Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | The International Encyclopedias of Communication |
Editors | Wolfgang Donsbach |
Place of Publication | Oxford |
Publisher | Wiley-Blackwell |
Pages | 270-274 |
Volume | 1 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781405131995 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2008 |
Abstract
European settlement of Australia commenced with the establishment in 1788 of a British penal settlement in what later became the city of Sydney. While Australia was inhabited by an estimated 750,000 Aboriginal people, the continent was claimed as a possession of the British Empire. By the middle of the nineteenth century Australia comprised six internally self‐governing colonies centered on the capitals of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, and Hobart. With federation in 1901 these colonies became States of the Commonwealth of Australia, a constitutional democracy based on a federal division of powers