A More Powerful Land Down Under: Updates Only

This TL is a go!

The scent of the sea filled William Dampier's nostrils as he rested against the wooden railing of his ship, the Roebuck. He and his crew had sailed east from Mauritius to the coast of New Holland - a most unbefitting name in his opinion - and reached it safely - for a given value of "safely". It was certainly an odd place full of strange flora and fauna; but the first place they'd landed at was devoid of any plentiful amount of water and as such they needed to find a place to fill up their water casks.

He'd almost been about to order the ship to follow the New Holland coast by turning to port - but he'd taken the advice of his navigator and ordered the ship to turn to starboard and follow the coast in that direction. He'd been concerned about the order for the first few days - but after that they'd found an estuary of considerable size and acceptable quality.

This was quite the find - a colony here would be an excelent way station for the long journey to the Orient; and many crops would flourish in the fertile soil he'd observed. Perhaps he'd publish his writings after this journey; for surely a tale of such a strange land would be the most enticing piece of literature. Such thoughts were for home - but he might return here and someday call it home if all went as it should.

A More Powerful Land Down Under: Part One - Where the River Meets the Sea

In the year 1699 Captain William Dampier turned left while looking for water after he intersected the Australian coast. In another time; another world he would have turned right and found naught but desert coast but here he, convinced by his navigator, he heads to the left and discovers the Swan Estuary - and not just the Swan Estuary but one far more fertile than in our timeline. Sometime, before the dawn of man, something changed. This change led to a far more fertile Australian continent; and would have many more repercussions in the millennia to come...

Dampier then circumnavigated Australia, noting several sites where a colony could be founded. Coincidentally, he noted the place that would come to be known as Sydney Cove amongst them. After a long and often dangerous voyage he returned home to england where he shared his findings with the Admiralty Board after they learned of his return and what he had found.

In the year 1714 AD a colony was established at Sydney Cove[1] and with it came ships of slaves to work the fields of the new colony. The colonists found that the soil was good and they were successful at growing food, but soon many came to grow Opium for the Chinese market. More colonies were founded all across the continent in the years that followed for a variety purposes - some served as waystations to China, while others were established to take advantage of the many resources that this new land held.

Gold was discovered first at Bathurst, in the colony of New South Wales, in the year 1767. This sparked off a massive increase in immigration though most of it was directed to what would become Victoria after a larger amount of Gold was found there. This immigration boom was the first time large amounts of free non-British immigrants were allowed into the country - though they were often treated harshly by Whites - and this influx of population managed to sextuple[2] the population in just twenty years.

Melbourne first overtook Sydney in both population and economy in the Gold Rush, though the two cities would overtake each other once more every few years after that. The two cities were seen as the centres of civilisation in a vast and dangerous land; though Perth in Western Australia was also both large and prosperous, serving as a waystation to China.

The years passed and things progressed mainly similarly to how things went on our Earth, though there were varied and numerous changes that were to show themselves as important in time. New colonies had been integrated and old ones split apart while many colonies attempted expansionism. British New Guinea was annexed by the colony of Queensland in 1854 after the British declined to stop them and by the year 1901 it had been completely integrated into the colony. This, amongst other things, led to more Australian expansionism in the Pacific.

On the first of January, 1900, Australia federated. Comprising the states of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland (Including BNG), New Zealand as well as various territories both on the mainland and several large islands the Australian Commonwealth is now the premier power in Oceania. Melbourne was made the capital and George Reid was elected as the first Prime Minister of Australia. Australia had a population of nine million[3] people and an expanding economy; with many diverse and powerful industries - though agriculture and mining are the mainstays of the Australian economy at this point. The various military forces of the individual colonies were transferred to Federal control, though they were rather small at the turn of the century.

[1] - Places & Names stayed mostly the same for the sake of this not becoming a giant monster of a TL focused on the frankly rather boring status of Australia pre-20th century. You can assume that most events happened, but a little bit differently.
[2] - A bit more than OTL, but not that much more.
[3] - The largest factors in this are the earlier founding date, more immigration and annexation of British New Guinea
 
A More Powerful Land Down Under: Part Two - The Island (Dawn)

- 1900

George Reid had once been a member of the free trade party; but after the disastrous Free Trade Party "Civil War" of *1880 he left in disgust and eventually abandoned his free-trade policies after a decade of disillusionment with his former party, and achieved great success as the Premier of Victoria. He carried the Nationalists to a crushing victory in the first Australian election and the Protectionists held only a fifth of the parliament, while Labour[1] held one third with the remainder being two independents and the ruling Nationalist party. This majority, which existed in both the lower house and the senate, allowed the Nationalists considerable power - they also were somewhat allied with Labour; who the Nationalists received support in parliament from in return for passing a few of Labour's reforms.

Immigration was the first major issue the new government faced; and their solution to it would go down as one of the most important decisions in Australian history. The Immigration Act created various incentives for British or skilled European migrants and their families to move to Australia, depending on their areas of expertise. The Act also allowed for non-European immigrants, though it gave them no support and contained several clauses that were both utterly racist and demeaning. While many would have preferred a 'White Australia' there was a need for more lower-paid workers - and while the near-permanent non-white economic underclass created by the abolition of slavery had provided a convenient source of cheap labour more were needed. Thus, non-whites were allowed in.

With federation came a host of new responsibilities and powers; things that further enhanced the nationalism of the nine-million strong newborn nation. The Defence of Australia bill was passed by both Parliament and the Senate quickly and was well received by voters, though there mixed opinions amongst those Britons that bothered to pay attention to "colonial" politics. The Act called for the massive expansion of the newly formed ADF, as well as permission to rename the Commonwealth Naval Force to the Royal Australian Navy. This however was not the largest or most controversial, amongst the British public, aspect of the act - it called for the creation of a standing army as well as the CMF. The new government was acting under advice from a group of experts that had been convened by the colonies in anticipation of Federation and it is believed that the Nationalists had this bill, and most of their others passed in the first year, already written prior to federation.

The Australian manufacturing industry continued it's strong growth as did the agriculture and natural resources sectors. Overall the economy had strong growth and exports were at an all-time record high, while Melbourne once more overtook Sydney as the city with the largest economy in the nation, though that was, as always, not to last. Plans for large shipyards located in Melbourne have been drawn up - shipyards capable of domestically producing warships for the CNF, though the name would be changed to the RAN before the first foundation for the shipyards had been laid down.

The Australian cricket team soundly defeated South Africa after the South African's first tour of Australia as a nation. With a crushing 5-0 victory over South Africa behind them the Australian's are confident that they will retain the Ashes when they tour England. Collingwood won the VFL premiership in by a hair's breadth over Essendon in a nail-bitingly close Grand Final that drew a record fifty thousand attendees.

[1] - Labour didn't change it's name to Labor until 1912 in OTL, but whether or not that'll happen ITL is something I'm not too sure about.
 
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