Lexi Webster
The European settlement of Australia and the United States differed in several key ways. In Australia, the British treated the land as a colony of settlement, not conquest, taking over Aboriginal land under the assumption that it belonged to no one ('terra nullius'). This led to a drastic decline in the Aboriginal population, with many dying from introduced diseases like smallpox and influenza, as well as frontier conflicts. The first European settlers in Australia were mostly convicts sent by the British government, with free settlers following later. The United States, on the other hand, was initially settled by a mix of European explorers and religious refugees seeking religious freedom, with the famous Mayflower voyage in 1620 establishing the first permanent European settlement in New England.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Reason for European settlement | Australia: treated as a colony of settlement, not of conquest; United States: conquest and colonisation |
| First European settlement | Australia: 1788; United States: 1607 |
| First settlement location | Australia: Port Jackson; United States: Jamestown, Virginia |
| First settlers | Australia: convicts and free settlers; United States: investors and indentured servants |
| Native population | Australia: Aboriginal Australians; United States: Native Americans |
| Treatment of natives | Australia: Aboriginal land was taken over by British colonists on the premise that the land belonged to no one; United States: colonisers acknowledged Native American ownership of the land through treaties |
| Immigration laws | Australia: White Australia policy; United States: Chinese Exclusion Act |
| Relationship with Britain | Australia: fought as part of the British Empire in two world wars; United States: fought against Britain in the Revolutionary War |
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What You'll Learn
Convict labour and free settlers
Convict labour was a significant aspect of European settlement in Australia, particularly during the early colonial period from 1788 to 1850. The First Fleet of British ships arrived in Australia in 1788, carrying over 700 convicts to establish a penal colony in New South Wales as part of the British Empire. This marked the beginning of convict transportation to Australia, which continued until 1852 in eastern Australia and until 1868 in Western Australia. The convict labour was utilised for farming, fishing, whaling, trade, and construction, contributing to the economic development of the colony.
During this period, there was also a presence of free settlers in Australia. These were individuals who voluntarily migrated to the colony, often receiving assistance and encouragement from the British government. The early fleets that transported convicts also carried hundreds of free settlers, primarily soldiers and their families. The first group of individuals who chose to migrate to the colony on their own arrived in 1793. Free settlers typically had more financial means, and the British government incentivised their migration by offering land grants and assistance with transportation costs.
The treatment and opportunities available to convicts and free settlers differed significantly. Convicts faced harsh conditions, with restricted food rations and limited opportunities to work for wages. They were often assigned to rural work gangs and subjected to strict bureaucratic control and surveillance. On the other hand, free settlers were given land grants for farming and grazing, proportional to their capital. The Bigge reforms, implemented after 1820, further skewed land grants in favour of free settlers with substantial capital, making it more challenging for convicts to become property owners.
The presence of convict labour and free settlers contributed to the growth and diversification of the Australian colonies. While convicts provided a source of labour for various industries, free settlers brought additional knowledge, skills, and resources. The establishment of the Swan River Colony in Western Australia as a free settlement in 1829 demonstrates the British government's efforts to encourage free settlement and develop stable and self-sufficient colonies.
In summary, convict labour and free settlers played distinct roles in the European settlement of Australia. Convicts, initially forming a significant portion of the population, faced challenging conditions and limited opportunities, while free settlers received incentives and support from the British government, contributing to the establishment of prosperous and stable colonies. The interplay between these two groups shaped the early social, economic, and political landscape of Australia during its colonial period.
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Aboriginal dispossession
The British justified their takeover of Australia in several ways. They argued that a colony could be established by persuading indigenous inhabitants to submit to colonial rule, purchasing the right to settle from indigenous inhabitants, or by unilateral possession based on first discovery and effective occupation. In the case of Australia, possession was declared based on unilateral possession, with the land defined as 'terra nullius' or wasteland because James Cook and Joseph Banks observed few 'natives' along the coast, deducing there would be even fewer inland. These observations were soon proven incorrect, as the governors of the first settlements discovered that Aboriginal people lived inland and had special territories and associations with the land on spiritual and inheritance bases.
