Many of Australia’s first cities were planned by British bureaucrats who had never been there, which may explain why they put them in the wrong places.

English explorer Major Edmund Lockyer tries to buy a puppy in Queensland, but ends up paying the owner to keep him.

In 1890, Sir Henry Parkes reminded Australians that they had a natural kinship and declared them ready to manage their own affairs.

In 1852 the Council of New South Wales sent a strongly-worded petition to London, demanding the right of self-government.

Having brought hundreds of convicts to New South Wales, Arthur Phillip then had to conjure order out of their chaos.

The Dutch explorer ran across two islands in the Pacific of which Europeans knew nothing, but his chief desire was to get past them.