Childrens Illustrated Encyclopedia

58

Exploration

the first explorers of australia mapped out the coastline but left the interior

largely untouched. in 1606, the Dutch navigator William Jansz briefly visited

northeastern australia. Between 1829 and 1830, the English explorer Charles

Sturt explored the rivers in the south but failed to find the inland sea that

many people assumed existed in the center of australia. Between 1839 and

1840, Edward Eyre, from England, discovered the vast, dry salt lakes in South

australia before walking along its

southern coast. in 1860 and 1861, the

irishman robert o’Hara Burke and

Englishman William Wills became

the first people to cross australia

from south to north. in 1862, John

McDouall Stuart succeeded in

crossing the continent from South

australia and returning alive.

BurkE anD WillS

in 1860 and 1861, Burke and Wills succeeded in crossing

australia from south to north. However, they both died

of starvation on the return journey south.

Adelaide

Perth

iMMigration

in 1880, there were only two million

people on the vast australian

continent. a century later, almost

15 million people lived there. Most

had come to australia from Britain,

italy, and greece. in a deliberate

attempt to boost the population

after 1945, the australian

government offered to pay part

of the passage for poor Europeans.

about two million people took

advantage of the program, which

ended in 1965, with one million

coming from Britain alone. asians

and other nonwhite peoples were

denied entry until the 1960s. Many

children traveled on their own.

this group of immigrants (left)

are on their way to a farm school

in Western australia from Waterloo

Station, london, England.

golD ruSH

gold was discovered in

1851 in new South Wales

and Victoria. thousands

of prospectors rushed

from all over the world,

including China, to

make their fortunes

in australia. the

national population

rose from 400,000 in

1850 to 1,100,000 by

1860. Conditions were
      tough for the gold
      miners, and in 1854 a
      group of miners at Eureka
      Stockade in Ballarat, near
      Melbourne, refused to pay the
      license fee required to mine for
      gold. the government sent in
      troops; 24 miners and six soldiers
      were killed in the battle that followed.

oVErCoMing aBoriginES

During the 19th century, the European

settlers disrupted the aboriginal way of life.

Many aboriginal languages and customs died

out as their land was taken. Children were

taken away from their

parents to be educated

in the European way. as

a result, the aborigine

population fell from

300,000 in 1770 to

about 60,000 by 1900.

uraniuM Mining

australia is rich in minerals, like uranium,

the raw material used to fuel nuclear

power stations and produce nuclear

bombs. although uranium mining

increased dramatically during the

1970s, many australians opposed it

because of the dangers of radiation

from uranium. in addition, many

of the uranium deposits lie within

aboriginal tribal lands. protests have

therefore regularly occurred to prevent

the exploitation of this dangerous mineral.

Alice

Springs

Map showing the

routes of the different

explorers of Australia.

Sydney

Brisbane

Melbourne

Burke and Wills

Sturt

Eyre

Cook

Jansz

The Aborigines were amazed to see the crowds

of white people landing in their territory.

australia, history of

Find out more

aboriginal australians

australia

Cook, james

immigration

nuclear energy

US_058_Australia_2_Hist_of.indd 58 20/01/16 4:33 pm