Australia
 

Australia is the smallest, flattest and the driest inhabited continent in the world. Australia was the last continent, apart from Antarctica, to be discovered and explored by Europeans.

The original inhabitants of this place, the Aborigines were the first to arrive in this continent from Asia. They were nomadic hunters and travelled around the country in search of greener pastures.

Much of Australia looks like a desert, and its isolation from other continents explains the strangeness of its plant and animal life.

 

History

The first Europeans came to Australia in the year 1770. In 1779 the British government decided it needed a new penal colony (place to send convicts) as far away as possible from Britain and chose Australia. On the 13th May 1787, a fleet of eleven ships left Britain with two years provision and a cargo of 759 unwilling convicts, their guards, and ships crew numbering - 1530 people in all. They reached Australia on the 18th of January 1788.
Did you know?
* The word Aborigine is derived from Latin and means 'from the beginning'. This is the name given to the native Australians by the Europeans. They prefer to call themselves Koori.
* The Australian aborigines had never seen white people until Captain James Cook landed in Botany Bay in 1770. They were shocked to see these 'white people in their strange clothes'.
 
Fundu Fact
Till the European settlers came to Australia, there were no hoofed animals (cattle, horses, deer etc) in this continent. The Europeans also introduced other animals like the Rabbit, Dingo and the Camel.
Animals
Australia has some of the most unusual animals in the world. The reason is that Australia has been isolated from the rest of the world by vast oceans.

The animals and plants which were originally here had no contact with animals from other parts of the world. They evolved separately. That is why they are so different.