AUH - Colonial Australia (Lesson)

Colonial Australia

Introduction 

 

 

The Australian Colonies

In 1789 former convict James Ruse had the first successful wheat harvest in New South Wales. He repeated this success in 1790 and he was rewarded by the government with the first land grant in New South Wales because the colony was desperate for food production. After this event, the colony began growing enough food to support itself and the standard of living gradually improved.

In 1793 the first “free settlers” arrived in Australia. They were given free passage, free agricultural tools by the government, 2 years’ provisions, land grants of 120 acres and convict labor. (The convicts were provided with 2 years’ rations and 1 year of clothing from public stores.) These free settlers’ land was west of Sydney in a place called “Liberty Plain,” now the site of Strathfield and Homebush.

Britons continued to explore the continent with the help of Aboriginal guides for years following the initial colonization of Australia.

The first European-style governments were established after 1788 and they were autocratic and were run by appointed governors. Basically, English law was transplanted to the Australian colonies. Businessmen were becoming prosperous, and by the mid-1800s there was a desire for representative government, inspired by the reform movements in Europe, Great Britain and the United States.

In 1850 the Australian Colonies Government Act was a landmark development which allowed representative constitutions in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and New South Wales. The colonies began writing their own constitutions with representative assemblies called parliaments (like in Great Britain.)

Still the Australian colonies relied heavily on imports from Great Britain in order to survive. Additionally, the colonies used the official British currency, the pound. But the “unofficial” currency was rum.

 

Gold Fever

In 1851 “gold fever” hit New South Wales and Victoria and thousands of hopeful prospectors arrived from China and other places along with throngs of entertainers, liquor-sellers and other “camp followers.”

In Victoria, the British government-imposed mining licenses on gold prospectors which led to violent protests against the authoritarian government. The rebellion was called the Eureka Stockade Rebellion of 1854. The miners lost the struggle; but they were granted more rights and a bill was passed that gave the miners the right to vote and to serve in parliament if they held a miner’s license. For historians this event is regarded as the beginning of Australian democracy.

The six states of Australia were united under one constitution on January 1, 1901.

 

Take a Closer Look...

Can you remember the order of events you just learned? Look at the dates on the timeline and see if you can match them up with the events discussed on the explore page. Then click the plus sign next to the date to see if you are right!

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