The Discovery of Australia

Captain James Cook

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Beginning of British Colonization

Now it was time to decide what was to be done with this new land. The British government decided to exile many of its prisoners to this new continent. Captain Arthur Phillip and his First Fleet comprising of eleven ships and about 1350 people were sent to establish the first British colony in Australia. Soldiers were sent to guard the prisoners, sailors went along with them and so did doctors, laborers and other people. They found a suitable place and built small wooden huts and houses for themselves. In this way a Western settlement was established in this new land.

The Charlotte, a ship of the First Fleet which carried prisoners at Portsmouth before departure in May 1787

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This was only the beginning of a British colony in the new continent. Initially it had been decided that ships would bring provisions for the settlers from Britain. It became a problem pretty soon because the ships would be delayed for long and all the people including Governor Phillip would have to go on ration. The colony faced severe scarcity of women because there were only about one woman for every four man. Gradually people started to come to this new country. Some came to mine, others to farm the land; some to explore the lands and others to find a job. One small settlement grew into several towns pretty soon. In the mean time the name had been changed from New Holland to Australia or the Southern land.

Exploration of the Australian Continent

For quite some time, the central parts of Australia had remained largely inaccessible and unexplored. Many people tried to find out what was there in these vast patches of open lands and barren deserts. There were thrilling stories of adventurers and their exploits all around. Going deep into the continent was very dangerous. There were vast deserts, strange people, venomous snakes and large rivers. Everything in this strange land astonished the adventurers.

Burke and Wills deserve special mention among the explorers. Explorer’s like Charles Sturt, John Oxley, Edward John Eyre and others explored vast stretches of the Australian landmass over a period of time.    

A Real Adventure in the Central Australian Deserts

There are many stories of brave adventurers and their adventures in the wilds of Australia. I shall end this article with one such tale.

In the year 1840, a man name Edward John Eyre set off to see what was there in the central parts of the huge continent. He was going from South to North – for days he could find nothing other than red gravels and dried lakes. Then he went westwards but even there he could not find anything other than some cactuses and thorny bushes. It was such a dry land that the the scarcity of water slowed them down tremendously. In forty days he and his men could walk only about one hundred and fifty miles. Everybody fled, only an European name John Bacster and three aborigines were left with him. 

Edward John Eyre – Buy at AllPosters.com

They were nearly blinded by sandstorms. The horses started to die for the lack of water and so did the sheeps and goats. Strange flies started biting them and the bites were very painful. When the provisions started finishing, two locals murdered Bacster, looted all the food and fled. There was only one local left with Eyre. He was named Wylie. There was only one horse left. They killed it and ate its raw flesh. After this they started eating a small amount of wheat flour they had with them by mixing a little bit of water. Even this was finished one day. They were now moving without food.

Explorers Eyre and Wylie Reach the Coast – Buy at AllPosters.com

Suddenly one day, they reached the shores of an unknown sea (present Rossiter Bay) and there were some French sailors, under Captain Rossiter, who had set sails there. All of them were both astonished and happy to see a white man and an aborigine together in the deserted bay.

Eyre was relieved. He had returned from the doors of death.