gn="justify"> t looked back. Beasts such as Megalania, a 6 meter flesh-eating goanna called it home for a period before Aborigines turned up about 60,000 years ago or so. None of the science types are exactly sure when these first humans arrived but nonetheless it was a pretty fair effort when you consider they had to travel a thousand miles in a small outrigger fishing canoe. Clearly distance didn t daunt them as they quickly inhabited all corners of a continent as big as Europe.Aboriginal history was passed on by word-of-mouth and is known as Dreaming , a complex intertwining of land, culture, language, family relations and spiritualism. There are 500 known tribes who speak 250 separate languages. The Aborigines were hunters and gatherers moving with the seasons, taking with them only those possessions that were necessary for the hunting and preparation of food. In areas of plentiful food sources they confined their movements to a relatively small area, something the size of Ireland, perhaps. In the arid desert regions they were forced to travel over vast tracts of land to obtain food and water. There is evidence they traded with Indonesian sailors circa 1451 BC. Aboriginal society was a complex network of intricate kinship relationships. All members of the family unit had their own role and responsibilities. No formal government or authority existed, but social control was maintained by a sophisticated system of beliefs. These beliefs found expression in song, art, and dance. A rich oral tradition existed in which stories of the Dreamtime, the time of creation, or recent history were passed down the generations.
.1 First Europeans
first bumped off the coast of Terra Incognito as early as the 1500s when Dutch and Portuguese explorers made vario1us explorations from the East Indies and Asia. It was Englishman Lieutenant James Cook who first planted a flag on the great mystery south land and forever changed it. The year was 1770., The gap between rich and poor in Britain was widening and those in charge didn t have enough room to put all the people who had become criminals. The Americans had won the war of independence so that place was out, so in their wisdom the aristocracy decided to use the Great South Land as a penal colony. Steal some bread? You re going to Aussie, Geezer. Penal servitude was seen as the worst of punishments, a banishment from everything one knew.Arthur Phillip turned up with the first fleet in 1788. Eleven ships containing 1350 passengers, none of whom had much of an idea what to expect. They knew nothing about the climate, the vegetation, the animals, or the native Indigenous people and culture.was a strategic place to own for Britain. Her Majesty
