Life in Britain. The Early Colonies. First contact. Australian Explorers. In 1788, with the arrival of the first fleet, little was known about this wide brown land which we now call Australia.
It was only through the courage and perseverance by many brave explorers, that the Australia we know today, was mapped. These explorers travelled into unknown country and waters, naming mountains, valleys, plains, lakes, rivers, deserts and mapping our coastline. They experienced extreme hardship and danger, many even dying, or like Leichhardt, disappearing into the desert, never to be seen again. The Gold Rush and Eureka Stockade. Migrating groups. Significant people.