If you're new here, you may be interested to know that you can receive all of our latest articles directly to your inbox. Click Here for more info. We promise to keep your email safe and will use it for only this purpose

If you want to holiday or visit family in Australia, unless you are a New Zealand citizen, you will need to obtain an Australian visa before you travel.

The type of visa you will need broadly depends on what you intend to do in Australia, your nationality and the length of time you want to stay in Australia, but you will probably need either an Electronic Travel Authority (Visitor) or a Tourist visa or a Sponsored Family Visitor visa. Whichever the case, you should apply for the full period of time that you want to remain in Australia, because once there, it is possible that you will be unable to extend your visa.

The Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) (Visitor) is just as it sounds – electronic and therefore you may not get a stamp or label in your passport but don’t worry, the Australian immigration officers will have a record of your visa.

You can apply for an ETA (Visitor) if you wish to stay for less than three months, if you are outside Australia and hold a passport from one of the 34 eligible countries. You will find a full list of these on the Australian Government Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs website, but included are most countries from Western Europe and Scandinavia, the USA and a number of Far Eastern countries. There are special arrangements for citizens of countries not on the eligible list. An ETA (Visitor) Visa may be obtained via a travel agent or an airline, direct on the Internet or at an Australian visa office in your country of residence. There is no charge for this type of visa unless you apply over the Internet.

You may apply for a Tourist Visa whether you are inside or outside Australia and the duration will usually be 3 or 6 months but can sometimes extend to 12 months if you can prove your ability to support yourself during your stay. Applications for Tourist Visas may be made via the Internet if you are a passport holder of an eligible country, or via a registered travel agent, airline or service provider, a list of which can be found on the website mentioned above.

A Sponsored Family Visitor Visa is applicable for stays between 3 and 12 months and to apply you must be outside Australia and have a sponsor within Australia who is a family member, a member of an Australian parliament or other authorised person. To apply, you will need to complete a form, get a certified copy of your passport and send it all to your sponsor in Australia. Your sponsor will need to complete a different form and make the application on your behalf, sending all the paperwork to the applicable office.

Anyone who is not eligible to apply for an ETA Visitor or Tourist Visa over the Internet can complete a paper application which can be mailed to specific offices of the Australian government overseas.

Australian Visa – Business Visits

If you need to visit Australia on business, even for a very short period of time, you will need to apply for an Australian visa. This article gives some basic details of the three types of business visa available.

There are three types of visa available for business visits to Australia. It should be noted that a business visit is NOT the same as “working” in the context of applying for an Australian visa.

The first is a Short Stay Business Visa which is suitable for a visit of less than three months. This will cover a business person for normal business meetings, negotiations and conferences and may be applied for through their chosen airline or via the internet. This is a Business Electronic Travel Authority (ETA). Alternatively, applications may be made in writing.

The second type of business visa is a Sponsored Business Visitor (short stay) Visa. In order to quality for this type of visa, a business person will need to be sponsored by a member of an Australian parliament, an authorised government agency, local mayor or other authorised organisation and the sponsor will need to guarantee that their visitor will abide by all the visa conditions including that which specifies the date by which they must leave the country.

The third business visa is a Temporary Business (Long Stay) visa. To apply for one of these, an applicant must have an approved employer as a sponsor who has an eligible position available. The employer can be an Australian or overseas company and the employee must be a foreign national with the applicable skills to fill the position. The eligible position must have been approved as a skilled occupation suitable for this program, must be full time and of a minimum salary as well as meeting various Australian laws and award requirements.

However, before the employee can apply for a visa, the employer will need to apply to be a sponsor of overseas employees and nominate the job vacancies to be filled. The nomination period will be 12 months or until all the vacancies are filled, whichever is the shorter. The sponsorship will be for a period of 2 years and the visa period may be anything from 3 months to 4 years. However, if the employee wishes to change employment, he will need to find a new approved sponsor with an eligible position and re-apply for a visa.

Full details of all the above can be found on the Australian Government Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs website.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Australian Visas

Article Popularity: 3%

One of the (more obvious I guess) reasons why I love Australia is down to the fantastic climate, to at least attempt to personify this I thought I’d chuck up a couple of photos that I took when we took our rekkie to Perth earlier this year.

