It is doubtful when Australia was first discovered by Europeans. Between 1531 and 1542 the Portuguese published the existence of a land which they called Great Java, and which corresponded to Australia, and probably the first discovery of the country was made by them early in the sixteenth century. The first authenticated discovery is said to have been made in 1601 by a Portuguese named Manoel Godinho de Eredia. In 1606 Torres, a Spaniard, passed through the strait that now bears his name, between New Guinea and Australia. Between this period and 1628 a large portion of the coastline of Australia had been surveyed by various Dutch navigators. In 1664 the continent was named New Holland by the Dutch Government. In 1688 Dampier coasted along part of Australia, and about 1700 explored a part of the W. and N.W. coasts. In 1770 Cook carefully surveyed the E. coast, named a number of localities, and took possession of the country for Britain. He was followed by Bligh in 1789, who carried on a series of observations on the N.E. coast, adding largely to the knowledge already obtained of this new world. Colonists had now arrived on the
soil, and a penal settlement was formed (1788) at Port Jackson. In this way was laid the foundation of the future colony of New South Wales. The Moreton Bay district (Queensland) was settled in 1825; in 1835 the Port Phillip district. In 1851 the latter district was erected into a separate colony under the name of Victoria. Previous to this time the colonies both of Western Australia and of South Australia had been founded—the former in 1829, the latter in 1836. The latest of the colonies is Queensland, which dates from 1859. The discovery of gold in abundance took place in 1851 and caused an immense excitement and great influx of immigrants. The population was then only about 350,000, and was slowly increasing; but the discovery of the precious metal started the country on that career of prosperity which has since been almost uninterrupted. Convicts were long sent to Australia from the mother country, but transportation to New South Wales practically ceased in 1840, and the last convict vessel to W. Australia arrived in 1868. Altogether about 70,000 convicts were landed in Australia (besides almost as many in Tasmania).
The record of interior exploration forms an interesting part of Australian history. This has been going on since early last century, and is as yet far from complete. There is still a large area of the continent of which little or nothing is known, comprising especially a vast territory belonging to Western Australia, and a portion of South Australia. Among the men who have won fame in the field of Australian exploration are Oxley (1817-23), who partly explored the Lachlan and Macquarie, discovered the Brisbane, &c.; Hume and Hovell (1824), who crossed what is now the colony of Victoria from north to south; Cunningham (1827), who discovered the Darling Downs; Sturt (1828-9), who examined the Macquarie, part of the Darling, and the Murrumbidgee, which he traced to the Murray, sailing down the latter to Lake Alexandrina; in 1844 he penetrated to near the middle of the continent from the south; Mitchell (1831-6) made extensive explorations in New South Wales and Victoria; M‘Millan (1839) explored and traversed Gippsland; Eyre (1840) travelled by the coast from Adelaide to King George's Sound; Leichhardt in 1844-5 travelled from Brisbane to Port Essington, discovering fine tracts of territory and the numerous rivers flowing into the Gulf of Carpentaria; in 1848 he was lost in the northern interior, in attempting to cross Australia from east to west, and nothing further regarding his fate has been discovered; Kennedy (1848) was killed in exploring Cape York Peninsula; A. C. Gregory (1855-6) explored part of North-Western Australia, and crossed from that to the Brisbane district, an important exploring journey; M‘Douall Stuart (1859-60-2) crossed the continent from south to north and back again nearly in the line of the present overland telegraph; Burke, Wills, Gray, and King (1860-1) crossed from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria, but Burke, Wills, and Gray perished on the return journey; F. T. Gregory (1861) explored the region of the Ashburton, Fortescue, and other rivers of North-West Australia; Warburton (1873) travelled with camels from the centre of the continent to the north-west coast; J. Forrest (1874) made an important journey in Western Australia; Giles (1874-6) explored Central Western Australia; Favenc (1878-9) travelled from Brisbane to Port Darwin; A. Forrest (1879) explored part of Northern Australia; Mills (1883) traversed with camels a considerable stretch of new ground in Western Australia; Winnicke (1883-4), also with camels, explored and mapped about 40,000 sq. miles of the unknown interior; Lindsay (1885-6) travelled north-west from Lake Eyre, and then north-east to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Among subsequent explorations mention may be made of Carnegie's eight months' journeyings in W. Australia (1896-7). (See articles on the separate colonies.)—Bibliography: Wall, Physical Geography of Australia; Aflalo, Natural History of Australia; T. A. Coghlan, A Statistical Account of the Seven Colonies of Australasia (Sydney); G. W. Rusden, History of Australia.
