While Indigenous Australians have inhabited the continent for tens of thousands of years, and traded with nearby islanders, the first documented landing on Australia by a European was in 1606. The Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon landed on the western side of Cape York Peninsula and charted about 300 km of coastline.
Who discovered Australia in 1770?
Lieutenant James Cook, captain of HMB Endeavour, claimed the eastern portion of the Australian continent for the British Crown in 1770, naming it New South Wales.
What was Australia called before?
Australia, once known as New South Wales, was originally planned as a penal colony. In October 1786, the British government appointed Arthur Phillip captain of the HMS Sirius, and commissioned him to establish an agricultural work camp there for British convicts.
How old is Australia?
As such a nation, created through law, Australia is 117 years old.
Who named Australia?
It was the English explorer Matthew Flinders who made the suggestion of the name we use today. He was the first to circumnavigate the continent in 1803, and used the name ‘Australia’ to describe the continent on a hand drawn map in 1804. The National Library holds a reproduction.
Is Australia a flag?
Flag of Australia
| Proportion | 1:2 |
| Adopted | 11 February 1903 (In use from 3 September 1901) 8 December 1908 (current seven-pointed Commonwealth Star version) |
| Design | A Blue Ensign defaced with the Commonwealth Star in the lower hoist quarter and the five stars of the Southern Cross in the fly half. |
What was Australia called in 1788?
After the Dutch era Cook first named the land New Wales, but revised it to New South Wales. With the establishment of a settlement at Sydney in 1788, the British solidified its claim to the eastern part of Australia, now officially called New South Wales.
What is the flag of China?
China
Flag of China/Country
What is the flag for Japan?
The national flag of Japan is a rectangular white banner bearing a crimson-red circle at its center. This flag is officially called the Nisshōki (日章旗, ‘flag of sun’), but is more commonly known in Japan as the Hinomaru (日の丸, ‘circle of the sun’). It embodies the country’s sobriquet: the Land of the Rising Sun.
Does North Korea have a flag?
national flag consisting of two horizontal stripes of blue separated from a wide red central stripe by thinner stripes of white; off-centre toward the hoist is a white disk bearing a red star. The flag has a width-to-length ratio of 1 to 2.
Why does Japan have 2 flags?
Both the Rising San Flag and Hinomaru were adopted in 1870 by the new Meiji government, which overthrew the feudal government in 1868 and ushered Japan into modernity. The former became the official flag of the Japanese Army (and later Navy, as well), and the latter the national flag.
What is Luis Vaz de Torres known for?
Luís Vaz de Torres was a Spanish explorer. Sometimes his name is spelled Luis Váez de Torres. He was born around the year 1565, and died in 1607. Today, he is noted for the first recorded European navigation of the strait which separates the continent of Australia from the island of New Guinea.
Where is Torres Strait named after Luis Vaez de Torres?
Luis Vaez de Torres was a Spanish navigator. The Torres Strait—the waterway that separates the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, Australia, and New Guinea—is named after him. The group of more than 100 islands located in the strait are known as the Torres Strait Islands.
What is known about Torres’s life?
Nothing is known about Torres’s life until 1605. That year, he left Peru as part of an expedition in search of a southern continent. At the time, Europeans did not know that Australia existed.
How did Francisco de Torres get to South America?
Torres entered the navy of the Spanish Crown at some point and found his way to its South American colonies. He first entered the historical record as the nominated commander of the second ship in an expedition to the Pacific proposed by the Portuguese born navigator Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, searching for Terra Australis.
