Why did european settlers want to live in Australia?
Australia was seen as a land that belonged to no one (Terra Nullius), and the European settlers saw the land as an area for expansion and potential residence. Racism was particularly vicious at this point and the Aboriginal rights were disregarded. The settlers saw them as cannibals and slaughtered them if they attempted to defend their families and their land. They burned much of the fauna for property expansion and eventually saw it as a good place to dump all their convicts in. They used the convicts as workers to aid to the development of “New Holland”. Where Captain Cook landed in 1788 is actually just down the road from where I live. And I can totally understand why he chose to construct civilisation there. It’s beautiful.
