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42 - Story Of The World- A Simple History For Boys And Girls by Elizabeth O'Neill · Story Of The World- A Simple History For Boys And Girls

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  Speaker 1: Chapter forty two of the Story of the World A
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  Speaker 1: Simple History for Boys and Girls. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit libriyvox dot org. Read
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  Speaker 1: by Victor Sheremet. The Story of the World A Simple
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  Speaker 1: History for Boys and Girls by Elizabeth O'Neill, Chapter forty two,
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  Speaker 1: sectioned Australasia. One strange result of the American War of
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  Speaker 1: Independence was the founding of colonies in the Great Continent,
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  Speaker 1: at the opposite side of the world from Great Britain, Australia.
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  Speaker 1: Before that time, men who had committed crimes in England
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  Speaker 1: had been practically sold to the American colonists, who made
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  Speaker 1: them work on their plantations. After the war, this could
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  Speaker 1: not be done any longer, and so when the discoveries
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  Speaker 1: of Captain Cook were making people think of Australia, it
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  Speaker 1: was thought a good thing to send the convicts out
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  Speaker 1: there as colonists. In this way, it happened that in
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  Speaker 1: March seventeen eighty seven, nine ships set out for Australia,
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  Speaker 1: carrying a large number of men who had broken the
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  Speaker 1: laws of England. It was a continent that for hundreds
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  Speaker 1: of years had been called the Southern Land or Australia,
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  Speaker 1: or men who came to know in one way or
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  Speaker 1: another that such a land existed thought it stretched to
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  Speaker 1: the South Pole. The Chinese knew of it in the
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  Speaker 1: thirteenth century, when several men are supposed to have discovered
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  Speaker 1: it three centuries later. But the first discoverers about whom
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  Speaker 1: we can be sure were Dutchman, who in the seventeenth
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  Speaker 1: century sailed along the west coast the Torres. A Spaniard
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  Speaker 1: sailed through the sea which separates Australia on the north
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  Speaker 1: from New Guinea, and he may have seen the country,
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  Speaker 1: and the water is now called Torres Strait after him.
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  Speaker 1: The dutch Man sailed from an island not far from
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  Speaker 1: Australia called Java, and it was Abel Tasman who, sailing
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  Speaker 1: from there, discovered the island of Tasmania in sixteen forty two.
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  Speaker 1: The first Englishman to visit Australia was William Dampierre, who
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  Speaker 1: reached it in sixteen eighty eight. He went there again
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  Speaker 1: in sixteen ninety nine and taught it a very poor country,
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  Speaker 1: with little growing on the land and only one kind
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  Speaker 1: of animal. This from his description is now known owned
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  Speaker 1: to have been the Kangaroo. The man who found out
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  Speaker 1: most about Australia was Captain Cook, who sailed out to
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  Speaker 1: make discoveries about the star which is called Venus. In
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  Speaker 1: October seventeen sixty nine. He saw the land which is
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  Speaker 1: now called New Zealand, and he called the water in
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  Speaker 1: which the ship stopped Poverty Bay, because the people who
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  Speaker 1: lived there would not help him in any way and
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  Speaker 1: were very quick to attack him. He sailed on and
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  Speaker 1: came to the east coast of Australia in April seventeen seventy.
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  Speaker 1: He made the ship stop in a little bay which
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  Speaker 1: lies very near where the large town Sydney now stands.
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  Speaker 1: He called the bay Botany Bay because there were so
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  Speaker 1: many strange plants and flowers there. But what struck him
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  Speaker 1: most was the strangeness of the natives. When the ship
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  Speaker 1: sailed into the bay and the number of them were
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  Speaker 1: cooking their food at a fire, but they took no
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  Speaker 1: notice of the ship. They didn't seem to look even
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  Speaker 1: when the ship let down the anchor with a great noise.
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  Speaker 1: But when the captain tried to set foot on the shore,
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  Speaker 1: some of them stood up and threatened him with their spears.
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  Speaker 1: Even when one of the natives was shot in the
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  Speaker 1: leg for throwing a stone, they seemed not to be afraid.
