History of Australia is captured in the following tables:
50 million years ago: Australia breaks free from the land mass that includes Antartica, and drifts north. 50,000 BC:Â The first Australians arrive overland from New Guinea. 12,000 BC: Tasmania and New Guinea are separated from mainland Australia as seas rises after the Ice Age. 8000 BC: Returning boomerangs are perfected and used for hunting for the first time in South Australia. AD150:Â Geographer Ptolemy decides there must be an unknown southern land (terra australis incognita) |
EARLY VISITORS
19th. Century: Seafarers from China possibly reach Australia’s north coast. 1290s: Marco Polo’s journal refers to a land south of Java, rich in gold and shells. 1606: Dutchman Willem Jansz, sailing east from Java, lands on the western side of Cape York Peninsula-the first verifiable European landing. 1642: Abel Tasman sees the west coast of Tasmania, names it Van Diemen’s Land. Terra Australis Incognita becomes Hollandia Nova (New Holland) on maps |
COLONISATION AND EXPLORATION
1770:Â Captain Cook lands at Botany Bay, then sails north, charting 4,000km (2,500 miles) of coast. He names it New South Wales and claims it for England. 1773:Â First picture of a kangaroo seen in England. 1788: First Fleet arrives in Sydney Cove, with a cargo of convicts. First white child is born in Australia. 1793: First free immigrants arrive in Australia. 1797: Merino sheep brought from Cape of Good Hope. 1803:Â Publication of Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, Australia’s first newspaper. 1801-3: Matthew Flinders circumnavigates Australia, proving it is a single island. 1813: Australian currency established. First crossing of the Blue Mountains. 1817:Â The name Australia is adopted instead of New Holland. First bank established in Sydney. 1829:Â Settlers land at Fremantle, and founded Perth. Colony of Western Australia founded. 1830:Â All Aborigines in Tasmania are rounded up and herded into reserves. 1836:Â Colony of South Australia established. Adelaide founded the following year. 1837:Â A year-old village on the Yarra River is named Melbourne, which later becomes the city of Melbourne. 1838:Â Myall Creek Massacre. 20 Aborigines butchered by white farmers. |
THE GOLD RUSH AND GROWTH
1901Â (Jan 1): Federation of the six colonies into the Commonwealth of Australia (population 3,370,000). 1901Â (May): The first Commonwealth Parliament sits in Melbourne. 1914-18: 330,000 Australians serve in World war 1; 60,000 are killed, 165,000 wounded. 1915:Â Australian troops take a major part in the Gallipoli siege, more than 8,000 killed. 1923: Chemist Cyril Callister creates “Vegemite”, Australia’s future “national” food. 1927: Parliament moves from Melbourne to Canberra. 1928: Royal Flying Doctor Service founded by Rev. John Flynn in Cloncurry, Queensland. 1930: The Great Depression; 25% of Australian workforce unemployed. 1932: Sydney Harbour Bridge opens. 1939: Australia declares war on Germany in World War 2. 1941: Australia declares war on Japan in World War 2. 1945:Â Australian population reaches 7 million. 1950: Immigration peaks at 150,000 new arrivals. 1956:Â Olympic Games held in Melbourne. Launch of television in Australia. 1959: Population of Australia reaches 10 million. 1967: Aborigines granted Australian citizenship and the right to vote. 1973: Sydney Opera House completed. 1974: Darwin flattened by cyclone Tracy. 1983: The yacht Australia II win the America’s Cup yacht race after being held for 150 years by the Americans. 1985: Uluru (Ayers Rock), Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) and the surrounding desert are returned to Aboriginal owners. 1986: Australian film “Crocodile Dundee” grosses $116 million in USA. 1988: Australia celebrates it’s Bicentennial (200) year. Queen Elizabeth II opens new parliament house in Canberra. 1990: Population of Australia reaches 17 million. 1995: Australians protest strongly over French nuclear testing in the South Pacific. 1996: Local gunman massacres 35 at Port Arthur, Tasmania. 1999: Failed vote to change Australia into a republic without links to the England monarchy. |
A NEW MILLENNIUM
 2000: Sydney hosts the hugely successful Olympic Games 2000, the first in the new millenium and considered the best ever. |