Australia is the world’s largest island and smallest continent. The first inhabitants of Australia were the indigenous people called “Aborigines” who migrated from Asia 30,000 years ago.
The continent of Australia was first encountered on the world map drawn by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in 150 BC. Ptolemy named this continent “Terra Australia Incognita” (The Unknown Southmass), which he believed should exist in order to balance the land mass in the northern hemisphere. With this map, some evidence has been found that the first Europeans (Portuguese) set foot on Australia, which began to be referred to as a mythological land mass in Europe, in 1536. From the beginning of the 17th century onwards, it is known that the Dutch set foot on this continent through the Dutch East India Company and in 1642, Abel Tasman, who was commissioned by the aforementioned company, mapped the coasts of South Australia and thus discovered Tasmania.
However, Anglo-Saxons began to settle on this continent in 1770 when Captain James Cook, an officer of the British Navy, landed from Cape York and annexed Australia to England. In 1788, 1030 convicts were sent to Australia on 11 ships sailing from England. By 1868, the total number of convicts sent to Australia reached 168,000.
While the continent was a destination for convicted convicts and other criminals unwanted in the UK, the discovery of gold mines in the 1850s and 1860s saw massive immigration from the UK, the US and China, leading to the formation of the first colonies in Australia. Later, with the arrival of immigrants from England and Ireland and the unification of the colonies established in New South Wales, Tasmania, Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and Queensland in the 19th century, the “Commonwealth of Australia”, the Australian Federation, was established in 1901.
“White Australia” in 1901 with the establishment of the Federation The new immigration law, known as the Immigration Act, was adopted and implemented for more than 70 years. Under this law, immigration to Australia from the UK and Ireland was encouraged, while the arrival of Asian immigrants, especially from China, was prevented. With the changes in immigration policies in the 1980s, Australia has become a prosperous and multicultural country receiving immigrants from all over the world.
Australia’s Ethnicity, Religion and Denominational Structure
More than 80% of the population is of British and Irish origin. The others, in order of size, are of Italian, Greek/Greek, Chinese, Arab, former Yugoslavian, Vietnamese and Turkish origin. Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders are estimated at 2.5% of the total population. Christian 67.4 (26.4% Catholic, 2.5% Anglican and 20.5% other Christian denominations), Muslim 1.7%, Buddhist 1.9%, Atheist 15.3%, No religion 12.7%, Other 1.2%.
English is the official language. Other spoken languages include Italian, Chinese, Greek, Arabic, Turkish, Hindi, etc.