Western Australia must have some of the best sunsets in the world, you have to be quick though as I’ve never known the sun to set so quickly anywhere. You can literally see the sun setting, slowly falling under the line of the horizon (or the ocean on our case for this photo).

The second picture is one that I took whilst enjoying some quality family time in a park right next to the Swan River in Perth.

The thumbnail may look just like a blue blob but this is actually a pic of the sky… You’ll never realise how blue the sky can be until your sat on a nice grassy bank looking….err…skywards Click it, I know you want to.

It was a beautiful day and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky (apart from the miniscule wisps you may see in the top left of the photo)

Feel free to save these as your desktop wallpaper. Click the image (opens on a new page) Click the image again (to maximise it) and right click with your mouse.

You’ll be presented with an option to save the image as your desktop background (or similar depending on the browser you’re using).

Article Popularity: 3%

Yay, it’s seems to have taken forever but the house is finally on the market and the forsale sign us up.

We went for Halifax Estate agents in the end, not the cheapest but they seem to be doing pretty well in our local area.

They wanted us to commit to a 12 week minimum term. We cut this down to 8 weeks on the basis that I didn’t want to be stuck into a contract where, if they were rubbish, we had to wait 12 weeks before we could use a different agent.

The recruiter that I met when when did our Rekkie to Perth asking how we were doing with the move as he has ‘lots of things going on’. This is a really positive message for me as it shows 1) I’ve met a half decent recruiter who hasn;t forgotten me at the drop of a hat and 2) The job market must be keeping him busy enough to think about candidates who aren’t even in the country yet.

Lets hope that we don’t face an uphill struggle when it comes to selling the house. We just want to get there now.

Article Popularity: 2%

Skilled migrants who have been granted visas under the general skilled migration visa categories are achieving significantly higher levels of labour market success than ever before, the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Senator Amanda Vanstone and the Minister for Education, Science and Training, the Hon Julie Bishop MP announced today.

A major evaluation of these categories has confirmed good results and has also identified some areas where targeting to the needs of the labour market can be enhanced.

The independent evaluation of the general skilled migration categories has been conducted by three of Australia’s leading immigration experts, Dr Bob Birrell, Associate Professor Lesleyanne Hawthorne and Professor Sue Richardson.

Australia already has the best skilled migration programme in the world, but we cannot afford to stand still, Minister Vanstone said. Read the full story

Article Popularity: 4%

Well, we have made contact with a couple of estate agent and have arranged to have the house valued this weekend. We have no idea how much the house is worth but the outcome is going to be really important.

Ultimately and ‘worst case’ scenario; any equity we can get out of our house will be the cash that we live off whilst getting new job/s sorted out in Australia.

We’ve been in the same house for the last 9 years. It’s a decent sized, three bedroomed detached house with a garage on a quiet cul-de-sac and would make a pretty sound buy for anyone.

The house itself (for the first time in a long time) is looking in tiptop shape. Most of the house has been redecorated (keeping all the walls a very funky magnolia colour ) and the Missus has done a sterling job de-clutering everything and sticking stuff in boxes which are now starting to form a pretty big pile in the garage.

The garden has been tidied up and everything is now good to go.

We hope to make at least 50% on the original purchase price (which in 9 years should be pretty doable), this will give us a window of approx 12 months to rent something half decent and keep is in food and all other important stuff for the first 12 months in Aus if were not able to find work in this time.

Anything bigger then the 50% will extend this window. Ultimately, the best-case scenario would be to make the 50% profit on the sale of the house, move out to Australia, spend up to a month finding somewhere to rent whilst finding our feet! Get a job and use the collateral from the house as a down payment for a new house or land in or around Perth.

That’s the best-case scenario, so fingers crossed for this outcome.

The sale of the house also brings with it our first sad farewell. We’ve had a couple of Chinchillas for about 10 years now and originating from the cold mountainous regions in the Andes means that their lifestyle isn’t particularly conducive for the Hot Australia weather. To be honest, I don’t actually think we’d be able to take these critters to Australia if we wanted to so, a new home has had to be found.

Thankfully, one of the (top!) blokes at work also keeps Chinchillas and he’s agreed to take these guys on board. I hope to do the handover in the next couple of weeks. The ‘chinny cage’ takes up quite a bit of space in our dining room so it’ll be good to get sorted before we start showing people around.

