When did white people come to Australia and why?

Answer 1

The Portuguese mapped the east coast of Australia down to about Warnambool in about 1523-4. They also mapped the west coast down to Shark Bay. In the 1600s the Dutch did further exploration of the west and north coast, and to Tasmania. The British established a military colony with convict labour at botany Bay/Port Jackson as part of a chain of military colonies to protect the India and China trade in 1788.

Answer 2

From what I know Australia was used as an "exile" island by Great Britain. Britain sent their prisoners to Australia when they ran out of room in the late 1700s.

It is true that the first and foremost reason that the first white settlement occurred in Australia because Britain was in need of a place to send its convicts. The First Fleet of convicts, officers and marines arrived in Australia in 1788.

However, there was more to the story than that. Australia was not the first place to which the British sent the convicts. Britain had been sending their excess prisoners to North America, but the American War of Independence put a stop to the practice.

The British colonised Australia for several other reasons:

1. To expand the British empire, and prevent the French from gaining a foothold in the Australian continent or in that part of the Pacific.

2. Australia could provide commercial and political gains to Britain.

3. Due to war, Britain needed to find an alternative supply of Flax and timber as her Baltic supply was under threat. It was believed that nearby Norfolk Island would provide this.

4. Britain needed a port in the East to promote trade with China and to extend its naval and commercial power.

As to when white people came to Australia: It is believed that the Portuguese were the first white people to sight the Australian continent, but there are no records remaining within Portugal itself to substantiate the claim.

Willem Jansz/Janszoon was a Dutchman who became the first recorded European to step foot on Australia's shores on the western shore of Cape York Peninsula, on 26 February 1606.

In 1616, Dutch sea-captain Dirk Hartog became the first known European to reach Western Australia's shores when he landed at Cape Inscription in Shark Bay on 25 October 1616.

The first Englishman to visit Australia was William Dampier, in 1688.

Answer 3

The first white people to officially settle in Australia were convicts sent from Britain, and the officers sent to oversee the new colony. Governor Arthur Phillip was the first Governor of New South Wales (Australia). There were also many marines, some of whom brought their wives and children.

Having said that, however, there is some evidence that the first unofficial European settlers were survivors of Dutch shipwrecks off the western coast of the continent, a region renowned for shipwrecks in the 1600s.

Answer 4

In chains and shackles..killing the natives of the land

Answer 5

The first white settlers to establish a permanent settlement arrived with the First Fleet on 26 January 1788.

Answer 6

The first white settlers to officially establish a permanent settlement arrived with the First Fleet on 26 January 1788.

Answer 7

The First Fleet landed in 1788.

Answer 8

In sailing ships, at first.