Mahatma Gandhi’s life as an activist began at the age of 23, when he landed in South Africa as a barrister. There were many Indian Coolies and immigrants in South Africa working for the British Empire at that time. But being a Barrister, Gandhiji commanded respect as a leader of the Indians. The non-violent nature […]
History Bodhidharma, the Buddhist Monk from South India, is credited as founder of martial arts at the Shaolin Temple in Henan Province, China. The martial art he taught at the world famous Shaolin temple 1500 years ago was based on Kalaripayattu, which originated in the southern state of India, Kerala. Kalaripayattu is considered as one […]
History James Cook and the crew of HMS Endeavour first sighted east coast of Australia on 19th April 1770. Nearly ten days later they landed in the bay, which the ships naturalist Sir Joseph Banks named as Botany Bay. A favourable report from the duo back to London about the possibility of establishing a colony […]
A bit of history Before the British occupation of Melbourne, The Wurundjeri people of the Indigenous in the Kulin nation occupied the Birrarung (Yarra River) Valley. John Batman, the Australian born son of a NSW convict, who gained fame in Tasmania by capturing Bush ranger Matthew Brady, set his eyes on a Port Phillip exploration. […]
When the penal colony of New South Wales was founded no preparations were made for a currency. The first fleet came with some money to procure supplies during the journey. The convicts were not paid anything and the soldiers were supplied with goods free from the Government store. During the early days of the settlement […]
Islam made its entry into Australia much before Christianity. Macassar trepangers from the southwest corner of Sulawesi in Indonesia visited the coast of Northern Australia since 1700’s. The contact between both the cultures is speculated to have begun at least a century before the Europeans. Makassan fishing boats frequented Australian shores to collect and process […]
The most commonly reported reason for the colonisation of Australia is the overcrowding of British Prison system and the need to find a place to resettle the convicts. After the American war of independence, it became impossible for Britain to send convicts to America. There was one more pressing reason and without that the British […]
Horse Vs Motor Cars When the first fleet arrived in Australia in 1788, there were seven horses aboard. By 1901, when Australia became a federation, there were around 1662000 horses in Australia, roughly one horse for every two people. In effect Australia was a horse dominated society. Our city streets were filled with pervading smell […]
Australia has two species of feral camels – dromedaries and Bactrian. A majority of them are dromedaries. Mostly camels were imported to Australia from Persia, India and Afghanistan in the early days of the European settlement. The first suggestion of bringing camels to Australia was made in 1822 by Conrad Malte-Brun. Malte Brun was a […]
The place names in Australia are mostly derived from Aboriginal language or named by nostalgic early settlers with that of European towns. But there are a few towns or suburbs in Australia that bears the name of Indian regions. Most of these towns are named by British Indians and in some cases based on the […]