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Timeline of Australian history
This is a timeline of Australian history.
Prehistory
- 70,000BC : Aborigines are thought to have migrated to Australia
- 42,000BC : Aboriginal engravings have been found in South Australia that date back to this time.
- 35,000BC : Aborigines are thought to have reached Tasmania.
- 1603 - Dutch ship Duyfken, under Capt. Willem Janszoon , explores northern Australian coastline (western coast of Cape York), being first recorded European encounter
- 1616 - Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog explores the west coast of Australia
- 1642 - Dutch explorer Abel Tasman explores the west coast of Tasmania, lands on the east coast and names the island Anton Vandiemenslandt
- 1688 - English explorer William Dampier explores the west coast of Australia
- 1770 - Captain James Cook charts the eastern coast
- 1788 - The First Fleet arrives in Australia and founds Sydney
- 1789 - A settlement is founded at Norfolk Island
- 1792 - Two French ships, La Recherche and L'Espérance anchored in Recherche Bay, named after one of their ships, near the southernmost point of Tasmania at a time when Britain and France were vying to be the first to discover and colonise Australia
- 1804 - A settlement is founded at Risdon on the Derwent River in Van Diemen's Land by Lt. Bowen
- 1804 - Vinegar Hill convict rebellion
- 1804 - The settlement is moved to Sullivan's Cove, now Hobart in Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) by Col. David Collins
- 1806 - Matthew Flinders completes the first circumnavigation of the continent
- 1808 - The Rum Rebellion
- 1813 - Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth successfully cross the Blue Mountains
- 1817 - John Oxley charts the length of the Lachlan River
- 1818 - Oxley charts the length of the Macquarie River
- 1824 - The city of Brisbane is founded
- 1824 - Bathurst and Melville Islands are annexed
- 1828 - Charles Sturt charts the length of the Darling River
- 1829 - The whole of Australia is claimed as British territory
- 1830 - Sturt arrives at Goolwa, having charted the length of the Murray River
- 1830 - The city of Perth is founded
- 1833 - The Tasmanian penal settlement of Port Arthur is founded
- 1835 - John Batman arrives at Port Phillip with the intention to found a settlement there
- 1837 - The settlement founded by Batman is named Melbourne
- 1845 - Copper is discovered at Burra in South Australia
- 1850 - Western Australia becomes a penal colony
- 1850 - Australia's first university, the University of Sydney, is founded
- 1851 - Victoria separates from New South Wales
- 1851 - The Victorian gold rush begins when gold is found at Summerhill Creek and Ballarat
- 1854 - The Eureka Stockade occurs
- 1855 - The transportation of convicts to Norfolk Island ceases
- 1859 - Queensland seperates from New South Wales
- 1860 - John McDouall Stuart reaches the centre of the continent
- 1861 - The ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition occurs
- 1862 - Stuart reaches Port Darwin, founding a settlement there
- 1863 - South Australia takes control of the new Northern Territory
- 1867 - The transportation of convicts to Western Australia ceases
- 1867 - Gold is discovered at Gympie, Queensland
- 1873 - Uluru is first sighted by Europeans
- 1879 - The first congress of trade unions is held
- 1880 - Ned Kelly is hanged
- 1880 - Parliamentarians in Victoria become the first to be paid for their work
- 1883 - Opening of the Sydney-Melbourne railway
- 1883 - Silver is discovered at Broken Hill
- 1887 - Australian cricket team established, defeating Britain in the first Ashes series
- 1889 - Completion of the railway network between Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney
- 1889 - Sir Henry Parkes gives the Tenterfield Oration
- 1890 - The Australian Federation Conference decides to call a constitutional convention
- 1891 - National Australasian Convention meets, agrees on adopting the name "Commonwealth of Australia" and agrees to draft a Constitution
- 1891 - The first attempt at a federal Constitution is drafted
- 1891 - The Convention adopts the Constitution, though it still has no legal status
- 1892 - Gold is discovered at Coolgardie , Queensland
- 1893 - The Corowa Conference (the "people's convention") calls upon the colonial parliaments to pass Enabling Acts, allowing the election of delgates to a new Constitutional Convention aimed at drafting an agreeable proposal, and then putting it to a referendum in each colony
- 1895 - All the Premiers (with the exceptions of Queensland and Western Australia) agree to implement the Corowa proposals
- 1895 - Waltzing Matilda is first sung in public, in Winton, Queensland
- 1895 - Banjo Patterson publishes The Man From Snowy River
- 1896 - Bathurst Conference (the second "people's convention") meets to discuss the 1891 draft constitution
- 1897 - In two sessions, the Second National Australasian Convention meets (with all colonies except Queensland present). They agree to adopt a constitution based on the 1891 draft, and then revise and amend it later in the year.
- 1898 - The Convention agrees on a final draft to be put to the people
- 1898 - After much public debate, the Victorian, South Australian and Tasmanian referenda are successful; the New South Wales referendum narrowly fails
- 1899 - All colonies except Western Australia vote "yes", after new referenda
- 1899 - The decision is made to site the national capital in New South Wales, but not within 100 miles of Sydney
- 1899 - The Australian Labor Party takes power in Queensland, becoming the first trade union party to do so anywhere in the world
- 1911 - The Royal Australian Navy is founded
- 1911 - The Northern Territory comes under Commonwealth control, being split off from South Australia
- 1911 - The first national census is conducted
- 1912 - Australia sends women to the Olympic Games for the first time
- 1912 - Walter Burley Griffin wins a design competitionfor the new city of Canberra
- 1913 - The foundation stone for the city of Canberra is put in place
- 1914 - Australian soldiers are sent to the First World War. This was first time Australians had fought under the Australian flag.
