Changes

== History==

== History==

''see main article [[History of Australia]]''

''See main article [[History of Australia]]''

Australia was uninhabited until stone-culture peoples arrived, perhaps by boat across the waters separating the island from the Indonesia archipelago more than 40,000 years ago. Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and English explorers observed the island before 1770, when Captain Cook explored the east coast and claimed it for Great Britain.  

Australia was uninhabited until stone-culture peoples arrived, perhaps by boat across the waters separating the island from the Indonesia archipelago more than 40,000 years ago. Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and English explorers observed the island before 1770, when Captain Cook explored the east coast and claimed it for Great Britain.  

 

On January 26, 1788 (now celebrated as Australia Day), the so-called '''First Fleet''' landed at Sydney and the Colony of New South Wales was established. Many, but by no means all, of the first settlers were convicts, some condemned for offenses that today would often be thought trivial. From the mid-19th century convict transportation to Australia significantly declined; the last ship to arrive was in 1868.  Many officers of the Royal Navy received grants and established large farms and ranches.  Ranchers who used government lands for their herds of sheep were informally called "squatters"; despite the term, most were wealthy.  The discovery of gold in 1851 led to increased immigration, wealth, and trade.  A third of the new arrivals were Irish Catholics, and there emerged a political and cultural tension between them and the Protestant British.

On January 26, 1788 (now celebrated as Australia Day), the so-called '''First Fleet''' landed at Sydney and the Colony of New South Wales was established. Many, but by no means all, of the first settlers were convicts, some condemned for offenses that today would often be thought trivial. From the mid-19th century convict transportation to Australia significantly declined; the last ship to arrive was in 1868.  Many officers of the Royal Navy received grants and established large farms and ranches.  Ranchers who used government lands for their herds of sheep were informally called "squatters"; despite the term, most were wealthy.  The discovery of gold in 1851 led to increased immigration, wealth, and trade.  A third of the new arrivals were Irish Catholics, and there emerged a political and cultural tension between them and the Protestant British.