For what purpose did Great Britain originally use Australia?

Answer 1

Great Britain first used Australia as a penal colony.

Due to the industrial revolution in England, there was a great deal of unemployment, and therefore poverty. Ordinary people who once held decent employment found themselves having to steal basic goods in order to survive. This led to overflowing prisons, and the need to find somewhere to house all the prisoners.

When the North American colonies refused to accept any more convicts (prisoners from England), the great continent in the Southern Hemisphere had considerable appeal as a prison from which convicts were unlikely to return.