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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- Thanks for watching me, a humble American, react to how Australia gained Independence as its own country
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Its ironic when american jokes about our convict past and i was like yeah, well so were you. 😂
Britain stopped sending their convicts into North America by the year 1800, so those convicts had more time to integrate into the general colonial population. Plus many of those convicts either died in jail or in exile.
Yep more were actually sent to America than here , actually l just found out l was mistaken here they were sent for a longer period of time but slightly more were sent here ut not for as long as the practice was ceased .
I've had actual Americans argue with me over this they just flat out denied it telling me I was confusing my Australian heritage with theirs 🤣
The rest of the world doesn't seem to get it. Aussies see no shame in being a descendant of a convict. I must confess that I regret that I cannot claim convict background. I love that convicts played a big role in our Aussie history. Seriously look at what has emerged from a convict background. Australia is quite special. This Aussie is a proud Aussie and extremely grateful that her British battler forefathers/mothers risked everything to journey to the new settlement in a distant land way back in the 1830's. Our Aussie heritage is unique and special. I learned in primary school that Aussie settlement came about because Britain lost its North American colonies and could no longer transport convicts there and
Britain's jails were full. Thanks to that I was born an Australian citizen and Iwill be forever grateful. Would I trade places with an American? Absolutely not.
Parliament of NSW
History of Australia (1788-1850) - Wikipedia
The decision to establish a colony in Australia was made by Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney. This was taken for two reasons:
Wikipedia
The First Fleet arrives at Sydney Cove
Why was a convict colony set up in Australia? Britain used transportation to distant lands as a way of getting rid of prisoners. A...
Australia's Defining Moments Digital Classroom
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@@JB-zs1oq
Definitely no shame in having convict heritage mate!
One of my rellies pinched a hankie in Cork.. sent to Australia for 7 years... onboard the Canada in 1810 (my old man was into the family history).
He was 12 yrs old!!
Given his ticket of leave, did a bit of farm work in NSW and moved to SA in 1838.
I wdnt be here if it wasnt for him!
I can confirm we got independence by politely asking, wait a bit, then going, ‘Yeah nah, we’ll just do our own thing, mate.
drifted apart like a long distance relationship 😆 I mean we were still using their currency when we made the federal government, for 10 years! Even then we only just made our own version of english money, didn't have the dollar until the 60's! We really weren't in a rush to break away lol. Just more important stuff to do.
That sums it up 😁👍
We don't here in South Australia.
How so @@theroyalaustralian
@@oliw7807 It's not in our calander.
I don't think many Americans realise they have convict heritage, or they wouldn't make fun of us with it, which is the real funny bit😂
“… were they sending convicts to North America? …”
I am speechless …
Tbf, Americans succeeded from their mother country Britain centuries before countries like Australia, South Africa, and Canada did, and those last three countries are still part of the Commonwealth. So Britain sending convicts into their thirteen colonies would probably be a very minor side history for them. It is an interesting food for thought, if Britain would have eventually established penal colonies in North America, or maybe Africa, if they never colonised Australia/New Zealand.
@@SxVaNm345they established penal colonies in America 150 years before Australia.
He missed another pivotal moment when the Governor General sacked our Prime Minister in 1975. This saw a lot of Australians questioning our loyalties. The UK saw the writing on the wall, hence the 1986 Act mentioned in the search you did at the beginning of the stream.
Ryan is very Nieve on most things even in his own country 😮😮😮
@@jackbarrie6007 Yes! Genuine BUT naive
Mate, watching you learn about the rest of the world is simply glorious 😂
And refreshing for an American
I saw Ryan’s eyes becoming a little uncovered. Keep asking questions mate 👍
Funniest thing ever
Yeah mate and cober digger blue 😂
This shows the level of quality of the American education system when you were unaware Britain sent convicts to America before Australia. It makes me wonder what Americans actually get taught at school the pledge of aligance to the flag and indoctrination into cult America that must be all .
they have no idea how indoctrinated they are. The degree of ignorance is truly stunning!
@@davidmalarkey1302 they are taught a little about slavery, only the trans Atlantic side of it to guilt them.
@@Guvament_bs Yeah definitely shouldn't feel bad about slavery... /s
And they know nothing about the massively larger homegrown slavery of the African nations of that day.
Back in the 50s and 60s, when I was at school, the level of quality of teaching Australian history in Australian schools was similarly deficient. Things have changed for the better since then.
England sent convicts to Virginia and the Caroline's until the Boston Tea Party. Australia came from the Tea Party. I come from 6 convicts and I am very proud of them and all their hard work.
Georgia was set up to take Convicts from England
Thankyou from an Aussie for remembering the Boston Tea Party! It’s such a fundamental step in how Australia came about.
1st January 1901, 6 British colonies, NSW, Qld, Vic, SA, WA, and Tassie, united to form the. commonwealth of Australia.
Australia did not exist before then.
@@Zygon13 That's why they put "1st of January 1901".
@@Zygon13 RUBBISH
Still english. It was 1942, backdated to the end of world war 2.
peo.gov.au/understand-our-parliament/history-of-parliament/history-milestones/australian-parliament-history-timeline/events/statute-of-westminster-adoption-act-1942#:~:text=The%20Statute%20of%20Westminster%20Act,all%20domestic%20and%20external%20affairs.
Federation Day.
The poms sent all the people they didn't want to all the beautiful, spacious parts of the world. Now we're living it up & look where they still live. So, the joke's on them.
My thoughts exactly.
Australia became a nation by evolution, not revolution, so we have a series of dates we could celebrate, if we felt like it.
And it wouldn't matter what date we chose, somebody would be offended by it, regardless.
It was English law
Statute of Westminster 1931
Passed on 11 December 1931, the statute increased the sovereignty of the self-governing Dominions of the British Empire from the United Kingdom.
Like federation day
@@timjohnun4297Perhaps we should celebrate "Offended Day" on February 29 instead.
@@Al-Cohol999 Had no effect until 9 October 1942 when it was adopted; closest to an independence day.
Another fun fact - the top end of Australia was bombed more heavily than Pearl Harbour, during WW2
Probably not. (Although is was attacked more than once.)
@@Michael-r1x5hit was bombed more heavily. We're not talking one place. We're talking multiple locations across Australia were bombed more.
@ what do you mean, “Probably not”? I said “Fun FACT”. Which means it is just that - a FACT.
@@Michael-r1x5h please look it up it, Darwin was bombed more than pearl harbour let alone horn island in the Torres strait which was bombed more than that.
@@Michael-r1x5h same group of planes that did Pearl Harbor did Darwin a few weeks after, with the same number of bombs, but then they returned to their ships, reloaded & did a second run, so Darwin copped double what Pearl Harbor did, from the same fighters. I agree with naught, you need to look it up!
3rd march is when Australia officially received full independence. Except we already had full independence from 1931 but accepted 9th October 1942 to start on 3rd September 1939...
Yes, Australia became independent in stages. The last step being 3 March 1986 with the Australia Act.
