Australia Flashcards
Describe the discovery of Australia
- In 1606 Australia was discovered by the Dutch who mapped out the entire North and West coast. They called the land New Holland, but did not settle it
- In 1770 the East Coast of Australia was explored by Captain James Cook and named the area New South Wales
Describe the first landing on the coast of Australia by the British
Captain Cook landed on Silver Beach in Botany Bay on the 29th April 1770. Here he was attacked by 2 indigenous men who opposed his landing, and 1 of them got shot.
He stayed for a week, collecting water, timber, fodder and plant samples then left
Why did Britain want to establish another colony and why did they pick Botany Bay
After US independence, Britain had nowhere to send felons so the prisons became overcrowded
Botany Bay was selected as the government wanted to settle in the West Pacific to reduce French influence there, and Botany Bay was recommended as a habitable location by Banks and Marta (two of the now dead Captain Cook’s shipmates)
How much money was invested in kitting out the first fleet to Australia
£7.3 million
For the first journey to settle Australia…
- How many days did it take
- How many ships were there
- How many people were there
- How many people died on the journey
- 252 days
- 11 ships
- 1400 people
- 69 died
What day did the settlers land in Australia and what day did they claim the territory
Settled 19th January 1788
Claimed 7th February 1788
What was the problem with the type of people who settled Australia
Most convicts were unskilled and therefore upon first settling had no real way to contribute to society
How many of the 1400 people who settled Australia were convicts
775
What 2 problems faced the settlers in the first 6 months of being in Australia
- Lack of food as all the livestock had been eaten or lost, no ploughs were available and the thin soil in the local area did not yield sufficient crop
- It was difficult to make bricks so the settlers struggled to build infrastructure
What was the 2 ambitions of the government in creating self-sufficiency in Australia and how successful were they
- Enough farming and development to be able to not need imports (was planned to take 4 years but took 33 so failed)
- Provide land grants to convicts after their sentence ended, successful as 66 land grants were given, 52 of which to convicts which made them want to stay
3 reasons for the survival of the Australian settlement
- Thorough planning caused only a 3% detah rate
- Governor Phillips sent 183 convicts, 28 children and 81 marines to Norfolk Island which had the mutton bird which was exported to Australia to feed the local population
- Relocation of farming areas to the more arable Parramatta
When and where did the HMS Sirius wreck and what was the impact of this
Wrecked in March 1790 off the coast of Norfolk Island which limited the ability to ship food to NSW which nearly starved as a result
What years were the following Governors of NSW in power:
Governor Phillips
Governor Bligh
Governor MacQuarie
Governor Brisbane
Phillips: 1788-1792
Bligh: 1806-1808
Macquarie: 1810-1821
Brisbane: 1821-1825
Describe the British involvement with Bennelong
The British kidnapped Bennelong in November 1789 in order to foster good communications with aboriginals, and he was well liked by the British, but he escaped in May 1790
He was found in September 1790 eating a whale with other aboriginal
He was shipped to London in 1792 where he lived until 1795 when he went back to NSW
He was crucial to the colony as he explained indigenous customs and lifestyles and largely helped establish understanding and peace between the Eoras and British
Why are there arguments that the British used biological warfare against the Aboriginal people
A smallpox outbreak took place in the Port Jackson aboriginal tribe and spread to other aboriginals, killing up to 90% in some areas.
The only smallpox present in all of Australia was on a vial on board one of the ships, indicating someone used the vial to infect aboriginals
Describe British involvement and conflict with Pemelwuy
Pemelwuy was an aboriginal from Parramatta who knew Bennelong. In 1790 he caused tensions between settlers and aboriginals after he speared the gamekeeper of Governor Phillips leading to the capture of 10 aboriginals
In 1797 he commanded an army of 100 aboriginals at the battle of Paramatta, and the aboriginals thought he was invincible after surviving being shot in the head
He led guerilla style raids on the British from 1795-1802 which led to Phillips ordering on-sight shootings of some aboriginals in 1801
In 1802 he was killed and the aboriginals returned his head as a peace offering. His son continued to fight before he was killed in 1810
What was the Mutiny on the Bounty
In 1789, William Bligh captained a ship tasked with transporting breadfruit from Tahiti to the Caribbean, but on the 29th April 1789, Christian Fletcher led a mutiny on the ship. 19 men and Bligh were forced into a smaller and had to sail 6500km home, while Fletcher and the mutineers permanently settled on the Pitcairn Islands
How did Bligh rebuild his career after the 1789 Mutiny on the Bounty
He was acquitted for the loss of the beat in 1790, then rebuilt his career working alongside Lord Nelson
Who were the NSW Corps
An army regiment originally sent to aid the foundation of NSW. These people were collectively very wealthy and in the absence of a clear currency they gained a monopoly in rum, which became the currency giving them effectively full power over NSW.
