Tensions still exist between mainstream Australia and the guardians of the Aboriginal way of life. ![]() The first settlers treated the Aboriginal population with appalling brutality, which gave way to racist policies from subsequent administrations. The first governor, Arthur Phillip, was ordered to encourage a positive relationship with the indigenous locals, although a mixture of disease, malice and mutual suspicion meant this was over-optimistic. ![]() When he and his men stepped onto Australian shores, they encountered an Aboriginal way of life that went back some 40,000 years. It was Captain James Cook, however, who landed at Botany Bay in 1770 and changed the fate of the land forever. There were numerous early European explorers to Australia, among them Willem Janszoon, the Dutchman generally credited with being the first outsider to land on Australian soil (doing so in 1606), and his compatriot Abel Tasman, who in 1642 discovered the large island off Australia’s southern coast – hence its modern name, Tasmania. ![]() Australia History, Language and Culture History of Australia
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