History
Australia is home to the world’s oldest culture still in existence – Aboriginal Australians. The origins of the Aboriginal Australians date back to the last Ice Age. It is estimated that when Europeans first settled Australia there were about 300,000 Aboriginal people speaking 250 languages.
In 1770, Captain James Cook sailed the entire length of the eastern coast. After rounding Cape York, Captain Cook claimed what is now known as Australia for the British. He named it New South Wales.
In 1788, Captain James Cook and the First Fleet arrived in Australia. That group included 750 convicts from the British prison system. Great Britain felt it could alleviate prison overcrowding by exporting convicts, thus Australia was set up to be a penal colony.
Free settlers began to flock to Australia after gold was discovered in the 1850’s. Australia became a nation on January 1, 1901 when the separate colonies formed a federation.
After World War II, there was a flood of immigration to Australia – mostly non-British. Today, Australia is incredibly multi-cultural with only 1 in 5 Australians being of European decent.
Large communities of Greeks, Italians, Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese live in Australia. Melbourne has the largest Greek community outside of Athens, and Adelaide has the largest Italian and Lebanese communities outside of their respective countries.