AUSTRALIA, HISTORY OF

history of the continent from settlement by Aborigines in prehistoric times to exploration and colonization by Europeans in the 18th and 19th centuries, with a history of the country from federation in 1901 to the present. Additional reading Aboriginal Australia An excellent overview of the prehistory and traditional culture of Aborigines can be found in D.J. Mulvaney and J. Peter White (eds.), Australians to 1788 (1987). The most comprehensive general references on traditional Aboriginal life are R.M. Berndt and C.H. Berndt, The World of the First Australians, 4th ed. (1985); and Kenneth Maddock, The Australian Aborigines, 2nd ed. (1982). Aboriginal prehistory is dealt with in Josephine Flood, Archaeology of the Dreamtime, rev. ed. (1989); D.J. Mulvaney, The Prehistory of Australia, rev. ed. (1975); and J. Peter White and James F. O'Connell, A Prehistory of Australia, New Guinea, and Sahul (1982). R.L. Kirk, Aboriginal Man Adapting (1981), is an overview of Aboriginal biology. Languages are described in R.M.W. Dixon, The Languages of Australia (1980).Reviews of research problems and issues for the period 19631988 appear in R.M. Berndt and Robert Tonkinson (eds.), Social Anthropology and Australian Aboriginal Studies (1988). Specialized works on kinship and social organization include Harold W. Scheffler, Australian Kin Classification (1978); Warren Shapiro, Social Organization in Aboriginal Australia (1979); and David H. Turner, Australian Aboriginal Social Organization (1980). Books focused on women's roles and status include Fay Gale (ed.), Women's Role in Aboriginal Society (1970); and Diane Bell, Daughters of the Dreaming (1983).On Aboriginal art, see Charles P. Mountford, Art, Myth, and Symbolism (1956); R.M. Berndt, C.H. Berndt, and John E. Stanton, Aboriginal Australian Art (1982); John E. Stanton, Painting the Country (1989); and Peter Sutton (ed.), Dreamings: The Art of Aboriginal Australia (1988). Specialist works on religion include R.M. Berndt, Australian Aboriginal Religion , 4 vol. (1974); W.E.H. Stanner, On Aboriginal Religion (1966, reprinted 1989), and White Man Got No Dreaming (1979); Max Charlesworth et al. (eds.), Religion in Aboriginal Australia (1984); and, in a context of social change, Erich Kolig, The Silent Revolution: The Effects of Modernization on Australian Aboriginal Religion (1981).Debates concerning local organization and the nature of territorial groups and boundaries are found in Nicolas Peterson (ed.), Tribes and Boundaries in Australia (1976); Nicolas Peterson and Jeremy Long, Australian Territorial Organization (1986); and Norman B. Tindale, Aboriginal Tribes of Australia (1974). Debates on the nature of leadership and politics and their relationship to religion include L.R. Hiatt (ed.), Aboriginal Landowners: Contemporary Issues in the Determination of Traditional Aboriginal Land Ownership (1984); John Bern, Ideology and Domination: Toward a Reconstruction of Australian Aboriginal Social Formation, Oceania, 50(2):118132 (December 1979); L.R. Hiatt, Aboriginal Political Life (1986); Fred R. Myers, Ideology and Experience: The Cultural Basis of Politics in Pintupi Life, in Michael C. Howard (ed.), Aboriginal Power in Australian Society (1982), pp. 79114; and Robert Tonkinson, Ideology and Domination' in Aboriginal Australia: A Western Desert Test Case, in Tim Ingold, David Riches, and James Woodburn (eds.), Hunters and Gatherers, vol. 2, Property, Power, and Ideology (1988), pp. 150164.Post-contact history is studied by C.D. Rowley, The Destruction of Aboriginal Society (1970, reprinted 1983); Henry Reynolds (ed.), Aborigines and Settlers: The Australian Experience, 17881939 (1979); Henry Reynolds, The Other Side of the Frontier (1981), and Frontier: Aborigines, Settlers, and Land (1987); and Richard Broome, Aboriginal Australians: Black Response to White Dominance, 17881980 (1982). Accounts of change and contemporary issues are found in R.M. Berndt and C.H. Berndt (eds.), Aboriginal Man in Australia (1965); R.M. Berndt (ed.), Australian Aboriginal Anthropology (1970), and Aborigines and Change: Australia in the '70s (1977); Michael C. Howard (ed.), Whitefella Business: Aborigines in Australian Politics (1978), and Aboriginal Power in Australian Society (1982); and Ian Keen (ed.), Being Black: Aboriginal Cultures in Settled Australia (1988).Government policies are analyzed in C.D. Rowley, Outcasts in White Australia (1971), The Remote Aborigines (1971), and A Matter of Justice (1978); Lorna Lippmann, Generations of Resistance (1981); Robert Tonkinson and Michael C. Howard (eds.), Going It Alone?: Prospects for Aboriginal Autonomy (1990); and Andrew Markus, Governing Savages (1990). Studies of Aboriginal land rights include Kenneth Maddock, Your Land Is Our Land (1983); Nicolas Peterson and Marcia Langton (eds.), Aborigines, Land, and Land Rights (1983); and Graeme Neate, Aboriginal Land Rights Law in the Northern Territory (1989). Racism and race relations are dealt with in F.S. Stevens (ed.), Racism: The Australian Experience, 3 vol. (1972); and Gillian Cowlishaw, Black, White, or Brindle: Race in Rural Australia (1988). General works on the Aboriginal experience by Aboriginal authors include Kevin Gilbert, Living Black (1977); Sally Morgan, My Place (1987); and James Miller, Koori: A Will to Win (1985). Robert Tonkinson General historical works A work of enormous value is Alan D. Gilbert et al. (eds.), Australians: A Historical Library, 11 vol. (1987). Five historical volumes take their stance respectively at 1788 (before European settlement), 1838, 1888, 1938, and from 1939 to the present. Five reference volumes comprise a historical atlas, a historical dictionary, a chronology and gazetteer, historical statistics, and a guide to historical sources. A separate index volume completes the set. Surveys include the remarkable work by C.M.H. Clark, A History of Australia, 6 vol. (196287); Ernest Scott (ed.), Australia, vol. 7, part 1 of the Cambridge History of the British Empire (1933, reprinted 1988); Gordon Greenwood (ed.), Australia: A Social and Political History (1955, reissued 1977); F.K. Crowley (ed.), A New History of Australia (1974, reissued 1981); and Geoffrey Bolton (ed.), The Oxford History of Australia (1986 ). Verity Burgmann and Jenny Lee (eds.), Constructing a Culture (1988), Making a Life (1988), A Most Valuable Acquisition (1988), and Staining the Wattle (1988), present radical-revisionist essays on many subjects.Overview presentations of the Australian experience include W.K. Hancock, Australia (1930, reissued 1966); R.M. Crawford, Australia, 4th rev. ed. (1979); A.G.L. Shaw, The Story of Australia, 5th ed. rev. (1983); and C.M.H. Clark, A Short History of Australia, 3rd rev. ed. (1987). More polemically interpretive are Humphrey McQueen, A New Britannia: An Argument Concerning the Social Origins of Australian Radicalism and Nationalism, rev. ed. (1986); Miriam Dixson, The Real Matilda: Women and Identity in Australia, 1788 to the Present, rev. ed. (1984); and Richard White, Inventing Australia: Images and Identity, 16881980 (1981). Two outstanding essays on Australian nationalism are Russel Ward, The Australian Legend, new illustrated ed. (1978); and Noel McLachlan, Waiting for the Revolution (1989). T.B. Millar, Australia in Peace and War: External Relations, 17881977 (1979), is paramount in its field. Australia to 1900 Early European settlement, convict transportation from England, and colonial history are detailed in Ged Martin (ed.), The Founding of Australia: The Argument About Australia's Origins (1978); Robert Hughes, The Fatal Shore: A History of the Transportation of Convicts to Australia, 17871868 (1986); Portia Robinson, The Women of Botany Bay (1988); A.G.L. Shaw, Convicts and the Colonies (1966); K.S. Inglis, The Australian Colonists: An Exploration of Social History, 17881870 (1974); and Brian Fletcher, Colonial Australia Before 1850 (1976). Events leading to federation are described by P. Loveday, A.W. Martin, and R.S. Parker (eds.), The Emergence of the Australian Party System (1977); R. Norris, The Emergent Commonwealth: Australian Federation, Expectations, and Fulfilment, 18891910 (1975); D.J. Murphy (ed.), Labor in Politics: The State Labor Parties in Australia, 18801920 (1975); John Rickard, Class and Politics: New South Wales, Victoria, and the Early Commonwealth, 18901910 (1976); and J.A. La Nauze, The Making of the Australian Constitution (1972). Australia since 1900 Russel Ward, A Nation for a Continent (also published as The History of Australia, 1977); and Fred Alexander, Australia Since Federation: A Narrative and Critical Analysis, 4th ed., rev. and updated (1980), provide useful introductions to 20th-century history. Australia's participation in war and the effects of war and foreign policy are presented in C.E.W. Bean, Anzac to Amiens: A Shorter History of the Australian Fighting Services in the First World War, 5th ed. (1968); John Robertson, Australia at War, 19391945 (1981); and Ann Curthoys and John Merritt, Australia's First Cold War, 19451953, 2 vol. (198486). Michael Roe Australia since 1900 Nationhood and war: 190145 Growth of the Commonwealth The world's passions and conflict of the early 