The establishment of the penal colony of New South Wales as part of the British Empire in 1788 marked the beginning of European settlement in Australia. The First Fleet of British ships arrived at Port Jackson on the lands of the Eora, carrying over 700 convicts. Additional convict ships arrived in 1790 and 1791, and these early fleets also brought hundreds of free settlers, mostly soldiers and their families. The first free settlers, who arrived in 1793, paid their own way to Australia and were typically quite prosperous. Later, in the early 1800s, the British colonial government began to pay the transportation costs of less wealthy migrants and provided them with free land on the condition that it be used for a productive purpose. This offer appealed to those suffering from unemployment and poverty in Britain due to the Industrial Revolution. The government also provided these settlers with free agricultural tools and convict labour.
The spread of British settlement led to an increase in inter-tribal Aboriginal conflict as more people were forced off their traditional lands and into the territory of other, often hostile, tribes. Additionally, civilian colonists often launched punitive raids against Aboriginal groups, and the colonists' use of mounted police, Native Police units, and firearms increased Aboriginal casualty rates in conflicts. Many Aboriginal people also died of introduced diseases such as smallpox, influenza, and measles, to which they had no resistance. The Myall Creek Massacre in 1838, which involved the killing of up to 30 unarmed Indigenous Australians, is one of the most notorious events in this period. Overall, more than 20,000 Aboriginal people and almost 2,000 Europeans are estimated to have died in the conflicts.
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Farming and fishing economy
The economy of early colonial Australia (1788-1850) was based on farming, fishing, whaling, trade, and construction using convict labour. By 1820, British settlement was largely confined to a 100-kilometre radius around Sydney and to the central plain of Van Diemen's Land (modern-day Tasmania). From 1816 onwards, penal transportation to Australia increased rapidly, and the number of free settlers grew steadily.
To encourage free settlers, the British offered land grants for farming and grazing in proportion to their capital. This led to the establishment of large sheep ranches and small farms. By 1850, the district of Port Phillip (modern-day Melbourne) had a population of 75,000 Europeans, 2,000 Indigenous inhabitants, and 5 million sheep.
In the United States, the early colonial economy was also based on agriculture, with tobacco and cotton being major crops. However, the American colonies had a larger population and a more diverse economy, including manufacturing and trade. The American colonies also had a different system of labour, with enslaved Africans and indentured servants working alongside small farmers and landowners.
In both Australia and the United States, the displacement of Indigenous people and the appropriation of their land were central to the development of the farming and fishing economy. In Australia, the British declared the land as "terra nullius", meaning no one owned it, despite the presence of Aboriginal people. This led to conflicts and massacres as the Indigenous population resisted the invasion of their land.
The introduction of new diseases by European settlers also had a devastating impact on the Indigenous population in Australia, with smallpox, influenza, and measles causing many deaths. Similarly, in the United States, diseases and violence led to a significant decline in the Native American population as their land was taken for European settlements and farms.
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Asian migration restrictions
Asian migration to Australia was historically viewed unfavourably. The first recorded Japanese migrant settled in Australia in 1871, but Japanese immigration only began in earnest in the 1880s after the lifting of restrictions. The Immigration Restriction Act of 1901, also known as the "White Australia policy", restricted non-European immigration and made it difficult for Asians to migrate to Australia. The act required that all migrants pass a European language test, which most Asian immigrants were unable to pass. This policy was intended to keep Australia predominantly white, with 98% of the population being white at the time. The gold rush period of the 1850s and 1860s saw the largest pre-federation Chinese migration to Australia, with numbers peaking at around 40,000. However, in 1857, restrictions were placed on Chinese migration due to lobbying and anti-Chinese sentiment.
During the 20th century, over 200 people with Chinese heritage fought for Australia in World War I, and a similar number fought in World War II. In the 1960s, a small number of Thai students came to study in Australia, and in the 1970s, a larger number of Thai people migrated due to political turmoil in Thailand. The White Australia Policy was finally removed in 1972, and by 1996, there were 151,000 Vietnam-born and 70,000 Lebanon-born people in Australia, representing 5.5% of the population. Today, 30% of the population is born overseas, with people from almost every country in the world immigrating to Australia since World War II.
