London figures in Australian history as a point of departure - as many of the first convict settlers were tried in London courts and set out from London docks. Generations later, descendants of both convicts and free settlers are returning to London as professionals wanting to expand their experience of the world.

London museums also bear witness to a troubling side of Australian history for those who do not trace their Australian identity back to the voyages of Cook and other explorers. Aboriginal artefacts in London museums include many human remains, taken from Aboriginal groups as white people settled the country. As we'll see, recent political changes have led to some of these objects being returned.

We explore some of the places where you can find Australian history in the capital.

Modern Australian art and design

The October Gallery is commited to showing Australian art, and has given a number of shows in the past two years, including the Lockhart River Gang There are likely to be more exhibitions in 2007 and 2008.

Social equality movements

Australian women got the vote between 1894 - 1908, contrasting with Britain, where women were not allowed to vote until 1918, and even then only the over 30s. Consequently, many British women's suffrage tracts of the time drew attention to the situation in Australia (and also New Zealand) - pointing out that the change had not brought disaster in those countries, and had also encouraged liberal social legislation. Suffrage material is amongst a handful of Australian items held by the Museum of London.

Australia has also contributed to the UK's gay rights movement in the shape of Peter Tatchell - a leading light of Outrage, resident in London for many decades. His work and that of other Outrage activists features in the Museum of London's touring exhibition Queer is Here, which has been touring the capital.

War and Commemoration

The heavy losses that Australians and New Zealanders incurred in the First World War cemented their identities as nations. Anzac Day, which falls on 25th April commemorates the battle for the Gallipoli peninsular, and is a major national day in Australia. It is marked by all ages: Gallipoli in Turkey is much visited by young Australian backpackers, as well as veterans.

In London, the Australian War Memorial at Marble Arch will be the focus of commemorations with a dawn service at 5am.

The church at St Mary Le Bow holds a flag which is the only official memorial to Australian airmen during the Second World War. The church also houses a bust of Arthur Philip - the first govenor of Australia, who was baptised in a now-demolished church in nearby Bread Street. St Mary Le Bow is therefore London's "Australian" church as well as conferring Cockney identity.

Imperial War Museum

The Imperial War Museum also holds a large collection on the experience of Australians during wartime. It includes a copy of the only surviving film of the battle at Gallipoli. They run annual talks and films around Anzac Day.

Departure

The first large numbers of Britons to leave London were as convicts transported to Australia. Large numbers left from 1787 onwards - before that people were transported to America. You can read many of the trial records on Old Bailey online - giving short vivid transcripts of what people said at the trials. Here are the post 1787 trials where the sentence was transportation. Most were convicted of theft, often of pitifully small amounts.

The Old Sessions House in Clerkenwell, was also used to try convicts, and many thousands were held in its vaults before transportation to Australia. It is now a Masonic lodge.

Jenny McInerney of the Australians Women's Club is one Australian Londoner who can trace her ancestry back to convicts. She says "In the past there was a lot of shame associated with having a convict ancestor, but then in the 70s and 80s there was a renewed interest and now people want to know and are quite proud of it." The National Archives give a good summary of how to start searching for a particular convict ancestor. The Caird Library at the National Maritime Museum is also a good source for research.

By the 1850s transportation was abandoned, and many willing migrants went to Australia to escape poverty or find greater chances for advancement in a younger, less classridden society. In the 1850s many went to Australia in response to the Gold Rush - hence the use of "Digger" to describe Australians.

Captain Cook

Paintings and drawings from the voyages of Captain Cook are held at the Natural History Museum. These images are by white artists of things and people they were seeing for the first time, including a kangaroo, described by an early visitor as "...an animal as large as a greyhound, of a mouse colour and very swift." The museum holds an archive related to Joseph Banks, the botanist on Cook's early voyages. They hold his 'herbarium' of dried seeds and plants from across the Pacific.

The Natural History Museum is also one of those at the centre of, and participating in, fierce debate about the presence of Aboriginal human remains in their collections.

Aboriginal histories in London

The British Museum has purchased many modern Aboriginal works of art as well as holding older material. You can see Aboriginal objects in the museum's Living and Dying Galleries and Enlightenment Galleries.

There are also a handful of Aboriginal pieces at the Cuming Museum. Small in number, they are pre-1820s and therefore amongst the earliest surviving Aboriginal objects.

The new National Portrait Gallery exhibition Between Worlds: Voyagers to Britain 1700 - 1850 runs until 17th June. It includes a portrait of two Aboriginal travellers who came to London with Governor Philip in the 18th century, Bennelong and Yemmerrawanne.

Australia and London today

Today the number of Australians in London is mirrored by the number of young Britons who choose to backpack in Australia - with both sides perhaps attracted by the romance of distance, or by family connections. Organisations like the Britain-Australia Society run events for those who feel connected to both countries.

There remains a shared rivalry in cricket: the Australian 2005 Ashes defeat has been countered by an English wipe out in early 2007. Australians can take a great deal of satisfaction in the long view of the contest.

Australian immigrants including Clive James and Germaine Greer have become household names in Britain. Australians also have an increasingly high profile in the business and the arts.

The 2004 Fullilove report on the Australian diaspora notes high profile jobs for Australians in countries across the world, adding "our success in the British arts world is just as notable: Australians run London's South Bank Centre, it's Philharmonic Orchestra, its Science Museum and the Sadler's Wells Theatre."

Whilst Australians are far from the largest diaspora population in London, they are an increasingly influential one.