MartinLuther

Obviously no one wanted it apart from the Brits who didn't have any decent bases in this part of the world and needed to dump a whole lot of criminals somewhere as the Thames was getting a bit full. Even then it was a bit of a Hobson's choice.

Obviously after oil (and other) exploration started countries have been falling over themselves to get a piece of it.

DagBoy

I think it was the English who specialised in that sort of behaviour back then. North America and Australia being prime examples.

Cheers,

DagBoy

worzel

I don't know what you mean. Just because sailors buried aboriginal kids in the sand up to their necks and played kick the head off are you saying their behaviour was less than honourable?

BadgeIsBack

And rather than jokes about the only Australian culture being found in yoghurt and a staple diet of the meat pie (love ém) we would all be saying "Bin Jar mate" and wrapping stubbies around wine and eating goats cheese.

The bidet would be out the back with a redback under the tap.

iPom

I'd have put my money on the Dutch too, though they made it here in the 1600's and decided it was too harsh to live there, though I believe it was Western Australia.
They hung around for a bit and then went home.

Vash the Stampede

The Dutch; no question. They were one of the great European superpowers of the day, and could easily have colonised Australia if it had suited them.

Australia was first discovered by William Janszoon in the early 1600s. Later, Abel Tasman discovered Tasmania and named it Van Diemen's Land (after Anthony van Diemen, a Dutch governor-general in the West Indies). It is now named after Tasman himself.

Then we have Dirk Hartog, who landed in Western Australia and marked his arrival by nailing a pewter plate to a tree. Decades later, Hartog's plate was discovered years later by another Dutch explorer, Willem de Vlamingh - who replaced it with a plate of his own.

So the Dutch claim to Australia is a strong one; first to discover it, first tentative exploration of the coast; first to re-visit it for further research. Yet their interest was only passing, since they were looking for a new trade route at the time and Australia didn't seem to fit the bill.

If the Poms hadn't been overwhelmed by their massive criminal population, they might never have considered Australia as a potential colony.

But, as we know, they were absolutely desperate, and the new island continent offered a perfect solution. Thus, a nation of convicts gave birth to another nation of convicts.