20th century were to shape the new nation's history, despite its physical distance from their epicentres. By many standards, this was the least attractive of the major periods of Australian history. Nationalism strengthened, but it killed and sterilized rather more than it inspired; egalitarianism tended to foster mediocrity; dependence on external power and models prevailed. Yet creativity and progress survived. Drabness was most evident in economic affairs. At the broadest level of generality, the period did little more than continue the themes of the 186090 generation. The most important such themes were the improvement of communications (railways reached their peak of 27,000 miles in 1941, and meanwhile came the motor boom) and increasing industrialization. In the primary field, there was significant expansion of exports, with wheat, fruits, meat, and sugar becoming much more important than theretofore. But just as manufactures received increasingly high tariff protection, so the marketing of these goods often depended on subsidy. Hence, the sheep's back continued to be the nation's great support in world finance. Metals, gold especially, were important in the early years, but thereafter this resource conspicuously failed to provide the vitality of earlier and later times. The worldwide economic depression of the 1930s affected Australia, especially its primary industries; otherwise, the overall rate of growth, and probably of living standards, too, scrambled upwarda little more quickly than average in the years around 1910 and again in the early 1940s. In national politics, people fought for office with increasing vigour and resource, while their administrative performances generally began well but then ebbed. A constant theme was the strengthening of the central government as against the states. This complemented the high degree of homogeneity, especially in personal and social matters, that extended through Australia's great physical spread; it was expressed primarily through the Commonwealth's financial powersat first especially relating to customs and excise duties but later by direct taxation. From World War I both levels of government imposed income taxes, but in 1942 the federal government virtually annexed the field, with the high court's approval. The establishment of a national capital at Canberra, where Parliament first sat in 1927 after meeting in Melbourne since federation, symbolized this situation. The strengthening of the Commonwealth was not a product of popular enthusiasm. Several constitutional referenda upheld the rights of the states, each of which had its own distinct political, cultural, and social characteristics. The first two prime ministers were Edmund Barton (190103) and Alfred Deakin (190304), who had led the federation movement in New South Wales and Victoria, respectively. They were liberal protectionists. Their ministries established the White Australia immigration policy that excluded Asians, a tariff, an administrative structure, and The High Court and initiated legislation for a court of conciliation and arbitration. This carried probably to the highest point anywhere in the world the principles of industrial arbitration and judicial imposition of welfare and justice through wage and working-condition awards. In 1904 John Christian Watson led the first, brief Labor cabinet, followed by George Houston Reid's conservative free-trade ministry. Deakin led again (190508); then Andrew Fisher was Labor's second prime minister (190809), his ministry defeated when liberals and conservatives fused in Deakin's third term (190910). Then Labor won its first clear majority at election, which it barely lost in 1913 and regained, still under Fisher, in 1914. This kaleidoscope did not hinderperhaps it even promptedambitious governmental policies. Social services were extended with old-age pensions (1908) and maternity grants (1912); protection rose markedly in a 1908 tariff; the Commonwealth Bank was established; and an army and navy developed. The new nation was psychologically as well as physically prepared for war. Fear of attack became increasingly directed against Japan, and it prompted pressure on Great Britain for a firmer policy in the New Hebrides (since 1886 supervised jointly by Britain and France); this was achieved in 190607. Although many Australians criticized Britain when the latter appeared negligent of local interests, the dominant note was overweening loyalty to the empire. Colonial troops had fought in both the Sudan and South African (Boer) wars. In 1914, when World War I began, politicians of all hues rallied