Diemen's Land (i.e. the present day Tasmania) was founded in 1803. The rest of the continent, that is Western Australia, was formally claimed by the United Kingdom in 1829. Following the spread of British settlement, separate Colonies were created from parts of New South Wales: South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851 and Queensland in 1859. The Northern Territory was founded, as part of the Colony of South Australia, in 1863.

During the period of 1855-1890, the six Crown Colonies each successively became self-governing colonies, which managed most of their own affairs. The British government retained control of some matters, especially foreign affairs, defence, international shipping. Despite its heavily rural based economy Australia remained highly urbanised, centred particularly around the cities of Melbourne and Sydney. In the 1880s 'Marvellous Melbourne' was the second largest city in the British Empire It also gained a reputation as a 'working man's paradise' and as a laboratory for social reform, with the world's first secret ballot and first national labour party government.

On 1 January 1901, federation of the Colonies occurred and the Commonwealth of Australia was born, as a dominion of the British Empire. The Australian Capital Territory, centred on the new federal capital of Canberra, was separated from New South Wales in 1911. Although Australia had become independent, the British government retained some powers over Australia until the Statute of Westminster in 1931, and the authority of the UK parliament was not completely severed until 1986). Aboriginal Australians were also denied the vote until a referendum in 1967 conferred citizenship on indigenous people.

Australia is a Constitutional monarchy, with Elizabeth II reigning as 'Queen of Australia'. In 1999, a referendum was held on constitutional change to a republic, with an appointed President replacing the Queen as head of state, but this was rejected.