[British explorer James Cook mapped
and
claimed the east coast of Australia for Great Britian,
and the First Fleet of British ships arrived at Sydney
in 1788 to establish the penal colony of New South Wales.
The European population grew in subsequent decades,
and by the end of the 1850s gold rush,
most of the continent had been explored by
European settlers and an additional five
self-governing British colonies established.]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia