Awesome Australia Facts
The Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, plus a handful of other islands make form the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia is the world's sixth biggest nation. Aboriginal people, who arrived about 40,000 years ago, were Australia's earliest occupants. Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch ships came in the 1600s, and the British claimed Australia in 1688, calling it New South Wales. The British started transporting convicts to Sydney in 1788. (formerly Port Jackson). Around 161,000 English convicts had been transported to the penal colony at Sydney by the time the system ended in 1839. Former convicts and fresh immigrants created six communities. In 1901, the colonies were renamed states, and Australia became the Commonwealth of Australia. Facts about Australia that are interesting: Australia's name is derived from the Latin term 'australis,' which means'southern.' After Russia, Canada, China, the United States, and Brazil, Australia is the world's s