When? - Australian history

The founders of Australia were the Aboriginals. They came to Australia thousands of years before the white people discovered it. The Aboriginals have lived in Australia for at least 40,000 years. No one really knows exactly where the Aboriginals lived before they came to Australia. But some people think that the Aboriginals came from somewhere in South-East Asia and that they traveled to Australia in canoes or on rafts.

It was in 1616 as the first white man, Dick Hartong, arrived in Australia. But it was not until after Captain James Cook arrived in Botany Bay (south of the current Sydney) in 1770, as people from Europe began to move there. When Cook's discovery later would lead to the first European settlements in Australia, are Cook often viewed as Australia's European explorer.

Most people who came to Australia were prisoners who were sent there by the British government. They placed the prisoners in Australia to reduce the congestion in Britain's overcrowded prisons. The prisoners had to work as slaves, and build up cities. Until 1850 the population grew slowly, but in 1851 started the gold rush. Hopeful men poured from America and China, hoping to get rich from the gold. But in the end it was quite a few who became rich.

Aboriginals

Sources:
http://www.australienguiden.se/fakta.php
http://www.australianhistory.org/