Historical Landmarks

50,000 BC The Aborigines arrive on the Australian continent.

1606 Willem Jansz is the first European to land.

1642 Abel Tasman discovers Tasmania and New Zealand.

1770 Lieutenant James Cook explores the east coast of Australia, which he calls New South Wales.

1788 Britain establishes a penal colony in Sydney Cove.

1808 The ‘Rum Rebellion’ overthrows Captain William Bligh.

1851 Gold is discovered in New South Wales.

1854 Battle of the Eureka Stockade, Ballarat.

1901 Six colonies federated into the Commonwealth of Australia.

1914–18 330,000 Australians serve in WWI; 60,000 are killed, 165,00 wounded.

1917 Opening of the transcontinental railway.

1927 Federal parliament moves from Melbourne to Canberra.

1928 Royal Flying Doctor Service founded in Queensland.

1939–45 WWII: Australian Air Force active in Britain; navy operates in Mediterranean; soldiers fight in North Africa and the Pacific.

1956 Olympic Games held in Melbourne. First Australian TV.

1960 Australia grants citizenship to Aborigines.

1962 Aborigines allowed to vote in federal elections.

1972 ‘White Australia’ immigration policy is abandoned.

1973 Sydney Opera House is finally completed.

1985 Uluru (Ayers Rock), Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) and surrounding desert are returned to Aboriginal owners.

1993 The Aborigines’ right to own land is recognised.

2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

2008 Prime Minister Rudd apologises to the Stolen Generations.

2009 173 people killed by devastating bush fires in Victoria.

2010 Julia Gillard becomes Australia’s first female prime minister.

2011 Brisbane and nearby areas experience major flooding in January, and Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi tears through North Queensland in February.

2013 Australian Liberal Party returned to Government, under Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who downgrades level of protection afforded to Great Barrier Reef