Inhabitants of Australia known originally as, Australian Aborigines, have the longest continuous cultural history in the world, with origins dating back to the last Ice age. If one sees the aspects of the Australian prehistory, it is known that the first visitor were from Indonesia about 70,000 years ago. These visitors are called 'Robust' by archaeologists because of their heavy-boned physique, were followed 20,000 years later by the more slender 'Gracile' people, the ancestors of Australian Aborigines.

Europeans began to trespass on Australia in the 16th century: Dutch explorers followed Portuguese navigators and the enterprising English pirate William Dampier. Captain James Cook sailed the entire length of the eastern coast in 1770, stopping at Botany Bay on the way. After rounding Cape York, he claimed the continent for the British and named it New South Wales. European settlement of Australia began in 1788 when a British penal colony was established on the east coast. Captain Arthur Phillip, commanding eleven ships carrying 1,373 people, including 732 convicts successfully landed a full fleet at Botany Bay on January 18, 1788. Later they went to Sydney and settled there. Australia Day is now celebrated on 26 January each year, to commemorate this first fleet landing.

Free settlers began to be attracted to Australia over the next decades, but it was the discovery of gold in the 1850s that changed the face of the colony. Aborigines were ruthlessly pushed off their tribal lands as new settlers took up land for farming or mining. The Industrial Revolution in England required plenty of raw materials, and Australia's agricultural and mineral resources expanded to meet the demand.

Australia became a nation on 1 January 1901,maintaining a very good relationship with U.K. Australian troops fought alongside the British in the Boer War, WWI and WWII. Thus, the USA protected Australia from Japanese invasion during WWII marked the beginning of a shift in allegiance. Australia subsequently followed the USA into both the Korean and Vietnam wars in Asia.

Post WWII immigration brought a flood of European immigrants. In the 1980s, Australia accepted large numbers of Asian refugees, especially from Vietnam. Socially and economically, Australia is still trying to come to terms with its place in Asia. Even though Australia continues its development many Aborigines still live in terrible conditions.