Anyway, lets see what news the valuers bring

Article Popularity: 2%

Australia has led the worldwide real estate boom and enjoyed record price increases over the past three years, but as 2006 gets underway many fear that the recent success of the Australian real estate market is not sustainable.

While the Australian housing market may well face a short period of economic adjustment, there are still ways to profit from the real estate sector in Australia. Real estate investors examining the market just need to look a little further afield than Sydney!

Perth in Western Australia is one city where real estate prices remain affordable and where demand for quality accommodation to buy and rent is increasing which is creating an exciting micro property investment market opportunity ripe for exploration in 2006.

The reason for Perth’s sudden popularity from a real estate perspective springs from the fact that the city is enjoying a period of economic advancement led by a vast improvement in employment prospects. Local residents in Perth are benefiting from better paying employment and an abundance of opportunity, and the city is attracting a steady flow of inward migration as job seekers move to the city to take up offers of employment.

Historically Perth’s real estate prices have lagged well behind those of Sydney and Melbourne for example, and the average home finance sought to purchase in Perth is around 30,000 Australian dollars less than the average mortgage taken out elsewhere in Australia. The lower priced accommodation is attracting more interest from investors from across Australia as well who are all seeking a housing market with legs left to run. Furthermore the real estate sector in and around Perth is enjoying interest from international real estate investors who can see the long term prospects available.

As demand for accommodation in Perth increases as the city welcomes new residents, so the prices being charged for rental housing are on the up as well. Anyone who purchases real estate to let out in Perth right now can cash in on this boom in rental rate rises and retain their property while the predicted period of property price growth develops.

Across the rest of Australia many first time home buyers have been temporarily priced out of the housing market as property prices have exceeded affordable levels. While the market readjusts over the short term there are fears that a rental accommodation crisis is looming in some of Australia’s most popular cities such as Brisbane and Sydney. This concern is of course leading to sharp increases in rental rates being charged by landlords who are well aware of how valuable a commodity they own.

While this is an unfortunate situation for those caught in the rental trap it is a perfect situation for an investor seeking immediate returns on real estate investments in Australia. Anyone who makes a real estate investment purchase in Australia with the intention to let out that property will not only make a strong income currently but they will continue to enjoy property price growth over the longer term as the market readjusts and begins to grow again in Australia in the medium term.

And finally, if you’re interested in the real estate market down under and are not an Australian citizen, overseas buyers are free to own real estate in Australia that has been granted permission for sale to foreign purchasers; and you can rest assured that the purchase process will be straightforward because it is so well regulated in Australia.

About the Author

Rhiannon Williamson writes about overseas real estate investment and specialises in the analysis of property market trends and opportunities. To read more information about real estate investment in Australia click here.

Article Popularity: 3%

Oh well, here we are. Almost three weeks on and we’ll be leaving the beutiful country of Australia to travel back to the UK tomorrow afternoon at 4pm Aussie time.

Well probably spend our last day at Kings Park before heading back home to watch the sunset at about 7pm. Then it’ll be time to eat whats left of the food in the fridge.

We had the brother-in-law, his missus and their son over to stay from Sydney in the past week. They really enjoyed the laid back lifestyle of Western Australia although they were surprised how expensive property had become.

The view from the ‘East side’ seems to be that you can still pick up properties for £50,000.

Now although you may be able to do this in the outback the number of Immigrants moving to the west coast is slowly starting to push prices upwards.

Take Sorrento and Hillarys for example. The number of $1 Million + houses being build and sold is staggering although even for these properties, similar properties in Sydney would cost you 4 to 5 times this amount.

Having said all this, compared to the UK, what you get for your hard earned money over here is significantly better. A house of ‘mansion’ proportions could still be yours for under £200,000 if you had this sort of cash to hand.

I think we’ve made the best of our time here in WA. We’ve got a really good feel for the different suburbs, we’ve identified a school for our son. We’ve got a good feel for house prices and what we’ll get for our cash. From a work perspective I’ve also met with a number of recruiters who’ll I’ll continue to keep contact with when I get back to the UK.

I’ve also taken hundreds of picks which I’ll upload to the site when we get back later in the week.

For now, more updates when we get back to the UK. Just a short 20 hour flight and we’ll be back in Blighty. Oh joy!

