British colonization of Australia refers to the settlement of the Australian continent by people from Britain (now the United Kingdom). In the late 1700’s and 1800’s, hundreds of thousands of people sailed more than 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) from Britain to Australia.
The path to colonization began in 1770, when the English sea captain James Cook became the first European to voyage along Australia’s east coast. He named the land New South Wales and claimed it for Britain.
Australia’s first European settlers arrived in 1788. A group of ships called the First Fleet arrived at what is now Sydney in January. The British government had decided to establish a penal (prison) colony in New South Wales, and the First Fleet included convicts and their guards. In the following decades, settlers established additional colonies: Van Diemen’s Land (later renamed Tasmania) in 1825, Swan River Colony (later renamed Western Australia) in 1829, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. In 1901, the colonies became states of the Commonwealth of Australia.
For more detailed information about the British colonization of Australia, see the articles listed in the Related Information feature that accompanies this article.
