Paper 3, Option 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763–1914 - 2 The birth of British Australia, 1788–1829 — Edexcel A-Level History
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Paper 3, Option 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763–1914 - 2 The birth of British Australia, 1788–1829 explained
Paper 3, Option 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763–1914 - 2 The birth of British Australia, 1788–1829 covers 3 specification points, including The development of Sydney; land grants to… and Impact of British settlement on Aborigines in….
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Open a point below for its explanation and revision guidance.
Australia’s role as a penal colony from 1788; the importance of Lachlan Macquarie: the development of Sydney; land grants to ex-convicts and development up the Hawkesbury River; the growth of Macquarie towns.
This topic examines Australia’s beginnings as a British penal colony from 1788 and the governorship of Lachlan Macquarie from 1810 to 1821. After the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay and settled at Port Jackson, convicts provided labour for survival and building. Macquarie believed ex-convicts could be reformed and integrated, so he granted land to emancipists and encouraged farming along the Hawkesbury River, where fertile soil supported grain and food production. He also planned and developed Sydney with public buildings, roads and wharves, and founded new towns such as Richmond, Windsor, Pitt Town, Castlereagh and Wilberforce—the Macquarie towns—to settle land and manage flooding. These changes helped the colony grow socially and economically, though they caused conflict with settlers and officials.
Impact of British settlement on Aborigines in Tasmania and New South Wales, 1788-1829.
British settlement after 1788 affected Aboriginal peoples in both New South Wales and Tasmania, though unevenly. In New South Wales, pastoral expansion across the Blue Mountains from 1813 displaced Darug, Gandangara and Wiradjuri groups from hunting grounds; smallpox and other diseases cut populations sharply, while frontier violence and punitive expeditions followed resistance such as the 1824 Bathurst war. In Tasmania, sealers and settlers disrupted coastal bands, and the 1820s pastoral push produced the Black War, with killings on both sides and forced removal to Flinders Island from 1830. Assess impact by distinguishing disease, dispossession, violence and cultural disruption, and by comparing timing and intensity between the two colonies.
The spreading impact: penal settlement in Van Diemen's land 1803; development of whaling; first crossing of the Blue Mountains 1813; first settlements in Western Australia 1826; extent of colonial control by 1829.
British Australia expanded through linked developments. A penal settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 at Risdon Cove, then Hobart and Launceston, extending convict control south of Bass Strait. Whaling and sealing grew around the Derwent and Sydney, supplying oil and skins and drawing ships into southern waters. In 1813 Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth crossed the Blue Mountains, opening pastoral land west of Sydney. In 1826 a settlement was founded at King George Sound in Western Australia, later Albany, guarding the western approaches. By 1829 Britain claimed control across the continent, though effective settlement remained coastal and sparse.
Your focus
- Explain Australia’s role as a penal colony from 1788 and the use of convict labour.
- Analyse the importance of Lachlan Macquarie in developing Sydney and granting land to ex-convicts.
- Evaluate how settlement up the Hawkesbury River and the growth of the Macquarie towns shaped early colonial Australia.
Show all 9 objectives
- Explain at least three distinct impacts of British settlement on Aboriginal peoples in New South Wales and Tasmania.
- Compare the nature and timing of impact in the two colonies using specific evidence.
- Reach a supported judgement on which impacts were most significant before 1829.
- Describe the key developments that spread British settlement between 1803 and 1826.
- Explain how whaling, exploration and strategic outposts each contributed to expansion.
- Evaluate the real extent of British colonial control across Australia by 1829.
Paper 3, Option 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763–1914 - 2 The birth of British Australia, 1788–1829 exam tips
Marking Points
- Explains the establishment and purpose of Australia as a penal colony from 1788, including the First Fleet and convict labour.
- Assesses Macquarie’s importance in developing Sydney through public works, planning and administration.
- Analyses the significance of land grants to ex-convicts in changing social and economic opportunities in the colony.
- Explains how settlement and farming developed up the Hawkesbury River, including its agricultural importance and challenges such as flooding.
- Evaluates the growth of the Macquarie towns as planned settlements that extended British control and supported the colony’s expansion.
- Judges the overall impact of Macquarie’s policies on the development of early colonial Australia.
- Explains that British settlement brought epidemic disease, notably smallpox in New South Wales from 1789, causing severe Aboriginal population loss.
- Analyses dispossession of land and resources as pastoral settlement spread, for example beyond the Blue Mountains after 1813.
- Examines frontier violence and Aboriginal resistance, such as the Bathurst war of 1824 and the Black War in Tasmania in the 1820s.
- Compares impact between New South Wales and Tasmania, noting different timing, scale and forms of conflict and removal.
- Evaluates cultural and social disruption, including loss of access to hunting grounds, sites and kinship networks.
- Explains the 1803 penal settlement in Van Diemen's Land and its role in extending convict transportation and British authority.
- Analyses the development of whaling and sealing as an economic driver that pushed British activity into new coastal waters.
- Describes the 1813 crossing of the Blue Mountains by Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth and its opening of inland pastoral expansion.
- Explains the 1826 settlement at King George Sound in Western Australia as a strategic extension of British presence.
- Assesses the extent of colonial control by 1829, distinguishing formal claim from limited effective settlement.
Examiner Tips
- 💡Use specific examples—Sydney’s public buildings, Hawkesbury farms, named Macquarie towns—to support analysis.
- 💡When assessing importance, explain what changed because of Macquarie, not just what he did.
- 💡Balance positive development with tensions, such as opposition from wealthy settlers or officials.
- 💡Keep chronology clear: 1788 founding, Macquarie’s governorship 1810–21, and later growth to 1829.
- 💡Anchor each point to a named group, place or event within 1788-1829 to show precise knowledge.
- 💡Use comparison explicitly, weighing similarities and differences between New South Wales and Tasmania.
- 💡Reach a supported judgement on the relative severity of disease, dispossession and violence rather than listing them.
- 💡Use dates and names precisely, linking each development to its effect on the spread of settlement.
- 💡Distinguish economic motives such as whaling from strategic and penal motives when explaining expansion.
- 💡Conclude with a clear judgement on how far colonial control had actually extended by 1829.
Common Mistakes
- Assuming all convicts remained powerless; correction: recognise that emancipists could receive land and become farmers or employers.
- Treating Macquarie’s town planning as only about buildings; correction: link it to settlement, flood management and control of land.
- Ignoring the Hawkesbury River’s role; correction: explain its fertile land, food production and the problems of flooding.
- Confusing the Macquarie towns with modern suburbs; correction: identify them as planned colonial settlements such as Richmond and Windsor.
- Treating Aboriginal peoples as passive victims; instead show varied responses including resistance, negotiation and adaptation.
- Assuming impact was identical in both colonies; instead compare New South Wales and Tasmania in timing and intensity.
- Confusing the 1830 removal to Flinders Island with events before 1829; instead keep the chronology within the stated period.
- Treating the 1826 Western Australia settlement as a large colony; instead describe it as a small strategic outpost.
- Confusing the 1813 Blue Mountains crossing with later inland exploration; instead place it as the first successful crossing.
- Assuming control by 1829 meant settled occupation of the whole continent; instead note coastal concentration and sparse interior presence.