History - Colonisation of Australia

1606

Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon, recorded contact with Australia and made a map of part of the continent (Terra Nullius)

1770

Captain Cook claims Australia

1788

First Fleet arrives with convicts

1788, 26 January

Established a colony at Sydney Cove, abduction of Bennelong

1789

Epidemic of smallpox in Sydney, one of many diseases brought over by the Europeans and detrimental to the health and lives of the First Nations peoples

1792

Pemulwuy, an Aboriginal warrior, led a resistance but they were overwhelmed by the British and their more sophisticated weaponry

1794

The Hawkesbury River massacre was the first mass killing of First Nations people

1797

Merino sheep were introduced - the start of a booming empire

1802

Pemulwuy was shot dead, evading capture after serious injury in 1797

1803

Captain Flinders circumnavigates Australia

1804

Castle Hill Rebellion was an uprising by convicts in NSW, led by Irish prisoners, ending in martial law and the death of around 40 convicts

1820-21

Developments made under Governor Maccquarie

1813

Blue Mountains Crossing with Gregory Blaxland, William Charles Wentworth and William Lawson

1815

Founding of Bathurst

1814

Governor Lachlan Macquarie created the Holey Dollar - originally Spanish silver pieces

1825

Brisbane is founded

1825

Van Diemen’s Land is founded (Tasmania)

1829

Perth is founded

1832

Assisted Migration

1833

Peak of convict transportation

1836

South Australia is founded

1838

Myall Creek massacre

1841

New Zealand becomes a separate colony

1848

Leichhardt expedition