History History

Arrival in the northern Sahul of the ancestors of the Aborigines from New Guinea. During the Ice Age, the Sahul was the name of the continent formed by Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea

Creation of the first prehistoric paintings by the aboriginal peoples. These pre-colonial works of art are among the only remaining testimonies of the Aboriginal culture. With an oral tradition, the Aborigines favored the tradition of sharing knowledge by voice. Before the arrival of the British, 500 nations were spread over the territory. Heterogeneous, they had different systems of functioning but common points linked to mythology. Unfortunately, the different ethnic groups were quickly decimated without ethnologists having the time to transcribe their stories and their particularities.

The Pacific remained largely unexplored until the 17th century. At the dawn of this new century, explorers believed in the existence of a land located in the southern hemisphere. It was the era of progress, research, scientific travel and discovery. Wondering about the origins and evolution of humanity, the learned circles, such as the Academy of Sciences in Paris or the Royal Society in London, wished to push explorations further south. In 1605, the Dutchman Willem Janszoon approached the northern tip and the western coast of Australia, which he named Nieu Zelandt (New Holland). The following year, the Spaniard Luis Vaez de Torres crossed the strait to which he gave his name between Queensland and New Guinea. The discovery of Australia puts an end to a myth: the southern continent does exist! Thereafter, several voyages of exploration of the Pacific followed one another, financed in large part by the great maritime powers of the time, namely France, Great Britain and Spain.

A part of Australian history that colonization has tried to forget: Indonesian fishermen from the Makassar region on the island of Sulawesi visited Australia's northern coasts from at least the ^17th century onwards. They came to certain areas every year and enjoyed good relations with the Aborigines, who adopted many Indonesian words into their languages (such as the word rupiah in the languages of Arnhem Land!) and many technological innovations, such as the use of axes and certain textiles.

In 1642, an expedition to explore the west and south of Australia was commissioned by Antonio Van Diemen, Governor General of the East Indies. Abel Tasman made several voyages to the South Pacific between 1642 and 1644. He discovered an island that he first named Anthoonij van Diemenslandt, "Van Diemen's land" before it was given its current name, Tasmania, in 1856.

James Cook explored the East Coast and anchored his ship the Endeavour at Botany Bay, just south of present-day Sydney, and continued his exploration to the Great Barrier Reef. He then took possession of a part of Australia in the name of the Crown of England, George III

James Cook was born in 1728 in Yorkshire. A farmhand who became a sailor and then an explorer, the future captain was one of the first Europeans to discover Australia. He joined the French Navy in 1755, before embarking on missions on the St. Lawrence River in Canada the following year. From 1760 to 1767, Cook sailed the North Atlantic. From 1768 to 1771, he went on his first round-the-world voyage aboard the ship Endeavour, in search of the Great Southern Land on behalf of the British Crown. On April 19, 1770, James Cook sighted the southeast coast of the Australian continent. James Cook was the first to discover the east coast, which he claimed as the possession of King George III, and named New South Wales. During a second voyage, he explored Antarctica, then in a third voyage he left in search of the Northwest Passage, but came up against the impassable Bering Strait. Back in Hawaii, he was murdered by the natives in 1779.

While the Dutch navigators, who had approached the Australian coasts in the 17th century, lost interest in these lands deemed inhospitable, the French began to show interest in this region. In 1768, the explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville just missed the east coast of the continent but a few years later, Louis XVI entrusted the navigator Jean-François de Galaup, Count of La Pérouse (1741-1788), with a mission around the world. The expedition started in 1785, and two ships, the Astrobale and the Boussole left Brest with more than 220 men on board, to explore the Pacific. Ironically, the Count of Lapérouse arrived in Botany Bay in 1788, only a few days after the English captain Arthur Phillip.

