Editing History of Australia (section)

===Exploration of the continent===
{{main|European exploration of Australia}}
[[File:Flinders prepares to circumnavigate Terra Australis.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|''Flinders prepares to circumnavigate Terra Australis'', July 1802]]

In 1798–99 [[George Bass]] and [[Matthew Flinders]] set out from Sydney in a sloop and circumnavigated [[Tasmania]], thus proving it to be an island.<ref name="ReferenceA3">{{cite book|last=Macrae|first=Keith|title=Biography – George Bass – Australian Dictionary of Biography|publisher=Adbonline.anu.edu.au|chapter=Bass, George (1771–1803)|access-date=14 July 2011|chapter-url=http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A010062b.htm}}</ref> In 1801–02 Matthew Flinders in {{HMS|Investigator|1801|6}} led the first circumnavigation of Australia. Aboard ship was the Aboriginal explorer [[Bungaree]], who became the first person born on the Australian continent to circumnavigate it.<ref name="ReferenceA3" />

[[File:Flinders01.jpg|left|thumb|[[Matthew Flinders]] led the first successful circumnavigation of Australia in 1801–02.]]

In 1798, the former convict John Wilson and two companions crossed the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, in an expedition ordered by Governor Hunter. Hunter suppressed news of the feat for fear that it would encourage convicts to abscond from the settlement. In 1813, [[Gregory Blaxland]], [[William Lawson (explorer)|William Lawson]] and [[William Wentworth]] crossed the mountains by a different route and a road was soon built to the [[Central Tablelands]].<ref>Karskens, Grace (2013). pp. 102, 108, 116</ref>

In 1824, [[Hamilton Hume]] and [[William Hovell]] led an expedition to find new grazing land in the south of the colony, and also to find out where New South Wales' western rivers flowed. Over 16 weeks in 1824–25, they journeyed to Port Phillip and back. They discovered the [[Murray River]] (which they named the ''Hume'') and many of its tributaries, and good agricultural and grazing lands.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hume|first=Stuart H.|title=Biography – Hamilton Hume – Australian Dictionary of Biography|date=17 August 1960|publisher=Adbonline.anu.edu.au|chapter=Hume, Hamilton (1797–1873)|access-date=14 July 2011|chapter-url=http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A010527b.htm?hilite=hume%3Band%3Bhovell}}</ref>

[[Charles Sturt]] led an expedition along the [[Macquarie River]] in 1828 and discovered the [[Darling River]]. Leading a second expedition in 1829, Sturt followed the [[Murrumbidgee River]] into the Murray River. His party then followed this river to its junction with the [[Darling River]]. Sturt continued down river on to [[Lake Alexandrina (South Australia)|Lake Alexandrina]], where the Murray meets the sea in South Australia.<ref>{{cite book|author=H.J. Gibbney|title=Biography – Charles Sturt – Australian Dictionary of Biography|publisher=Adbonline.anu.edu.au|chapter=Sturt, Charles (1795–1869)|access-date=14 July 2011|chapter-url=http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020458b.htm}}</ref>

Surveyor General Sir [[Thomas Mitchell (explorer)|Thomas Mitchell]] conducted a series of expeditions from the 1830s to follow up these previous expeditions. Mitchell employed three Aboriginal guides and recorded many Aboriginal place names. He also recorded a violent encounter with traditional owners on the Murray in 1836 in which his men pursued them, "shooting as many as they could."<ref>Macintyre (2020). pp. 64–65</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=D.W.A. Baker|title=Biography – Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell – Australian Dictionary of Biography|publisher=Adbonline.anu.edu.au|chapter=Mitchell, Sir Thomas Livingstone (1792–1855)|access-date=14 July 2011|chapter-url=http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020206b.htm?hilite=thomas%3Bmitchell}}</ref>

The Polish scientist and explorer Count [[Paul Edmund Strzelecki]] conducted surveying work in the [[Australian Alps]] in 1839 and, led by two Aboriginal guides, became the first European to ascend Australia's highest peak, which he named [[Mount Kosciuszko]] in honour of the Polish patriot [[Tadeusz Kościuszko]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Heney|first=Helen|title=Biography – Sir Paul Edmund de Strzelecki – Australian Dictionary of Biography|publisher=Adbonline.anu.edu.au|chapter=Strzelecki, Sir Paul Edmund de (1797–1873)|access-date=14 July 2011|chapter-url=http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020457b.htm}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=11 June 2021|title=Paul Edmund de Strzelecki|url=https://australian.museum/about/history/exhibitions/trailblazers/paul-edmund-de-strzelecki/|access-date=22 July 2021|website=Australian Museum}}</ref>

[[File:John Longstaff - Arrival of Burke, Wills and King, 1861 (digitally modified).jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[John Longstaff]], ''Arrival of Burke, Wills and King at the deserted camp at Cooper's Creek, Sunday evening, 21 April 1861'']]

The German scientist [[Ludwig Leichhardt]] led three expeditions in northern Australia in the 1840s, sometimes with the help of Aboriginal guides. He and his party disappeared in 1848 while attempting to cross the continent from east to west.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Gascoigne|first1=John|title=The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I|last2=Maroske|first2=Sara|year=2013|pages=444, 449|chapter=Science and technology}}</ref> [[Edmund Kennedy]] led an expedition into what is now far-western Queensland in 1847 before being speared by Aboriginals in the Cape York Peninsula in 1848.<ref>Macintyre (2020). p. 109</ref>

In 1860, [[Burke and Wills]] led the first south–north crossing of the continent from Melbourne to the [[Gulf of Carpentaria]]. Lacking bushcraft and unwilling to learn from the local Aboriginal people, Burke and Wills died in 1861, having returned from the Gulf to their rendezvous point at [[Cooper Creek|Coopers Creek]] only to discover the rest of their party had departed the location only a matter of hours previously. They became tragic heroes to the European settlers, their funeral attracting a crowd of more than 50,000 and their story inspiring numerous books, artworks, films and representations in popular culture.<ref>Macintyre (2020). pp. 109–10</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=McDonald|first=John|title=Art of Australia, Volume I, exploration to Federation|publisher=Pan Macmillan|year=2008|isbn=9781405038690|location=Sydney|pages=271–80}}</ref>

In 1862, [[John McDouall Stuart]] succeeded in traversing central Australia from south to north. His expedition mapped out the route which was later followed by the [[Australian Overland Telegraph Line]].<ref name="Macintyre-2020b">Macintyre (2020). p. 110</ref>

The completion of this telegraph line in 1872 was associated with further exploration of the [[Gibson Desert]] and the [[Nullarbor Plain]]. While exploring central Australia in 1872, [[Ernest Giles]] sighted [[Kata Tjuta]] from a location near [[Kings Canyon (Northern Territory)|Kings Canyon]] and called it ''Mount Olga''.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Green|first=Louis|date=1972|entry=Giles, Ernest (1835–1897)|entry-url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/giles-ernest-3611|access-date=23 July 2021|title=Australian Dictionary of Biography|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University}}</ref> The following year [[William Gosse (explorer)|Willian Gosse]] observed [[Uluru]] and named it ''Ayers Rock'', in honour of the [[Chief Secretary of South Australia]], Sir [[Henry Ayers]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gosse|first=Fayette|date=1972|entry=Gosse, William Christie (1842–1881)|entry-url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gosse-william-christie-3643|access-date=23 July 2021|title=Australian Dictionary of Biography|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University}}</ref>

In 1879, [[Alexander Forrest]] trekked from the north coast of Western Australia to the overland telegraph, discovering land suitable for grazing in the Kimberley region.<ref name="Macintyre-2020b" />