Australia: A Country of Humble Beginnings

 

The earliest European records of contact with Australia date to 1606 when Dutch captain, Willem Janszoon visited Terra Australis Incognita (unknown southern land). He charted the coast, met the Aborigines, then left the country behind. While more than 50 ships voyaged to the continent-country between the Dutch visit and 1770, there was very little interest in the place known as New Holland. One of the ships that did visit belonged to the Dutch East Indies Company and was led by Abel Tasman, who charted parts of the coasts of Australia and named the island of Tasmania.

 After America declared independence and refused to accept any more prisoners into Georgia (a penal colony), England had to find a new colony and a place to hold its convicts. The first group arrived at Port Jackson in Australia on 26 January 1788, as part of Captain Arthur Phillip’s First Fleet. The captain became the governor of the colony of New South Wales. Due to the poor soil at Sydney Cove, farms were established about 25 km west around Paramatta. 

Many of the convicts were farmers and skilled tradesmen who had been sentenced for minor crimes. England used them to build their new colony. The prisoners served their term working in New South Wales and were frequently pardoned at the end of their sentence and given land to farm.

Challenges abounded within the new colony. A lack of females created difficulties for many years. New South Wales was required to be self-sufficient with no support from England. The colonists struggled from a lack of regular supplies. Many of the new arrivals had few skills and were frequently sick or dying. 

Until 1823, the inhabitants of the colony mainly included convicts, marines and their wives.  Free settlers started to arrive in 1793, but the importation of prisoners did not stop completely until 1868.  

In order to reinforce its claim on Australia, England ordered the settlers to move inland. Most of these pioneers died in the attempt not knowing that once you left the coast, Australia is almost all desert. John Forrest and Ernest Giles were two who crossed the entire continent, which made them heroes of the settlings. Once the colonists learned about the conditions of the country, expeditions and interior mapping allowed for the establishment of ports in other parts of Australia.

 Australia’s reputation as a penal colony finally began to fade and the seven major coastal settlements (New South Wales, Queensland, the Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania), each became independent colonies. 

The name Australia was first recommended by Matthew Flinders, the first man to circumnavigate Australia. He died before the idea found a powerful supporter in Gov. Lachlan Macquarie who called for the adoption of the name for the entire continent in 1817. The seven territories did not merge to become the Commonwealth of Australia until 1 January 1901.

Work With Children for Safe Social Networking

You can’t escape social networking these days: Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus, and all their online cousins are everywhere. If you have children, chances are they are eager to join all their friends in cyberspace.

Worrying about their safety is natural. Work with your children so they won’t hide their online activities from you. Take these steps to help them enjoy social networking safely:

• Start with kid-friendly sites. Facebook is not the only place for people to go. A quick Internet search will help you locate lots of sites just for children. You will want to investigate them thoroughly, of course, but they can serve as a good introduction for your children to the world of online networking.

• Talk about privacy. Have a serious discussion with your kids about guarding their personal information online. They should understand that data like their full names, address, phone number, school and birth date should be kept private for their own protection. Emphasize that once something is posted online (a message or a photo), they cannot remove it entirely even if they delete the information from their profile.

• Choose a secure password. A password that your child can remember easily may be simple for a hacker to guess. Come up with a password that includes a mix of letters, numbers and capitalization so it’s less vulnerable to attack.

• Encourage children to talk to you. Tell your children to let you know if someone online does anything to make them feel uncomfortable. If necessary, report the person to the site’s administrator. At the same time, talk about the need for your children to treat everyone with respect, online and in the real world.