- 1915 - Australian soldiers land at Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey
Surfing is first introduced to Australia
- 1916 - Hotels are forced to close at 6pm, leading to the beginning of the "six o'clock swill"
- 1916 - The Returned Sailors’ and Soldiers’ Imperial League of Australia, the forerunner to the Returned and Services League is founded
- 1916 - First referendum on conscription
- 1917 - Third referendum on conscription
- 1940 - A team of scientists, under Howard Florey, develops penicillin
- 1942 - Japan bombs Darwin, Broome and Queensland
- 1942 - Daylight saving is introduced
- 1943 - Australia wins its first Oscar, with cinematographer Damien Parer being rewarded for his coverage of the war
- 1944 - The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme is introduced, providing subsidised medicine to all Australians
- 1945 - Australia becomes a founding member of the United Nations
- 1945 - The Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race is held for the first time
- 1946 - Minister for Immigration Arthur Calwell introduces the major post-war immigration scheme
- 1946 - An Australian is voted in as the first President of the United Nations Security Council.
- 1948 - Australian Minister for External Affairs, Dr. Herbert Evatt is elected President of the United Nations General Assembly.
- 1948 - Australia becomes a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- 1949 - Construction of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme begins
- 1949 - Indigenous Australians who are eligible to vote in State Elections in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania are also given the right to vote in Federal Elections.
- 1949 - The Nationality and Citizenship Act is passed. Rather than being identified as subjects of Britain, the Act established Australian citizenship for people who met eligibility requirements.
- 1950 - Australian troops are sent to the Korean War, as well as to fight a communist insurgency in Malaya
- 1951 - Australia signs the ANZUS treaty with the United States and New Zealand
- 1954 - The Petrov Affair occurs
- 1954 - Hotels no longer have to close at 6pm, ending the "six o’clock swill"
- 1954 - Elizabeth II and Prince Philip make a royal visit.
- 1956 - Melbourne holds the Summer Olympics
- 1959 - The Sidney Myer Music Bowl is opened
- 1959 - Australia becomes a signatory to the International Antarctic Treaty
- 1962 - Indigenous Australians gain the right to vote
- 1962 - Australia enters the Vietnam War
- 1966 - The ban on the employment of married women in the Commonwealth Public Service is lifted.
- 1967 - South-eastern Tasmania devastated by bushfires on 7 February, killing 62 people
- 1967 - Indigenous Australians gain the right to citizenship after a referendum to allow the federal government to legislate for them is supported by over 90% of the population
- 1968 - Australia signs the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
- 1980 - The Australia Act ends the right of appeal to the British Privy Council, making the High Court the final destination of appeal.
- 1983 - Australia wins the America's Cup
- 1985 - The government grants the freehold title of a large area of land in central Australia, including prominent landmarks Uluru and Kata Tjuta, to the Mutitjulu people, who in turn give them a 99-year lease
- 1988 - Australia celebrates its bicentenary, with large celebrations and major funding for capital works projects
- 1988 - The new Parliament House opens
- 1989 - A 5.6 magnitude earthquake strikes Newcastle on 28 December. This was Australia's most serious natural disaster to date, killing 13 and injuring more than 160 people.
- 1991 - Bob Hawke becomes the first sitting Prime Minister to be dumped in a leadership challenge, and is replaced by Paul Keating
- 1991 - Seven people die in the Strathfield massacre
- 1991 - Prominent heart surgeon Victor Chang is gunned down
- 1991 - The Coode Island chemical storage facility in Melbourne explodes, leaving a toxic cloud hanging over the city for days
- 1992 - The Sydney Harbour Tunnel opens
- 1992 - New South Wales Premier Nick Greiner resigns after a corruption inquiry finds against him
- 1993 - The High Court delivers the Mabo Decision, which rules that indigenous native title does exist. This effectively extinguishes the concept of terra nullius.
- 1993 - Paul Keating defeats John Hewson in an election that had been widely described as being "unwinnable" for him; the Australian Greens stand candidates for the first time
- 1995 - The Northern Territory legalises voluntary euthanasia, but it is overruled by the federal government when Liberal MP Kevin Andrews proposes the Andrews Bill
- 1996 - The High Court hands down the Wik Decision, which holds that indigenous native title can survive the granting of pastoral leases.
- 1996 - John Howard becomes Prime Minister, defeating Paul Keating
- 1996 - All Australian states and territories agree to introduce uniform gun laws following the deaths of 35 people in the Port Arthur massacre
- 1997 - Controversial right-wing MP Pauline Hanson forms the One Nation Party
- 1997 - Eighteen people die when the Bimbadene and Carinya Lodges collapse at Thredbo Alpine Village at 11.30pm on 30 July
- 1998 - A major strike results when Patrick Stevedores attempt to introduce non-union labour to reduce the influence of the Maritime Union of Australia
- 1998 - The Australian Stock Exchange is demutualised and floated as a public company, becoming the world’s first stock exchange to be listed on an exchange.
- 1999 - Both houses of the federal parliament pass a motion signifying both recognition of and regret at past treatment of indigenous Australians.
- 1999 - A referendum on changing to a republic is unsuccessful
- 1999 - Australian soldiers are deployed to East Timor as part of the INTERFET peacekeeping force
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