People have lived in Australia for over 65,000 years. The first people who arrived in Australia were the Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders. They lived in all parts of Australia. They lived by hunting, fishing and gathering.
Aborigines invented tools like the boomerang and spear. There is also evidence that the Aboriginal people used farming methods. The tradition was very important in their lives. Their religion is called the Dreamtime, which has lots of stories about the creation of the world by spirits. Aboriginal art started at least 30,000 years ago and there are lots of Dreaming stories painted on walls and cut in rocks all around Australia. Aboriginal music has songs about the Dreamtime, sometimes with special instruments like the didgeridoo.
In 1606 the first European, Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon (1571–1639), visited the west. Luis Vaez de Torres sailed through the water between Australia and New Guinea later that year. Only after Dirk Hartog chanced upon the west coast in 1616 did other European vessels visit and map the coast. After sixty more ships visited the coast, enough was known for a map to be published in 1811. The land was dry because of not much rain; some were a desert. The explorers thought no crops could be grown and so it would be difficult for people to live there. They decided there would be no economic reasons to stay.
In 1642, Dutchman Abel Tasman, working for the Dutch East Indies Company reached Tasmania, which he called Antony van Diemenslandt. He then called the continent he charted the north coast of on his second visit in 1644 New Holland. In 1688, William Dampier became the first Englishman to reach Australia. But in 1770 a British sailor, Captain James Cook, found the fertile east coast of Australia. He called it New South Wales and claimed it for Britain. Englishman Matthew Flinders published his map of the coast in 1814, calling it Australia for the first time, a name later formally adopted by the authorities.
Aborigines invented tools like the boomerang and spear. There is also evidence that the Aboriginal people used farming methods. The tradition was very important in their lives. Their religion is called the Dreamtime, which has lots of stories about the creation of the world by spirits. Aboriginal art started at least 30,000 years ago and there are lots of Dreaming stories painted on walls and cut in rocks all around Australia. Aboriginal music has songs about the Dreamtime, sometimes with special instruments like the didgeridoo.
In 1606 the first European, Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon (1571–1639), visited the west. Luis Vaez de Torres sailed through the water between Australia and New Guinea later that year. Only after Dirk Hartog chanced upon the west coast in 1616 did other European vessels visit and map the coast. After sixty more ships visited the coast, enough was known for a map to be published in 1811. The land was dry because of not much rain; some were a desert. The explorers thought no crops could be grown and so it would be difficult for people to live there. They decided there would be no economic reasons to stay.
In 1642, Dutchman Abel Tasman, working for the Dutch East Indies Company reached Tasmania, which he called Antony van Diemenslandt. He then called the continent he charted the north coast of on his second visit in 1644 New Holland. In 1688, William Dampier became the first Englishman to reach Australia. But in 1770 a British sailor, Captain James Cook, found the fertile east coast of Australia. He called it New South Wales and claimed it for Britain. Englishman Matthew Flinders published his map of the coast in 1814, calling it Australia for the first time, a name later formally adopted by the authorities.
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