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  Speaker 1: And it was with great difficulty that Captain Cook and
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  Speaker 1: his men could land, but they did so several times,
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  Speaker 1: and before sailing away they hoisted the Union Jack to
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  Speaker 1: show that the land in future belonged to Great Britain.
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  Speaker 1: Captain Cook sailed slowly along the coast towards the north,
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  Speaker 1: and he called it New South Wales, as he thought
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  Speaker 1: it looked like the coast of Wales. He sailed to
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  Speaker 1: Cape York, the point of Australia, which is farthest north,
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  Speaker 1: and again he hoisted the Union Jack before sailing away
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  Speaker 1: to England. He was later sent out to Australia again,
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  Speaker 1: and this time he visited Tasmania as well as New Zealand,
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  Speaker 1: and he was making discoveries in another part of the
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  Speaker 1: ocean when the savage natives of a small island killed him.
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  Speaker 1: Brave and clever as Captain Cook was, he never forgot
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  Speaker 1: to be kind and thoughtful about his sailors. It was
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  Speaker 1: other Englishmen who told the world all about the coasts
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  Speaker 1: of Australia, but the land within was not known for
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  Speaker 1: many years. Captain Flinders sailed around Australia in eighteen o six,
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  Speaker 1: and in eighteen thirty one a ship named the Beagle
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  Speaker 1: left England with a man on board whose name will
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  Speaker 1: never be forgotten. Charles dr Vin, was sent out on
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  Speaker 1: this voyage to find out all he could about the rocks,
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  Speaker 1: plants and animals of the countries they visited. And it
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  Speaker 1: was this voyage that began the work which has helped
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  Speaker 1: people to understand more about how the first man came
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  Speaker 1: to be born on earth, and has led them to
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  Speaker 1: think that man is only the highest of an immense
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  Speaker 1: number of animals, which, little by little, in one way
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  Speaker 1: or another, have grown more powerful and cleverer until the
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  Speaker 1: highest was born. But it is more important for the
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  Speaker 1: present to point out that Darwin in the Beagle, went
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  Speaker 1: round Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania, examined the coasts very carefully,
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  Speaker 1: and wrote down what was found out the first colonists
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  Speaker 1: in Australia. But before for these many things had happened
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  Speaker 1: in Australia. The first colonists consisted of five hundred sixty
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  Speaker 1: four men and one hundred ninety two women, convicts and
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  Speaker 1: about two hundred soldiers. They landed in Botany Bay, but
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  Speaker 1: Captain Philip, who was the head of colony, didn't find
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  Speaker 1: it a good place to live in, so he moved
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  Speaker 1: the settlement to Port Jackson, near Sydney. They had brought
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  Speaker 1: with them cows, horses, sheep, pigs, goats and fowls, as
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  Speaker 1: well as plenty of seed to sow and farming tools,
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  Speaker 1: but at first they found it very hard to make
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  Speaker 1: things grow, and many more convicts came, and many years
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  Speaker 1: passed before they found out how to till the land
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  Speaker 1: and settle down in comfort. In seventeen ninety three, people
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  Speaker 1: who were not convicts began to go to New South
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  Speaker 1: Wales and they were given land and food. Soon the
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  Speaker 1: town of Sydney began to grow, and by the beginning
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  Speaker 1: of the nineteenth century it had already schoosed churches, a
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  Speaker 1: newspaper and the theater. A few miles inland from Sydney
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  Speaker 1: is a range of mountains, and for a long time
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  Speaker 1: these prevented men from trying to find out what lay
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  Speaker 1: farther inland. But under Captain mcquarie, who became governor in
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  Speaker 1: eighteen o nine, a track was opened over the mountains,
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  Speaker 1: and this led to the discovery of fertile pasture land beyond.
