Explorers opened up new country in all directions and rich grazing land was discovered west of Sydney. Wool soon became one of the country's most important industries. During the 1850s, gold and copper discoveries brought a fresh influx of immigrants from Europe, China and America. Some of the richest gold seams were found at Ballarat, north of Melbourne and in central Western Australia at Kalgoorlie while large copper deposits were discovered at Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. As the cities grew and the roads connecting them were upgraded a sense of nationalism developed and Australia was declared a commonwealth on January 1, 1901. Exploration
After the first struggling decades exploration began in the nineteenth century. The explorers were driven by a desire to discover new grazing land and land not claimed before, some being government officials with scientific knowledge others just possessing a natural talent for exploration. All shared a love for the Australian landscape. For many years the rugged Blue Mountains west of Sydney seemed insurmountable until Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson discovered a passage, and opened the way for inland exploration in 1813. Famous explorers include George Bass, who together with Matthew Flinders circumnavigated Tasmania. Matthew Flinders circumnavigated Australia in 1801-3 and completed the mapping of the coastline. Robert O'Hara Burke and William Wills were the first Europeans to cross the continent from south to north in 1860 - an amazing feat that cost their lives on the way back from the Gulf of Carpentaria to Melbourne. Edward John Eyre, an inland explorer crossed the continent from Streaky Bay in South Australia to Albany in Western Australia - a long trip of almost 1600km. Hamilton Hume found a route through the Great Dividing Range to the fertile plains of Goulburn and Yass while Ludwig Leichhardt explored inland from Brisbane to Port Essington in the Northern Territory. Charles Sturt discovered the Murray River, and Sir Douglas Mawson was an Antarctic explorer. Settlements were established in Hobart, Tasmania in 1803, on the Brisbane River, Queensland in 1824, on the Swan River, Western Australia in 1829, on Port Phillip Bay, Victoria in 1835 and on Gulf St Vincent, South Australia in 1836. The capital cities of five Australian states have grown from those sites.