They also crushed the Castle Hill uprising in 1804, where Irish convicts tried to take over the colony. This led them to believe they were the rightful owners of the colony as they defended it
Who was John Macarthur and why did Bligh have conflict with him
A lieutenant of the NSW Corps
Bligh did not like and ended Macarthur’s monopoly on rum and wool to NSW, benefitting locals but harming Macarthur’s business.
Bligh also wanted to build a town in an area of landed granted to Macarthur
What was the cause for the rum rebellion
- John Macarthur got arrested for sedition, but the other six members of the court were affiliated with the rum corps and therefore were able to dissolve court claiming a biased judge on the 25th January 1808
- On 26th January 1808 Bligh ordered the rearrest of Macarthur and the 6 corps, but his general Major Johnston secretly freed Macarthur
- Johnston then issued a letter calling for the resignation of Bligh
- The same day they entered Bligh’s home, found him and placed him on house arrest with Bligh unable to do anything about it
What happened to Macarthur and the NSW Corps
They knew the new governor would arrest them so many including Macarthur left for England
What were the 3 ‘goals’ of MacQuarie upon taking power in NSW
- Cancel all decisions taken by the rbeel government during the Bligh Years
- Break the power of the NSW Corps who have been ruling
- Side with the emancipists and the currency (emancipist descendants) over the exclusives and the sterling (exclusive descendants)
What two criteria could be used to assess how successful MacQuarie was
- To what extent he met his original objectives
- The extent to which the measures he implemented were successful in building a nation
How did MacQuarie treat the convicts upon arrival
- He believed in reforming them to help them become established members of society
- He greeted every convict ship arrival, had a ex-convict doctor deliver his wife baby and invited emancipists to dinner on occasion
- Although he offered harsh punishments to those who misbehaved, such as lashings or being sent to Van Diemens Land (when it was settled), he offered rewards to those who worked hard
How did John MacQuarie use exploration to improve the sustainability of the colony
- Appointed John Oxley to explore the NSW coast and inland to find new rivers and land to settle
- He developed the colony around Hawkesbury River, setting up five ‘MacQuarie Towns’ in 1810 which used the extremely fertile land and good river transport options to grow food to sustain the population
Describe the crossing of the Blue Mountains and what this meant for the colony
- The first expedition over was completed in 1813
- The first road over was commissioned in 1814 and complete in 1819
- This allowed them to access the grazing land of inland Australia and allowed further exploration
- After this, Oxley discovered North NSW which went on to provide half of NSW’s grain and also explored the site which is Brisbane today
What was the first inland city in Australia, settled on the other side of the Blue Mountains
Bathurst
How did MacQuarie end the rum currency?
In November 1812 he imported 40,000 Spanish Dollars (£10k), which he used to create his own currency called the Holey Dollar which was worthing nothing outside Australia
How did MacQuarie improve the infrastructure of Australia
- Ordered the creation of a regulat street layout for Hobart turning it from a ramshackle settlement into a functioning town
- Built Sydney Rum Hospital with the only cost being giving the contractors rum (1815)
- Hired Francis Greenway, an ex-convict who was a skilled architect and contributed to the design of many buildings in Australia
Name 3 projects designed by Francis Greenway, the year they were built and what they did
- Parramatta Female Factory (1819)
- Hyde Park Barracks (1819)
- Windsor Court (1822)
What was the Parramatta Female Factory and why was it so important
An all purposes facility for women, it had a hospital, marriage bureau, cloth factory, asylum and prison
It provided an opportunity for women to have a better standard living as the M:F ratio in NSW was 10:1 and there was a large problem of rape and abandonment after impregnation in NSW
In 1806 how many women were married and how many were concubine (living with a man but lower status than his wife, eg a mistress)
395 married
1035 in concubine
Describe how MacQuarie improved the legal system in NSW
- Issued a Second Charter of Justice in 1814 defining the structure of the legal system
- Opened the NSW Supreme Court the same year
- English Law was to be followed as far as possible
- Many settlers claimed he was exceeding his authority, such as in 1816 when 3 free settlers got flogged for trespassing government land
- The first court building was Windsor Court opened in 1822, designed by Greenway
What changes did MacQuarie make contributing to the ‘moral growth’ of the colony, influenced by his Anglican religion
- Demanded convicts lived reformed (Christian) lives
- Required attendance to church and strongly encouraged Christian marriages
- Passed laws against cohabitation without marriage which made women more free instead of just being ‘claimed’ off the boat
- Limited alcohol consumption and closed pubs on religious holidays
What was Hyde Barracks
A barrack designed for 600 men in order to improve their productivity and moral character. Designed by Francis Greenway and completed construction in 1819
What was MacQuarie’s policy towards the aboriginals
- Returned some land such as around Broken Bay to Aboriginal control
- Founded the Native Institution in Paramatta in 1814, which educated Aboriginal children, often by force, in European education and culture
- Rewarded aboriginals who helped the British, for example in 1815 Bungaree received a forget, a boat and 15 acres of land
What were the Hawkesbury and Nepean Wars and what did it culminate in
A conflict between settlers of NSW around the Hawkesbury and Nepean rivers and the aboriginals whose land had been settled.