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  Speaker 1: An army officer soon showed that sheep could be reared there,
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  Speaker 1: and settlers flocked to the new lands. Other parts of
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  Speaker 1: Australia were now being turned into convict settlements. Queensland to
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  Speaker 1: the north, Victoria to the south, and Western Australia were
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  Speaker 1: all colonized by convicts, and all had, in consequence at
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  Speaker 1: some time to fight against one great peril. The way
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  Speaker 1: in which the first convict settlements were governed was unlike
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  Speaker 1: an ordinary colony. The men during the day would work
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  Speaker 1: in the open air building houses, tiling the fields and
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  Speaker 1: watching the sheep. Then a night they would be brought
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  Speaker 1: back before dark to lie in a sort of barracks,
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  Speaker 1: guarded by soldiers through the long hot nights until the
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  Speaker 1: cool morning came. Sometimes convicts who had behaved well for
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  Speaker 1: a time were lent to a farmer or shepherd, and
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  Speaker 1: then they would have more freedom. They would work very
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  Speaker 1: much like any farm laborer, although sometimes they were very
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  Speaker 1: ill treated by the farmers who were set over them.
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  Speaker 1: In any case, life was very dreary and hopeless, and
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  Speaker 1: while it was difficult to escape from the prisons. In
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  Speaker 1: the towns, it was almost easy to run away from
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  Speaker 1: a farm, especially by stealing a horse, so in time
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  Speaker 1: many of these men escaped. Some of them had been
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  Speaker 1: treated very cruelly and they meant to have revenge. All
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  Speaker 1: of them were breaking the law by running away and
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  Speaker 1: knowing that they would be punished if they were taken again,
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  Speaker 1: For there were brutal things done to convicts in those days,
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  Speaker 1: and especially in places far from England. They didn't care
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  Speaker 1: how cruel they were themselves. Sometimes they would bend together
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  Speaker 1: and then march to a lonely farmhouse, where they would
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  Speaker 1: steal everything valuable and shoot anyone who resisted. Very often
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  Speaker 1: they shot people just for amusement. At times, they would
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  Speaker 1: wait till a number of travelers were on their way
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  Speaker 1: to a large town. Suddenly, when the coach had reached
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  Speaker 1: a lonely spot, they would appear, and while some of
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  Speaker 1: them stood outside holding loaded revolvers, others would take from
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  Speaker 1: the travelers everything they had. Naturally, the free settlers and
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  Speaker 1: those convicts who had finished their imprisonment and wished to
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  Speaker 1: start afresh try to catch those robbers who were called
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  Speaker 1: bush rangers because they lived among the bushes and trees
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  Speaker 1: which grew not far from their settlements, and which had
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  Speaker 1: to be removed when men wanted to till the land,
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  Speaker 1: but it was not easy. Often the bushrangers paid men
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  Speaker 1: in the towns to let them know when they were
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  Speaker 1: to be attacked, and there were many good hiding places
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  Speaker 1: in the interior of the country which it was difficult
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  Speaker 1: to find, and out of which it was very difficult
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  Speaker 1: indeed to get even one or two men if they
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  Speaker 1: had guns. It was much worse after eighteen fifty one,
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  Speaker 1: when gold was first found in Australia, men flucked out
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  Speaker 1: from England and great quantities of gold were taken from
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  Speaker 1: the mines. When this was found near small settlements, it
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  Speaker 1: was kept until there was a very large quantity, and
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  Speaker 1: then it was sent to the nearest large town. Men
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  Speaker 1: would go with it to protect it. But this didn't
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  Speaker 1: prevent the bush rangers waiting until the gold train had
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  Speaker 1: reached some suitable place, when they would suddenly shoot a
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  Speaker 1: number of the men and force the rest to let
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  Speaker 1: them take the gold. Sometimes they were daring enough to
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  Speaker 1: march into a town and attack the bank. One very
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  Speaker 1: famous bushranger was called ned Kelly. His brother Daniel had
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  Speaker 1: stolen a horse in Victoria, and when the policeman came
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  Speaker 1: to take him, Ned shot at one and wounded him.