My Grandfather ran away from his Irish father's farm in NSW, lied about his age (he was 16) and joined up to fight in the 2nd Boer War late 1899. There he developed a deep loathing of the British for whom he was fighting as he personally witnessed the horrific conditions of the concentration camps that the British had set up (Yes, Brits were responsible for the first ever concentration camps) to house not only Boer prisoners of war, but also entire, ordinary Afrikaaner farming families including women and children, sometimes even their indigenous farm hands. There he met my grandmother, born and bred in South Africa, mainly French heritage, who was a young nurse helping to aid the seized women and children who oftentimes, my grandfather had rounded up and brought to this camp. And so never came back to Australia, one of his seven children, my aunt Coleen did as did I, born to his 7th child, more than 50 years ago. He died very young, mid thirties, so I never met him.
when you go to war, you go to win; it's a dirty filthy business as Gaza now shews us and is not restricted to any race or creed.
I should also like to add that my uncle, Walther, my grandfather's first born died at the battle of El Alamein in 1942. Yeah, there were no Americans, just Brits, South Africans, Aussies...the dregs of the empire
@@Hochspitz and Indians
@@lesliehart Indeed, quite right!
My great grandfather loathed the British as well but that was inter - generational as his kin were convicts . He also fought in the Boer war and WW1 with some of his brothers and uncles . Tasmanian bushman lighthorse, they fought to be free of the English to get rid of the Union Jack as our flag . My mum never let us have an Australian flag because of the Union jack on it .
You may be surprised to hear that the first shot of World War One was fired not in Europe, but in Australia. At about 11:45am Melbourne time (1:45am Greenwich time,) on August 5th 1914, Bdr John Purdue squeezed the trigger on the cannon at Fort Nepean, at the mouth of Melbourne's Port Philip Bay, sending a 100 pound steel ball hurtling across the bows of the German collier, Pfalz, in an attempt to stop her from leaving the harbour. Her captain, Wilhelm Kuhlken, refused at first to stop, but he was rugby-tackled by the Australian harbour pilot, Capt. Montgomery Robinson, and driven to the deck as the Customs Examination Service men, who had boarded with the pilot, seized the vessel and forced her to return to port.
Also same for British Commonwealth forces in the Second World War, on the 3rd September 1939 and again Victoria, Fort Queenscliff this time
Bravo Ryan for learning US history. Spread the word. Other Americans need to know.
We didn’t tell our parents to rack off when we left home. We still get our Mum to wash our clothes at weekends.
Idiot user
fair point.
I also think that it also contributed to a very basic difference in society. The US seems to have every layer of their society set up to be adversarial, whereas we are more likely to either have a quick scuffle, then have a beer, talk it out and settle things.( or just skip the fight, have a beer and shake hands)
"We still get our Mum to wash our clothes at weekends." Can't say I like the analogy of adults 'taking our clothes home' for poor old mum to wash. But it's true that Australia became independent in stages, without a war of independence.
@ it’s just humour
When the Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes, turned up to sign the Treaty of Versailles after World War I, the US president Woodrow Wilson did not want him there as he said Hughes was speaking for a country of only 5 million people. Hughes responded "I speak for 60,000 dead. For how many do you speak?' He got to stay and sign on behalf of Australia.
A lot of Americans don't know that the first Americans to go into battle on foreign soil did so under the command of an Australian, General Monash, at the Battle of Hamel in WWI, having turned up late and having been sent to the seasoned Australians for training. This was also the last time this happened as despite the success of the Battle of Hamel, the American commanders made sure their troops never went into battle under a foreign command again.
Hamel is left off a bunch of US memorials as apparently they're embarrassed by it.
The Americans were included in opposition to American command, but went ahead anyhow on funnily enough, July 4th.
The significance of this for the military minded was battle of Hamel was the formal integration of the concept of combined arms warfare.
American troops had been involved in actions before.
Three American engineer regiments-the 11th, 12th, and 14th-were engaged in construction activity behind the British lines at Cambrai in November, when they were unexpectedly called upon to go into the front lines during an emergency. They thus became the first AEF units to meet the enemy.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_campaigns_in_World_War_I
@@bumble-g2j Monash picked July 4th deliberately to honour the American troops that had stuck around. Rumour had it that after General Pershing tried to stop US troops from taking part, shortly after the orders were received, a whole bunch of the troops in question suddenly went AWOL, a whole bunch of spare Aussie uniforms were stolen, and the Australian troops in the area suddenly had a whole bunch of new recruits with American accents...
Billy Hughes gave us WW2. His insistence at German paid reparations and refusal to honour the Allies agreement with Japan were huge steps in that direction.
A subject that I would warrant a vast majority of Australians could NOT explain.
It was soon realized by the British that in 'Port Jackson' (Sydney Harbour) that they had an excellent site for a Naval Base which had a large supply of ready made ship's masts available from the pine trees on the not too distant 'Norfolk Island'.
The Port Philip Bay colony (site of Melbourne) never had convicts transported directly from the U.K., but did have some labour provided by convicts from other colonies.
The Colonial Office in London first began in the 1840s to suggest that the Australian colonies should form a Federation.
Americans went to Australia in the 19th century seeking gold and some also discovered things like 'secret ballots' for elections, and 8 hour work days! (Eventually both might be realized by the U.S?)
Not mentioned: Each Australian Colonies date of 'responsible government'. (Which made them largely 'self-governing' , but their legislation could still be amended by the Parliament of Westminster in London. (That technically didn't end until 1986.)
1855: New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria
1856: South Australia
1859: Queensland
1890: Western Australia
Federation became a long drawn out process, with the first Federal Convention being in 1891. However as the decade went at a 19th century pace, the U.K. became concerned about the U.S.A. moving into the Pacific. They were alarmed when the U.S.A. annexed the Hawaiian islands - the independence of which had been guaranteed by the U.K. They also noticed that U.S.A was claiming many little uninhabited islands in the the Pacific which were rich in ready made fertilizer of bird 'droppings'. The U.S. taking the Philippines from Spain in 1898 made London view getting Australia 'federated' under the British Crown very important. (The were concerned the U.S.A. could have its eyes some less populated Australian colonies.)
When in the first Australian Parliament was devising its immigration laws, the Colonial Office in London instructed the Governor General (Lord Hopetoun) to NOT given ascent to any 'Immigration Law' that mentioned 'race'. At the time the U.K. was in discussions regarding a Treaty with the Japanese. As a result of the Law NOT mentioning 'race' non 'whites' (mainly Indians, Chinese and Japanese) were kept out by a 'regulation' that customs office could require a 'dictation' test in English or another European language. If a person of 'colour' was fluent in English the test might be in Welsh. The dictation test was not abolished until 1958.
In World War I, Australia had the only ALL VOLUNTEER army. While the U.K and France were executing their soldiers for such things as desertion and 'cowardly' behaviour, the Australians did not allow any capital punishment for their soldiers.
Prime Minister John Curtin in 1942 when announcing the the alliance with the U.S.A also remarked that Australia was still "British to the bootstraps!"