Austra´lioids, one of the five groups into which Professor Huxley classifies man, comprising the indigenous non-Aryan inhabitants of Central and Southern India, the ancient Egyptians and their descendants, and the modern Fellahs.
Austria, or German Austria, a republic formed out of the fragments of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. The republic was proclaimed on 12th Nov., 1918, and the government was taken in hand by the National Constitutional Assembly. The new republic, the frontiers of which were provisionally defined by the treaty of St. Germain (q.v.), includes Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Salzburg, and parts of Styria, Carinthia, Tyrol, and Vorarlberg, some districts having been assigned to Yugo-Slavia and Italy. German Austria now has an area of 30,716 sq. miles, and a pop. of 6,130,197.
Austria-Hungary (in Ger. Oesterreich, that is, Eastern Empire), previous to the changes resulting from the European War (1914-18), a Central European monarchy, inhabited by several nationalities, and consisting of the Austrian Empire, the Hungarian monarchy, and the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina annexed by Austria on 5th Oct., 1908. The States had together a total area of about 261,242 sq. miles, and were bounded S. by Turkey, the Adriatic, and Italy; W. by Switzerland, Bavaria, and
Saxony; N. by Prussia and Russian Poland; and E. by Russia and Roumania. On 12th Nov., 1918, the German-Austrian Republic was proclaimed, and the government was taken in hand by the National Constitutional Assembly. The account given in the following pages applies to the countries only as they existed before the end of the European War.
The population of Austria proper in 1913 was estimated at 29,193,293.
The prevailing character of the Austrian dominions is mountainous or hilly, the plains not occupying more than a fifth part of the whole surface. The loftiest ranges belong to the Alps, and are found in Styria, Salzburg, and Carinthia, the highest summits being the Ortlerspitzen (12,814 feet) on the western boundary of Tyrol, and the Grossglockner (12,300 feet) on the borders of Salzburg, Tyrol, and Carinthia. Another great range is that of the Carpathians. The chief rivers are the Danube, with its tributaries, and the Dniester. The Danube is navigable for pretty large vessels; the tributaries also are largely navigable. The lakes are numerous and often picturesque, the chief being Lake Balaton or the Plattensee. The climate is exceedingly varied, but generally good. The principal products of the north are wheat, barley, oats, and rye; in the centre vines and maize are added; and in the south olives and various fruits. The cereals grow to perfection, other crops being hops, tobacco, flax, and hemp. Sheep and cattle are largely reared.—Wild deer, wild swine, chamois, foxes, lynxes, and a species of small black bear are found in many districts, the fox and lynx being particularly abundant.—In mineral productions Austria is very rich, possessing, with the exception of platinum, all the useful metals, the total annual value of the mineral products of Austria being estimated at upwards of £15,000,000, the principal being coal, salt, and iron.
Before the European War, manufactures were in the most flourishing condition in Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, and Lower Austria; less so in the eastern provinces, and insignificant in Dalmatia, Bukowina, Herzegovina, &c. Among the most important manufactures were those of machinery and metal goods, Austria holding a high place for the manufacture of musical and scientific instruments, gold and silver plate and jewellery; of stone and china-ware and of glass, which is one of the oldest and most highly-developed industries in Austria; of chemicals; of sugar from beet; of beer, spirits, &c.; and especially the manufactures of wool, cotton, hemp, and flax.