The first camels came to Australia from the Canary Islands in 1840. Nine camels were brought for the purpose of aiding the exploration of John Horrocks. None of these initial â¦ camels survived, although the first one lived for six years-long enough to shoot Horrocks.hese were the predecessors of today's wild camels. Camels continued to be brought over by later explorers. It was not uncommon for the explorers and/or the Afghan cameleers to release their camels, or for the camels to escape.
The expedition arrived in San Diego on May 14, 1769, the first overland party to reach Alta California. The next day, on May 15, Gaspar de Portola and Father Junipero Serra set out across the rugged, arid land of Baja California with a contingent of soldiers and Baja mission Indians.
Mission San JosÃ© was not founded until 1797, about 20 miles (30 km) north of San Jose in what is now Fremont.) The town was founded by the colonists led to California by de Anza, as a farming community to provide food for the presidios of San Francisco and Monterey. In 1778, the pueblo had a population of 68.