History of Australia. The population of Australia. How immigration started in Australia.
It was due to the discovery of new lands by Captain James Cook, a seafarer, who proclaimed New Holland (now Australia) British possessions. Soon, in 1786, it was decided to make the east coast of Australia the place of exile. The following year, the First Fleet sailed from the shores of England to establish the first colony in Australia called New South Wales. Other ships followed him, and soon a lot of hard labor settlements were formed in Australia.
Eastern Australia was declared the territory of Great Britain in 1770, and the first colony was founded on January 26, 1788. As the population of Australia grew, six self-governing colonies were established in Australia.
On January 1, 1901, these six colonies formed a federation. Since that time, Australia has maintained a stable democratic governance system. Neighbors of Australia are Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea from the north, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu from the north-east, New Zealand from the southeast. The shortest distance between the main island of Papua New Guinea and mainland Australia is 150 kilometers; However, from the Australian island of Boygu to Papua New Guinea, only 5 kilometers.
The name “Australia” comes from the Latin. australis, meaning the south. The legends of the “unknown southern land” (terra australis incognita) come from the time of the Romans, were a common place of medieval geography, but were not based on real knowledge. The Dutch used this term for all newly discovered southern lands from 1638.
The name “Australia” became popular after the publication of Travel in Terra Australis by Captain Mafia Flinders. The Governor of New South Wales, McCuirey, used this name in correspondence with England. In 1817 he recommended this name as official. In 1824 the British Admiralty finally affirmed this name of the continent.
How immigration to Australia began
In Great Britain, the 18th century was marked by significant social changes, which led to an increase in the level of crime. The main reason for this was extreme need. To stop this, the authorities issued strict laws providing for severe penalties. At the beginning of the XIX century, approximately 200 crimes were punishable by death. “Death is sentenced even for the most petty theft,” wrote one traveler. For example, one 11-year-old boy was hanged for stealing a handkerchief! Another man was found guilty of insult, in stealing a silk purse, gold watch and about six pounds sterling. He was sentenced to death by hanging. The execution was replaced by a lifelong reference. In that terrible era, a similar fate befell about 160 thousand people. Women, as a rule, together with their children,
However, at the beginning of the 18th century, the authorities issued a law that in many cases allowed the death penalty to be replaced by deportation to English colonies in North America. Soon there, mostly Virginia and Maryland, on ships began to send up to a thousand prisoners a year. But, declaring themselves in 1776 an independent state, these colonies no longer wanted to receive British criminals. Then they were sent to the terrible floating prisons on the river Thames, but they were too crowded.
The way out was due to the discovery of new lands by Captain James Cook. In 1786, it was decided to make the east coast of Australia a place of reference. The following year, the First Fleet sailed from the shores of England to establish the first colony called New South Wales. Other ships followed him, and soon a lot of hard labor settlements were formed in Australia, including on Norfolk Island, located 1,500 kilometers northeast of Sydney.
“Many of the” criminals “deported to Australia were children under the age of adolescence,” writes Bill Beattie in his book, Early Australia-With Shame Remembered. As they say in this book, in one case the court sentenced to a “lifelong exile to Australia” a seven-year-old boy.
The first wave of immigration to Australia: the foundation of penal colonies.
At first, the transfer to the Australian colonies was for prisoners, placed in damp and dirty ship’s holds, a real nightmare. Hundreds died on the way, others – soon after arrival. Many lives were carried out by scurvy. But over time, doctors appeared on ships, especially those that transported female prisoners, so that the mortality rate dropped significantly. Subsequently, with the improvement of ships, the travel time decreased from seven to four months, and the number of deaths became even less. Another threat to life was represented by shipwrecks. The British ship Amphitrite, five days after sailing from England, while still within sight of the coast of France, fell into a severe storm. Mercilessly thrown by the waves for two days, the ship ran aground one kilometer from the shore on August 31, 1883 at five o’clock in the afternoon.
However, the team did not make any attempts to rescue and did not launch lifeboats. Why? For one simple reason: that prisoners – 120 women and children – do not run away! After three horror-filled hours, the ship began to sink, and people began to swim in the sea. Most of the team and all 120 women and children were killed. In the following days, 82 corpses were thrown ashore, and among them was the corpse of a mother holding her child so tightly that even death could not separate them.
