Seems a little unfair but any mention of the history of Australians instantly brings to mind their convict origins. The actual history of Australia begins thousands of years back, long long before the first European explorers arrived. The Australian Aborigine (literally meaning 'indigenous') was the happy inhabitant of the continent for the last 35,000 to 40,000 years.  More hospitable then, the terrain was wetter, there were large tracts of virgin forests, multitudes of native animals and innumerable inland lakes teeming with fish. See note on Aborigines.

The 'discovery' of Australia by European colonizers happened in the early 1600s. The Portuguese were the first, soon followed by the Dutch. In the 1640s, Abel Tasman made two expeditions to Australia and discovered the region now known as Tasmania. But the most enterprising explorer of Australia was a pirate, William Dampier, who, 40 years after Abel Tasman, made the first explorations inshore on the west coast. Based on his reports, the Europeans formed their mental image of Australia as a dismal, inhospitable godforsaken land.

When the British sent Captain James Cook to Tahiti in 1768, a serious search for the Southern Land began. Cook sailed into Botany Bay, 15 km from modern day Sydney and thus began the first step towards the colonization of Australia. The normally uncommunicative Aborigines sent out clear signals that they wanted the visitors gone, but the undaunted Capt. Cook raised the Union Jack, named the new territory New South Wales and claimed it for the British in the name of King George III,  before he sailed off home to England.

Colonization & Convict Transportation
The more colourful part of Australian history begins at this juncture, (also the one they'd most like to forget!). The Americans declared themselves independent of England in 1776. Left one colony short, the British began to cast their eye around for new domains.   Coincidentally, British prisons were bursting at the seams with no apparent solution in sight and when in 1779 it was suggested that New South Wales become a dumping ground for thieves/cheats and murderers, it seemed to be the perfect way out.  Never mind that Australia had been inhabited for the past 40,000 years, and these legitimate inhabitants would have to live alongside the worst of British criminals.  But by the time transportation of convicts was finally abolished in 1868, more than 168,000 convicts had been shipped to Australia.

Even for those shipped off to the new colony, life was not easy. Conditions were harsh, the prison guards cruel and the convicts (some convicted for petty crimes) had almost no hope of returning to Britain. but a new life did begin for many who survived their jail terms. The colony expanded as numbers increased, it began to grow its own food and gradually its dependence on England diminished. As officers, freed convicts and others acquired land, New South Wales became an important port on the trade routes to England and Asia. Social schisms arose between convicts and officers, free settlers and freed convicts who’d stayed on to earn a living and so a new society was born.

The 1850s Gold Rush

It was the gold rush that made Australia an economic power in its own right. People realized the enormous amounts of raw material and mineral resources available for England’s growing industrial market. Potential miners arrived in droves from all parts of the world - America, Britain, China and Europe. They brought with them their music, culture, stories and folklore. Towns were established to accommodate them. New roads were built. Non-aboriginal Australian culture germinated and new folk heroes were born. The economy boomed as more gold reserves were discovered and Australia was on its way.

Birth of Australia

As Australia grew in economic power, it consolidated itself. Demand in the 1890s for a federation of the separate colonies culminated in Australia becoming a nation on 1st January, 1901. It adopted a constitution and each state of Australia, regardless of the size and population was given equal representation in the senate (or upper house). It still retained its cultural and legal ties with Britain, the Queen of England continued to be the Queen of Australia albeit with a Governor General as her local representative.

Australia sent troops to Europe to fight alongside the Allies in WWI. Ditto for WWII, except that when the Japanese attacked Australian shores, it was the Yankees who came to their rescue and from then onwards there was a perceptible shift in allegiance towards the Americans. Post the world war, the Aussies displayed extreme xenophobic tendencies. Whether it was the threat of the Japanese attacking or the threat of immigrants taking over their jobs, or even the sense of being a European colony surrounded by Asia, the Australians came up with the Immigration Restriction Bill of 1901. Also known as the White Australia policy, it made immigration extremely difficult (for non- Europeans). Entrants had to pass a dictation in any European language, which could be Polish, Danish or even Icelandic. Its sole objective was to keep immigrants out and the policy continued to be implemented till 1958.