In 1770, Lieutenant James Cook, a British explorer who later discovered the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, explored the east coast on his ship known as Endeavor. Under instruction by King George II, he claimed the east coast of Australia on August 22, 1770 and named it “New South …show more content…
By 1823 a supreme court was established under the New South Wales Act 1823, which is now known as Australia’s initial steps towards a “responsible parliament” (“Australian Stories”). In June 1829, Robert Gouger, one founder of South Australia, and Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a British politician, began discussing their proposal for colonizing Australia (Leadbeater, Barry).
According to John Bull’s journal article, the colonization of Southern Australia began in the early 1830’s. A group of men known as the National Colonisation Society, led by Gouger and Wakefield, were eager to begin creating plans to colonize Southern Australia (Bull, John W.). On October 29, 1831, Wakefield presented his first plan for colonizing Australia and in November of 1833, Gouger established the “South Australian Association” in Britain to begin their colonization (Leadbeater, Barry).
In 1835 an Australian explorer, John Batman, signed two treaties purchasing 600,000 acres of land. Shortly after a proclamation was issued stating that no one had owned the land prior to the British colonization (“Australian Stories”). Also in 1835, board members were appointed and the Southern Australian company was formed (Leadbeater,