A More Powerful Land Down Under

[Tekomandor]

Sorry about the rant

On a completely different note, good update. I'm especially interested in the effects of either no or a limited White Australia, plus the connotations of a much larger Australian Defence Force on WW1. Also is there a chance we can see a map of Australia, cause i remember you saying that the state lines were different so I'm interested to see how they've changed.

It's okay - I like criticism like that. I find that being able to take constructive criticism makes one a far better writer - and really, that's half of what this is in aide of. I'm adding a map to the next update, after I clean up the one I have in my notes for public viewing.

 

[Simreeve]

The soil is fertile; it is just a matter of irrigation management. The reason the Javanese didn’t build settlements in the north prior to European arrival was because it land was already inhabited by tribes who, while happy to trade with the Javanese and some of whom joined the crews of Javanese fishing boats, would have been extremely hostile to any attempt at permanent settlement.

As to the Dutch and Portuguese; there was no local ruler to trade with and no spices to make any trading worthwhile.

The Javanese are farmers, the Australian tribes -- unless that is being changed in this TL, too -- are hunter-gatherers. Farming usually supports higher population densities than hunter-gatherer lifestyles, giving the farmers an advantage if it comes to conflict: That's how the ancestral Javanese (and other 'Austronesian' peoples) are thought to have displaced the earlier inhabitants from the actual East Indies a few millennia earlier in the first place. And if the native tribes in this version of Australia are strong enough to fend off the Javanese then they might be strong enough to fend off the English/British as well: Without large numbers of troops, smoothbore muzzle-loading guns don't really provide that much of an advantage...

Also, for an English/British settler colony to be planted in Australia during the early 18th century, the problem of scurvy needs to be solved at an earlier date than it was IOTL.

 

[Cook]

The Javanese are farmers, the Australian tribes -- unless that is being changed in this TL, too -- are hunter-gatherers. Farming usually supports higher population densities than hunter-gatherer lifestyles.

But gradual migration as per the movement across the archipelago wasn’t an option; somewhere some fishermen would have had to build a small village on the north coast, and that would have been attacked.

Also, for an English/British settler colony to be planted in Australia during the early 18th century, the problem of scurvy needs to be solved at an earlier date than it was IOTL.

The Dutch had comprehensively explored the entire west coast of Australia by 1659; they regularly encountered it on their way to the East Indies. Coastal settlements for replenishment were recognised as the solution to scurvy well before anyone noticed any connection to fruit juice; the Dutch didn’t bother because by the time they reached the Australian coast they knew they were only a week or two at the most away Batavia.

 

[Simreeve]

But gradual migration as per the movement across the archipelago wasn’t an option; somewhere some fishermen would have had to build a small village on the north coast, and that would have been attacked.

Why not? There were pre-Austronesian natives in the archipelago who could have taken exception to settlers, too, so what's the real difference between the situations?
And what if, instead of just a small village of fishermen, a a prince who's just lost a civil war over the succession to his father's throne (if that sort of thing happened in Javan culture?) leads a fairly large body of followers overseas as an organised group?

The Dutch had comprehensively explored the entire west coast of Australia by 1659; they regularly encountered it on their way to the East Indies. Coastal settlements for replenishment were recognised as the solution to scurvy well before anyone noticed any connection to fruit juice; the Dutch didn’t bother because by the time they reached the Australian coast they knew they were only a week or two at the most away Batavia.

So, unless the Dutch can be persuaded to let the British colonising vessels replenish at Dutch bases along the way, this Australian settlement would be more feasible if there was already string of intermediate British settlements?

 

[katchen]

Don't forget New Guinea, Tekomandor. Just to give you an idea of how many people CAN live on New Guinea, take New Guinea and transpose it onto Colombia, so that the main mountain range is centered atop the Andes. On end drapes down to Ecuador and Northern Peru. On end curls onto Western Venezuela.
Now here are the population figures for those countries. Colombia 47 million. Venezuela 28 million. Ecuador 15 million. (I won't bother with Peru). We're looking at potentially 85 million people fitting comfortably in New Guinea alone. And a lot of lower Colombia is still rainforest.
Coffee growing in the highlands. Sugar in the lowlands. Multimillion person cities (Bogota", Quito at 9000 feet, (Mt. Hagen is at 8500 feet), Medellin at 5000 feet, Cali and Caracas at 3000 feet. Cartagena, Santa Marta, Maracaibo, Baramquilla, and Guayquil and Manta and Trujillo Peru at sea level.
Of course New Granada started being rebuilt from the 16th Century. But New Guinea starts out with well over a million industrious Papuans in the interior, who unlike Native Americans are resistant to European diseases. Once they are subdued, their population will start growing as an underclass. (Yes, a larger Australaisa will have an underclass). In fact they may be the key to settling the entire Top End. So find a way for Dampier's early exploration to lead to somebody climbing the mountains seen from Huon Gulf and exploring New Guinea's interior and finding the gold that's there. Plantations can come later.

 

[Tekomandor]

Don't forget New Guinea, Tekomandor. Just to give you an idea of how many people CAN live on New Guinea, take New Guinea and transpose it onto Colombia, so that the main mountain range is centered atop the Andes. On end drapes down to Ecuador and Northern Peru. On end curls onto Western Venezuela.
Now here are the population figures for those countries. Colombia 47 million. Venezuela 28 million. Ecuador 15 million. (I won't bother with Peru). We're looking at potentially 85 million people fitting comfortably in New Guinea alone. And a lot of lower Colombia is still rainforest.
Coffee growing in the highlands. Sugar in the lowlands. Multimillion person cities (Bogota", Quito at 9000 feet, (Mt. Hagen is at 8500 feet), Medellin at 5000 feet, Cali and Caracas at 3000 feet. Cartagena, Santa Marta, Maracaibo, Baramquilla, and Guayquil and Manta and Trujillo Peru at sea level.
Of course New Granada started being rebuilt from the 16th Century. But New Guinea starts out with well over a million industrious Papuans in the interior, who unlike Native Americans are resistant to European diseases. Once they are subdued, their population will start growing as an underclass. (Yes, a larger Australaisa will have an underclass). In fact they may be the key to settling the entire Top End. So find a way for Dampier's early exploration to lead to somebody climbing the mountains seen from Huon Gulf and exploring New Guinea's interior and finding the gold that's there. Plantations can come later.

New Guinea isn't going to be forgotten; though Queensland only got it in the later half of the nineteenth century ITL, so while it is very populated, double digit millions will come later.