But I must say that the situation of some prisoners was not so bad. After all, for someone in Australia, in fact, opened better prospects than at home. Yes, that part of the history of Australia was extremely controversial: it combined cruelty and mercy, death and hope. She started her career in the UK.
Population of Australia: when death is desired.
The Governor of New South Wales, Sir Thomas Brisbane, ruled that the most hardened criminals should be sent from New South Wales and from Tasmania to the island of Norfolk. “There these scoundrels will lose all hope of returning home,” he said. Sir Ralph Darling, the next governor, vowed to create on Norfolk “such conditions, worse than only death.” And it happened, especially during the reign of John Price, governor of noble origin. Price “with deadly accuracy guessed the thoughts of criminals, and this, coupled with strict observance of the law, gave him over the convicts some kind of mystical power.” For singing, not fast enough walking or not enough zealous pushing of the cart with stones, the convict could get 50 lashes or 10 days in the cell,
Many prisoners saw the deliverance from suffering in death. About the insurrection, in which 31 convicts participated (13 of them were sentenced to execution and 18 were pardoned), a local priest wrote: “The pardoned bitterly wept, and the condemned to death did not shed any tears, but thanked God.” The priest added: “When they were removed from the shackles and read the death sentence, they knelt down and took it as God’s will.” In a fit of gratitude, those sentenced to death humbly kissed their “rescuer” feet. ”
Only priests, as spiritual persons and therefore inviolable, could openly condemn such inhuman treatment. “No words can describe how cruelly treated convicts,” wrote one priest. “What was scary to think about, was committed with total impunity.”
History of Australia: a glimmer of hope.
With the arrival in 1840 of the captain Alexander Mukonok at Norfolk, the situation improved somewhat. He introduced a new system of assessments that took into account how much the convict corrected, suggested encouragement for good behavior and gave him the opportunity to earn freedom by accumulating a certain number of assessments. “I am sure,” he wrote, “that any criminal can be corrected by the right methods.” The intellectual abilities of a person are quickly restored by directing his thoughts in the right direction, treating him humanely and not depriving him of hope. ”
The reform of the Mackonac was so effective that it was later widely used in England, Ireland and the United States. But at the same time, with his innovations, Makhonoki dealt a powerful blow to the vanity of some influential people, whose methods he rejected. It cost him his place. After his departure, the ill-treatment on Norfolk resumed, but not for long. In 1854, thanks to the priests, the island ceased to be a place of hard labor settlements, and the exiles were transferred to Tasmania, to Port Arthur.
Port Arthur, especially in the early years, also inspired people with horror. But still the treatment of convicts here was not so cruel as on Norfolk. Corporal punishment here was canceled almost completely back in 1840.
As Ian Brand wrote in his book Port Arthur-1830-1877, George Arthur, the strict governor of Tasmania, wanted to consolidate his reputation as a “place with iron discipline” behind his colony. At the same time, Arthur wanted every convict to learn that “good behavior is rewarded, and bad behavior is punished.” To this end, he divided the convicts into seven categories, beginning with those for whom exemplary behavior was promised early release, and ending with those who were sentenced to the heaviest work in shackles.
When the link to Australia was a blessing
“For convicts, except for those who were exiled to Port Arthur, to Norfolk … and to other similar places, when unbearable conditions there reigned,” Beatty wrote, “prospects for the future in the colony were much better than in their homeland … Here in front of convicts there was an opportunity to live a better life. ” And in fact, convicts who received early release or served time, realized that in Australia they and their families are expected to have a better life. Therefore, after liberation, only a few returned to England.
Governor Laklan Macquarie, the ardent defender of the liberated convicts, said: “A person released should never be reminded of a criminal past and even more to blame for it, you need to let him feel like a full member of a society that by exemplary conduct has already redeemed his guilt and became decent man. ” Macquarie backed up his words with deeds: he allocated land to liberated exiles, and also gave them some prisoners to help on the field and on the au pair.
Over time, many hard-working and enterprising former convicts became prosperous and respected, and in some cases even famous people. For example, Samuel Lightfoot founded the first hospitals in Sydney and Hobart. William Redfern became a respected physician, and Francis Greenaway Australians owed many architectural structures in Sydney and its environs.
Finally, in 1868, after 80 years, Australia ceased to be a place of exile. The modern society of this country does not remind us of those terrible years. Partially preserved convict settlements are of only historical interest. Preserved and less horrifying evidence of the era: bridges, buildings and churches, built by convicts. Some of them are in excellent condition and are used to this day.
