Indonesian colonization of Australia

I ve started a Ternate campaign (OPM in the Molluccas) in EU4, in less than a century I have colonized the northern coast of Australia, coast of Queensland, NSW and Victoria, as well as Timor and southern Philippines.
How realistic is such a development?
 
OTL Ternate didn't have a reason to since there wasn't anything worth trading for in Australia. For an Indonesian civilisation to colonise Australia, you either need more advanced Australian Aboriginals (the extreme of which is Lands of Red and Gold-style Iron Age civilisations in southern Australia) who have something to offer (like Tasmannia pepperbushes) to Indonesian traders, or a more "natural" expansion by an Indonesian culture to Australia. Otherwise, you have another case of the Makassans in Australia, where the Makassans have no real incentive to do anything more than some basic trading with the Aboriginals. That's pretty difficult to do much more. I had an idea where exiles from Java set up shop in *Queensland (and spread Buddhism), but that's bordering on ASB. The islands of Rote, Sumba, and Savu are pretty close to Australia, and at times have severe droughts leading to people dying of thirst (this has occurred into the modern era), so maybe natives there could flee to the Kimberley/Top End? Which incidentally is also prone to extreme drought and severe climate (cyclones), but they would be an Indonesian civilisation living in Australia and would interact with their ancestors in those islands and perhaps be nominally subjugated into a major empire like Majapahit.
 
Majapahit is hindu not buddhist, i think an expansion of majapahit to australia needs to have trade benefits for them, there is no strategic reason for them to expand to australia.
 

Teejay

Gone Fishin'
OTL Ternate didn't have a reason to since there wasn't anything worth trading for in Australia. For an Indonesian civilisation to colonise Australia, you either need more advanced Australian Aboriginals (the extreme of which is Lands of Red and Gold-style Iron Age civilisations in southern Australia) who have something to offer (like Tasmannia pepperbushes) to Indonesian traders, or a more "natural" expansion by an Indonesian culture to Australia. Otherwise, you have another case of the Makassans in Australia, where the Makassans have no real incentive to do anything more than some basic trading with the Aboriginals. That's pretty difficult to do much more. I had an idea where exiles from Java set up shop in *Queensland (and spread Buddhism), but that's bordering on ASB. The islands of Rote, Sumba, and Savu are pretty close to Australia, and at times have severe droughts leading to people dying of thirst (this has occurred into the modern era), so maybe natives there could flee to the Kimberley/Top End? Which incidentally is also prone to extreme drought and severe climate (cyclones), but they would be an Indonesian civilisation living in Australia and would interact with their ancestors in those islands and perhaps be nominally subjugated into a major empire like Majapahit.

The Kimberley has a semi-arid climate and soils are pretty poor, the Top End is wetter however the soils are poor there as well. It is noteworthy nobody from either Papua New Guinea or Lesser Sunda Islands colonized even the Top End of Australia.
 
Ethnic map of Australia
Australia ethnic.png

Blue: English
light brown: Indonesian
maroon: Aboriginal
 
Have Majapahit-era or early Mataram-era Javanese king exiling hundreds of ships-worth of men to the East to die in the South Seas on the pain of death, and then have their sails through Leeuwin Current to Southwest Australia and you'd have an Indonesian Australia I think.
Seems to be ASB but perhaps, perhaps, just a touch plausible.
 
The Makassan trepangers did have contact with North Australian Aborigines,particularly the Yolngu. They set up trade and small settlements that appeared to mutually benefit both sides. It is plausible,highly plausible in fact considering the close proximity of Indonesia to Australia and New Guinea. So let's say they set up contact earlier,set up some colonies,import some Indonesian fauna and some of their religion. Could be Islam,Hinduism or some of Indonesian animism,maybe even all three. I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't contact between Indonesians and Australian Aborigines for centuries in OTL,given the close proximity.
 

Zachariah

Banned
I say sure, why not? Even more so if it's merely in the same way that the sultans of Ternate claimed nominal influence over Sulawesi, Ambon, Seram and Papua IOTL. There are plenty of lucrative commodities to be had, if they go to the right places. For instance, Myristica globosa, aka Queensland nutmeg, seems like a plausible colonial cash crop for the Ternate sultanate and for the distribution of settlements that we see on your map, as do the various Australian sandalwood Santalum species. Australian Eleocarpus trees could also be highly lucrative in producing exotic, semi-precious rudrakshas for export to the Indian market, with the rudrakshas from the Blue Marble Tree easily dwarfing and outshining those produced by the Indian ganitrus species. And both Eucalyptol and Citral (the latter predominantly from Lemon Myrtle trees) could be just as lucrative an export commodity as Camphor was for the Srivijayans. BTW, what timeframe are you colonizing Australia in? What year did you start your colonization of Australia, and what year CE is that ethnic map from in your TL?
 
I say sure, why not? Even more so if it's merely in the same way that the sultans of Ternate claimed nominal influence over Sulawesi, Ambon, Seram and Papua IOTL. There are plenty of lucrative commodities to be had, if they go to the right places. For instance, Myristica globosa, aka Queensland nutmeg, seems like a plausible colonial cash crop for the Ternate sultanate and for the distribution of settlements that we see on your map, as do the various Australian sandalwood Santalum species. Australian Eleocarpus trees could also be highly lucrative in producing exotic, semi-precious rudrakshas for export to the Indian market, with the rudrakshas from the Blue Marble Tree easily dwarfing and outshining those produced by the Indian ganitrus species. And both Eucalyptol and Citral (the latter predominantly from Lemon Myrtle trees) could be just as lucrative an export commodity as Camphor was for the Srivijayans. BTW, what timeframe are you colonizing Australia in? What year did you start your colonization of Australia, and what year CE is that ethnic map from in your TL?

Is Queensland nutmeg even viable as a cash crop? The region has a ton of Myristica species, after all. And didn't people normally turn to other alternatives when Myristica fragrans was too expensive? Can it compete with Myristica argentea, for instance? It might be good for adulterating real nutmeg and thus defrauding consumers, or providing an even better cheap substitute for Myristica fragrans, but still.
 

Zachariah

Banned
Is Queensland nutmeg even viable as a cash crop? The region has a ton of Myristica species, after all. And didn't people normally turn to other alternatives when Myristica fragrans was too expensive? Can it compete with Myristica argentea, for instance? It might be good for adulterating real nutmeg and thus defrauding consumers, or providing an even better cheap substitute for Myristica fragrans, but still.
Should be, at least marginally. And all of those other crops' commodities serve as potential alternatives even if it doesn't.
 
I say sure, why not? Even more so if it's merely in the same way that the sultans of Ternate claimed nominal influence over Sulawesi, Ambon, Seram and Papua IOTL. There are plenty of lucrative commodities to be had, if they go to the right places. For instance, Myristica globosa, aka Queensland nutmeg, seems like a plausible colonial cash crop for the Ternate sultanate and for the distribution of settlements that we see on your map, as do the various Australian sandalwood Santalum species. Australian Eleocarpus trees could also be highly lucrative in producing exotic, semi-precious rudrakshas for export to the Indian market, with the rudrakshas from the Blue Marble Tree easily dwarfing and outshining those produced by the Indian ganitrus species. And both Eucalyptol and Citral (the latter predominantly from Lemon Myrtle trees) could be just as lucrative an export commodity as Camphor was for the Srivijayans. BTW, what timeframe are you colonizing Australia in? What year did you start your colonization of Australia, and what year CE is that ethnic map from in your TL?
I started ASAP, around 1450s trying to gdt colonialism to spawn here, but didn't happen. That map was supposed to be if modern Australia,bafter British colonization
 
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