The first North Americans to land in Australia were British crewmen from the
Endeavour under
Captain Cook, who sojourned at
Botany Bay in 1770. Once a permanent colony was established in New South Wales, "trade links were developed almost exclusively with North America." The North American colonies, including what are now Canada and the United States, had been used by Britain for
penal transportation. With the recognition of the independence of the United States in the 1780s, the British Government sought new lands to exile convicts, and Australia became the pre-eminent prison colony of the British Empire. From the 1770s to the 1840s, North Americans settled in Australia primarily as demobilised British soldiers and sailors; as convicts (some United States citizens were arrested at sea for maritime offences, tried, convicted, and transported); The
discovery of gold in New South Wales in 1851 caused a massive influx of prospectors. Experienced gold diggers came from California, where gold had been discovered in 1848. Many others came from the Australian colonies, Britain and the British Empire, and China. Some from the United States played eminent roles in the
Eureka Stockade, particularly in the miners' paramilitary self-defence groups. The colonial authorities suspected the American-born and others, such as the
Irish, of promoting
republicanism. At the time of Federation, in 1901, there were 7,448 United States-born persons in Australia. but provoked immediate comment that the (British) Royal Navy should make an even greater show of force to restate in the strongest military terms Australia's position as the south-eastern guarantor of the British Empire. The
ANZUS Treaty, binding the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, was signed in 1951, locking the three countries into a mutual defence pact. This increased social and political ties between Australia and the United States and led Australia and New Zealand to commit soldiers to the
Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s. These connections, along with increased worldwide travel, prompted more Americans to migrate permanently; in 1971 there were 39,035 United States–born residents in Australia. ==Education==