After the return to England of Captain Cook, the southern continent began to interest the British Empire. Indeed, the declaration of independence of the American colonies was accompanied by the refusal to continue to accommodate the overpopulation of prisoners deported from England. The latter therefore chose Botany Bay to found a penal colony. The captain of the Royal Navy, Arthur Phillip, in charge of the first fleet, led 11 ships carrying 1,500 people to found the first colony. Among them, there were 757 prisoners - including 192 women - sailors and civilians encouraged by the fantasy of Terra Australis. Between January 17 and January 20, 1788, at the end of a long nine-month voyage, the 11 ships docked at Botany Bay, named by the navigator James Cook 18 years earlier. They officially arrived on January 26, 1788 and named the colony after the British Minister of Home Affairs, Lord Sydney. Once the flag was planted at Sydney Cove on February 7, 1788, the colony of New South Wales was officially created. They established an open-air penitentiary where convicts - the names given to prisoners - were supervised daily by 551 officers, soldiers and sailors.

Between January 1788 and June 1790, the new colony found itself cut off from the world. First, the ship following Arthur Phillip's expedition to supply the colony was wrecked in 1789. At the same time, little time or money was devoted to the penal colony by the British Empire, which showed little interest in these distant lands off the shipping lanes. During this period, punctuated by frequent massacres and economic and social misery, life was very harsh in the colony: discipline was very severe, corporal punishment and hangings were frequent, particularly for stealing food, while rationing was necessary for everyone's survival. In addition to the convict population , free settlers also came to Australia, looking forward to a better future. However, the Australian colonies found it difficult to attract migrants: in the early years, new migrants were subsidized, but the settlement of these new settlers triggered a terrible smallpox epidemic which, in 1789, led to the disappearance of 60-90% of the region's Aborigines.

Captain Phillip seeks to make contact with the Aborigines to persuade them of the validity of the British presence. After several abduction attempts, he managed to capture Bennelong. A remarkably adaptable Aborigine, he learned English and became an essential intermediary between the settlers and the Aborigines of Port Jackson.

In 1799, Matthew Flinders explored a large part of the east coast. Until 1813, the known territory was reduced to a thin coastal strip. The colony was enclosed by the Blue Mountains to the west and the Pacific to the east. In 1813, Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and W.-C. Wentworth finally crossed the Blue Mountains: this expedition marked the beginning of the exploration of the interior. Thereafter, many expeditions illustrated the difficulties of colonization and development of Australia. In 1840, the explorer Eyre made the first complete crossing of the continent from west to east

In 1851, the discovery of gold in the Blue Mountains provoked a rush of thousands of prospectors who contributed to the settlement of the interior. A whole population of adventurers and pioneers set out to find new veins. Since then, the migratory flows have always continued. The gold rush marked the third wave of immigration after the convicts and the "free" settlers.

The Australian colonies, with the exception of Western Australia, were granted responsible government. Each colony had a constitution that provided for universal male suffrage and secret ballots. Almost ironically, the Australian settlers were given far greater rights than their compatriots in Britain.

The real exploration of the West did not begin until 1874 with Ernest Giles, who traveled from Adelaide to Perth across the Nullarbor Plain. From Perth, he continued north, then crossed the central deserts to the east. All these expeditions only confirmed the fact that most of Australia was not suitable for further settlement. By 1875, the most important features of the continent had been identified.

For two decades, the Aborigines resisted through guerrilla operations. Even if these are only very little documented, this period of conflicts between British settlers and Aborigines did exist. The "Black War" is one of the most notable episodes of violence between British settlers and Australian Aborigines in Tasmania. Nevertheless, it was not the weapons that were the most destructive but the spread of diseases. Smallpox wreaked considerable havoc on the Aboriginal population: at the beginning of the 20th century, there were less than 50,000 of them left.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the fear of an American-style revolution pushed the British Parliament to change the status of the country and to vote in favor of independence. Thus, the Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed, the country became independent but did not cut its ties with the British Crown. Melbourne, the federal capital, and the six colonies sharing the continent were united in a federal state. The constitution was submitted to each colony by referendum, making Australia the first nation to put its constitution to the people. However, the constitution did not grant any civil rights to the Aborigines and specified the superiority of the settler. The policy, essentially reformist, was supported by the strong sense of democracy that animated the mass of settlers. Labour, which remained in power until 1914, pursued a policy of high wages, expanded education, imposed an eight-hour workday and created welfare institutions. Australia's standard of living soon became one of the highest in the world.

