European Exploration of Australia: A Summary
Early Expeditions (1606-1788)
Dutch explorers Willem Janszoon and Abel Tasman made the first recorded European sightings of Australia in the early 17th century. However, they did not establish any permanent settlements.
British Colonization (1788)
In 1770, James Cook mapped the eastern coast of Australia for Great Britain. In 1788, a British fleet arrived at Botany Bay and established a penal colony, marking the beginning of European settlement on the Australian mainland.
Exploration of the Continent
Early Days (1798-1830s)
George Bass and Matthew Flinders circumnavigated Tasmania in 1798-99, proving it was an island. Flinders also led the first circumnavigation of Australia in 1801-02. Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson, and William Wentworth crossed the Blue Mountains in 1813, opening up the interior.
1820s-1830s
Hamilton Hume and William Hovell explored the south of the colony and discovered the Murray River. Charles Sturt followed the Macquarie and Murrumbidgee rivers to Lake Alexandrina. Surveyor General Sir Thomas Mitchell conducted extensive expeditions, recording Aboriginal place names.
Into the Interior (1850-1870s)
Explorers like Edmund Kennedy and Ludwig Leichhardt ventured into the unknown, but some met tragic ends. Burke and Wills made the first north-south crossing of the continent in 1860-61, but they did not survive. John McDouall Stuart successfully crossed Central Australia in 1862, paving the way for the Australian Overland Telegraph Line. Ernest Giles and William Gosse discovered Uluru and Kata Tjuta in 1872 and 1873, respectively.