Term Papers on Australian Immigration And Its Effects

Term Paper Title	Australian Immigration And Its Effects
# of Words	1129
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.52

Australian Immigration and Its Effects

     Australia is an island continent which is geographically isolated from
the rest of the world.  This has resulted in the evolution of many unique plants
and animals and the development of a very fragile ecosystem. This ecosystem has
been influenced by human immigration for many thousands of years.
     The original immigrants were the Aborigines who are thought to have
migrated to Australia from Asia between 50 and 100 thousand years ago.  These
primitive people learned to live in the inhospitable environment of Australia
with very little effect.  Their major environmental impact was from the use of
controlled burning of the land.  Over the years they had learned the benefit of
periodic fires to control pests and to clear debris before it accumulated and
led to large uncontrolled disastrous fires.  This also returned nutrients to the
soil which helped to grow back new vegetation.  Unlike those who followed, the
Aborigines had very little impact on the environment.
     Following the Aborigines, Asian seafarers are believed to have traveled
to Australia to trade on the north shores. Experts are not sure, but they
believe that these seafarers are the ones who first introduced the dingo into
Australia almost 3,500 years ago.  The dingo rapidly became the top predator and
is probably the cause of the disappearance of the Tasmanian wolf and the
Tasmanian devil from Australia. They will hunt down almost anything but they
are not known to attack humans.  They will attack kangaroos, wombats, rabbits,
and even lizards.  After the settlers arrived and the sheep were brought in, the
dingo started to hunt the sheep.  The sheep were much easier for them to get.
As a result of this the sheep grazers built a 3,307 mile long fence to separate
the sheep from the dingo. A $20 US bounty is now placed on the pelt of each
dingo.
     European immigrants did not come to Australia until after April 29, 1770
when captain James Cook landed in Botany Bay and made the first claim for
England on the eastern part of the island.  He called it New South Wales.
     In 1787, England started their first colony in Australia which was a
penal colony since England's prisons were very overcrowded.  That year, on May
13, eleven ships carrying almost 1,500 people, 800 of them convicts, left
England for the new colony.  The ships first landed in Botany Bay on January 18,
1788 but found it unsuitable for a colony.  They then moved north to Port
Jackson, one of the world's best natural harbors.  The settlement was started on
January 26 which is now celebrated every year as Australia day.  The settlement
was later named Sydney after Britain's secretary, Lord Sydney.  Lord Sydney was
responsible for the entire colony.
     The first European immigrants brought with them their livestock, plants,
and traditional ways.  Much of this was not suitable for Australian conditions.
They also brought with them cultural beliefs including the Christian belief that
man was superior to the rest of creation and had the God given right to exploit
nature.
     The Europeans believed that the Aborigines were inferior and refused to
use the knowledge that they had acquired about the environment.  They began a
campaign of genocide with bullets, diseases, and even poison.  With few
Aborigine survivors the practice of periodic burning came to an end.  This led
to many of the plants and animals which had become dependent on this regular
burning to die off.
     Sheep ranching quickly became a major agricultural practice in Australia.
By 1860 over 20,000,000 sheep were grazing and by 1890 there were ov...

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