to the imperial cause. World War I Some 330,000 Australians served in World War I; 60,000 died, and 165,000 suffered woundsfew nations made such relatively heavy sacrifice. The most famous engagement of the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was in the Dardanelles campaign (1915); the day of the landing at GallipoliApril 25became a day of national reverence, honoured far beyond any other. Even before Gallipoli, Australian troops had occupied German New Guinea, and the Australian vessel Sydney sank the German cruiser Emden near the Cocos Islands (Nov. 9, 1914). After the Dardanelles, Australians fought primarily in France; Ypres, Amiens, and Villers Bretonneux were among the battles, all marked by slaughter. In Palestine, the Australian light horse and cavalry corps contributed to Turkey's defeat. The war profoundly affected domestic affairs. In economic development, it acted as a supertariff, benefiting especially textiles, glassmaking, vehicles, and the iron and steel industry. Such products as wool, wheat, beef, and mutton found a readier market in Britain, at inflated prices. But the shock of war affected politics much more, especially by giving full scope to the furious energy of William Morris Hughes, who supplanted Fisher as Labor prime minister in October 1915. Soon afterward he visited Britain. There his ferocity as a war leader won acclaim, and he became convinced that Australia must contribute still more. He advocated military conscription for overseas service, but a referendum in October 1916 declared negatively for this proposal, and immediately afterward the Labor parliamentary caucus moved no confidence in Hughes's leadership. He continued as prime minister of a national government, however, even after losing a second conscription referendum in December 1917. The referenda in particular and war stress in general made these years uniquely turbulent in Australian history. The Labor Party lost other men of great ability along with Hughes. The split cemented a long-standing trend for Roman Catholics to support the party. Hughes's enemies also included the small but growing number of extremistsmost notably the Sydney section of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)who opposed the war on doctrinaire grounds. Australia to 1900 Early exploration and colonization Early contacts and approaches Prior to documented history, there may have been Asian contacts. China's control of South Asian waters could have extended to a landing in Australia in the early 15th century. Likewise, the incursion of Islam into Southeast Asia came within 300 miles (480 kilometres) of Australia, and adventure, wind, or current might have carried some individuals the extra distance. Both Arab and Chinese documents tell of a southern land, but with such inaccuracy that they scarcely clarify the argument. Makasarese seamen certainly fished off Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory, from the late 18th century and may have done so for generations. Perhaps only effective resistance by the Aborigines against the Makasarese reserved Australia for white colonization. The Portuguese The quest for wealth and knowledge might logically have pulled the Portuguese to Australian shores; the assumption has some evidential support, including a reference indicating that Melville Island, off the northern coast, supplied slaves. Certainly the Portuguese debated the issue of a terra australis incognita (Latin: unknown southern land)an issue in European thought in ancient times and revived from the 12th century onward. The so-called Dieppe maps present a landmass, Java la Grande, that some scholarship (gaining strength in the late 20th century) has long seen as evidence of a Portuguese discovery of the Australian landmass, 1528 being one likely year. The land Coastal landscape near Nowra, New South Wales, Australia. Australia is both the flattest continent and, except for Antarctica, the driest. Seen from the air, it is hard to believe that its vast plains, sometimes the colour of dried blood, more often tawny like a lion's skin, are not one huge desert. One can fly the 1,959 miles to Sydney from Darwin in the north or the 2,037 miles to Sydney from Perth in the west without seeing a single town or anything but the most scattered and minute signs of human habitation. A good deal of the central depression and western plateau is indeed desert. Yet appearances can be deceptive. The red and black soil plains of Queensland and New South Wales have long supported the world's greatest wool industry, and some of the most arid and forbidding areas of Australia