What is the historical link between Britain and Australia?

Answer 1

== == James Cook (not a captain) was an English sailor who charted Australia's eastern coast (the aborigines arrived thousands of years earlier, and the Macassans had been collecting trepang - sea slugs - off the northern shores for hundreds of years). The Dutch and Portuguese had already landed on Australia's western shores, but deemed the continent undesirable for settlement. However, Cook's charting of the eastern coast revealed that it was a lush and fertile place, and he claimed the new land, "New South Wales", for England. Upon Cook's recommendation, and that of Sir Joseph Banks, one of the botanists aboard Cook's ship The Endeavour, New South Wales was established as a penal colony, to overcome the problem of overcrowded British gaols. The First Fleet of convicts arrived in Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788, overseen by marines, some of whom brought their families as well. Once the First Fleet of convicts was established, more free settlers began to arrive from England, and the colony expanded until it began to attract settlers from other countries as well.