Last week was Australia's 200th birthday. When the rebels in America won what they called their war of independence, Britain lost her penal colonies in the Carolinas and looked around for replacements. The first colonial fleet arrived in Australia on January 26,1788, and included, along with 700 convicts, 44 sheep and 6 cattle. If Britain had defeated her American colonists, then the history of both Australia and Louisiana would likely have been very different. The French flag might be flying today over both Sydney and New Orleans.