History of America and Australia

Started by Jordyn here https://teenscoveredforthelo.forumotion.com/t27-history-of-america-and-austraila but I can't work out how to move a thread.

Okay, onto European settlement of Australia now! Well, I say 'Australia', I mean 'New South Wales and Victoria'. South Australia (where I live) didn't get settled until much later... And I'm doing this from memory, so any mistakes are entirely my fault. Please forgive me. And double-check before taking it as fact...

Well, it starts in England, where there were so many criminals and not enough prisons, to the point where they were housing the prisoners on old boats tied in the dock! I think the same thing probably happened for American history a little earlier. Because the reason the prison were so over-crowded was because the Americans had just chucked the English out of America and several all ties with them (You know, this is why you have fireworks on the 4th of July), which meant that England couldn't send their convicts over to America anymore.

So some explorer who I can't remember the name of at the moment had recently discovered the fabled land in the south which kept the world balanced (or so they believed), and came back to tell the people in England about it. That was around seventeen-seventy-something. The powers that were in England didn't get their act together about it until 1787, when they sent the First Fleet (eleven ships) to Botany Bay. Hence the song "Botany Bay".

But when they got to Australia, they found that Botany Bay was too shallow for the ships to sail into. So they went north a bit and founded Port Jackson, which later became Sydney. So there were eleven ships full of convicts, with some crew, as well as Captain Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of Australia. He had all of the Queen's authority. We still have a Governor today, but she's a girl. Also, please not that all Australians are *not* dscended from convicts. That's a myth. Apart from the fact that my father was born in England and I live in the one state which never had convict settlement, most of my mother's ancestors were Cornish miners. I'll get to them later.

That's actually pretty much all I remember about convict settlement. Apart from the fact that quite a few convicts escaped and became Bushrangers. There were a lot of Bushrangers. I think the most famous ex-convict Bushranger was Jack Donahue. There are *two* songs about him. The most famous Bushranger full stop was Ned Kelly, but he was a settler Bushranger rather than a convict one. Like most Bushrangers, he actually became one because the authorities were evil. Like Ben Hall, another settle Bushranger, who only started bushranging because he had gone away for a week and come back to find his farm taken over by the authorities and his wife taken by one of the soldiers. Ben Hall was actually very nice and always helped the settlers; he just hassled the authorities.

Back to Ned Kelly now, who did the same. Ned Kelly was actually viewed as something as a hero by the general populace; he still is today I guess. He was just a child when his father was shot by the police and his mother put in jail... so I guess he had a bit of a problem with the authorities to. In fact, he had a brother or two in his gang, as well as a brother-in-law I think. It was called the Kelly Gang surprisingly enough. Ned Kelly is very recognisable because he wore what basically amounts to a dustbin with an eye-slot on his head, as well as homemade armour on his chest and back and upper arms. He was incredible stupid though in the fact that he had no protection on his legs - he was captured by being shot in the legs. Also, his range of vision was very limited.

Ned Kelly was captured in a town called Glenrowan in Victoria. I've been there quite a few times as it's on the route to where my cousins live in Sydney. Sort of. But the entire place is like a shrine to Ned Kelly. The sign at the beginning of the town says "Glenrowan - Ned Kelly's Last Stand" and there's a four-metre-tall statue of Ned Kelly out the front of the only pub in the town. Anyway, the Kelly Gang was holding up a bank when the authorities caught up with them. I think it had something to do with him letting someone go out of the kindness of his heart and said person alerting the police. Anyway, he was shot in the legs and captured that way.

I think that's it for now; that covers Convicts and Bushrangers. Next up: Miners.

from Rachel.

PS, I don't actually know all that much about American history, so could you tell me some more soon?