The creation of the Australian Federation also marked the beginning of the " White Australia " policy. TheImmigration Restriction Act 1901 restricted immigration to Europeans. This segregationist policy was born at the time of the gold rush: in the mining towns, white prospectors questioned the work of Chinese miners, who had come to compete with European labor. Riots broke out in Victoria and New South Wales, leading to the first anti-Chinese immigration laws.

The territory of the new federal capital was chosen to end the rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne. Australia embarked on the construction of a new city, Canberra, but its development did not materialize until the 1960s.

In 1914, Australian soldiers rushed to the front to defend the mother country, "to the last man, to the last shilling" according to the Prime Minister of the time, Andrew Fisher. Australia sent 330,000 of its men to fight alongside the Allies. In 1916, thousands of Australians fought on French soil. The Battle of Fromelles, a small village in the Somme, took place on July 19 and 20, 1916. It was a deadly battle with more than 5,000 dead in 24 hours. 60,000 Australian soldiers were killed during the First World War - a considerable loss for the young nation of only five million people.

During the First World War, two powers clashed: the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey) and Russia. A strategic passage, the Dardanelles Strait was of great interest to the Allies, who traded substantial goods with Russia. The Ottoman Empire, on the side of the Germans, began a confrontation with the Russians: the Allies were called upon to fight on the Gallipoli peninsula, opposite the Dardanelles Strait. Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, proposed sending ships loaded with soldiers right next to the strait to position men, seize Ottoman guns and liberate the strait. The Australians and New Zealanders - the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corp) - were to attempt to open a new front to enable the British to reach Istanbul. Setting out on April 25, alongside their sister nation, Australian soldiers attempted to seize the Ottoman Empire's artillery forces, but met with intense opposition: the Ottoman Empire defended itself better than expected. Between April 1915 and January 1916, no fewer than 500,000 people were killed. The fiasco of the landing on April 25 left a particular mark on Australian minds, and resulted in a heavy loss of life, with more than 8,000 Australian dead. Evacuation was finally ordered nine months later. Today, every April 25, Australians celebrate Anzac Day, the day of remembrance for Australian and New Zealand troops, a highly commemorated public holiday.

The first GHAN line, opened in 1929 with a steam railway, follows the route of explorer John MacDouall Stuart. From Adelaide to Darwin in the north, via Alice Springs, the train opens up the heart of the continent over 2,900 kilometers.

Literally "day of mourning", this day is organized by the aboriginal activist William Cooper against the official celebrations of 150 years of colonization.

Australian forces were engaged in Italy, Greece, Crete, and North Africa. But in 1941 Japan, whose troops landed in Papua New Guinea and Singapore, threatened the young nation. In 1942, Darwin, Broome and Wyndham in northern Australia were bombed, and after losing 22,000 men in Malaya and Indonesia, Australia no longer had enough trained and equipped troops. Great Britain, fighting for its own survival, abandoned Australia to its sad fate. The country decided to turn to the United States. The Australian government proposed to the American General MacArthur to transform the country into a huge base at the disposal of the USA in order to repel the Japanese. The Japanese were stopped by American forces in the battles of the Coral Sea and Papua New Guinea. In conjunction with the Americans, the Australians practicedisland hopping to clear the Pacific islands of Japanese troops. This military strategy consisted of attacking small, poorly defended bases to eliminate supply points and thus push the enemy back.

Implementation of theAustralian Citizenship Act 1948. The following year, in 1949, hundreds of non-European immigrants were granted the right to settle in the country. All residents living in Australia for fifteen years became eligible for citizenship.

It was the coming to power of the Chinese Communists in 1949 that persuaded the Americans of the need to secure the Pacific area. In 1951, Australia, New Zealand and the United States signed a defense treaty (Australia New Zealand United States Security Treaty) guaranteeing mutual aid and cooperation in case of an armed attack against one of the member countries. The treaty is still in force and is one of the pillars of its foreign policy.

The right to vote was granted to the Aborigines in their entirety: it had previously been reserved for a minority considered "civilized

The country sent troops alongside American soldiers in the Vietnam War. From 1962 to 1973, 60,000 Australians fought in the war, while in Australia, demonstrations for peace multiplied. In all, the war resulted in some 500 deaths among Australian soldiers.

