Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia was a country in the Southern Hemisphere of the planet Earth, comprising that world's smallest continent and a number of islands in the Southern, Indian and Pacific Oceans.

The continent of Australia had been inhabited for approximately 50,000 years by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, when after several sporadic visitations by European explorers and merchants from the 17th century onwards, the eastern half of the continent was claimed by the British in 1770, and officially settled as the penal colony of New South Wales on 26 January, 1788. As the population grew and new areas were explored, another five largely self-governing Crown Colonies were successively established over the course of the 19th century.

On 1 January 1901 the six colonies federated and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. At the turn of the 21st century, Australia had a population of around 20.3 million, concentrated mainly in the coastal cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

History

Australia was the site of Monarch's first visit to Earth, circa 45,000 BCE. During this visit he abducted several Aborigines, including their leader Kirkiutji, whom Monarch gave an android body and promised rulership of his people when Monarch made his final visit to conquer the planet ("Four to Doomsday").

The Doctor is known to have paid many visits to Australia. During one in 1932, he met cricket champion Donald Bradman and took five wickets for New South Wales("Four to Doomsday"). On another, he met Dame Nellie Melba and learned her party trick of shattering glass with a high-pitched note ("The Power of Kroll"). In 2017, the Second Doctor and his companions Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield arrived on an Australian beach, where they soon became embroiled in the machinations of Ramon Salamander("The Enemy of the World"). One of the Doctor's later companions, Tegan Jovanka, was a native of Australia, having grown up on her father's farm near Brisbane("Logopolis").

Sometime between the 21st century and the time of the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire, Australia was merged with its nearby neighbors to form Australiasia. This entire area was depopulated by the Daleks when they attacked Earth in the year 200,100. Whether the entity known as "Bad Wolf" restored the population of Australiasia and the rest of Earth to life, as it did Jack Harkness, is unknown ("The Parting of the Ways").