It includes the Great Victoria Desert to the south and the Great Sandy Desert to the north. Symbolic executive power is vested in the British monarch, who is represented throughout Australia by the governor-general. The first inhabitants of Australia were the Aborigines, who migrated there at least 40,000 years ago from Southeast Asia. In 1616 the territory became known as New Holland. The British arrived in 1688, but it was not until Captain James Cook's voyage in 1770 that Great Britain claimed possession of the vast island, calling it New South Wales.
Various gold rushes attracted settlers, as did the mining of other minerals.
Sheep farming and grain soon became important economic enterprises. The six colonies became states and in 1901 federated into the Commonwealth of Australia with a constitution that incorporated British parliamentary and U.S. federal traditions. Participation in World War II brought Australia closer to the United States. Australia relaxed its discriminatory immigration laws in the 1960s and 1970s, which favored Northern Europeans. In March 1996 the opposition Liberal Party National Party coalition easily won the national elections, removing the Labour Party after 13 years in power.