A referendum finally conferred Australian citizenship on the Aborigines: it was approved by 90%. They are also taken into account in the census.

Aborigines are included in the population statistics. The Labor Party's Harold Thomas created the Aboriginal flag the same year.

An Aboriginal tent was erected on the lawn in front of Parliament House in Canberra on January 26, 1972, National Day. As a sign of protest against the government of the time, which refused to recognize the rights of the Aborigines, the latter proclaimed "we are building an embassy to show that we are excluded from our own country. The operation received international attention. The police tried several times to remove the demonstrators, but the tent remained in place for six months. In 1992, it was installed again and is still there today in front of the old Parliament.

In 1973, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam permanently buried White Australia by changing the rules of immigration. A new immigration policy abolished and abandoned all racial discrimination by abolishing the "Keep Australia White" doctrine and the Immigration Restriction Act. The Labor government then undertook numerous reforms in favour of a multicultural migration policy

The Governor-General, the Crown's representative in Australia, first used his powers in 1975 when the country was in a serious political crisis. The Governor-General of Australia dismissed Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and called a new referendum to elect a new Prime Minister, Malcolm Frazer. At the same time, in the same year, Australia granted independence to Papua New Guinea.

Australia signs the Japan-Australia Agreement (NARA) with Japan, the first comprehensive bilateral treaty with an Asian power. The two nations agree to strengthen their cooperation for stability in the Indo-Pacific

Ayers Rock, Uluru, is returned to its original owners, the Anangu Aborigines. Two years later, the imposing monolith was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In 1986, the Australian and British Parliaments simultaneously passed theAustralia Act , which enshrined Australia's independence from the British legislature and judiciary. The Queen of England remains sovereign of Australia, which remains a constitutional monarchy. The Governor-General of Australia is the monarch's representative.

The Torres Strait Islander Aboriginal Commission (ATSIC) succeeds the NAC. The Aboriginal Reconciliation Council (ARC) is established advocating a fair and appropriate resolution of Aboriginal affairs. The Aboriginal Reconciliation Council Act was passed unanimously by the Senate in 1991.

The famous Mabo judgment recognized the right to land of the Murray Islands Aborigines and put an end to the concept of Terra Nullius (territory owned by nobody). The following year, in 1993, the High Court of Justice ruled in favour of the Torres Strait Islanders who claimed "ancestral rights" over their land. The following year, the Native Title Act was passed, recognizing Aboriginal property rights

John Howard, a member of the Liberal Party, officially became the 25th Prime Minister of Australia. He ended 13 years of Labor rule. In addition to questioning training and education programs, funding for Aboriginals and social entitlements for job seekers were reduced in order to improve the country's economy. Immigration policy became more restrictive and the sense of national identity was reinforced.

Publication of the report Bringing Them Home, recognizing the "stolen generation": the media coverage of this long hidden reality bursts into the open and reports that, from 1869 to 1969, aboriginal mixed-race children were taken from their families to be placed with white families. The latter were condemned for maltreatment and sexual abuse

New legislation, the Native Title Amendment Act, restricted Aboriginal land rights recognized a few years earlier. New restrictions on land claims were put in place: Aboriginal land rights are considered virtually extinct because their land is held as private property, which, according to the Native Title Act, negates any possibility of a claim

A referendum with 95% participation rejected the republic with 54.8%. Australians choose to remain a monarchy

In October 2003, the visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao gave Australia the opportunity to position itself as one of China's main suppliers of energy and training, and to begin strengthening its political and economic ties with Asia. The following year, Australia continued its dialogue of rapprochement with the countries of Southeast Asia. That same year, China became Canberra's^3rd largest trading partner, after the European Union and the United States.

Federal government amends theAboriginal Land Right Act. Tasmanian government formally apologizes to Aborigines and passes legislation to compensate "stolen generations"

Kevin Rudd ratifies the Kyoto Protocol. At the same time, Australia, the United States, China, Japan, India and South Korea launched the Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate or Alter-Kyoto. This partnership aims to implement clean and advanced technologies without legal constraints on the reduction of_CO2 emissions.

