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AUSTRALIA expedition under Capt. James Cook, who had taken soundings for General Wolfe in the St. Lawrence during the siege of Quebec. This expedition was under the auspices of the English Royal Society, and was equipped for the purpose of taking observations on the transit (June, 1769) of Venus over the solar disc. Australia had its beginnings as a British settlement in 1788, when its coasts were utilized as places of banishment for criminals, Botany Bay being the first penal colony, in what became the colony of New South Wales. The Moreton Bay district in Queensland was settled in 1825, buf the colony was not organized until 1859. Port Philip district, settled in 1835, was erected into the colony of Victoria in 1851. The colony of Western Australia was founded in 1829, and South Australia in 1836. The population, which had been slowly increasing, was rapidly augmented by the influx of immigrants on the discovery of gold in 1-851, and the country entered on a career of continued prosperity.

The Commonwealth. In 1901 the colonies of Australia, including Tasmania, were federated under the crown, somewhat after the fashion of the Dominion of Canada. These comprise New South Wales, which may be said to be the mother colony (area, 310,367 square miles; population 1911, 1,648,448); Victoria, (area 87,884 square miles; population, 1,303,387); Queensland (area, 670,500 square miles; population, 605,813); South Australia (area, 380,070 square miles; population, 408,808); Western Australia (area, 975,920 square miles; population, 282,114); and Tasmania (area, 26,215 square miles; population, 191,211).

The constitution bill was in June, 1898, submitted by means of the referendum to the people and passed upon; while in January, 1899, a^ a conference of premiers held in Melbourne, an agreement was come to on all matters in dispute, the British parliament ratifying the federation measure. The federation of Australia was inaugurated at Sydney, New South Wales, by representatives of the Crown, with Lord Hopetown as the first governor-general, in the summer of 1901. Legislative power is vested in a federal parliament, consisting of the king, a senate and a house of representatives, the king being represented by a governor-general. The constitution provides for a common tariff, for interstate free trade and for a common control over matters of national defense. Each of the colonies retains its own parliament to deal with purely internal affairs. Education in the new commonwealth is compulsory, and under state control and free; while there is no state church. The credit of effecting Australian federation is shared by the Rt. Hon. Geo. H. Reid, P. C., premier of New South Wales, and Sir John Forrest, first premier of Western Australia and president of the federal council of Australasia. New Zealand did not enter the commonwealth, though provision is made for so doing later on, should it desire to become federated with the six colonies of the neighboring continent. Future amendments to the federal constitution are provided for by means of a majority vote of both houses of the Australian parliament, followed by a referendum to the whole people.

. It was only by slow degrees that New South Wales emerged from the status of a convict colony. A good deal of the first rough labor was, however, done by exported criminals, in constructing public buildings, in making roads and in clearing the land. Early in the 19th century some fine breed of sheep was brought to the settlement, and as the pasturage was excellent and the climate favorable, the sheep did well and greatly multiplied. Assisted immigration in time brought numbers, and in 1841 the reception of convicts ceased. In the early fifties a great impulse was given to the colony by the inrush of miners and adventurers owing to the discovery of gold. In 1843 representative government was introduced, and twelve years later responsible rule was fully established, with a parliament consisting of two houses. Finally, education came under state control, and the University of Sydney was founded as the apex of the system,, Technical education is also fostered and subsidized by the government. Sydney, the capital, has a population, including suburbs, of 605,900. The other chief towns are Newcastle, Bathurst, Gouiburn and Parramatta. One third of the people are engaged in agricultural, pastoral and mineral pursuits. Over 40,000 are engaged in the mining of gold, silver, coal, etc. The value of the annual product of gold is nine million dollars. An equal value of silver-lead ore and metal is annually mined. Other exports include coal, hides and skins* leather, wool and meat preserved and frozen. New South Wales is the premier wool-producing colony, taken from the immense numbers of sheep pasturing on the western plains. Only one per cent., as yet, of the land is under cultivation, while twenty-five per cent, is under forest or brush.

, next to New South Wales, is the most densely populated colony in the new commonwealth. The capital is Melbourne, with a population of 591,830, or nearly two-fifths of that of the entire colony. The other chief towns are Bal-larat (44,000), Bendigo or Sandhurst, as it is now called (42,000), and Geelong (28,880). In 1898 the exports of gold (inclusive of specie) amounted to nearly