conceal great mineral wealth. Moreover, the coastal rim is, almost everywhere, excepted from the prevailing flatness and aridity. In particular the east coast, where European settlement began and where the majority of Australians now live, is hilly, well watered, and fertile. Inland from the coast runs a chain of highlands, known as the Great Dividing Range, from Cape York in northern Queensland to the southern seaboard of Tasmania. From the coast this range, which may be anything from 20 miles to 200 miles distant, often appears as a bold range of mountains, though few of its peaks exceed 5,000 feet. In fact, it is more like the escarpment of a giant plateau, formed of gently rolling hills, which slopes imperceptibly down to the western plains. There are similar, though smaller, stretches of hilly, well-watered land all around the rim of the continent except on the south coast where the Nullarbor Plain stretches to the sea; but everywhere rainfall diminishes rapidly as one penetrates farther from the coast. To Australians the land beyond the Great Dividing Range and the coastal rim is the Inland, or the Outback. For them it still retains some of the mythical quality it had for the first explorers searching for inland seas and great rivers. Yet in fact it is still very sparsely populated and perhaps always will be. The real heart of Australia lies in the industrial cities of the east, southeast, and west coasts. In this huge continent there are wide variations in scenery and climate. The thickly wooded ranges of the Great Divide have little in common with the treeless, sun-dried plains of the Inland. There is a vast difference between the red rocks and monumental hills of central Australia and the tropical rain forests and sugar plantations of northern Queensland. Yet visitors to Australia usually detect a certain uniformity created, perhaps, more by the red earth, the brilliant light, and the drab, olive-coloured leaves of the ubiquitous eucalyptus than by any real resemblance. And if visitors from the Northern Hemisphere are at first repelled, as the English novelist D.H. Lawrence was, by the vast, uninhabited land and by the grey charred bush . . . so phantom-like, so ghostly, with its tall, pale trees and many dead trees, like corpses, they should remember that to Australians the bush is friendly and familiar. Australia is not a pretty country, but it has a unique and haunting beauty that exerts a powerful fascination on those who get to know it. John Douglas Pringle Relief and drainage Overall characteristics Australia is a land of great plains. Only 6 percent of the island continent is above 2,000 feet in elevation. Its highest peak, Mount Kosciusko, rises to only 7,310 feet (2,228 metres). This situation stems in part from Australia's position at the edge of a zone of significant and recent earth movement and in part from the long periods of geologic time during which Australia has been subject to weathering and erosion. Patterns of faulting and folding in large measure control the distribution and attitude of rocks and thus play a significant part in determining the shape of the land surface. But the nature and intensity of the processes at work at and near the land surface also give rise to characteristic assemblages of forms. Australia is an arid continent; fully one-third of its area is occupied by desert, another third is steppe or semidesert, and only in the north, east, southeast, and southwest is rainfall adequate to support a vegetation that significantly protects the land surface. Permanently flowing rivers are found only in eastern Australia, southwestern Australia, and Tasmania. The major exception is the Murray River, a stream that rises in the Mount Kosciusko region in the Eastern Uplands and is fed by melting snows. As a result, it acquires a volume sufficient to survive the passage across the arid and semi-arid plains that bear its name and to reach the Southern Ocean southeast of Adelaide. (The southern portions of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans surrounding Antarctica are called the Southern Ocean; this body of water is also known as the Antarctic Ocean.) All other rivers in Australia are seasonal or intermittent in their flow, and those of the arid interior are episodic. Many areasnotably the Nullarbor Plain, which is underlain by limestone, and the sand ridge desertsare without surface drainage, but there are underground streams. A map of Australia can be misleading; though many lakes are depicted in the interiors, the fact is that many of them are now salt lakes that contain no water for years on end.