7. Commonwealth countries

7. Commonwealth Countries

State: Canada

• Australia and New Zealand were discovered by the Dutch, namely Abel Tasman, in the 17th century and they were first called Hollandia Nova. The Portugese were also aware of its existence. However, it is Captain James Cook who is credited with the discovery as it was he who, in 1770, landed in Botany Bay near present day Sydney and claimed the country for Britain. Australia was not settled until 1788, when a penal colony was established at Sydney Cove.

• At the time British Prisons were too full due to the effects of rapid urbanization and the Industrial revolution and the country needed somewhere to put the convicts so transportation to Australia became a common punishment as a means to create a workforce and population

• In total 162,000 convicts suffered this fate from 1788 to 1868

• The voyage lasted as long as 8 months and the range of offences was vast but the majority were poverty related crimes (typically theft of property with a value less than one shilling) though political prisoners were also transported

• 70% of the convicts were English/Welsh, 24% Irish, 5% Scottish and 1% from places ranging from Hong Kong, Jamaica, India, and New Zealand

• Children were also transported with or without their parents- for example Londoner Mary Wade, who went on to have 22 children, was transported at the age of 11 for stealing a dress

• Not many ever made it home and 15 percent were women

• In modern times it has become popular and a badge of pride for Australians (Aussies) to trace their family tree back to the original convict settlers

• The greatest Aussie folk hero, Ned Kelly, was the son of an Irish man transported to Australia for stealing two pigs. He was a cattle thief turned bank robber and murderer but is counted by many as an Irish-Australian hero who fought against a brutal and unfair Anglo/Australian colonial government. He was arrested after a shootout with the police wearing homemade armour. He was executed on November the 11th 1880 at the age of 25. To some, his popularity represents the anti-authoritarian side of the Australian national character.

• Settlement was slow until the discovery of gold in 1851 near Orange, New South Wales. Thousands of miners from Europe started pouring in and when the Gold Rush was over two decades later, many stayed behind to live in Australia

Population

• Oz, the smallest continent and often incorrectly though to be largest island in the world in the world, currently has a population of just over 24 million

• The largest city is Sydney, followed by Melbourne, which is Australia’s financial centre. However, the capital city is Canberra

• By the time Europeans arrived Australia had a native Aboriginal population estimated at between 300,000 and 750,000

• It is thought that there were over 500 Aboriginal tribes speaking many different languages

• Though technologically static, being mainly hunter/gatherer peoples they had a highly developed spiritual and social culture

• Unfortunately, just like in the Americas, they stood in the way of European settlement and were therefore cruelly suppressed and assimilated. Aboriginal children were taken away from their families and forcibly raised as Christians as shown in the film Rabbit Proof Fence. At least 20,000 children were victims of this. These children are now referred to as the Stolen Generations. At the end of the 20th century, to acknowledge the harm done to the aboriginal peoples, the Australian government established “National Sorry Day” later called the “National Day of Healing” on the 28th of May.

• In New Zealand, where the native population is called Maori, the clash between locals and immigrants was far less vicious. This was largely because the Maori tribes had a highly developed understanding of land ownership and warfare so it was not possible for them to be dominated so easily

• In 1840 many Maori chieftains signed the Treaty of Waitangi which ceded control of the land to queen Victoria and the Maori became British subjects

• There are differences between the Maori and British versions of the treaty and some people view the treaty as a trick

• Many Maori died of European diseases such as Measles and today, though the position for Maoris is much better than that of Aborigines in Australia, they still face greater economic and social obstacles than the European population