Well, when I started the topic History od America and Austraila, i ment to put World History. So this time, i would like to put something about my history lesson today.
Clovis, The Ex-Barbarian
Now we're ready to travle back to the west. At the beginning of the last chapter, you put your finger on Rome and then moved it east and south, all the way down to New ealand. Rome used to be the strondest empire in the ancitent world. But at the beginning of the Middle Ages, barbarians invaded Rome. Rome became stronger and stronger.
Let's imagine a journey from New Zealand, where the Maori live, back through some of these civilzations. Start by finding New Zealand on your map. Now paddle your canoe north (up, on your map) and west (left). You should see the cost of Austrailia just ahead of you! You'll need to paddle along the coast, still going north. Keep your eyes open, and you might see Aborigine canoes, out fishing for sea cows.
You have a long journy ahead of you, up through the Pacific Ocean. Go on paddling! After many weeks, you'll find yourself approching the island of Japan, the land of the rising sun. Beach your canoe on the shores of Japan and wander across the country, and you'll see Chinese clothing, Chinese books, and Chinses builing. Remember, China lent Japan it's launguage, it's architecture, and it's customs, until Japan decided to break free!
Cross over the water between China and Japan (you'de better hire a boat!) and come ashore at the Chinese mainland. If you're feeling adventurous, you can hike south into Korea, which sits between China and Japan. But you might stumble into a war,because Chuna and Japan are fighting to control Korea.
Find a sturdy mountian pony, hop on, and start your long journey west through Asia. If you take a little detour to the south you'll find yourself in India, where the Gupta kings ruled. Now travel west again. You'll need a boat, because you're going to go through the Indian Ocean, across to the peninsula of Ababia. The Islamic Empire began here, following the lead of Muhammad. Climb out of your boat, rent a camel, and start your journey back up north.
Keep traveling north, and you'll arrive at the borders of the Byzantine Empire, the land once ruled by Justinian and his wife, the empress Theodora. The Byzantine Empire was once the eastern half of the old Roman Empire-until the Roman Emire split in two. Now go west one more time. Are you swiming in the Mediterranean Sea? The land all around the Mediterranean Sea used to belong to the Rome. Swim over to Italy (remember Italy looks like a boot) climb ashore, and walk up through Italy. Now you're standing on top of the icy mountians range: the Alps.
The land all around you was ruled by Rome until barbarians invaded. But a funny thing happened to the barbarians. When the came into the Roman territory, they began to learn Roman customs. They built houses like Roman houses and they lived in them. instead of roaming aroung on horseback. They discovered Roman customs, like shaving and taking baths. Missionaries Taught them about Christianity. They learned to speak Latin. The became civilized. And these ex-barbarians began to establish their own kingdoms, all over the land that once belonged to the Romans.
The land of Gaul, just north of the Mediterranean Sea, was invaded by barbarians called the Franks. The Franks were made up of several diffrent tribes. And they didn't regard themselves as the barbarians. As a matter of fact, they claimed that they were desended from the ancients inhabitants of the great city of Troy.
The Frankish tribes settled down in Gaul next to the Roman citizens who were already living there. Other barbarians tribes, called the Burgundians and the Allemani, settled in Gaul too. Now many different people lived side-by-side in Gaul.And they didn't like each other very much!
But even though the Romans and the Granks and the Burgundians and the Allemani were enemies, they became allies, just long enough to fight off the Huns. Do you remember that the Huns helped destroy Rome and invaded countries all the way over to India? The Huns were a frightening, savage warrior race. And the people of Gaul decided that although they hated each other, they hated the Huns even more.
So they united into one army under the leadership of a great fighter named Merovius. Merovius was the chief of a Frankish tribe. He led his army against the Huns-and defeated them! The Huns retreated from Gaul. And as soonas the Hun threat had vanished, the people of Gaul divided again into their warrior tribes.
But Merovius's grandson, Clovis, always remembered the days when his grandather had briefly made the Granks into one people. In the year 481, when Clovis was twenty, he inherited the leadership of his tribe. And he set out to make all of Gaul into on empire.
From Story of the World volume 2: The Middle Ages
Jordyn

Just on an interesting note, 'Allemagne' (pronounced uh-leh-muh-nyeh) is the French word for Germany.

Okay: Miners.

Mining is very important in Australian history. There were a couple of Gold Rushes in Victoria around 1840-1870, and copper was discovered in Moonta on the Yorke Peninsula in SA around that time, too. Lots of people from America moved to Victoria for the Gold Rushes, because gold had just been exhausted over there.

Almost all of the copper miners in Australia were Cornish. In fact, until recently, most South Australians were of Cornish descent. Ancestors on both sides of my mother's family were Cornish miners. My grandmother's ancestors lived in Burra, which is to the north of Adelaide. Burra is pretty much flooded with malachite, one of the two things used to make copper (copper can be made from green malachite or blue azurite).

My family went on summer holiday on the Yorke Peninsula several weeks ago and we went into Moonta for the day. The entire town was very informative; they are very proud of their history and there were all sorts of places to visit, including a tour of the old mines by mini-train!

Copper was discovered in Moonta by a man by the name of Paddy Ryan, who was an alcoholic shephard and died around a year later. But he's well-remembered and every second thing you come across in Moonta is Ryan's This or Ryan's That. A lot of Cornish folk went to Australia around this time, from Cornwall, America, and elsewhere, because Cornish people were well-known for their skills in hard-rock mining back in Cornwall. Lots of people around the Copper Triangle (the three towns, Moonta, Wallaroo, and Kadina form a triangle and the area inside that triangle has a lot of copper in it) still speak broad Cornish-sounding English like Cornish people back in England do today, and lot of signs around Moonta (and presumably the other towns) are in both English and Cornish. There are quite a few words in Australian English which come directly from the Cornish language (Kernowek).

I think the best-known contributing the Cornish miners made to Australian culture is the tiddy-oggie (better known as the 'cornish pasty'). Tiddy-oggies are made by getting a circle of pastry, and putting meat and vegetables, and fruit, in so that there is savoury at one end and sweet at the other when you wrap it up. The pasties are then wrapped so that there is a large, hard ridge in the top middle. Miners would take the tiddy-oggies down in the mines with them and heat them up in a billy pot over a fire, then pick them up by the ridge. They didn't have a chance to wash their hands before eating, and their hands were covered with all sorts of toxic things, so they threw away the bit they touched. Tiddy-oggies are yummy!

from Rachel.

Thanks!
Jordyn