Why wasn't there a Scramble for Australia? (Short Animated Documentary)

When Europeans came across a large landmass that look easy to conquer, they generally fought amongst themselves for it. Yet unlike the Americas and Africa, there was no attempt at any other European country except for Britain to take the continent-sized Australia. So why not? To find out watch this short and simple animated history documentary.

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[maskthemney]

The amount of historical events that can be summed up with a person holding a sign that says 'Sounds pricey' is simultaneously insane and understandable

[jaywilliams]

Britian: Nah don't want it
"France wants it"
Britain: *NO ITS MINE*

[ronlucock]

Fun Fact: when the Japanese started attacking the north of Australia in WWII, it was decided that should an invasion force actually land on our northern shores and try to make their way inland towards the major population centres on the east coast, Australian forces wouldn't bother fighting back. They would simply wait for the enemy to die in the deserts before ever making it that far on land. That's how big, & harsh, the Australian interior is.

[mateimaster]

As a Romanian, I'm heartbroken by our lack of Australian empire.

[TheTrex]

Is nobody gonna talk about how he managed to fit Prussia's borders within Australia while simultaneously making it look nice?

[Shazza]

Actually maps of Australia were not completed until the epic journeys of Matthew Flinders time. His maps were so good they were used into the 20th century in many places. Foreigners(non brittish) did not map the Australian coastline except in sections and they guessed the rest, even joining Australia to New Guinea and other countries on various maps. The coastline is so large it took Flinders decades to complete his task(albeit interrupted) in many cases sailing the coast in a small boat for thousands of kms(nautical miles i guess?🤔). Remember the Australian coastline is 34, 000 kms. One of the great navigators of history

[nickwaz]

i appreciate that your videos aren't needlessly long, and always are straight to the point without repeating information constantly to hit an arbitrary length. hard to find nowadays on youtube, much appreciated - good work

[DIY_Miracle]

It is worth noting that there is actually a lot of highly valuable mineral resources in Australia but serious prospecting didn't really occur until the British had already staked quite a strong claim. Melbourne was at one point the second richest city in the empire for a number of decades due to the immense amount of gold pouring out of north west Victoria.

Cash crops might have made America, fur made Canada, spices made Indonesia, oil made Saudi Arabia, but gold made Australia.

[rad]

If you've ever been to Australia then you'll already know why there was never a scramble for it.

[smurftums]

Apparently New Zealand missed out on being a French colony by a matter of weeks. That would make an interesting video. :)

[onodera]

Anyone notice the single Australia-New Guinea landmass on the Dutch map? Turns out everyone ignored Luís Vaz de Torres, who sailed between them in 1606, for 150 years, while the Dutch sailed across the Torres strait without even noticing it was one.

[iliketea]

If people back then knew just how resource-rich Australia was there absolutely would have been a scramble for it. Having 17% of the worlds gold and 30% of the worlds iron alone would have made it worth it.

[johnkern]

La Perouse landed in botany Bay 6 days after the first fleet in 1788.
Then sailed to the New Caledonia area and promptly got killed. The French did not find out for 20-30 years what was here. By then it was too late.

[KeanuRigley]

Many think that Australia was colonised by Britain but it was really James Bissinette that did all the hard work

[megakillerx]

Another fun fact is that Sweden under Gustav III were heavily interested in building colonies in India (built a factory a few miles south of Pondicherry before it got raided) and most importantly, Australia.

The king hired a Dutch-English explorer William Bolts to survey and settle near modern day Perth. However, the king and Sweden overall got struck with a sudden case of payback against Russia and the colonial venture got immediately cancelled.

[Nikkidafox]

There's just not a whole lot in Australia. It's mainly just mineral resources which were also usually abundant in Africa as well.
And with 99% of it being completely hostile to human life, there wasn't a lot of competition for it. Also I love how the Dutch were offered Western Australia. You know, the part (outside of Perth) that's almost completely uninhabited.

[markfarrell]

I'm 6 Generation Australian.
The Portuguese discovered Australia . early Portuguese navigators were the first Europeans to sight Australia between 1521 and 1524, well before the arrival of Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon in 1606 on board the Duyfken

[what_theactual]

2:09 I love how Germany just rises out of the sea

[wilbertting]

It's amazing how I didn't think of this topic, but the moment I realized "No empire rushed for Australia" I immediately rushed to see the video. Good job History Matters.

[etherospike]

0:16 As a Romanian, I was really proud that the western part of Australia has been attributed to us !