Who took power over Australia?

Answer 1

In the eighteenth century, the British took over and colonized the continent of Australia. They started with a small penal colony on the east coast and from there, expanded to colonize the whole continent. There were many reasons for this including trade, commerce and power. This essay will explain all of those reasons.

The first reason for Britain's colonization of Australia was to provide a new location for the criminal population. In the 1600s and 1700s, Britain had a major problem with crime and would send their criminals to America. The criminals who were sent to America would be those convicted of petty crimes such as theft. However, in the 1770s the American colonies revolted and Britain could not send their criminals to that location any longer. Therefore they turned to Australia as the new country to serve this purpose. Source (Catalogue ref: CO 201/8 f131) tells us some of the numbers of prisoners being sent to Australia. It says that there were 3068 prisoners in Sydney and paramatta. This gives us an idea of the number of prisoners there were in Britain and why they had to be shipped over. The overflow of criminals was a major problem and was the main reason Australia was colonized.

Answer 2

Ultimately - Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II. Australia's head of state is the Prime minister (currently Julia Gillard)

Answer 3

Australia has a democratic system of government. When all is said and done, it is the Australian people who hold the power in their country.

Answer 4

Tony Abbott currently has the political power in Australia as the prime minister.