The main reason for Australia adopting in the 'Statute of Westminster in 1942 (Canada had in 1931 done it) was that without it, Australian sovereignty could be doubted and Australian military captured by the Axis (Germany and Italy) could be regarded as 'mercenaries' and not be treated according to the Geneva Convention on prisoners of war.
Finally the on 7th of February 1986 legislation is passed into law known as the the 'Australia Acts'. Full name: "Termination of power of Parliament of United Kingdom to legislate for Australia" (Legislation by a Labor Government.) While the Statute of Westminster had removed the ability of the U.K. having a role in Australian Federal legislation, theoretically the U.K. parliament could still have legislative powers in the individual states.
See: www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdb/au/legis/cth/num_act/aa1986114/
NOTE the current 'Commonwealth' has members that were never British colonies or possessions. All members of the Commonwealth have equal status an only a handful have Charles III as their 'Head of State'. See: thecommonwealth.org/
An interesting quirk in claiming that Australia's was the only all volunteer army in WW1 is the situation with New Zealand's army.
A draft was introduced after a while, mind you, but that wasn't because it wasn't possible to get enough volunteers, but because there were Too Many, and those who were turned away had a really bad habit of falling into depression, and thence either alcholism or sucide, over being somehow 'not good enough'... never mind that the vast majority were being turned away due to their civilian job being too important, or the need to not risk every male member of a family getting wiped out, or any number of other reasons.
To my understanding it was Really Easy to get an exemption... like, it functionally might as well have been possible to just say 'no thanks' when the letter showed up. Peopel just mostly didn't.
Anyway, it worked, it turned out that people took 'the other guy's number came out of the lottery' a lot better and the situation improved noticeably.
Which makes it not technically a volunteer army, sure, but at the same time... it kinda was?
I’m in the minority and absolutely love long comments with detailed information. So thank you, your comment is very appropriated!
I‘m from Austria and while I always knew different bits of everything about Australia, we learned some of it in school too, I love learning more!
There is a significant amount of gold in the electronics you use every day
There is a tiny fraction on some of the ends where components connect as gold is harder to tarnish or lose connections.
Gold is indispensable in manufacturing, especially in electronics. Over 300 tons of gold each year is used industrially. including medical and aerospace applications. And over 2,000 tons each year is used to make jewellery.
Australia went from 6 British colony's to the Australian nation in 1901 We dont celebrate it over here though we just included it into Australia day
We should celebrate that day, but given that it was the 1st January it would kind of get confused with New Years Day
So, instead, we should celebrate the day Sir Henry Parkes was arrested for duelling in Victoria Square ;-)
@@IanM-id8or im actully aussie tho and i dont care what day it is so long as i get a day off work to sink some beers and have a BBQ with the family
Hi Ryan, I'm an 80 yo West Australian and I've been binge-watching your channel ever since I found it a few weeks ago. I love seeing Oz through your eyes. As a proud Perthite however, I've been sad that not one show I've seen of yours has been about Perth or WA events/people. WA has been so isolated historically that we are quite different to eastern staters. The accent is somewhat different (largely because we've had more UK immigrants due to being closer to Europe) as is the slang. I don't think the young people swear as much , and we have the most beautiful beaches as well as the cleanest air (after Tasmania). Perth itself is beautiful as is its port city of Fremantle. Please, please can you look for some videos about our city and state? Perth is the hottest city in Australia ('we recently had a heat wave of 5 days of 40 - 43C and we're in the middle of another one this week. Broome on the northern coast is also a spectacular place to visit with its beautiful scenery and coast line. Esperance on the south coast also has beautiful scenery.
Best wishes to you and your wife and toddler from Greta, a proud Sandgroper.
Hi Greta...fellow Perthite here. If you search "Ryan Was Perth", he did a facts about WA 2 years ago and "Perth is stunning" a year ago. But agree, he has not featured our state much at all. Broome and also our Southwest would be nice to react to. Even suggested "Mandurah - Relaxed by Nature" video to Ryan some time ago but he hasn't shown it yet.
@@nukagirl9159 Exactly why I left Perth. I can't blame them for trying so hard to keep pushing those high pressure cells out of the bite which keep us Southern Victorians and Taswegians comfortable during the height of summer. Yep bushfires in Vic's west, but then WA has it as bad. So when Perth, Geraldton cop 42-47 for days in a row and cool change means down to 32-35 whereas a cool change after 3 days heat here means that you suddenly have to don a warm woolly jumper that you thought you didn't need to wash for awhile. WA is bloody fantastic!
You tried to secede in the 1930's but King George V and the Colonial Office in London, said 'don't be silly'!
Full of racist brits and South Africans though right?😂😂
@@Michael-r1x5hyeah that was a shame. My Grandfather was part of the movement.
I studied 2 convict subjects at University and they briefly touched on the American convicts. Over 50,000 were sent there and they were bought by free settlers as slaves. Having paid for the convicts they were easier to exploit and were often treated worse then other slaves who were worth more to the free settlers who could buy them for life. The conditions on ships would also have been worse because of their lower value and less protections for convicts as opposed to when convicts were sent to Australia. Here convicts were vital to building the colonies and because of so many deaths on ships caused not just by on ship treatment but the perilous jouney they changed laws to appoint surgeon superintendents to have lots of control of convict care on ships which decreased the death toll significantly.
Even for free settlers the journey was very perilous. I have the ship board diary of an ancestor who took his family to Tassie in 1834. He almost drowned before leaving England, one child was born but another died. They ended up with scurvy, eating weevily biscuits and wearing clothes that were hanging off them by the time that reached Australia. He had taken cloth to start a tailoring business but it got spoiled on the voyage. The first few years were a real struggle for the family and included a stint in debtors prison for him.
His diary is a very interesting read.
@NicholaWallace Yes you are right. Wow how sad. It is amazing to have access to records like that. One of my convict ancestors got pneumonia on the ship to Hobart and there is a page on her treatment in the surgeon's diary. He must have been one of the good ones because the female convicts wrote him a letter thanking him for everything upon their arrival and it was put in the newspaper.
@NicholaWallace Has anyone in your family written his story? Sounds like it would be a very interesting read.
The Boer War
And no, some of us Australians, me for example :), are 6 generation living here, descended from non-convict Irish free settlers, with absolutely NO sense of loyalty to Britain at all.
"non-convict Irish"
Pull the other one.
@@smalltime0 I'm the same, but Scottish heritage in South Australia, they just cared about farming and getting on the piss rather than stealing some bread, that they could make themselves lol.
My mother's background was Irish. Never mind the "transportation for stealing a piece of bread" thing. Direct ancestor was transported for affray (family feud resulting in a fight at a fairground, in which one of the opposition was killed). Other relatives (Ryans) were transported for "disassembling" (that's what the charge said) a British military infirmary in Tipperary, while in an inebriated state. My lot kept it up after arrival, with at least two who were bushrangers, Cummins and Dunn; the same Dunn as mentioned in the Banjo Paterson poem "How Gilbert Died". First two verses below:
There’s never a stone at the sleeper’s head,
There’s never a fence beside,
And the wandering stock on the grave may tread
Unnoticed and undenied,
But the smallest child on the Watershed
Can tell you how Gilbert died.
