| 1400 - 1810 |
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1400s
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Possible landings on Australian shores by merchants and
explorers from India.
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| |
Chinese traders may have reached the nothern shores of Australia
in the first half of the 15th century.
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1558
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Macassan journeys to the north eastern coast of the Northern
Territory started tradings with the Aborigines.
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1605
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Spanish explorer Pedro Fernando de Quiros named a small
island along the northern coast 'Australis del Espiritu Santo',
mistaking it for Australia.
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| |
Dutch ship 'Duyfken' captained by William Jansz made contact
with Aborigines on the west of Cape York Peninsula.
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1606
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Luis Vaez de Torres sailed past Cape York, where the Strait
now bears his name.
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1616
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Dutchman Dirk Hartog landed on an island off the Western
Australian coast, now named after him.
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1622
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The south-westerly tip of Australia was sighted by the ship
'Leeuwin', which the cape is named after.
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1688
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Englishman William Dampier landed in Australia.
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1770
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James Cook claimed possession of the east coast of Australia,
raising the British flag at Possession Island, at the tip
of Cape York.
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1788
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European colonisation of Australia.
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| |
The Aboriginal population was more than 750,000.
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1791
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The first Crown Land Grants were made.
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1793
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First free immigrants settled at Liberty Plains.
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1798
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Bass and Flinders circumnavigated Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania).
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1799
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Aboriginal resistance flared in the Parramatta and Hawkesbury
regions.
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1803
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Van Dieman's Land was settled.
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1804
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Settlers in Van Dieman's Land were authorised to shoot Aborigines.
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| |
First celebration by European settlers of 26th January as
the foundation of the colony.
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