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  Speaker 1: Then he had to run away. He was joined by
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  Speaker 1: other bad men, and though eight thousand pounds was offered
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  Speaker 1: to any one who would take the men, they were
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  Speaker 1: not taken for two years. They were at length traced
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  Speaker 1: to a wooden hut in June eighteen eighty and the
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  Speaker 1: police surrounded it. All but Kelly was shot, and he
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  Speaker 1: was taken and hanged. This was the last of the
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  Speaker 1: bush Rangers, but it is strange to think that they
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  Speaker 1: could still exist when Australia had grown so active and
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  Speaker 1: so rich, and when people who are still young were alive.
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  Speaker 1: Long before the death of Ned Kelly, Australia had begun
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  Speaker 1: to settle down into the condition in which it is
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  Speaker 1: known today. At first New South Wales included not only
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  Speaker 1: the whole of Australia, but also New Zealand and the
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  Speaker 1: islands near But before eighteen forty South Australia, West Australia,
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  Speaker 1: Tasmania and New Zealand were cut off, and before eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty New South Wales had become almost exactly what it
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  Speaker 1: is today. Queensland was the last to be treated as
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  Speaker 1: a colony. West Australia was the colony to which the
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  Speaker 1: last convicts were sent, and it was not until eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty eight that transportation was stopped. Even Tasmania had for
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  Speaker 1: many years secured the right to be treated as a
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  Speaker 1: colony and not as a convict settlement. By the year
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  Speaker 1: eighteen fifty six, New South Wales, the oldest colony, had
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  Speaker 1: become a large and rich settlement. In eighteen fifty a
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  Speaker 1: university was opened in Sydney, and four years later the
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  Speaker 1: first railway was finished and in use. The settlers now
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  Speaker 1: wished to choose a parliament from among themselves and to
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  Speaker 1: rule themselves, and in eighteen fifty six this was agreed
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  Speaker 1: to by the Parliament of Great Britain. Each of the
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  Speaker 1: other colonies had grown in the same way. Small settlement
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  Speaker 1: was formed than by the industry of the settlers, most
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  Speaker 1: of them convicts. The settlement began to grow. Soon towns
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  Speaker 1: were made in other parts of the colony, and then
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  Speaker 1: the colony was treated as separate from the parent New
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  Speaker 1: South Wales. The colony grew still larger and richer. More
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  Speaker 1: free settlers came and at length it was thought great
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  Speaker 1: enough to rule itself. But Australia has not ground without
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  Speaker 1: its troubles. The discovery of gold increased the number of
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  Speaker 1: free settlers to an enormous extent, and the new colonists
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  Speaker 1: were bold and independent men who had respect for themselves
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  Speaker 1: and for little else. This made the colonies democratic, and
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  Speaker 1: it caused the bitter struggles between the early colonists, who
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  Speaker 1: now owned a great part of the land, and the
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  Speaker 1: more democratic, who thought that the land should be owned
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  Speaker 1: by as many as possible. It also did a good
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  Speaker 1: deal to bring nearer the struggle between those who work
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  Speaker 1: and those who employ, which has resulted in the victory
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  Speaker 1: of the workers. When the colonies were all large and rich,
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  Speaker 1: many men began to feel that they ought to join together,
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  Speaker 1: like the provinces of Canada, each colony making laws for
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  Speaker 1: things which concerned itself, but the colonies together making laws
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  Speaker 1: for other things. For some years men talked about the
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  Speaker 1: new idea, but some people felt so strongly against it
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  Speaker 1: that it could not be brought to pass. At length.
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  Speaker 1: In nineteen hundred it was agreed to, and on fair
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  Speaker 1: first January nineteen o one, the Commonwealth of Australia commenced
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  Speaker 1: to exist. It has passed some wise laws, one of
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  Speaker 1: them being that every man is bound to be trained
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  Speaker 1: as a soldier, so that if necessary, he will be
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  Speaker 1: able to fight for his country. The Commonwealth of Australia
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  Speaker 1: is very loyal. Its soldiers fought side by side with
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  Speaker 1: the British at Khartoum and in South Africa, and it
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  Speaker 1: has recently helped and providing ships for the Fleet New Zealand.
