Why are European influences to be seen in major Australian writers?

Why are European influences to be seen in major Australian writers? 

The Australian writers’ need to come to terms with the land which they called home and to derive inspiration from it without looking towards Europe all the time, was exemplified in the verse of Judith Wright and A D Hope. They tried to maintain a balance between the colonial, slavish attitude on the one hand and the aggressively artificial, forced nationalism on the other. There is the acceptance of the country with all its alienness and hardships and a plea to stop being ‘second-hand Europeans’ and evolve their own culture and traditions. Hope, along with James McAuley, is known for his satires while Wright’s is a powerful voice which seeks to draw attention to issues pertaining to women – their views and feelings – ignored in a male-dominated world.