Expansion & Invasion: Colonising Australia

By Anne Whitfield

In 1770, Englishman Lieutenant James Cook charted the Australian east coast in his ship HM Barque Endeavoir. Cook claimed the east coast under instruction from King George III of England on 22 August 1770 at Possession Island, naming eastern Australia 'New South Wales'. This southern land would prove to be a dumping ground of England's unwanted--it's convicts--in an attempt to lessen the overcrowding of their jails.

The first European settlement in Australia was at Sydney Cove in New South Wales. Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet, comprising 11 ships and around 1,350 people, arrived at Botany Bay between 18 and 20 January 1788. However, this area was deemed to be unsuitable for settlement and they moved north to Port Jackson on 26 January 1788, landing at Camp Cove, known as 'cadi' to the Cadigal people. Governor Phillip carried instructions to establish the first British Colony in Australia.

The First Fleet was under prepared for the task, and the soil around Sydney Cove was poor. The young colony relied upon both the development of farms around Parramatta, 25 kilometres upstream to the west, and also trading food with local Aboriginal clans. The Second Fleet's arrival in 1790 provided badly needed food and supplies; however the newly arrived convicts were too ill, with many near to death, to be useful to the colony.

The Second Fleet became known as the 'Death Fleet'--278 of the convicts and crew died on the voyage to Australia, compared to only 48 on the First Fleet. The colony experienced many other difficulties, including the fact that there were many more men than women--around four men for every woman--which caused problems in the settlement for many years.

Between 1788 and 1850 the English sent over 162,000 convicts to Australia in 806 ships.

Weapons and Armies: ANZACs

By Anne Whitfield

In 1914, when England declared war, the people in its colonies followed the call to arms, despite being miles of oceans away. England was the mother country and they'd defend it to the death. And die they did, in the thousands.

The young men and women of Australia and New Zealand proudly served their countries in numerous wars, collectively the were known as the ANZACs.

The ANZAC Acronym

ANZAC is the acronym formed from the initial letters of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, the formation into which Australian and New Zealand soldiers were grouped in Egypt prior to the landing at Gallipoli in April 1915. First written as A. & N. Z. Army Corps, it soon became A. N. Z. A. C. and the new word was so obvious that the full stops were omitted. The word was initially used to refer to the cove where the Australians and New Zealanders landed and soon after, to the men themselves. An ANZAC was a man who was at the Landing and who fought at Gallipoli, but later it came to mean any Australian or New Zealand soldier of the First World War. An ANZAC who served at Gallipoli was given an A badge which was attached to his colour patch.

In later years the term ANZAC was applied to any man or women serving in any of the wars.

The Anzacs lost 8,000 men in Gallipoli and a further 18,000 were wounded. The Anzacs went on to serve with distinction in Palestine and on the western front in France. The Anzacs were in many of the major battles and were commended for their bravery and courage. Many times the Anzacs were the first soldiers sent into a battle or an occupied area by their British superior officers. They were thought to be expendable, but they soon showed the world how the men from the harsh pioneering countries had the endurance and spirit to overcome such a fearsome enemy.

Australia had a population of five million--330,000 served in the war, and 59,000 were killed. New Zealand with a population of one million lost 18,000 men out of 110,000 and had 55,000 wounded. These New Zealand figures (62%) represent the highest percentage of all units from the Anglo-Saxon world.

The picture above right is the Casualty clearing station, Menin Road, Belgium.

Every year Australians and New Zealand celebrate the mateship, the bond of our two countries that were united against a common enemy. April 25th is ANZAC Day, (the day the men landed at Gallipoli). It's a day when a whole nation comes together to remember those who fought for our freedom and those who made the greatest sacrifice of their lives.

Lest We Forget

For more information read on the ANZACS and their contribution to the fighting forces of world wars visit the following websites.
ANZAC France
Australian War Memorial
ANZAC Day

Crime & Punishment:Convicts To Australia

By Anne Whitfield

Due to overcrowding in their own jails, the British used North America as a Penal Colony through the system of indentured servants. Most notably, the Province of Georgia was originally designed as a penal colony. It is estimated that some 50,000 British convicts were banished to colonial America, representing perhaps one-quarter of all British emigrants during the eighteenth century.

After the American Revolution (1780s), Britain had to look elsewhere to rid itself of the criminal overcrowding.

Captain Cook's discovery of 'a new southern land' created much interest in England and once they had lost America, the New Holland (Australian) continent looked a likely place to build another penal colony.

In 13 May 1787, the first fleet of 11 ships sailed from England under the command of Capt. Arthur Phillip. They reached Botany Bay on 18 January 1788 with 1530 people, 736 of them convicts.

The most recorded convict sentence was seven or fourteen years' penal servitude, or "for the term of their natural lives". Not all the criminals were murders and pickpockets. Sadly, most of the crimes committed were small and trivial 'mistakes' - Out of work fathers stealing bread to feed their starving children, women selling their bodies to survive, Irish political protesters, abandoned children stealing to eat, etc.

Once landed at penal colony, convicts would be assigned to various kinds of work, road building, carpentry, etc. Female convicts could be assigned as domestic servants to the free settlers.

These free settlers would be responsible for feeding and disciplining them; in return for this, the settlers were granted land. This system reduced the workload on the central administration. Those convicts not assigned to settlers were housed at barracks such as the Hyde Park Barracks or the Parramatta Female Factory.

Punishment for bad behaviour included flogging, leg-irons, hard labour in working gangs, limited rations and isolation. Some convicts refused to obey the law and escaped, often becoming outlaws (bushrangers) in the wild untamed countryside (bush) that covered the eastern side of the Australia.

Most convicts went on to be model citizens, who made great achievements and contributions to the fledgling new society that later became the nation of Australia.

A convict song, sung aboard the ships that took them half way around the world.

'Botany Bay'
Farewell to Old England forever

Farewell to my old pals as well
Farewell to the well known Old Bailey
Where I once used to be such a swell
Where I once used to be such a swell.

Refrain
Singing too-rall, li-oo-rall, li-ad-di-ty,
Singing too-rall, li-oo-rall, li-ay,
Singing too-rall, li-oo-rall, li-ad-di-ty
Oh we are bound for Botany Bay
Oh we are bound for Botany Bay.

There's the captain as is our commandeer,
There's bo'sun and all the ship's crew
There's first and the second class passengers,
Knows what we poor convicts goes through
Knows what we poor convicts goes through.

Refrain

'Taint leaving Old England we cares about,
'Taint 'cos we misspells wot we knows
But becos all we light finger'd gentry
Hop's around with a log on our toes.
Hop's around with a log on our toes.

Refrain

Oh had I the wings of a turtle-dove,
I'd soar on my pinions so high,
Slap bang to the arms of my Polly love,
And in her sweet presence I'd die
And in her sweet presence I'd die.

Refrain

Now all my young Dookies and Duchesses,
Take warning from what I've to say,
Mind all is your own as you touch-es-es,
Or you'll find us in Botany Bay,
Or you'll find us in Botany Bay.

The British government might have been thinking at the time that they were getting rid of their worst citizens, little did they know that their small penal colony would grow to be a great nation!

Some books on Australian history:
A Concise History of Australia by Stuart Macintyre

The Fatal Shore: The epic of Australia's founding by Robert Hughes

So, what questions do you have for me about Australia or its history?