In 1770, James Cook [?] in eastern Australia and declared that it [?] Britain. At this time, Britain was [?] a place to send its prisoners and criminals. Australia was the perfect place - far away from Britain. In 1778, the British government began [?] the first prisoners to Australia They sent thousands and thousands to different parts of Australia, But they were not the first Australians. Forty thousand years before they [?], the Aborigines, native Australians, live there.