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We would argue that an entirely new race or nation of people has been born here in Australia over the last two and a quarter centuries. Here we will trace the birth and growth of that new race of people, The Australians; and compare its growth to that of a single child. |
MoreAustralian Discovery Index - Exploration by sea and on land Woman's History of Australia - A collection of pages about, or relevant to the women's contribution to the building of this great nation. Bushrangers - Bushrangers need to be looked at in two phases, those of the Penal Colony and the latter Democratic colonial era. No matter when you look, they were always highly political. Military History Index - A full index of Australia's military growth. Geographical Index - Explorers, Naturalists, Missionaries, Railways Natural, Resources |
English Background to Transportation - Major Article - The genetic cleansing of all foreigners and those whose "bad Blood causes them to suffer an increased tendency to violence and drunkenness". This is a quote from the Second Reading Speech made by the English Prime Minister as he introduced the Transportation legislation in the House of Commons of the English Parliament.
Irish Background to Transportation- Major Article - The English invasion and colonisation, ethnic cleansing and religious persecution that led to the Transportation without trial of thousands of Irish patriots.
Who were the Convicts? - Index of Convict names plus commentary - An overview description of the people sent out here and a complete muster of all convicts mentioned on the site. (I hope.)
Convict Flags of Origin - Picture Gallery - The four continents and twenty seven countries that we came from. Cultural diversity did not begin with Whitlam here in Australia. It started in 1788.
Convict Offences - Index plus Commentary - An index analysing the offences for which we were Transported. The four main reasons were Trade Unionism, belief in Constitutional Government, Human Rights campaigning and social reforming, the victims of poverty, and finally, after 1850, a few trouble makers.
Convict Origins of the Trade Union Movement - Major Article - There seems to have been a great deal of confusion in subsequent English minds as to why Transportation happened. The reasons offered by English historians since that time range from Imperial competition with the French through to starting marijuana plantation. An in depth study of the offences committed by the Convicts reveals a number of major themes including Trade Unionism, Human Rights advocacy and a demand for constitutional government. ( The Empire would demand that pick-pocketing and prostitution also be added to that list of course.)
First Fleet - Commentary plus a muster of First Fleet Characters - - Transportation - Penal Colony - Governor Phillip - Botany Bay - Convicts - Rebellion - The First Fleet and the process of Transportation In addition to a biography of Phillip, Arthur there is detail of the Pitt Governments Plan for the Colony and a transcript of Phillip's Mandate. The voyage of is remembered, as is the Woman's Rebellion and John Towers near successful escape at Tenerife. The arrival of Philip's competitor, La Perouse is also noted.
The Penal Colony at Botany Bay - Index - Penal Colony Institutions, Transportation, The Army, The Hospitals, The Commission of Inquiry, Travel, Social Movements, The Courts, The Prisons & Barracks, Recreation, Industry and Commerce.
The Penal Colony A Team - Index - Here we honour the Penal Colony A Team, the governors and officers under the crown, the explorers and naturalists, as well as looking at the Penal Colony's Institutions including the army, the hospitals, the courts and the prisons. The extent of Cultural Diversity in the Penal Colony is also measured.
The Convict System - Index - This index looks at the practice of Convict Assignment, methods of punishment, with special focus on Scourging, the methods of granting release together with the practice of issuing Land Grants. There are also special items on women convicts, the unique place of Western Australian convicts and a newspaper article to prove that the English government issued a formal order extending all sentences of seven and fourteen years to death in exile.
Colony Characters - Index - The Colonial antecedents of our Anzac Culture came in two broad groups, those that had expression in the Penal Colony, listed above, and this group who belong to the Democratic Colonial era. There is a problem with the usual vision of our Colonial History. People draw a magic line at 1868 that really doesn't exist in any meaningful way. Even though Transportation ceased in 1868, convicts continued to serve there sentences at least into the 1890's. Similarly most of the characters we associate with the Democratic Colony, after 1868, had arrived here or were visibly forming long before that magic date. This index is where you will find the Pioneers, the Bushman, the Squatter and his wife, the Chinese Diggers, the Stockman, the Drover and his Boy, the High-plainsmen and the Timber Getter.
Convict Rebellions - Index - At no time did the convicts ever accept what was being done to them. Initially their thoughts turned to escape, but gradually they came to focus on nation building. The first glimpses of adaptation to the place, of constitutional thinking, social standard setting are all to be seen in the stories of convict rebellion.
Bushrangers - Index plus Commentary - This index traces the colonial struggle to achieve independence from England and the subsequent developments in the Commonwealth through to the Centenary.
The First Eureka Rebellion - Index plus Commentary - was the true birth of the Australian Nation. This is where we raised our first Australian flag. This is where our first Oath of Australian National Loyalty was sworn, "by the Southern Cross". This is the first time we consciously fought as Australians.
Australian Discovery - Index - Exploration by sea and on land
Australian Geography - Index - The Playground - Discovery - Establishment of the States - Explorers - Naturalists - Place Index - Natural Resources Index - The Australian People have grown up in intimate interaction with the place Australia, so here is an index of accomplishments located by Geography. The initial discovery, the Explorers and Naturalists, the Establishment of the States and the exploitation of our natural resources, plus pretty-much anything located to a place.
Democratic Colony - Index - Early Development Years -Nationhood - Soldiers of the Queen - Explorers -Land Travel - Gold - Business - Industry - Science and Technology -Literature, the Arts and Sport - Aborigines - Political and Social Movements - Learning to provide for ourselves, exploring the Earth Mother's saucepan cupboard and standing truly by our mates. Or to put that another way, starting Trade Unions and building Political and Social Movements, playing Bushranger and Soldiers of the Queen both at the same time.
The Second Eureka Rebellion - Major Article with support reading - The years of often bloody fighting that forced the reluctant colonies to Federate in accordance with our dream of building "One Nation untied under the Southern Cross.'
Federation and the Commonwealth - Index - This index traces the colonial struggle to achieve independence from England and the subsequent developments in the Commonwealth through to the Centenary.
The Commonwealth - Index - This index traces the earliest days of the Commonwealth between Federation and WW1 -
ANZAC and World War 1 - Index - The 1st A.I.F. and the terrible blood sacrifice of World War 1 represents that points in our history where the native and imperial cultures merged to truly become one people, the Anzac Australians.
World War 2 - Index - The Second AIF. Honours abroad and Australia's first successful defence of the Australian homeland.
The end of Empire
The Commonwealth - The quest for a new Identity.
Assimilation Index - Index - Nation Builders - the Menzies Era, pan-European refugees from WW2.
The Ten Quid Tourists - The British refugees from World War 2. Different from their Nation Building cousins in two ways. 1. They were moving within the Empire and not entering from a foreign country; and because of this 2., their assimilation needs went totally unrecognised.
Australia's military role in Asia since WW2 - Standing up to the neighbourhood bullies. - Korea, Malay Emergency, Indonesian Confrontation, Vietnam, Gulf War 1,
Multiculturalism - Index - Aborigines - Immigration - Accomplishments - Nationhood -Defence -