I’ve added some pictures of some of the houses we visited so check out this post titled – What will you get for £150k in Australia for more info.

Article Popularity: 3%

We had a tour of the school we’ve identified following some good reviews on the web.

Absolutely fantastic is all I can say.

The school is a primary school but more importantly it offers a pre-primary school or kindergarten (kindi)

We were taken on a quick tour by the school principal (headmaster).

Compared to UK schools I’d say its of a similar size but the quality of the facilities is what really gave it the two big thumbs up.

Nice big, colourful, airy classrooms.

We had a walk round some of the classrooms whilst lessons were taking place. I guess we were only there during registration but the rooms seemed to be buzzing with energy.

In the Kindi sections the kids were literally having a song and a dance with the teachers. What was really nice is that the parents were not rushed through the door as soon as registration started and were encouraged to take part. If anything (the principal said) they were encouraged to remain with the kids at this early stage to reduce any anxiety and slip out when they felt the kids were happy.

Each day is started with some form of physical exercise. On the way in we noticed a group of older children doing stretching exercises in the playing fields..I know I’m probably making all this sound like some kind of boot camp but the kids were genuinely enjoying their start to the day and in my mind this is a much better way to start the day then sat in a playground eating chocolate and Crisps.

As a second language the children are taught Japanese which makes some sense with Australia being so close to Japan and the rest of Asia. A little different from the French or Spanish I was taught as a kid.

We saw some of the older children having an IT lesson. One very new looking PC per child with the class size being no more then 15 kids.

In essence it appears to be an excellent school.

Thankfully It also fits into the area where we may or may not eventually settle.

I say this because sorting or at least identifying a good school was near the top of our list for this rekkie.

Having said this some of the schools (similarly to the UK) have quite strict catchment areas meaning that if we selected this school we would have had to find a house to rent within the catchment area.

Fortunately, this particular school does not have this strict policy and although it encourages parents to live in an area close to the school (if anything down to the social aspects of school life) it will accept pupils from outside its ‘local’ area. It is a popular school though so understand why the school requests that our application is lodged a year in advance of the actual school year in which our son will start to attend kindi (bless!)

I’m really pleased that one of our more important tasks appears to be completed. However I would suggest that parents contact prospective schools early by e-mail or phone to understand how much notice they need to register successfully for the more popular schools otherwise they may be disappointed.

Thankfully the Internet is a wonderful thing and you’ll be surprised about the number of Schools have their own very detailed websites providing info about their curriculum, surroundings, culture and all those other great things.

Ok, whats next on the list…

Article Popularity: 2%

Ok, blatant sweeping statement but the jet lag over the last couple of days has meant I’ve had insight into the world of the folks who wake up and get going before 8am. Well actually. Lets go for 5am!

Over here in Perth its just starting to get nice and light at 5am and renting a house which looks out onto the main strip of Sorrento beach, its amazing the numbers of people having a quick run or ‘power walk’ prior to a starting work.

Were talking between 5 and 6am here! Yesterday was the most impressive. We were woken, just before 6 to the words.

“Right guys, are you ready….3….2…..1…..go!”

Wiping the sleep out of my eyes I looked out of the window to see a group of approx 20 people, skipping, running on the spot and throwing medicine balls at each other whilst the personal trainer walked back and forth barking out the next motivational order. Read the full story

Article Popularity: 2%

Well g’day from down under

I was hoping that I may still be able to post small updates and it looks like, due to the wonders of technology I can.

Well, actually, thanks to the wonders of smartphone technology.. For anyone remotely interested. I’m currently using my SPV M2000 to post updates to getting down under (google SPV M2000 for more info).

I had roaming activated on the phone so I’ll be posting via the Vodafone Australia network. I wasn’t sure if the roaming had been activated in time as I never got the SIM update I was promised but thankfully it appears to have worked.

Not sure how much the GPRS roaming costs will be but the posts won’t be that big since using the small thumb keypad on the m2000 isn’t particularly conjusive to typing massive entries.

Anyway, here I am in Sorrento Perth. Its 6:50 am which is a whole 2 hours later then it was when I woke up yesterday morning. Jet lag is a curious thing but I slowly appear to be getting over it.

