Archaeological evidence suggests that Aboriginal people have occupied Australia for 60 000 years, migrating to Australia from Asia. They walked across land bridges, and sailed or canoed between the islands of Southeast Asia. Then continued the migration by walking to differing parts of the country. Aboriginal people were in contact with other cultures, sharing ideas and skills long before permanent European occupation. Aboriginal people inhabited the whole of Australia and Torres Strait Islanders lived on the islands between Australia and Papua New Guinea, in what is now called the Torres Strait.

Before 1788 there were approximately 300 languages spoken throughout Australia with an estimated population of 1,000,000 people. The indigenous peoples had a respect for the environment, as part of their hunter/gatherer tradition and only took what they needed from it. Meaning that the natural environment was respected and would regenerate. This meant a continued food source, and was very different to the way in which Europeans treated the environment when they arrived. An example of this is the practice of firestick farming, when at certain times when the undergrowth and vegetation became too dense, they would set a controlled fire to clear this. Far from destroying the environment it cleared it so that plants could regenerate. In fact, to this date, several types of seeds need fire to open up, and regenerate. Far from being a completely nomadic people, with no concept of ownership, as the Europeans thought, there were traditional tribal areas. The boundaries for these, however, weren't set in a European way with fences, but with mountains, lakes and rivers.

The stories of the Creation Time, explain the creation of the land, and all that lives on it. Ancestorial spirits came to the earth and embarked on a creation process, whereby all that we see now, and the law that we live under, was formed, and shaped. Many stories relate to how specific events occurred, like the formation of Uluru or Ayers Rock. Any trip to Australia wouldn't be complete without a cultural performance, or visit to an Aboriginal cultural centre.

European Settlement
In 1607 Luis Vaez de Torres, a Portugese explorer sailed between Cape York and Papua New Guinea, in what is now known as the Torres Straight. It is believed that he may have taken a southerly route on his journey, from which he would have been clearly able to see the tip of Cape York, however there is no record of this.
In 1642 Abel Janszoon Tasman a Dutch sea captain, for the Dutch East India company became the first European to officially discover Australia. He discovered Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, and moored there whilst taking on new supplies. He also charted the southern coastline of Australia, but never sighted Australia's east coast, instead moving on towards New Zealand.
In 1768 Lt. James Cook of the British Navy was dispatched to Tahiti, in his ship the Endeavour, to observe a transit of Venus, however before he left he was given secret orders to open only when he got to Tahiti. Upon opening these orders he found an order to head south to look for the great southern landmass, found by Tasman in 1642. He first headed to New Zealand in 1769 where he mapped the complete coast of New Zealand, and then discovered and followed the east coast of Australia and was the first in 160 years to sail through the Torres Strait. On 22 August 1770 on Possession Island, off what is now northern Queensland, Cook claimed all Eastern Australia for King George III. Cook returned to England where he reported his new findings.

The loss of the American War of Independence meant that Britain needed a place to send its convicts during a particularly intolerant time for minor lawbreakers. The island continent at the end of the world seemed a perfect place to send them. Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet landed at Port Jackson in the new colony of New South Wales on 26 January 1788. The First Fleet, comprising 6 ships and 564 male and 192 female convicts were dispatched to Australia with the only information about New South Wales that from Cook's voyage of 1770. Botany, named after the Cooks Botanist Joseph Banks, was chosen as the first settlement site, with Norfolk Island to be the second to provide ships masts and timber. However, on arrival at Botany Bay on 18 January 1788, Captain Phillip decided the site was not suitable and resolved to look for another. He decided upon Port Jackson, the site of modern day Sydney, and the people of the First Fleet established Australia's first settlement on 26 January 1788.

160,000 convicts were sent to Australia over the next 80 years. The first fleet struggled due to the harsh and very foreign nature of the land they had encountered. In fact the early settlers didn't even realise that the seasons here were in reverse to what they had come from in the Northern Hemisphere. This combined with poor soil quality meant that the first fleet was under constant threat from starvation until the second fleet arrived some two years later. In fact farms had to be established in what is now the Parramatta region, and the Hunter Valley. As the settlement grew, convicts were sent to build infrastructure, and the evidence of this is still here today in the oldest part of Sydney, the Rocks, and in many of the roads that lead to the city. An example is the Great North Road, which is a 240km stretch from Sydney to the second convict settlement in Australia, Newcastle. Convicts with an iron collar, and each ankle chained together, built this road over a ten-year period, from 1826-36. Some 700 men laboured at any given time, with picks and shovels. Their daily food ration was 1 pound of fresh or salt meat, 1 pound of flour or cornmeal, one ounce of sugar, and half an ounce of salt. Governor Phillip believed that the colony could not survive with only convicts, so embarked on a plan to entice free settlers, and give full rights to emancipated convicts. However there was a disproportionate amount of land ownership amongst officers of the military, who had rorted the system for many years to gain social and economic advantage.

This situation didn't change until Governor Lachlan Macquarie was dispatched to the new colony in 1809. Macquarie changed the colony from one of chaos and hopeless despair into visionary hope, and embarked on a plan to increase the infrastructure and desirability of living in the new colony. Population growth and economic expansion prompted the colonies to call for self-government. Thus on 1 January 1901 the six colonies joined in a federation of States to become the Commonwealth of Australia. The site for the capital was decided upon as Canberra (aboriginal for meeting place), after much argument between Sydney and Melbourne. In fact Melbourne was the interim capital until the infrastructure was in place in Canberra in 1927.

After the Second World War Australia embarked on an immigration drive, which brought thousands of families from war-torn Europe, looking for a new start in life. Australia was perfect, with its relatively small population of 7 million. The influx of migrants changed Australia from a predominantly Anglo-Saxon country to a multi-cultural and diverse society. There are now over 40% of the population who class themselves as migrants or descendants of migrants. Head to Lygon Street in Melbourne and check out the Italian restaurants, or to Brisbane's Greek festival, or to Sydney's Chinatown and you'll see evidence of the immense contribution to society that these migrants have made.