Of course, when these first Europeans arrived they did not find an empty land as expected. They were outnumbered by more than 500,000 indigenous Aboriginal people whose ancestors had lived in Australia for over 50,000 years.

People were now arriving to Australia by choice - arriving from many countries, like England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, America, China and Germany.

In the second half of the 19th-century:

• South Sea Islanders were recruited to work on Queensland sugar plantations

• Afghan cameleers played a vital role in the exploration and opening up of the Australian outback

• Japanese divers contributed to the development of the pearling industry

All groups experienced heavy discrimination.

(Charles Thatcher, a music-hall entertainer on the Victorian goldfields who became popular after his arrival in 1878)

The Immigration Restriction Act remained in force until 1958, when the Dictation Test was abolished, and was not fully dismantled until the introduction of the Racial Discrimination Act of 1975.

The first wave (1947-1953) of migration started with Displaced Persons, mainly from Eastern Europe.

The second wave (1950s-1960s) of migration consisted of those seeking employment and better living conditions. These included migrants from Italy, Greece, Malta, Croatia and Turkey.

Today the question of how to deal with asylum seekers arriving on unauthorised voyages remains one of the most polarising debates in contemporary Australia.