AUSTRALIA 



491 



AUSTRALIA 



declaration of war by Great Britain the Com- 

 monwealth newspapers declared that the navy 

 was at the instant service of the mother coun- 

 try, and immediately after the declaration 

 Australian volunteers were numerous. After 

 a brief period of training, 20,000 of them were 

 sent out, and these .were followed shortly by 

 10,000 more. A landing force from an Aus- 

 tralian warship took possession of the German 

 island of New Guinea, and another war vessel 

 of the Commonwealth sank the commerce- 

 destroying German cruiser Emden. Both of 

 these events occurred during the first six 

 months of the war. 



History. The history of Australia divides 

 itself into two distinct periods the colonial 

 period and the period of federation; and 

 though the latter is far shorter, it has been of 

 greater moment to the country. 



Exploration and Colonization. Vague hints 

 of a land mass in the far-off southeastern seas 

 were common before any definite knowledge 

 was possessed, and it is not known just when 

 the continent was discovered. At some time 

 previous to 1542 the Portuguese published an 

 account of the existence of a land beyond the 

 East Indies, and it is probable that mariners 

 of that nation were really the first to see the 

 continent. But the first certain knowledge of 

 it \v;is obtained from a Dutch navigator who 

 sailed from Java in 1606 and explored a portion 

 of the eastern shore of the Gulf of Carpen- 

 taria. Other Dutch navigators during the next 

 quarter-century pursued the advantage thus 

 jr.uned, and in 1642 Abel Jansen Tasman dis- 

 covered the large island which now bears his 

 name, but which he called Van Diemen's Land. 

 A few years later the island-continent was 

 n the name New Holland, and this it bore 

 until about the middle of the nineteenth cen- 

 tury. 



The Dutch made no attempt to establish set- 

 tlements in the new-found land, nor for a long 

 period was any attention paid to it by navi- 

 gators of other nations, except for a few casual 

 visits. In 1770, however, Captain James Cook, 

 n turning from New Zealand, coasted north 

 along the eastern shore and took possession in 

 the name of England of a great tract win. h 

 he called New South Wales. To one Intl. in- 

 dentation where he went ashore he gave tin- 

 name of Botany Bay, because of the innu; 

 able strange plant forms which were then 

 found. Some years later, in 1788, the British 

 sent out to this spot a company of convicts, 

 and a penal settlement was established where 



Sydney now stands (see BOTANY BAY). Other 

 convicts were later transported, and as their 

 terms expired they acquired land, began to 

 till the soil, and built up a real colony. Ad- 

 venturing men from England and many serious- 

 minded people from other quarters in search 

 of new opportunities also came, and gradually 

 the new community became more law-abiding 

 and more attractive to the better class of 

 settlers. 



Exploration continued, but not until 1813 

 did- anyone succeed in crossing the mountains 

 and making his way into the interior. The 

 circumnavigation of the island-continent was 

 completed in 1822, and the few rivers were 

 explored practically to their sources. Tales of 

 daring but slightly less thrilling than those 

 told of the great African explorers of the nine- 

 teenth century are related of those who at 

 intervals tried to make their way across the 

 continent from north to south or from east to 

 west; more than one determined explorer dis- 

 appeared into the great interior desert region 

 and was never heard of again. As late as 

 1896 the journey by direct route from north to 

 south was looked upon as a feat of great hardi- 

 hood. 



Discovery of Gold. Meanwhile other settle- 

 ments had grown up along the eastern and 

 southern coasts, and the grassy plains to the 

 west of the mountains had been appropriated 

 by the sheep-raisers. And then, in 1851 came 

 the news that gold had been found at Summer- 

 hill Creek, in New South Wales. Later it was 

 found in Victoria, and the great Ballarat gold 

 field was opened up. Excitement was intense. 

 Settlers who had been making excellent profits 

 from their stock-raising; adventurers who 

 longed for easy wealth ; speculators from lands 

 beyond the sea, rushed by thousands to the 

 points where gold had been found. Ordinary 

 pursuits were entirely neglected, the little cities 

 were almost overwhelmed by the crowds that 

 poured into them 2,000 people came to Mel- 

 bourne each week during 1852 and law and 

 order were practically overthrown. Within a 

 decade the excitement wore off, however, whil< 

 the states profited by the increase in population 

 and in trade which had come to them. 



Efforts Toward Federation. The present 

 political divisions were in these early years all 

 distinct colonies, and commerce among them 

 did not thrive, since some had adopted free 

 trade and others protective tariff principles. 

 It soon became apparent that a union of some 

 kind would be beneficial to all, and as early 



