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| | | | Australia |
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| c. 50 million years ago |
| | | Australia becomes a separate land mass, isolating its living creatures. They evolve into many species unique to the area | |
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| c. 60,000 years ago |
| | | The first human inhabitants of Australia make the crossing from southeast Asia | |
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| 1642 |
| | | Abel Tasman makes landfall in the Macquarie Harbour area in the island now known after him, Tasmania | |
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| 1770 |
| | | Captain Cook reaches the mainland of Australia, at a place which he names Botany Bay, and continues up the eastern coast | |
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| 1779 |
| | | Joseph Banks tells a committee of the House of Commons that the east coast of Australia is suitable for the transportation of convicted felons | |
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| 1787 |
| | | The First Fleet (eleven ships carrying about 750 convicts) leaves Portsmouth for Australia | |
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| 1788 |
| | | After a journey of eight months from England the First Fleet reaches Australia, anchoring in Botany Bay | |
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| 1788 |
| | | Arthur Phillip, selecting a suitable coastal site for the first penal colony in Australia, names the place Sydney Cove | |
|  | Map of Australia showing the distribution of convicts, c.1820
National Archives, Kew
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| 1790 |
| | | A second fleet arrives in Sydney, bringing more convicts and a regiment, the New South Wales Corps, to keep order | |
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| 1798 |
| | | British explorer George Bass sails round Tasmania in an open whaleboat, discovering the strait which now bears his name | |
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