For he rode at dusk with his comrade Dunn
To the hut at the Stockman’s Ford;
In the waning light of the sinking sun
They peered with a fierce accord.
They were outlaws both - and on each man’s head
Was a thousand pounds reward........
South Australian non-convict Cornish miners on maternal side. Paternal side - bought own tickets..my English great grandfather, once established in Victoria, sent his fiancee in England a first class ticket! heritage@@bluedog1052
My grandma's brother fought in the Boer war.
It’s so refreshing and awesome watching you not only go back and listen to bits you missed or even might have missed, and then saying you’ll go back and watch again. I love seeing anyone have a thirst for knowledge. 😊
We don't celebrate Australia's federation day on the 1st of January because everyone is hung over.
its already a public holiday 🤣
And no way are we losing a public holiday by moving Australia Day to an existing one.
I guess we could make a second holiday on 2nd Jan, but we can’t be bothered changing it.
@@judithstrachan9399 I did a search on google. "March. 3 March - The Australia Act 1986 comes into effect at 1600 AEST, granting Australia legal independence from the United Kingdom by removing the power of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to legislate with effect in Australia and its states and territories." We should continue to celebrate Australia day along with new years day and also include our final step to becoming truly independent on March 3rd as a public holiday, pretty sure the majority of aussies wouldn't complain about 1 more public holiday :)
@@judithstrachan9399 Wait! You mean January 2 isn't a public holiday?
True, it's usually an unofficial public holiday! 🥳🍻
@Ryan Was liken the Australian gold rush to that of your San Francisco gold rush which was multi racial and ethnic in nature , In fact a lot of those people when the gold ran out in San Francisco came to Australia to prospect and mine at the Ballarat gold fields outside of Melbourne.
It also worked both ways, with Antipodean Colonials heading to the Yukon & the Klondike to try their luck on the gold fields over there. To the best of my knowledge we left at least 2 (probably more) marks in the Americas. One was the expression "kangaroo court" to denote summary goldfield "justice". The other a wonderful old song called "The Gumtree Canoe". I believe "The Wild Colonial Boy" was also extremely popular over there
Edward Hargreaves went from Australia to join the California gold rush, and happened to notice similarities in the geology… so on a hunch went back and tried his luck. It worked.
Nutshell version.
Why there is so much Gold in Victoria, specifically around Melbourne is a very interesting study in geology. The gold rush is a colurful part of Australian history but it's just a part. There are also a lot of darker ones what we tend to gloss over and ones we celebrate.
Like most countries that are the result of colonialism.
Australia’s Federation of states took effect on 1 January 1901. The colonies became states.
It had all been discussed in a series of conferences, and with the knowledge, input and acceptance of the British Government.
We don't have an Independence Day. One Prime Minister, Bob Menzies who served 1939 - 1941 and 1949 - 1966 was a devout royalist and held fast to the ties to Britain. While he was in power, there was no chance of cutting ties, or gaining independence. Once he was ousted, change moved very quickly.
BTW, I hope you feel better soon.
You have no idea.
Bob Menzies wasn't ousted. He simply retired at a time of his own choosing. He was so British to his bootstraps that he wanted to call coins of our soon-to-be decimal currency "royals" and "crowns". That idea turned out even back then to be too much for his party colleagues, just as Tony Abbott's reinstatement of knights and dames was too much for his party colleagues.
Gold is used in the jewellery industry as well as for electrical contacts due to the fact that it is a good conductor of electricity and does not oxidise.
Get well soon!
Gold is used in everything Mate. Electronics, was even used to line tin food cans!
It's also non corrosive, therefore many applications! You want to pierce your ears and limit reaction/infection..always gold sleepers.
@@Hochspitz I think you meant non corroding, that is, doesnt ever rust :) corrosive means acidic
The Statute of Westminster was the formal process for independence agreed among the dominions and Britain in a series of imperial conferences in the 1920s and 30s. The UK parliament passed the legislation in 1931 and then it was up to the various dominion parliaments to ratify it (bring it into force).
Australia made it extra complicated by ratifying it in 1942 but backdating the ratification to 1939. In effect it gave Australia diplomatic independence, which was expressed through the alliance with America. This was because Churchill had made it clear Britain could not spare troops for the defence of Australia and the Australian government had to look to America for defence of the continent.
However there were a lot of loose ends that needed more legislation over succeeding decades, generally brought in by Labor governments - separating citizenship from the UK, ending appeals to the highest UK court, etc. The last of these was the Australia Act of 1986.
Australia entered an alliance with the USA in January 1942 with the signing of the Declaration by United Nations (this was when the Allies signed off on the alliance for the duration of the war).
@@RandomStuff-he7lu - That's why it was backdated, among other reasons.
The immediate reason for Australia adopting in the 'Statute of Westminster in 1942 was that without it, Australian sovereignty could be doubted and Australian military captured by the Axis (Germany and Italy) could be regarded as 'mercenaries' and not be treated according to the Geneva Convention on prisoners of war.
In 1914, the Australian government placed our military forces under the control of the British War Office. This resulted in Australian resources being used to support British operations, rather than serving - and protecting - Australian interests. Worst. Decision. Ever. Particularly galling was the our naval forces, including the HMAS Australia, the largest and most powerful vessel in the Pacific, being directed (from Britain) to protect troop convoys and chase down radio stations run by the Germans, rather than seeking battle with the German cruiser squadron and German commerce raiders. The Germans feared the big guns of the HMAS Australia, and the cruiser squadron danced all around the Pacific, trying to keep clear of it. By the time the First Sea Lord realized that the German warships needed to be found and destroyed, they had escaped the Pacific into the South Atlantic, and wiped out a British Naval force sent to destroy it.
Australia became a nation on 1 January 1901 when six British colonies-New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania-united to form the Commonwealth of Australia. This process is known as Federation.
and WA has never forgiven Victoria
Americans came to the 1850's gold rush in Victoria
and eucalypts went back with them!
And in the 1890s in W.A., my Grandfather worked in the office of a gold mining company in Kalgoorlie that had a future U.S.A. President as one of their mining engineers.
@@Michael-r1x5h Am I right to assume Hoover?, apparently he also worked in China as well.
@@overworlder ... and they're very good at surviving in California. I cringe every time I hear about a wildfire there knowing how the lifecycle of the Eucalypts works. :S
Australia became the Commonwealth of Australia New Year's Day 1901, the last convict ship to the United States was in 1776 landed in Virginia
The Reserve Bank of Australia has gold stored in its vault as well as in the Bank of England. “As part of Australia's official reserve assets, the Reserve Bank holds an amount of gold. Including gold that is on loan, the RBA's holdings amount to 80 tonnes, with the full value of these holdings recorded as an asset on the RBA's balance sheet. The RBA's position in gold has not changed since 1997.”
