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The convicts had no choice: they were sent to New South Wales, as the eastern half of Australia was then known. This was to solve the problem of Britain's overcrowded prisons (a consequence of the massive changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution) by establishing a new penal colony in a land which showed promise for eventually becoming self-supporting. Britain had been sending their excess prisoners to North America, but the American War of Independence put a stop to the practice. Following this, the English were no longer able to transport surplus prisoners who couldn't legally be executed to North America.

The problem, of course, was that the convicts couldn't simply be offloaded and left to their own devices. Soldiers and officers were needed to guard them and to establish the new colony under British authority. Extra incentive was offered to the marines by way of allowing them to bring their families, and offering them land in the new colony upon completion of their terms of service.

This wasn't the only reason why England decided to send its convicts to Australia. There were other very real benefits to Great Britain, which wished to expand the British empire, and prevent the French from gaining a foothold in the Australian continent or in that part of the Pacific. Furthermore, Britain needed a port in the East to promote trade with China and to extend its naval and commercial power. Finally, the continent had Natural Resources which England wanted.

However, there is strong evidence to suggest that the first European settlers in Australia were Dutch sailors stranded after being shipwrecked off the Western Australian coast in the early 1600s.

These European settlers are not to be confused with the Aboriginal people though. Aborigines came to Australia from the Indian subcontinent long before European settlers arrived.

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