Staying at the London Heathrow Hilton was an interesting experience. Nice hotel but damn, very expensive. The plan was to use the Hilton to reduce the stress of rushing to the airport first thing in the morning. The hotel links directly to terminal 4 at Heathrow airport so you can stroll over from your room, check in and then stroll back to your hotel room to relax until about an hour before departure where you can then wonder on back to your departure gate for your flight.

Only problem was, Singapore Airlines departs from Terminal 3 at Heathrow airport. Doh!

So, one train ride to terminal 3, a taxi back to the hotel to check out and a second train ride back to terminal 3 later, we were checked in.

Then we had to wait 45 minutes to get through security (due to some increased security checks…cue increased stress levels) culminating in a 1 mile run to the gate (literally).

The gate was displayed as ‘closing’ as we made our final dash and we could only run so fast due the the limited sprinting abilities of our 3 year old little boy. .

It reminded me a little of an old TV program that I used to watch called ‘treasure hunt’ presented by Anika Rice (spelling!) where she had a set amount of time to find clues which she would do before shouting ’stop the clock, stop the clock!’ But we made it, and theres nothing like getting yourself, hot, bothered and sweaty in preperation for a 17 hour plane journey!

The flight itself was excellent. We have flown with Singapore Airlines 6 times now and I would highly recommend them. The inflight entertainment is excellent although with a three year old to look after, we didn’t see that much of it.

The flight time was a little shorter then I was expecting. Just over 12 hours from London to Singapore and then 5 hours flat from Singapore to Perth. It’s longer by about 2 and a half hours on the return (something to due with jet streams apparently).Our little boy slept for approx 4 hours of the first leg and 2 hours of the second which really helped us with the flight. Last year when he was just over 2 he didn’t sleep at all! Saying that, neither myself or the missus slept this time, however, reduced inflight stress made this flight a much better one and we were both really proud of how well our little boy did this time around

So, we’ve landing in Perth, go though immigration and get our visa’s stamped. Two years of blood sweat and tears and we’ve made it. We are now officially Australian Residents!!

I actually thought our Visa’s (the sticker they insert in your passport) would be stamped. However the lady in immigration just stamped our passports as normal.

She explained it’s the date on the stamp which is this important thing. The paper Perminant residency Visa is the Actual Visa but the date on the stamp in our passports validates the visa as it was dated within 12 months of issue.

We now have a further 5 years to settle perminantly in Australia although we know it will be much sooner.

So, the perminant residents pick up the hire car from Hertz and drive the 45 minutes north from Perth Airport to the beautiful town of Sorrento.

The drive was great and we were thankful for the aircon. It was 32 degrees C when we arrive at 2:30pm but who’s complaining. After the miserable weather we’e had in the UK of late it was a seriouisly refreshing change.

The layout of the highway network in and around Perth seems really well organised and pretty logical, almost modular. With my co-driver/primary navigator at the side of me, it wasn’t long before we came over the brow of a hill and caught our first glimpse of the Indian Ocean and Hillarys boat harbor…Stunning!

Off to the estate agents to pick up the keys for the house were renting here in Sorrento. Get to the houe (nice!) drop the bags off, back in the car again to find a shop for some grub (it was getting near dinner time) and some wine of course! Back to the house and time to finally sit down and relax.

First impressions of Sorrento? Fantastic. Compared to the East Coast of Australia Sorrento seems so much more chilled out. Lots of people chatting and walking along the beaches. There are mainly residential areas lining the beaches in Sorrento. Dee Why beach near Sydney where we stayed last year by comparison seemed alot more commercial. More cafes and shops.

I know there will be places more like Dee Why in Western Australia to, but for the time being I’m liking what I’m seeing.

Time to check out now, typing on this small ‘thumb board’ is going to leave my thumbs permanently deformed if I’m not careful. However I’ll post further updates as our Aussie adventure continues.

Small sidenote: My roaming charges came to over £100! Next time I’ll get an Australian SIM card

Article Popularity: 4%

Ok, for starters (and because I didn’t start this site until we actually received our Visa’s. I thought it might be a little useful to give a little background about how and why we ended up getting to the stage where we are now

Please also keep in mind; I’m a pretty typical bloke with an average education. I may not necessarily have the literally talents of Shakespeare or J. K. Rowling so please stick with me through the typo’s. Please also keep in mind that we’ve done a lot before we got here. As a result, some of these earlier sections may be a little long but I’ll type as fast as I can to try and get up to date

Anyhow, I won’t get to heavily involved in the specifics about how we did this, how we did that. However as the site matures I’ll make sure that all these areas are covered and will link to and from certain sections of this article to help you guys navigate around the site.

