Australia was a collection of British colonies from 1788 until...

Australia was a collection of British colonies from 1788 until 1901. The first colonies were established as places where criminals were sent to live and work. These were known as convict settlements or penal colonies. Later, colonies were established by free settlers. Colonization in Australia began with the First Fleet in 1788.

The colonisation of this land we now call Australia had a devastating impact on First Nations people, who have lived on this continent for thousands of years.

Disease, dispossession and direct conflict

In 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip and 1,500 convicts, crew, marines, and civilians arrived at what is now called Sydney Cove. In the 10 years that followed, it's estimated that the First Nations population was reduced by 90%.[2]

Three main reasons for this dramatic population decline were the:

The most immediate consequence of colonisation was a wave of epidemic diseases including smallpox, measles and influenza, which spread ahead of the frontier and annihilated many First Nations communities. Governor Phillip reported that smallpox had killed half of the First Nations people in the Sydney region within 14 months of the arrival of the First Fleet

.[3] The sexual abuse and exploitation of First Nations girls and women also introduced venereal disease to First Nations people in epidemic proportions.

“The Government is fast disposing of the land occupied by the natives from time immemorial. In addition to which settlers under the sanction of government may establish themselves in any part of this extensive territory and since the introduction of the numerous flocks and herds … a serious loss has been sustained by the natives without an equivalent being rendered.

Their territory is not only invaded, but their game is driven back, their marnong and other valuable roots are eaten by the white man's sheep and their deprivation, abuse and miseries are daily increasing.”

Colonisation | History Of When Australia Was Colonised (australianstogether.org.au)