You haven't heard of the Boer Wars? That's something children learn about at school all over the world.
Well, he is American. What do you expect?
@@stefanpajung113 I know. It seems like I'm gradually turning into a troll.
In fact, I didn't expect him to have any knowledge of the Boer Wars.
I'm mean. 😁
The British came up with the 'Concentration Camp' concept in the Boer Wars.
@@Michael-r1x5h Oh yes, I know. It was the then British commander-in-chief in South Africa, Lord Kitchener (later Secretary of State for War), a man of appalling brutality, who coined the term.
@@ClemensKindermann And even his bun, though delicious, did not make up for the concentration camps
I learnt heeps then.
I'm Scottish but I live in Australia.
It's is fucking hard to get here.
Australia was the first country to come into existence by a vote
While this is quite common now... it was groundbreaking in the 1890s as countries had only gained independence by fighting for it
While Australia became independent over time, it was terrified of potential adversaries to the North.
Fort Denison in Sydney was built centuries ago out of fear of the Russian Empire.
Later on, Australia saw what Japan was doing in China for decades.
Australia had a notion of Populate or Perish. We didn't have enough people to seriously claim an entire continent. We wanted an empire like Britain to help ensure our sovereignty and make us feel less scared.
That idea fell apart in February 1942 when the British didn't do squat to regain Singapore, being occupied by Nazi bombing raids. But the Americans needed a new big navy base in the Pacific after losing Pearl Harbor in December 1941. It was a match made in heaven.
Until 26th January, 1949 and the Nationality and Citizenship Act was implemented, Australians were regarded as British citizens and we travelled on British passports. After the 26th January,1949 and the Nationality and Citizenship Act we all became Australians and even had Australian passports.
hence Australia Day on the 26th of Jan.
the first fleet landed on the 18th to the 20th, not the 26th, the colony of NSW and the flag rising was on the 7th of FEB not the 26th, the 26th was the day they renamed Syndey cove and chose it as the first settlement but not the reason.
@@bkeckkAustralia Day was first established in 1935 afaik. So, not for that 1949 stuff…. The first recorded protests against the date were in 1938. Those protests were referred to as a Day Of Mourning.
The wording 'British Subject' was still on Australian passports until the the middle 1960s. (Australian Citizenship status was legislation by a Labor Govt. that lost power shortly after.)
@@bkeckk If that is so, how come the first "Australia Day" on 26 Jan was in the 1930s? Did they see in a crystal ball what would happen in 1949? What utter bulldust. The first day that was called "Australia Day" was in the 1920s, in July!!! The relocation of the fleet from Botany Bay to Port Jackson on 26 Jan 1788 was absolutely the reason it was chosen, in the 1930s when all the states agreed, as Australia Day. We learnt that in primary school. Jan 26 1788 marks the birth of Sydney and NSW but not the birth of Australia. They did the 1949 thing on Jan 26 because it was already Australia Day but they still remained British subjects. Several countries established citizenship in the late 1940s, e.g. Canada in 1947, so that refugees fleeing Europe after WW2 didn't have to become British. All this can be verified in about 2 minutes on google but people choose instead to believe the nonsense people dream up to convince people that Jan 26 is not linked with British settlement.
@@zwieseler Try reading a little more mate you will find the truth if you keep going.
Different states celebrated the 26th for different reasons but it became a FEDERAL PUBLIC HOLIDAY in 1949 instead of a state holiday (federation day in vic/tassy,, Proclamation Day in NSW ect.
This video's timeline starts ~60,000 years too late.
It also misses so of the more important features of Australian history, including the end of the White Australia Policy and the 1967 referendum. It should have referenced the 7 individual pieces of legislation which, over a few decades, gave Australia complete independence from Britain. The last piece of legislation was passed on March 3 1986 (which should have become Australia Day in place of Jan 26).
The thing most people forget about a "Convict" heritage is 17th Century justice. Rapist, Murderers, people who stole even moderate amounts of money. Hung. Those convicts on the most part were petty criminals (people stealing to survive) and political agitators. Which is why America has a moderate aversion to Royalty (They had to fight its last excesses), and Australia has a Heavy Duty aversion to authority, pomp and ceremony. Most of Australia's convicts left as the Industrial Revolution was getting into the swing of things, the Aristocracy was getting into their villain phase, and the gap between the haves, and have nots widened.
Amusingly, its also a time when the Royals had lost most of what was left of their Power, so we don't feel as upset with King, just those in Positions of Power, like Politicians, and Police, and Rich Folk. Probably because Rich Folk bought or became Politicians and used the Police to Export us to the ends of the Earth. Its a nice end, but it was the principle of the annoyance that persists.
Gold was used throughout history mostly because it was decorative, soft, malleable. Thus it was valuable because it was rare, shiny and pretty.
However, recently it have found renewed use in electronics and semiconductor manufacture. It is the 3rd most conductive element, and pretty much the most non-reactive metal.
So both pretty and useful.
Apparently Georgia was started as a penal colony. Convicts were sent to North America as indentured servants. They were indentured servants and got their freedom after serving their time. The Brits then sent their convicts to Australia after the American revolution
Australia (Queensland) did the same to Pacific Islanders that they "blackbirded" to supply free labour in the cane fields.
Yes, Britain had been sending convicts to the American colonies before they were sent to Australia. This is a piece of information that is usually swept under the carpet of American history. Americans don't like the stigma of convicts, whereas Australians who have any convicts in their ancestry wear the fact as a badge of honor because they and their descendants have achieved so much against such strong adversity.
Hope you feel better mate!
In that map they missed a bit, where what is Queensland now, was originally also part of New South Wales.
So was most of the rest of Oz.
@@judithstrachan9399 This is true, I had mistakenly thought there was one point in time, where pretty much all the other state borders where in place however NSW still for some time included what is now QLD, but I cannot find and historic map now that indicates that.
@@judithstrachan9399 Not so. Originally New South Wales only extended westward to about halfway through South Australia. At the time they did not claim all of Australia because the British did not want to upset the French. However the French had their own internal issues at the time. Also they failed to show that New Zealand was claimed as part of New South Wales. They eventually gave it back - the south island first. Cheers
From Chat GPT. I knew it was a thing (Bowen's invovlement and the reign of Victoria) but didn't know the date.
"Queensland became distinct from New South Wales on June 6, 1859, when it was officially separated and became its own colony. Prior to that, Queensland was part of New South Wales, but growing demands for local governance and administration led to its establishment as a separate colony. Queen Victoria granted the separation, and the first governor of Queensland, Sir George Bowen, was appointed to oversee the new colony.
This separation was an important step in Queensland's path to becoming a state of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901."
If you want to know more about the Boer War, watch the movie *Breaker Morant*
"We caught them and we shot them under rule three oh three"
and
"Shoot straight, you bastards"
The map at 4:00 isn't accurate. NSW started off being fully half of Australia and also included NZ. See the wikipedia article on Aus states for animation of how the states changed over time.
