Well, that's a big question, but the various answers about Australia in our FAQ on Oceania are definitely a good place for you to start, and some answers within that that are directly relevant to your questions include:
my answer to Why was Australia colonized? What motivated people to travel so far only to settle in such a dangerous place?
an answer by /u/Algernon_Asimov on What would life have been like back in the colonization days for a prisoner shipped from England to Australia once he/she stepped off the boat?, and
/u/AbandoningAll's answer to Were indigenous Australians ever enslaved?