As of July¹, visa applications must be accompanied by proof of a minimum level of English; the government publishes the Life in Australia information booklet and the Becoming an Australian Citizen booklet. From the latter, 20 questions will be taken for the citizenship test upon implementation of theAustralian Citizenship Act 2007.

Kevin Rudd apologizes on behalf of Australia to the Aboriginal people. He expresses a formal apology to the First Nations: "for the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendants and abandoned families, we say to you: sorry. In this historic move, he expressed a desire to close the gap in life expectancy, education and economic opportunity. The apology was an important step for the Aborigines, but it did not resolve the issue of financial compensation: the Australian government refused to create a national compensation fund for the victims.

In June 2010, after his proposal for a stimulus package failed in the Senate following the 2008-2009 global economic crisis, Kevin Rudd threw in the towel and resigned from office. His Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, succeeded him on June 24, 2010, becoming the first woman to hold the position

The June 26 election vote surprised the entire country: Julia Gillard was disowned and Kevin Rudd was sworn in as Australia's new Prime Minister the next day. His comeback was short-lived as the September general election gave victory to the Liberal Party. Tony Abbott then became Prime Minister of Australia on September 18, 2013.

After receiving its first boat people in the 1970s, following the opening of its migration policy, Australia is once again changing its modus operandi and closing its borders a little more. Tens of thousands of people from Afghanistan, Iraq and Sri Lanka arrived by boat between 2011 and 2014. These refugees are sent to detention centers on Pacific islands - in conditions condemned by human rights associations - where they remain stuck, sometimes for years.

In a confidence vote initiated by his own party, Tony Abbott narrowly won a majority of votes. In September of the same year, he lost the confidence of his party in an internal vote and Malcolm Turnbull succeeded him as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia and became Prime Minister of Australia the following day

In 2016, France won the "contract of the century": the manufacture and sale of 12 attack submarines by French industrialist Naval Group for Australia, for AU$90 billion (€56 billion). But in September 2021, Prime Minister Scott Morrison pulled the plug on this far-reaching partnership, with Australia opting instead to build nuclear-powered submarines in partnership with the USA and the UK, in order to pacify the Indo-Pacific zone threatened by China's presence. Australia's withdrawal from the contract led to sharp tensions between France and Australia. After months of frosty relations, the election of Anthony Albanese as Prime Minister and his subsequent visit to France in the summer of 2022, coupled with the announcement of a €555 million compensation package for Naval Group, paved the way for a restoration of trust between the two countries.

Linda Burney is the first Aboriginal woman to be elected as a member of the Australian Parliament, winning a seat for the Labor opposition. During her entrance speech, she particularly insisted on her commitment to enshrine the recognition of Aborigines in the Constitution and promote social justice.

Parliament approves the legalization of gay marriage, after a national survey gathered 61% of votes in favor

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce resigned under pressure from his colleagues following an affair with one of his former staff members. In August, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull resigned, handing over to Liberal Party member Scott Morrison

Hundreds of bushfires, fanned by record temperatures and strong winds, created eight wildfires that merged into a megafire north of Sydney. Present in five Australian states, these devastating fires claimed around thirty lives. Hundreds of thousands of people had to evacuate and 1 billion animals perished, according to estimates by ecologists at the University of Sydney.

Taking advantage of its insularity, the island-continent closes its borders in March 2020 to protect its population from the Coronavirus pandemic. The country thus closes itself to the rest of the world, which earned it the nickname "Fortress Australia". On February 21, 2022, after two years of closure, the country reopens its borders to vaccinated travelers.

The Labor opposition won the general election after 9 years of conservative rule. Anthony Albanese ousted Scott Morrison and became Australia's 31st Prime Minister

Australian voters were called upon to vote in October 2023 for the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in their Constitution and the creation of a "Voice" for these indigenous peoples. The referendum campaign did not take place in a serene climate, and brought to the surface the country's tensions on this subject. Australians rejected the proposal outright, with over 60% voting "no" in the referendum.