Yeah, they just used the same map right through.
this Pom who narrated the video was pretty off with his history.
He also says that the first non convict colony was founded in 1834 in South Australia, while showing a map that says that Western Australia was founded in 1832.
Western Australia wasn’t founded in 1832, it was founded in 1829, but even still, you will notice that 1832 is before 1834, and thus it’s hard for for SA to be the first non-convict colony.
Honestly, this was a pretty vague and sub par video. It gets the general gist, we just kinda slowly drifted independ over time, and there were various complicated little backs and forths, but it misses some on the most important events, as other people in the comments have mentioned, and just instead name drops a bunch of random historical events that don't really have any relation. Also had several weird 'jokes' that were presented so dryly that you'd assume they were just stats he was presenting, which was kinda weird.
Agree.
New Zealand's path to independence was similar but it was never a destination for convict settlement. Unlike Australia our founding is based around an agreement with the local indigenous people, the Maori who, in the Treaty of Waitangi were granted the rights of British citizenship and protection of their lands and treasures. This was not always adhered to, as more settlers arrived greed for land undermined the intent of the treaty which lead to what became known as the land wars. However today the treaty is built into New Zealand law and the Waitangi Tribunal oversees the resoving of land claims and negotiation of settlements.
New Zealand was once described as being more English than England, but things have moved on since then, especially since the UK effectively dumped trade with the Commonwealth to join the EU, something not forgotten. Loyalty to Britain is more sentimental than real and it is generally accepted that Australia and New Zealand will both become republics in time.
Our national celebration is focused around the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi rather than an independence day. I suggest that you look up something on the treaty just for your own interest.
Maori make up a good proportion of NZ 's current population and are active in all aspects of society, having provided several Governors General and senior poltical figures. as well as having access to parliament through the general electoral roll there are several seats in parliament that only Maori can vote for, but they have to choose to be on the Maori roll to do so. With our MMP electoral system people in smaller parties, such as the Maori Party can and do gain representation in government.
Australia had a rebellion to prevent that occurring, so when the the document arrived here in Australia, they ignored it and the squatucracy kept ruling, the document sent stated that the natives were British Citizens and therefore were entitled to the same rights as other British citizens, Bligh had written to London for support, hence the coup.
Federation was Edmund Barton's 'one great thing'. One of the key architects of Australia's Constitution, Barton became the new nation's first Prime Minister at a grand ceremony in Centennial Park, Sydney, on 1 January 1901.
The above is true, although much of the groundwork was done in the late 1800's by Sir Henry Parkes who is known as "The Father of Federation".
@@valiance1030 Yes a bit like John the Baptist who laid the groundwork for Jesus.
It's the Boer war in South Africa, it's Afrikaans for farmer.
Afrikaans is the language ( a Dutch derivative) Afrikaner are the Dutch settlers. There were two "Boer" wars in South Africa, involving quite different states/groups and ideologies....Although both are relatively recent history, you are a classic example of "fused" history which is why Putin can so conveniently "fuse' history.
Lots of places were sent convicts by Britain. For instance Indians in Singapore (the Tamils) were originally convicts sent from British India. But Singaporeans are mostly completely unaware.
The Australian population is still currently 42.19% ethnic British. This percentage was obviously much much higher and is slowly shrinking. This ethnicity is why Australia maintained such strong ties to UK & still does though not as much, not forgetting Australia & UK share a Head of State in King Charles III.
1. the Commonwealth is just a group of nations there was mostly former British colonies. Some are full republics like India, South Africa, Barbados. Some are Constitutional Monarchies such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand.
Mozambique were never part of the British empire and has been accepted in the Commonwealth.
2. Australia became an independent country on the 1st Jan 1901. We got our own Constitution, parliament and judiciary (though appeals to the Privy Council back in the UK remained) The UK still handled international affairs and it is true that Australia still believed in Empire and looked to Britain but that was Australia's choice and policy. That was also a practical situation since Australia was a very new country.
3. Australian parliament ratified the Statue of Westminster (passed in the UK in 1931) in 1942. This gave dominions like Australia equal footing to the UK. Conservatives took power in late 1931and remained in power until 1941 and as the video suggest were against ratifying Statue of Westminster in Australia. Labor took control of government in 1941 and passed the Statue in 1942.
4. The other "independence" date for Australia is March 3 1986. Thats when the Labor government under Bob Hawke passed the Australia Act that removed the last few connections between the Australian parliament and the judiciary had to the UK. For example Australians could appeal to the Privy Council in the UK as a last resort. Now the High Court of Australia (equivalent of the Supreme Court in the US) was the highest and last appellate court in the country.
The Boer war, now Bow. We actually promounce the Rs in South Africa.
Boers are also known as the white Afrikaner (primarily from Dutch ancestry) (people of mixed heritage, or Coloureds, linguistically share Afrikaans as a language and are also called bruin Afrikaner (brown Afrikaners) although not all Coloureds are Afrikaans mother tongue speakers
It's not bow its pronounced boar or bore.
@gsail6600 need to roll the R more, and it's more pronounced than in bore or boar - even when changing from the Afrikaans to the Anglophile pronounciation 🇿🇦
That chart had me dying with laughter, and Ryan is reading it with a deadpan face.😂
Sure thing, we're all convicts, but you guys have the best (biggest) felons.
At least we don't have a convicted criminal running Australia
The US had an Independence war over tea tax or some shit, Australia just slowly became independent, but we are still a commonwealth nation.
In fact, of all the dozens of long-term British colonies, only three did not remain as members of the Commonwealth: the United States, Burma, and Ireland. Even former protectorates such as Jordan, Kuwait, and other Gulf States still have military links with the UK.
@@t.a.k.palfrey3882Ireland was not a colony prior to independence. It was a part of the UK. The Irish Free State was partitioned from the rest of the UK in 1922 with dominion status. It became a republic in 1949 and renamed Ireland.
@@t.a.k.palfrey3882 my point was in reference to why we don't have an independence day, we didn't fight a war or anything like the US
We never thought it was a fight with Great Britain. It was a process after lots of discussion, consideration, and arguing about Free Trade, Protectionism and suffrage until the different Australian colonies agreed to Federate into a nation.
I've mentioned that Britain sent Convicts to North America a few times. They actually sent harder Criminals to 🇺🇸 than the Convicts and their families that were sent to Australia.
You see, Australia needed people to build the Colony from scratch, so they sent those who were stealing due to poverty, many with skills.
N America 🇺🇸 was settled a Century earlier, and there was animosity with the British, so the Brits didn't mind sending rough and dangerous men. 🙃
Including Scots clans after the squashing of the Highland ' rebellion' if I understand correctly . Some were sent over to US as " indentured workers."
We only got fully independent from Britain in 1986.
That is if you discount our current attachment to the English crown.
No, search Australia was independent from 1901. The Australia Act of 1986 tied up some loose ends.
@ Well it was the tying up of the loose ends made us fully independent. Before that the highest court in the land was the Privy Council in London. So no way you could say we were independent in 1901.
