Australia



The Commonwealth of Australia, along with the United States of America, have colonized one arm of known space. In 2300 AD, Australia has X colonies and X outposts in the Australian sub arm, as well as the New Canberra colony on Tirane. In the 2300/2320 milieu Australia has taken a central role in mediating disputes, best illustrated by the Melbourne Accords of 2099.

History before the Twilight War
Australia has been continuously inhabited for at least 40,000 and possibly 100,000 years by Indigenous Australians. Various Europeans made contact with parts of the Australian coastline from the 16th Century onwards, with the first confirmed sighting in 1606 by Dutchman Willhelm Janzsoon. In the following century the Dutch mapped most of the Western and Northern coastlines yet expressed little interest in settling the continent even with a trade outpost.

In 1770 Lt. James Cook FRS RN captain of HMB Endeavour after observing the transit of Venus mapped most of the East coast of Australia and claimed that part of it that he had just explored in the name of George the Third at Possession Island on 22 August. Botanist Sir Joseph Banks, one of Cook's companions on Endeavour was later a key figure in the creation of a penal colony that came to be called N.S.W. and subsequently Australia.

History since the Twilight War
The concentration of population in the southeast helped promote industrialisation, but hindered exploitation of other regions. Recent (since 2200) development of the northern (Darwin) shore has created a growing population centre capable of handling trade with Indonesia.