From 1788 to 1818, Australia was treated by the British Empire as a penal colony, though millions of free settlers also arrived (see: First Great Wave). As the Crown's sovereignty over the continent was formalised, the true vastness of its material wealth was brought out from the shadows. Many colonial companies were set up, both as private and government institutions, but one stood out amongst them: the Van Diemen's Land Company, which successfully tamed large portions of Tasmania with novel land clearance methods and an organised militia system.
As the years passed, more and more British settlements began springing up, especially across the coasts. However, there was also a significant amount of inland colonisation, seeking to exploit Australia's mineral resources and using its grasslands for the raising of woolly animals such as the Eta. This, alongside British control of India, allowed this small island nation to gain unmatched industrial power throughout the entirety of the 19th century. Far from peaceful, this era featured an endless series of conflicts on the borders of British spheres of influence, known as the Frontier Wars. Each of Oceanyka's constituent colonies had their own standing armies, which were used to quell down native uprisings and incursions from the Outback.
Notably enough, the British Empire did not possess enough power to actually occupy all of Oceanyka early in the 19th century, so a number of foreign colonies were set up with authorisation from Queen Victoria; these were used as a bargaining chip in the Empire's conflicts. For example, following the First Opium War, the Qing were allowed to set up a thriving Chinese colony in northern Australia as a way to appease Beijing, though these settlements were only allowed to trade with the government of whichever of the Australian colonies they belonged to.
By the end of this age, Australia was divided into the following colonies of the British Empire:
- New South Wales
- Victoria
- Queensland
- Tasmania
- West Australia
- South Australia
- North Australia
After the Eureka Rebellion, British authorities severely cracked down on the daily lives of Oceanykans in an attempt to create an orderly society. Growing militarisation and resentment are key characteristics of the Late Colonial Age which followed it.