While Indigenous Australians have inhabited the continent for tens of thousands of years, and traded with nearby islanders, the first documented landing on Australia by a European was in 1606. The Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon landed on the western side of Cape York Peninsula and charted about 300 km of coastline.

February 1606

By traveling to different regions around the globe, explorers were able to learn more about areas such as Africa and the Americas and bring that knowledge back to Europe. Methods of navigation and mapping improved as a result of the travels of people such as Prince Henry the Navigator.

Another reason behind the idea of an inland sea was that Matthew Flinders, who had very carefully mapped much of Australia’s coast had discovered no great river delta where these rivers should have emerged by had they reached the coast. It also led to the opening of South Australia to settlement.

French settlement in Australia was not to be, however, as the Napoleonic Wars prevented them from gaining a foothold, and after the country had recovered enough to start colonising once again, the entirety of Australia had been claimed by the British.

Read their stories

• Robert O’Hara Burke and William Wills. The first to successfully cross the continent from South to North.
• Sir Charles Kingsford Smith.
• Richard ‘Dick’ Smith AC.
• Sir Douglas Mawson OBE.
• Joseph Banks.
• Matthew Flinders.
• Ron and Valerie Taylor.
• Charles Sturt.

There was no European settlement in Australia till 1788, 182 years after its’ first discovery. The reasons for the delay in initially discovering Australia, then mapping it and then settling in it are: Exploration was all about trade.

The first known landing in Australia by Europeans was in 1606 by Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon. Later that year, Spanish explorer Luís Vaz de Torres sailed through, and navigated, what is now called Torres Strait and associated islands.

The first Spaniard to live in Australia was a male who arrived in 1821 and settled in New South Wales. More Spanish settlers migrated during the 19th century – many in search of fortune during the gold rush. Australia made a Spanish-Australian Migration Agreement in 1958 to give assisted migration.

Did you know that Spain was allegedly the first European nation to claim sovereignty of Australia? These findings were presented by the Chilean researcher Gustavo Mártin-Montenegro in his monograph entitled Australia del Espíritu Santo: A Spanish name for an English country.

0.43%

In about October 1606, Spaniard Luis Vaez de Torres sailed through the strait that now bears his name, between the northern tip of Cape York and New Guinea. He probably sighted the Australian mainland, but there is no evidence that he landed.

Animals

Captain Arthur Phillip

Section 61 of the constitution states that “The executive power of the Commonwealth is vested in the Queen and is exercisable by the Governor‑General as the Queen’s representative, and extends to the execution and maintenance of this Constitution, and of the laws of the Commonwealth.” Section 2 provides that a governor …

Queen Elizabeth IISince 1952

As China’s economy slows down, its demand for Australian commodities (mainly iron ore and coal) goes down, the Australian economy slows down, Australian interest rates are lowered in order to counteract the economic slowdown and the AUD depreciates versus the USD as well as with most other major currencies.

Dame Nellie Melba

Easily the most recognisable figure on Australia’s banknotes is Queen Elizabeth II, who features next to a sprig of eucalyptus on the five dollar note. The Queen has featured on Australia’s money since 1966, where she graced the now-discontinued $1 paper note.