I guess it all started in the summer of 2004. I took voluntary redundancy from the company I was currently working for at the time. My wife and I had been to Australia (Sydney) in 2002 to catch up with my brother-in-law who has lived and worked in Sydney as a permanent resident for over 7 years.

We fell in love with the place, the weather was fantastic, the sky was blue and probably most strikingly, the friendliness of the people and the Australian culture as a whole took our breath away.
Read the full story

Article Popularity: 4%

Most of the estimated 20.4 million Australians are descended from 19th- and 20th-century immigrants, the majority from Britain and Ireland. Australia’s population has quadrupled since the end of World War I , spurred by an ambitious immigration program.

In 2001, the five largest groups of the 27.4% of Australians who were born overseas were from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy, Vietnam and China. Following the abolition of the White Australia policy in 1973, numerous government initiatives have been established to encourage and promote racial harmony based on a policy of multiculturalism. Australia’s population has increased by about 60 times since European settlement.
Read the full story

Article Popularity: 3%

Australia has a prosperous, Western-style mixed economy, with a per capita GDP slightly higher than those of the UK, Germany and France. The country was ranked third in the United Nations’ 2005 Human Development Index and sixth in The Economist worldwide quality-of-life index 2005.

In recent years, the Australian economy has been resilient in the face of global economic downturn. Rising output in the domestic economy has been offsetting the global slump, and business and consumer confidence remains robust. Australia’s emphasis on economic reform is often claimed to be key factor behind the economy’s strength. In the 1980s, the Labor Party, led by Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Treasurer Paul Keating, started the process of economic reform by floating the Australian dollar in 1983, and deregulating the financial system.

Since 1996, the Howard government has continued the process of micro-economic reform, including the partial deregulation of the labour market and the privatisation of state-owned businesses, most notably in the telecommunications industry.
Read the full story

Article Popularity: 2%

Australia’s 7,686,850 km ² (2,967,909 mi ²) landmass is on the Indo-Australian Plate. Surrounded by the Indian, Southern and Pacific oceans, Australia is separated from Asia by the Arafura and Timor seas. Australia has a total 25,760 km (16,007 mi) of coastline and claims an extensive Exclusive Economic Zone of 8,148,250 km ² (3,146,057 mi ²). This exclusive economic zone does not include the Australian Antarctic Territory.

Climate is highly influenced by ocean currents, including the El Niño southern oscillation, which is correlated with periodic drought, and the seasonal tropical low pressure system that produces cyclones in northern Australia.
Read the full story

Article Popularity: 4%

The first human habitation of Australia is estimated to have occurred between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago. The first Australians were the ancestors of the current Indigenous Australians; they arrived via land bridges and short sea-crossings from present-day Southeast Asia. Most of these people were hunter-gatherers, with a complex oral culture and spiritual values based on reverence for the land and a belief in the Dreamtime. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, inhabited the Torres Strait Islands and parts of far-north Queensland; they possess distinct cultural practices from the Aborigines.

The first undisputed recorded European sighting of the Australian continent was made by the Dutch navigator Willem Jansz, who sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in 1606. During the 17th century, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines of what they called New Holland, but made no attempt at settlement. In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of Australia, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Britain. The expedition’s discoveries provided impetus for the establishment of a penal colony there following the loss of the American colonies that had previously filled that role.
Read the full story

Article Popularity: 4%

OK, to get us started, lets have a little history.

The Commonwealth of Australia is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the world’s smallest continent and a number of islands in the Southern, Indian and Pacific Oceans. Australia’s neighbouring countries are Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the northeast, and New Zealand to the southeast.

The continent of Australia has been inhabited for over 40,000 years by Indigenous Australians. After sporadic visits by fishermen from the north and by European explorers and merchants starting in the 17th century, the eastern half of the continent was claimed by the British in 1770 and officially settled as the penal colony of New South Wales on 26 January 1788. As the population grew and new areas were explored, another five largely self-governing Crown Colonies were successively established over the course of the 19th century.
Read the full story

Article Popularity: 2%