Colonial Timeline PDF

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colonial timeline...

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Colonial Timeline DATE

EVENT

1770

Captain James Cook discovered the east coast of New Holland and named it New South Wales. He sailed the whole of the coast and reported to the British government that he thought it would make a good place for a settlement.

1788 1850

Britain did not recognise the country as being inhabited as the natives did not cultivate the land, and were, therefore, "uncivilized". The English sent over 162,000 convicts to Australia in 806 ships. The first fleet which was comprised of 11 ships, arrived between the 18th and 20th of January in 1788 which landed in Botany Bay in Sydney and was settled with over 1,000 convicts and military. They didn’t depart the ship here though – they moved to Port Jackson, landing in Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788 (now celebrated as Australia Day)

April 1789 1790 1791 January 1793 February 1804 May 1825 14 June 1825

As the interior was explored and mapped, squatters and free settlers followed eager to take up land. Where ever Europeans went Aboriginal people were pushed from their home lands. A suspicious outbreak of smallpox decimates local tribes. The second fleet arrived in Sydney cove. Third Fleet of convicts arrives The first free settlers arrive in NSW. Settlement at Hobart with a party of about 260 people, including 178 convicts. Founding of Brisbane The colony of Van Diemen's Land is established in its own right; its name is officially changed to Tasmania on 1 January 1856.

21 January Western Australia was established. 1827 10 October The Proclamation of Governor Bourke, issued by the Colonial 1835 Office and sent to the Governor with Dispatch 99. Doctrine of terra nullius is implemented which British settlement was based. Reinforcing the British assertion that the land belonged to no one prior to the British Crown taking possession of it, it effectively quashes pre-existing treaties with Aboriginal peoples. Why is this significant? It provides a powerful symbol of the British Government’s attempt to control social and land policy in Australia and the dispossession of the Aboriginal people. Although many people at the time also recognised that the Aboriginal occupants had rights in the lands (and this was confirmed in a House of Commons report on Aboriginal relations in 1837), the law followed and almost always applied the principles expressed in Bourke’s proclamation. This would not change until the Australian High Court’s decision in the Eddie Mabo Case in 1992

The New South Wales colony and the other colonies subsequently established in Australia were initially controlled directly, and rather strictly, by the British government as represented by the colonial Governor. The British government granted the Australian colonies increasing levels of independence. Each colony eventually had its own constitution, setting out how the colonial legal system should operate.

28 December 1836 1841 1842

1851 10 December 1859 23 December 1862 1863

Each colony had its own parliament, executive government and court system. The British province of South Australia was established.

New Zealand is separated from New South Wales South Australia becomes a crown colony and on 22 July 1861 its area was extended westwards to its present boundary and more area was taken from New South Wales. Victoria is separated from New South Wales (formerly known as the Port Phillip District of NSW). Queensland is separated from New South Wales.

The area of Queensland is increased.

Control of the Northern Territory is granted to the Province (later State) of South Australia. Its capital city, Darwin was established in 1869 and was originally known as Palmerston.

1865

1890 March 1891

On 1 January 1911, the Northern Territory as we know it today was separated from South Australia and became part of the Commonwealth of Australia. The Colonial Laws Validity Act (Imp) made it clear that, after 1865, only Acts of the British Parliament which were expressly stated to apply to Australia (or one of the other colonies), or which necessarily applied, could not be amended or repealed by the colonial parliaments. Otherwise the colonial parliaments were free to make laws as they saw fit, and to even amend their own constitutions. The Australian Federation Conference called a constitutional convention The Constitutional Convention was held in Sydney to consider a draft Constitution for the proposed federation of the British colonies in Australia and New Zealand.

There were 46 delegates at the Convention, chosen by the seven colonial parliaments. Among the delegates was Sir Henry Parkes, known as the "Father of Federation".

1897–98

The Convention approved a draft largely written by Andrew Inglis Clark and Samuel Griffith, but the colonial parliaments failed to act to give effect to it. The next constitutional convention occurs which was called the Australasian Federal Convention. This convention was held in stages and unlike the first convention, the delegates were elected by popular vote. The first stage was in Adelaide in March 1897, the second in Sydney in August, and the third in Melbourne in January 1898 The intervals between the sessions were used for intense debate in the colonial parliaments and for public discussion of the draft constitution. Since 1891 New Zealand had lost interest in federating with the Australian colonies and was not represented. In Queensland, the parliament had not passed the necessary legislation, so the northern colony was also unrepresented. In the other five colonies ten delegates from each colony were elected by the people, although Western Australian attendance was sporadic.

1 January 1901 1911

At Melbourne the convention finally produced a draft constitution which was eventually approved by the people at referendums in the colonies. The Federation of Australian States to form the Commonwealth of Australia. The ACT is established.

Who got to have a say in the federation of Australia and terms of the Constitution? Mostly white men with property. It took a while for all States and Territories in Australia to unilaterally – grant the right to vote for all women and Aboriginal people so that all citizens had access to exercising their democratic right to be politically heard and vote....