@@NeilJR The strange thing is that at a federal level, Australia had been independent since the introduction of the Westminster Act. But at the state level the state parliaments could still appeal to the UK's privy council.
@@Madeline77-e7j people are also ignoring the fact that in 1975 the Queen interfered in our business and helped initiate the dismissal of a duly elected government.
@@NeilJR The Queen did not interfere in Australia's political system in 1975, nor could she constitutionally. (See Palace Letters)
John Kerr dismissed the elected government and called an immediate election because of the looming constitutional crisis. He did not need the monarch's permission to do so because only the GG can exercise the reserve powers. Having been a young adult at the time I though John Kerr was heavy handed in his decision and could have done a better job. He was one of the worst governors-general in Australia's history.
you're funny Ryan!... FREEDOM ISN'T FREE! and you know it!...
wanna test my argument?... Step on the King's toe!... and you'll see how ''free'' Australia is!...
Freedoms just a buck o five
Oh yes, All hail the orange king and his billionaire minions.😉
We just asked politely.
The U.K. was very keen for it to happen sooner than later.
Bo er war, boer were south african Dutch who rebeled against English rule. There were 2 boer wars, that's where we gotta one of our first heroes. Breaker morant(he broke in horses) he was executed by the British by firing squad.
The Federation of Australia was the process by which six British colonies united to form the Commonwealth of Australia on January 1, 1901.
I disagree with some of this. The UK also had protectionist advocates and governments in the 20s and 30s ('imperial preference'), which the video ignores. In fact protectionism in the UK/empire increased for practical reasons as WW2 approached. The Australian economy was also geared to providing the UK with raw materials, wool and food and importing manufactures from the UK. Australia was a major supplier to Britain in both world wars, as were the other dominions. The UK could not survive without those imports and the whole empire worked to make sure the UK got them. All the stuff about the u-boat wars was to protect trade between the UK, the dominions, India and the other colonies, and America. It wasn't a simple matter of going our own ways. That said, in the 1930s the Australian government started clandestinely developing defence industries, which was against the imperial economic model.
In fact as late as 1973 when the UK entered the EEC, it was a major economic shock for Australia as we lost our largest export market.
The Australian constitution came into effect on 1st January 1901.Anzac Day, Australia Day and Queens birthday are all public holidays but 'independence day' is celebrated on New Years day if at all!
Gold is used in many things including laptops and phones.
Don’t worry, the Australian education system is light on historical facts as well. The whole current argument about Australia Day comes to mind.
The Boer War! Australia is a 'Commonwealth Realm'. Not all Commonwealth countries have the Monarchy as Head of State.
True, most Commonwealth countries nowadays are republics.
In those days gold was only used as money but these days it is used in electronics (pcb often have a gold flashing over the pads and a lot of connectors have a gold flash coating)
3rd of March 1986 when the "Australia Act" came into force is when Australia became a sovereign state.
6:25 Boer War, in south africa. Named after Boeren, Dutch for Farmers.
I'm not going to watch this. The level of ignorance in the comments is a sad indictment on our civics education. We have been effectively independent for decades, but the last vestiges of any constitutional ties with the UK were severed by the Australia Acts (passed in the UK and Australia) in 1986 to bring our constitutional arrangements "into conformity with the status of Australia as a sovereign and independent nation". His Majesty the King is shared with the UK, but he holds the separate 'office' of King of Australia. We are no more subordinate to the UK than Canada is subordinate to Australia because we share the King.
Well, your comment would suggest you did watch this, because there weren't that many comments when I watched. (PS pompous whatever)
@Hochspitz I haven't watched the vid. Based on the comments of ignorant no-nothings, confidently stating incorrect things like we're not independent etc., I was just going to be aggravated if I did watch it. My reluctance to watch the vid has nothing to with Ryan and more to do with people making comments below about stuff they genuinely have no idea about.
Maybe you should have. It said a lot of what you said.
@@judithstrachan9399 I left comments below the vid to provide accurate information in the sea of drivel. If I sound annoyed it's because I've heard the usual garbled nonsense a thousand times.
Something that you will find interesting to know. Australia wasn't England's first choice to set up it's penal colony. The US was and the plans were well set for that to proceed. As it happened, the US war of independence broke out in 1776 and the then thirteen American colonies severed their political alliance with Britain. due to that outcome it was then decided that Britain would transport convicts to Australia. Its a little bit of history that neither Americans or Australians know about.
By the time of the American War of Independence about 50,000 convicts had been sent to the American colonies.
We know about the US convicts; its the US that don't! They think its just about their independence, they just aren't taught about it
We were most definitely taught in schools that the reason why Britain made the switch from the US to Australia was due to the severing of ties after the war, so it made the choice for them to switch to transporting them to Australia instead. I'm fairly sure it's more common knowledge in Australia than you think.
@ The First Fleet arrived in Australia 1788. The American War of Independence ended in 1783.
A little known fact is that the Western Australian town of Albany in our southwest was a colony of New South wales for some time, until it was made part of W.A proper. Love it when you find out an interesting fact about OZ, or U.S.A.
The thing i don’t get about the US it fought against the British to abolish racism and yet its a lot more racist then Australia.
Please explain.
No, Americans fought the British because they wanted their freedom. They were being heavily taxed by the British. I think you're getting mixed up with the later American Civil War in the 1860s.
@@brownbess8185 Appropriate @handle that one.
Just prior to 1776 Americans had a higher income than the British.
The Americans were taxed at 1%-1.5%.
The British were taxed at 5%-7.5%.
American taxes climbed significantly after 1776.
The Americans fought the British for two reasons.
1. The British were very close to abolishing the slave trade. The Americans wanted to maintain the slave trade.
2. The British had signed treaties, with the native Americans, guaranteeing land rights. The Americans wanted to expand west.
hey ryan an assie here good arvo
don't encourage him
In the first gold rushes the initial discoveries didn't even have to dig. The gold was just sitting on top of the soil, or in river soils. After the California gold rushes quite a few Americans ended up in Australia, as did Chinese miners. An interesting side note - the first generation of Australian-born children grew up an average 2 cm taller than settlers of the same age from Britain.
You should react to the Gallipoli campaign war and the Vietnam war battle of long tang
Culturally Australia still reflects much of its connection to Britain, though with each generation that is becoming more diluted. Militarily Australia is now much more closely aligned with America; the American military presence in Australia is huge, but as US bases are mostly in remote places most Australians are unaware of this.
We are very much aware that USA military bases in Australia puts a target on our back and clearly America cannot be trusted. MAGA
Australia gained independence on 1 January 1901 but didn't sever ties with the monarchy until the Australia Act of 1986.
Intersting, the Australia ACt is one topic they never covered in school for me, I thought it was Federation and then the eventual phasing out of English Governor Generals and that was it.
Well this opens possibilities, if people keep refusing to accept Jan 1st as the correct date for Australia Day because its already a holiday, then we should make it March 3rd.
We still have the monarchy...
We ended the last of the UK parliament's powers over Australian laws (aka full devolution).