In March 1816 the Aboriginals killed 4 settlers at Silverdale, so MacQuarie sanctioned retaliations and killed 14 aboriginals in the 17th April killing 14 in the Appin Massacre
Why did MacQuarie come into conflict with the British Government
He was meant to send Britain the revenue made by Australia but he reinvested it instead, costing Britain more money than they liked to develop the country
When did MacQuarie first refer to NSW as Australia
1817
When did the first Australian bank open
1817
When did MacQuarie order traffic to drive on the left reflecting the progress made in the development of Australia
1820
What led to the end of MacQuarie’s rule
After complaints from the exclusives who felt MacQuarie was siding with emancipists, Judge John Bigge led an inquiry and released the Bigge Report which sided with the free settlers and supported harsher treatment of convicts and using convicts as cheap labour to make as much profit as possible
This led to MacQuarie resigning as a result
Who succeeded MacQuarie as Governor
Thomas Brisbane
How many different aboriginal nations were in Australia when the Europeans settled it
250
What % of Australia’s modern population is Aboriginal
3.2%
Describe the foundation of the colony of Van Diemens Land
First settled as a military outpost in 1803 by Governor Philip King (led between Gov Philip and Gov Bligh) in order to stop French rule
In the same year, it was turned into a penal colony but really became known as one from around 1830s-53
Give 3 statistics showing the extensive use of Van Diemens Land as a penal colony
75,000 convicts sent here
40% of all Australian convicts sent here
100% of all Australian convicts sent here after 1840
What were the 3 main settlements in Van Diemen’s Land and which one was reserved for the most dangerous convicts
- Hobart
- Launceston
- Port Arthur (Most Dangerous)
How many female factories were there in Van Diemens Land
5
When did convicts stop being sent to Australia
1853
What was Van Diemens Land useful for specifically before 1815 and why did this change
As an outpost to reduce the French threat in the region but after the Battle of Waterloo the French were no longer threatening anyway
When did Van Diemens Land become a separate colony to Australia
1825
What resource did Van DIemens land have an abundance of and what was this used for
Pine Trees - Used for building, shipbuilding and repairs
How many aboriginals were on Tasmania when the British arrived and how did the two sides interact at the start of the colony
4,000
In 1804 it was declared illegal to attack any aboriginals
There was however a wave of violence between settlers and aboriginals in 1806-7
How much did the population grow in Van Diemens Land form 1817-24
From 2000 to 12,600
When did Major General George Arthur take over in Tasmania, which settlement did he create and how much did he develop the colony’s industry
He took over in 1823 and created Port Arthur
He oversaw booming timber and wool trades with there being 436,000 sheep on the island at one point
How many people were executed before Arthurs rule vs during
0 were executed before
260 during
How did George Arthur treat the Aboriginals in 1823
- Issued a proclamation placing them under British law
- Created the ‘settled districts’, an area comprising 30% of the island which was set aside for Aboriginals
Describe the increase in Aboriginal vs Settler conflicts from 1826-28
- Nov 1826: Arthur issued a government noticed setting out the legal conditions where the settlers could kill Aboriginals, which involved self defence, defence of property or leaving the settled districts
- From 1825-28, conflicts between the two sides doubled each year
- From December 1826 to July 1827 200 Aboriginals were killed as revenge for the previous killing of 15 settlers
- From September 1827 to March 1828, 70 Aboriginal attacks were reported
- From the 1826 notice to March 1828, 43 colonists and 350 aboriginals had been killed
How did Arthur react to the violence and what did this lead to
1st November 1828, he declared a martial law declaring Tasmanian aboriginals ‘open enemies of the king’
This caused the ‘Black Wars’ a period of conflict between
Describe the Black Wars
A series of conflicts which occurred alongside ‘The Black Line Mission’
The Black Line mission intended to herd all the Aboriginals onto the Tasman peninsula by driving them out of their settlements
The Aboriginal population was reduced from about 600 at the start of the war to only 98 by 1834, this was too small to regrow the population and a combination of old age and disease meant the last Aboriginal in Tasmania died in 1876