In the United States, Asian migration has been driven primarily by arrivals from South Eastern and Eastern Asia, with a recent boost from South Central Asia. Nearly one-third of all immigrants in the United States come from Asia, more than any other region except Latin America. Asian immigrants tend to have higher levels of education and income compared to both US-born and overall foreign-born populations. The first major wave of Asian immigration to the continental United States occurred during the California Gold Rush in the 1850s. Asian immigrants, particularly Chinese Americans, were seen as the "yellow peril" and suffered violence and discrimination. Congress passed the Page Act in 1875, which barred "undesirable" people from entering the United States, including forced laborers and Asian women presumed to be prostitutes. This led to a near-complete exclusion of Chinese women, preventing male laborers from bringing their families. Nativist hostility towards Asian laborers grew in the 1860s and 1870s, with the formation of organizations like the Asiatic Exclusion League.
Japanese immigrants began arriving in large numbers in the 1890s, after the Chinese exclusion, with 180,000 Japanese immigrants in the mainland by 1924. Filipino migration to North America also continued during this period. South Asian immigrants, predominantly Punjabi Sikh farmers, first arrived in 1907, with immigration restrictions specific to South Asians beginning two years later. Like the Chinese and Japanese immigrants, these South Asians were predominantly men. In the early 1900s, thousands of Koreans migrated to Hawaii, which was then a US territory, to escape Japanese imperialism and poverty at home. Overall, Asian immigrants played a significant role in filling the demand for labor in gold mines, factories, and the Transcontinental Railroad in the continental United States.
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Australia-US relations in the Cold War
Australia and the United States have had a long-standing alliance since the Cold War. This alliance was initially formed in the context of shared concerns about the rise of communism in East Asia and the potential for future Japanese expansionism.
In the post-World War II era, Australia and New Zealand signed an agreement to work together in the international arena, reflecting their concern that the United States and the United Kingdom might not adequately consider their interests in postwar planning. The North Atlantic Treaty, signed in 1949, further prompted Australia and New Zealand to seek their own security guarantees, as they were geographically distant from the mutual defence arrangement between North American and Western European powers.
The ANZUS (Australia-New Zealand-United States) Security Treaty, signed on 1 September 1951, was an important milestone in formalising the security relationship between the three countries. However, it did not immediately create the close military ties seen today. The US Department of Defense was initially reluctant to commit troops to fixed positions in Asia. As the Cold War progressed, the ANZUS Treaty took on increasing significance for Australian strategic policy, especially in the context of the Korean War and the spread of communism in East Asia.
During the Cold War, Australia and the United States disagreed at times about policy towards China, with Australia working to moderate Washington's aggressive impulses. Over time, Australian leaders internalised a schema of alliance loyalty, believing that only loyalty to the US would ensure reciprocal loyalty from Washington. This belief has influenced Australia's approach to the more recent strategic competition between China and the US.
The close relationship between the two countries continued beyond the Cold War, with Australia joining the US-led coalition in the Gulf War and the invasion of Iraq. Australia has also invoked the ANZUS Treaty in response to terrorist attacks, such as the September 11 attacks and the 2002 Bali bombing.
While Australia has generally pursued a close relationship with the United States, there have been occasional differences in policy approaches, and Australia has sought to maintain independent relationships with countries like China.
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Frequently asked questions
The primary motivation for European settlement in Australia was to establish a penal colony, whereas in the United States, it was largely for religious freedom and to escape persecution.
In Australia, the British treated the country as a colony of settlement, taking over Aboriginal land on the premise of 'terra nullius', meaning that the land belonged to no one. This led to violent conflict and a drastic decline in the Aboriginal population. In the United States, the nature of the relationship between European settlers and Native Americans varied but was often characterised by conflict, displacement, and the violation of treaties.
The process of European settlement in Australia was largely driven by the British government, which sent convicts to the colony as a form of punishment. Free settlers were also encouraged to migrate through incentives such as land grants and transportation cost coverage. In the United States, settlement was more organic, with individuals and groups migrating and establishing colonies with varying degrees of support from their respective European nations.
The majority of European settlers in Australia were of British and Irish heritage, reflecting the country's history as a British colony. In the United States, the demographic makeup was more diverse, with settlers originating from a wider range of European countries, including Britain, France, Spain, and the Netherlands.
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