@@Goatcha_M a little history, the first fleet landed on the 18th to the 20th, not the 26th, the colony of NSW and the flag rising was on the 7th of FEB not the 26th, the 26th was the day they renamed Syndey cove and chose it for the first settlement, but not the reason. The reason the 26th is Australia day is because of The Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948 (later called the Australian Citizenship Act 1948) created Australian citizenship and set the rules for how people could become citizens. The government choose the 26th to establish the bill on this day.
@@bkeckkthis was also chosen in consultation with aboriginal people. Australian passports not British etc
Australia severed the final ties with UK parliamentary oversight in 1986, but has not severed ties with the monarchy. King Charles is still our head of state and commander of the armed forces.
As far as skilled migration is concerned, you only need one degree if your job is on the in-demand skills list. More degrees do help, but is not mandatory.
I followed your channel to learn about my own country!
We became a country on January 1st in 1901 when the 6 colonies became the 6 states of Australia along with the Territories
Everybody thinks Australia gained independence 😂😂😂
All of you need to do more reading- specifically about Goff Whitlams attempt to make Australia independent proper and the part UK AND the US played in ensuring that didn’t happen!
It did gain full independence in 1986, before that the UK still had power in the government...the Gough Whitlam incident happened in the 70's and is what led to the Australia Act 1986.
The incident that happened in the 70s was on 11 November1975 on the front steps of the old Parliament house. The phrase that Gough said was: -
"May we say God Save The Queen but nothing will save the Governer General.
I certainly remember this it was the year that I left high school.
And he was wrong, of course.
Also, Kerr was BOUND by The Australian Constitution. Whitlam/ALP couldn’t govern & neither could Fraser/Libs, even with Country Party support. He HAD to declare a double dissolution.
It would have been much better if it could have been done more cordially, but there were terrible decisions & actions on both sides.
@@judithstrachan9399 Yes this. A lot of people on this page are making out like the governer general kicked the Whitlam gov out on the behest of the monarchy who decided they didn't like him and it was some kind of conspiracy. That's not what happened. It was done because it appeared that the government was not able to function adequately to keep Australia running over their term. They didn't have control of the senate which was causing problems at the time with getting bills passed, and there were a number of political missteps and scandals that caused further an erosion of trust. Like it got to the point that when the opposition gained clear control of the senate, Fraser literally said they were going to actively block money bills from going through until a re-election was called. Australia can't function if no money is being allowed to be released for projects and funding and they knew it. Whitlam dug his heels in and went no-way we control the house of representatives so we're going no where no matter what basically. The two sides forced each other into a stalemate that couldn't continue as the money available to the goverment was going to run out. It was the last straw that pretty much forced the hand of the GG although the way it was done was highly controversial. The GG dismissed whitlam and put frazer in his place as a temporary caretaker government just to get the bills through the senate (which his party controlled) until a reelection could be held a short time later, the Australian public themselves decided not to re-elect the ALP by a landslide victory when this occurred. So essentially Whitlam could have potentially won his position back, but everything was such a mess by that point that enough of the public no longer wanted the ALP in that role for another term.
Fun fact:
Back in the day, rum became the most popular form of currency. Until 1800... Major construction (Like Sydney hospital), was paid for, with rum!!
“The Boer War was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and Orange Free State) over the Empire's influence in Southern Africa.” 1899-1902.
That was the 2nd Boer War😉
@ Correct. In the webpage I found, it said the Second Boer War was known as the Boer War.
In reality it was about gold and diamonds that had recently been discovered in South Africa. Both sides wanted to take control of South Africa's resources.
OMG I'm a 72yr old Australian and I remember Miss Carol teaching us about why Philip was sent to invade Australia in 3rd class.
She also taught us English but unfortunately I didn't learn much.
AUSTRALIA DAY FACTS
1. Australia Day does not celebrate Captain Cook or the arrival of the First Fleet arrival. There was no invasion!
2. The so called landing of Captain Cook in Sydney Cove happened on the 28th April 1770 - not on 26th January. Captain Cook simply mapped the East Coast of Australia and collected plant samples, documenting the natural fauna and wildlife.
3. The first fleet arrived in Botany Bay on 18th January, 1788 and consisted of approximately 780 prisoners that didn’t want to be here and 550 crew and guards, hardly an invasion fleet.
The 26th was chosen as Australia Day for a very different and important reason. Australians received their independence from being subject to British Rule and having our own Australian passport and identity.
However, Captain Cook’s landing was included in Australia Day bi-centenary celebrations of 1988 when Sydney-siders decided Captain Cook’s landing should become the focus of the Australia Day commemoration.
Modern Australia doesn’t agree or condone what was done under British governance to the Aborigines and the early settlers, including the Irish and many other cultures around the world. However, it is part of our history, and values were different then. Even with the hard rule of the British, they brought Law and Order, the foundations of a successful country, including medicines and science. However, after the horrors of WW2, we decided to try and fix it. We became our own people, with our own identity. On 26th January 1949, the Australian nationality came into existence when the Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948 was enacted. That was the day we were first called Australians and allowed to travel with Australian passports as Australian citizens, NOT British subjects.
Before that special date, all people living in Australia, including Aborigines, were called ‘British Subjects’ and forced to travel on British passports and fight in British wars.
This is why the 26th of January is the day new Australians receive their citizenship. It is a day which celebrates the implementation of the Nationality of Citizenship Act of 1948 - The Act which gave freedom and protection to the first Australians and gives all Australians, old and new, the right to live under the protection of the “Australian Law”, united as one people and one nation.
HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺
Pity there’s one big fact you got wrong: the reason Phillip landed at Botany Bay to begin with.
Cook sailed straight past Sydney heads & didn’t realise there was a huge natural harbour inside. (Middle head made it look like a fairly small bay.)
I descended from irish convicts . The ones that survived and granted freedom moved into the bush and set up their own business.
Some had grants of farmland!
The search for gold in any country triggere a multitude of industriens and businesses as well as government agencies. Tools, clothing, transportation, health and other community services as well as government monitoring of activities all grow at a rapid rate. Most of the money generared from the gold rush comes from the businesses and services it triggers.
Brisbane was an actual hell hole of a convict settlement. second only to Norfolk Island.
The interesting thing about this is the way it demonstrates that move away from Empire - but also that we were still so embedded in that idea of following a leading nation that all we really did was swap our devotion from UK to USA. It will be fascinating in a hundred years time to see if we really are expressing a deeper sense of independence yet.
I hope so. The trouble with latching onto a powerful nation (whether it be the US or the former British empire) is that they'll always put their own interests first. We don't seem to have learnt from our own history.
Ryan Ryan, gold (and silver and copper) was used as coin currency as well as bullion to back currency.
No mention of exactly how the settlers expanded in from coast to interior, or what they did to the Aboriginal people. A good source to start with on this facet is a book called "Blood on the Wattle".
Jeez! You want an entire history of European invasion of Australia in one tiny video? And Ryan's reaction at the same time?
So when are you coming to Australia?