Great Britain made a penal colony, besides the scientific exploration ot the continent made by the British and later on, the establishment of other Australian colonies. This period of time goes from 1788 to 1850 and it covers the early colonial period of Australia's history, from the arrival of the first fleet of British ships at Sydney.
It is believed that men had been living in Australia for at least 30000, when this European colonisation created a new dominant society in Australia that would replace the pre-exixting population of Indigenous Australians.