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  Speaker 1: On his last voyage, Captain Cook hoisted the Union Jack
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  Speaker 1: in New Zealand, but Great Britain didn't take the country,
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  Speaker 1: and explorers belonging to other nations visited the islands. Then,
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  Speaker 1: in eighteen fourteen came Samuel Marsden and a number of
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  Speaker 1: English missionaries, and although they taught Christianity to the natives
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  Speaker 1: and in this way persuaded the different tribes to remain
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  Speaker 1: at peace with each other, still Great Britain would not
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  Speaker 1: look on New Zealand as an English colony. It was
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  Speaker 1: not until January eighteen forty, when the British government came
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  Speaker 1: to know that France intended to colonize the islands, that
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  Speaker 1: an officer of the British Navy was told to go
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  Speaker 1: to New Zealand and take possession of them. The French
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  Speaker 1: settlers arrived a few months later, but as the land
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  Speaker 1: now belonged to Great Britain, they became British subjects. The Maoris,
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  Speaker 1: as the natives are called, are not like the natives
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  Speaker 1: of Australia. Tall and strongly built, they have a brown
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  Speaker 1: complexion and tattoo their bodies and strange patterns. But they
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  Speaker 1: are very intelligent, and in the early years of the
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  Speaker 1: first colonists they were many struggles with them. Their courage
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  Speaker 1: was extraordinary, and as they had good guns, it took
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  Speaker 1: years of fighting to make them understand that the white
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  Speaker 1: men had come to the islands to stay, and that
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  Speaker 1: they meant to be the rulers. Most of the fighting
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  Speaker 1: went on in the North Island. The Maori's favorite way
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  Speaker 1: of fighting was to build a stockade, a sort of
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  Speaker 1: very strong fans, behind which they dug pits for the
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  Speaker 1: men to shoot from. Sometimes great numbers of white men
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  Speaker 1: would be killed before the Maoris could be driven from
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  Speaker 1: the stockade. Some of them hated Christianity as well as
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  Speaker 1: hating the foreigners, and so they fought with great fairness,
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  Speaker 1: but others some of them brave chiefs fought for the English.
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  Speaker 1: Although the first settlers had arrived in New Zealand in
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  Speaker 1: Ais eighteen fourteen, it was not until eighteen seventy that
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  Speaker 1: the Maoris were finally concurred. But meanwhile many changes had
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  Speaker 1: taken place. Nine separate colonies had been founded in New Zealand,
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  Speaker 1: and each had its own way of government, and they
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  Speaker 1: had little to do with one another. The colony was
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  Speaker 1: allowed to govern itself in eighteen fifty two, but for
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  Speaker 1: years there were struggles between the New Zealand government and
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  Speaker 1: the councils, which ruled the nine separate states at length.
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  Speaker 1: In eighteen seventy six, the states were abolished, and New
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  Speaker 1: Zealand has since been a single colony. It has grown steadily.
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  Speaker 1: The land is very good for rearing sheep, and so
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  Speaker 1: much of it has been divided up into strips for
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  Speaker 1: sheep farming. Gold was discovered in eighteen fifty three and
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  Speaker 1: is brought to the colony great numbers of men who
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  Speaker 1: wanted to get rich quickly. Railways and telegraphs soon began
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  Speaker 1: to appear. Good roads were made, and men were encouraged
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  Speaker 1: to leave England and settle in New Zealand. Like the Australians,
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  Speaker 1: the men who live in New Zealand are very loyal
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  Speaker 1: to Great Britain, and men that were very eager to
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  Speaker 1: go out to South Africa to help the British army
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  Speaker 1: in the war. Like the Australians too, they have added
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  Speaker 1: to the ships of the Navy. The people of New
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  Speaker 1: Zealand like the Maories now and they get on very
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  Speaker 1: well together. The population has grown steadily, and New Zealand
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  Speaker 1: is now a rich, prosperous country, well governed and in peace.
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  Speaker 1: And of Chapter forty two