Queensland History

Australia

Queensland History

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Background History

• Queensland's History at QueenslandAustralia.com

It is difficult to know precisely when the Aboriginal people first arrived in Queensland. The oral tradition of Aboriginal people, passed down through myths and legends of the Dreaming, tells us that they lived in what we now know as Queensland for many thousands of years prior to European settlement. Archaeological sites in southern Australia have been firmly dated to around 40,000 years. In Queensland, many sites 15,000 to 30,000 years old have been excavated.

• Queensland was originally settled by Europeans in the 1820s as a convict settlement as the Moreton Bay District of the Colony of New South Wales.
• In 1859. Queensland was separated from New South Wales to form a self-governing British colony.
• Records before 1859 properly form part of series held by archives and offices in New South Wales, where they may be indexed under the term "Moreton Bay District". Queensland has made copies of many of these family history records and these may be searched along with post 1859 records.