Australia is usually described as having been colonised in 1788 , when the British established the first permanent European settlement on the continent.

Key date: 1788

The First Fleet , commanded by Captain Arthur Phillip, arrived at Botany Bay in January 1788 and soon moved to Sydney Cove (Port Jackson) , where the colony of New South Wales was founded on 26 January 1788. This date later became Australia Day , though it is now a focus of debate about colonisation and Indigenous histories.

What “colonised” means here

By “colonised”, this refers to the start of British settlement and administration , when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ self‑governance was progressively overridden by the imposition of British law, land‑taking, and institutions. Colonisation itself unfolded over many decades, as British settlers expanded inland and across the six eventual colonies.

Quick context table

Term| Meaning in this context
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1788| Year the British First Fleet arrives and Sydney Cove settlement begins; start of formal colonisation. 57
Colonisation| Process of British settlement, displacement of Indigenous nations, and establishment of colonial governments. 139
Pre‑1788 Australia| Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples occupied the continent for at least 50,000–60,000 years before European arrival. 39

Modern discussion and nuance

Today the question “when was Australia colonised?” often surfaces in social‑media debates and forums , where people discuss changing Australia‑Day date , the meaning of “invasion vs settlement”, and ongoing impacts on First Nations communities. Under those discussions, many people stress that 1788 marks the start of colonisation, not the beginning of Australian history , which they say begins with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures tens of thousands of years earlier.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.