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In 1780, the British government sent the first fleet of convicts to Australia which back then was referred to as New Holland. The leader, Sir Arthur Phillip, was to protect the Indigenous people there already.
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Under the command of Sir Arthur Phillthe First Fleet, consisting of 11 ships, landed at Sydeny Cove on the 26th of January, 1788.
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In 1790, the second fleet arrived in New South Wales from England. They arrived to support the first fleet with supplies as majority of them died as famine struck the colony. They also carried over convicts and settlers.
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In the Colony of NSW, men still outnumbered women by an estimated 20 to 1.
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George Bass and Matthew Flinders both discovered the outskirts of Tasmania which was then known as Van Diemen’s Land. Today, the body of water separating Tasmania and the bottom of Victoria is known as the Bass Strait.
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The Sydney Gazette and the NSW Advertiser was first published on the 5th of March, 1803
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In 1810, there was an estimated 12000 white people in the colonies of NSW and Van Diemen’s Land.
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Explorers Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth found a passage throught the Blue Mountains in 1813
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On the 8th of March 1817, the Bank of NSW began operation in Sydney.
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In 1820, two catholic priests arrive in NSW from Ireland. This was the first time since 1804 that the catholic mass was allowed in public.
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Brisbane gained its name from the Brisbane River, on which the Moreton Bay colony was founded in 1824 by John Oxley.
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In February 1830, Charles Sturt and his crew discovered the mouth of the River Murray and The Black War began in trying to capture all Tasmanian Aboriginals but only succeeded in ‘catching’ 2.
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Adelaide was founded Colonel William Light in 1836.
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In 1840 it was the end of transportation the Mainland, by which time some 150 000 convicts had been sent to the colonies.
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The Eureka Stockade was a battle between Victorian miners and the colonial forces of Australia. They fought at Eureka Lead in 1854. The event was caused by Victorian miners objecting to the expense of a Miners License, taxation and the governments’ agents. During this battle, 27 people died.
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In 1860, an explorer named John McDouall Stuart claimed that he had reached the centre of the Australian mainland.
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Held on the first Tuesday of November, the race that stops a nation, the Melbourne Cup, was first run in 1861. It was won by Archer who also won the cup the following year.
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In 1870, the first Aboriginal children were enrolled into NSW public schools, marking a shift from previous missionary schooling.
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Bushranger Ned Kelly was captured on the 28th of March 1880.
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Ned Kelly was hanged on the 11th of November, 1880 at the Old Melbourne Gaol.
His last words were "Such is life". -
In 1890, severe depression hit Australia caused by payment crises. This lasted for 3 years. Also the long boom – which lasted from the 1850 gold strikes – was over.
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Gold was first discovered in Kalgoorlie (or back then known as Mt Charlotte) in June 1893 by Patty Hannan.
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On the 17th of September, 1900, Queen Victoria proclaims the Commonwealth of Australia.
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On the 1st of January, 1901, Australia became its own nation and federal government hence the name Federation.
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In 1910, Australia got a new Prime Minister who goes by the name of Andrew Fisher who was the son of a Scottish coal miner.
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The Australian troops landed in Gallipoli on the 25th of April, 1915 – hence ANZAC day - ahead of war.
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Qantas was founded in 1920 in Winton, Queensland. Its name is an acronym for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services and was originally used for subsidised airmail services.
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Federal Parliament started in 1901 and was always in Victoria but moved to Canberra (South NSW) in 1927.
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After much argument, Canberra was chosen as the capital city of Australia. It officially opened on the 12th of March, 1927.
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In the 1930 Ashes tour of England, Australian batsmen, Donald Bradman (later knighted) scores 974 runs with an average of 139.14 as a 23 year old.
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A sensation occured when Captain de Groot of the New Guard rode up on his horse and slashed the ribbon that was to be cut byt the NSW Premier, Mr Lang, at the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge on the 19th of March 1932.
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In 1940, double – decker buses replaced cable trams in Melbourne.
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On the 19th of February, 1942; Australia’s mainland was under attack for the first time by Japanese forces. Two air raids on Darwin occurred at 9:58am.
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In 1950, the Australian government announce that they will be sending troops to fight in the Korean War. The first forces landed in September that year.
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1956 saw televsion begin in Australia (TCN Channel 9 began transmission in Sydney on the 16th of September that year) andf the Olympic Games were held in Melbourne, making it the first games held in Australia
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On the 10th of June, 1960, the TAA Fokker Friendship, Abel Tasman, crashed in Mackay, Queensland, killing 29 people. To this day, it remains the worst loss of life in an air crash in Australia.
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Decimal Currency was introduced to Australia on the 14th February, 1966. Dollars and cents became the Australian currency on the conversion of pounds.
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On the 1st of July, 1970, Melbourne Airport officially opened.
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With winds of up to 210kmph, Cyclone tRacy devastated Darwin on Christmas Eve 1974.
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In 1980, Victoria decriminalises homosexual acts between consenting adults and construction began on the New Parliament House in Canberra.
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The bicentenary of Australia was celebrated in 1988 to mark 200 years since the first fleet of British convicts arrived in Sydney, 1788.
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Carmen Lawson became the Premier of Western Australia and the first Australian female premier on the 12th of February.
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On the 1st of July, 1995, Telecom Australia officially changed their name to Telstra.
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The Summer Olympic Games were held in Sydney in 2000 being the second city in Australia’s history to this day to ever host the Olympic Games.
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In 2005, nine people were killed in the South Australia bushfires, making them the worst since Ash Wednesday and until the Black Saturday fires in February, 2009.
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In June 2010, Julia Gillard replaced Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister. She was the 27th Prime Minister of Australia and the first female Prime Minister. In May, a 16 year old sailor, Jessica Watson, completes a solo voyage around the world.
