South Australia and Victoria, established in 1836 and 1850 respectively, officially remained free colonies.
Was Victoria a free colony?
1901 federation. At the beginning of 1901, following a proclamation by Queen Victoria, Victoria ceased to be an independent colony and became a state in the Commonwealth of Australia. Victorian and Tasmanian politicians were particularly active in the Federation process.
What part of Australia was a penal colony?
New South Wales
There were two major convict colonies: New South Wales (1788-1840) and Van Diemen’s Land (later Tasmania, 1803-1853). Eventually, Swan River (Western Australia) would become a third penal colony when the failing settlement requested an injection of convict labourers (1850-1868).
What type of settlement is Melbourne?
Melbourne started as an illegal settlement. Despite opposition from the government in Sydney, sheep farmers from Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) crossed Bass Strait in search of new pastures. In May 1835, a syndicate led by John Batman explored Port Phillip Bay, looking for suitable sites for a settlement.
Why was Melbourne chosen as a settlement?
Pre-European settlement
The area was an important meeting place for the clans of the Kulin, as well as a vital source of food, water and a sheltered Bay Area for clan meetings and annual events.
Was Victoria a penal settlement?
Western Australia – established as Swan River Colony in 1829 – initially was intended solely for free settlers, but commenced receiving convicts in 1850. South Australia and Victoria, established in 1836 and 1850 respectively, officially remained free colonies.
Was Melbourne a colony?
In 1837 the township of Melbourne was surveyed and named with magistrate, Captain William Lonsdale sent from Sydney to maintain law and order. The attempts to stop settlement had clearly failed and the administration of New South Wales was forced to deal with Victoria as a successful, and semi-autonomous, colony.
Which Australian state did not have a penal colony?
South Australia
South Australia was an experimental British colony and the only Australian colony which did not officially take convicts. But naturally some former convicts made their way to South Australia. Men who had completed their sentences came to settle here, usually hiding their convict past if possible.
Why Australia was used as penal colony?
The east coast of New Holland had been mapped by Captain James Cook on his voyage in 1770, so the British thought this territory — despite being inhabited by Indigenous people for 60,000 years — was the perfect dumping ground for their excess criminals.
Which of the 13 colonies was a penal colony?
Eighty percent of transported convicts were sent to Maryland and Virginia. Of the approximately 41,760 convicts sent to those two colonies, Virginia received a little less than half, or about 20,000 felons.
What was Melbourne originally known as?
This occupation of Wurundjeri land at the mouth of the Yarra resulted in a colony temporarily named Batmania, before it was declared a city by Queen Victoria in 1837 and officially named ‘Melbourne’.
What was Melbourne called before settlement?
The first official name proposed was Glenelg. But Governor Sir Richard Bourke overruled this, and on his visit in March 1837 decided on Melbourne — after the then British Prime Minister William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, who resided in the village of Melbourne in Derbyshire in the English Midlands.
What is a free settlement in Australia?
Those early fleets also brought hundreds of free people to the colony, mostly soldiers and their families. However, the first people to be considered free settlers—that is, people who made their own decision to migrate to the colony—arrived aboard the Bellona in early 1793.
What did John Batman pay for Melbourne?
Batman negotiated a treaty (now known as Batman’s Treaty but also known as the Dutigulla Treaty, Dutigulla Deed, Melbourne Treaty or Melbourne Deed), with Kulin peoples to rent their land on an annual basis for 40 blankets, 30 axes, 100 knives, 50 scissors, 30 mirrors, 200 handkerchiefs, 100 pounds of flour and 6
Why did so many Greeks move to Melbourne?
Greeks have been establishing new lives in Victoria ever since the gold rush of the 1850s. Many Greeks were amongst the sailors who left their English ships in Australian waters when they heard the discovery of gold. Most intended to return home rich men, so few women came to join them.
Who first settled the site of Melbourne?
The Hentys, Batman and Fawkner
One of its members, John Batman sailed from Launceston to Port Phillip in May 1835 to negotiate a treaty with the Aborigines by which means he claimed large tracts of land in the Melbourne and Geelong area on behalf of the Association’s members.
Why is it called a penal colony?
penal colony, distant or overseas settlement established for punishing criminals by forced labour and isolation from society. Although a score of nations in Europe and Latin America transported their criminals to widely scattered penal colonies, such colonies were developed mostly by the English, French, and Russians.
Who made Australia a penal colony?
Admiral Arthur Phillip
Admiral Arthur Phillip founded the penal colony of New South Wales on January 26, 1788 — still the controversial date of Australia’s national day — and set convicts to work according to their skills, planting the seeds of the first European settlement to colonies the Australian continent.
Did Melbourne have a convict station?
Getting there
Melbourne Assessment Prison is on the corner of Spencer and La Trobe Streets in the Melbourne Central Business District. It is 250m north of Southern Cross Station and is accessible by trams travelling along Spencer and La Trobe Streets.
What indigenous land is Melbourne on?
The City of Melbourne respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land we govern, the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong Boon Wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin and pays respect to their Elders past, present and emerging.
What Aboriginal group lived in Melbourne?
Before European settlement, the Aboriginal people of the Wurundjeri willum clan lived on the land that now forms the City of Whittlesea and the northern suburbs of Melbourne. They lived on the offshoots of the Yarra River – along the Merri, Edgars and Darebin Creeks – the Plenty River and the Maribyrnong River.