125 years ago today, on September 17, 1900 (August 24, 1900 in the lunar calendar), the British Parliament passed the Australia Commonwealth Act. In the first half of the 17th century, European navigators discovered the Australia continent. At this time, there were 300,000 indigenous people living on the Australia continent. In 1770, the British navigator James Cooke led a fleet to the east coast of Australia, named it New South Wales, and declared British occupation of the place. On February 26, 1788, the British navigator Philip led the first batch of immigrants (most of whom were exiles) to settle near Sydney. By the end of the 19th century, Britain had established six colonies in Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. In the early 19th century, the colonial authorities recruited a large number of hired workers in Britain to develop sheep husbandry in Australia. After the discovery of gold mines in Victoria in 1851, immigration increased sharply. In order to strengthen the British government's rule over Australia, the British Parliament passed the Australia Commonwealth Act on September 17, 1900. According to the Commonwealth Law, on January 1 of the following year, six independent colonies were converted into states to form the Commonwealth of Australia and become the Dominion of the United Kingdom. In 1931, the British Parliament passed the Westminster Act, giving the Dominion independent autonomy in internal and external affairs, and Australia became an independent country within the British Commonwealth. The federal area of Australia is more than 7.68 million square kilometers. The population is more than 14 million, of which 99% are white, of which 95% are British colonial descendants. The capital, Canberra, has a population of more than 200,000. Australia is dominated by agriculture and animal husbandry, with agricultural and animal husbandry land accounting for 66% of the country's land area. Wheat exports rank second in the world after the United States. Sheep farming accounts for 1/6 of the world's total. According to statistics, Australia has an average of 2.1 cattle per person. Australia is rich in coal, iron, bauxite, nickel, lead, silver, tin, copper, zinc, gold, natural gas, oil and uranium, which accounts for about a quarter of the world's reserves.