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1770- James Cook sails the Endeavour.
On the 20th of April 1770, Captain James Cook sailed the Endeavour across the Eastern coast of Australia. On the 29th, the Endeavour finally reached Botany Bay.
He then left and charted the Eastern coast all the way to Cape York and called it New South Wales. -
1788- The first fleet
In 1787 11 ships left Portsmouth with more than 1480 men, women and children onboard. Most were British but there were also African, American and French convicts. After a voyage of 3 months, the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay. Here the Aboriginal people, met the British in an uneasy stand off at what is now known as Frenchmans Beach at La Perouse. -
1789 to 1790- Lady Juliana arrives
In 1789 the Lady Juliana departed from Britain to Australia. After a delay of 6 months, the ship left Plymouth on July 29th 1789 with 226 female convicts. It took 309 days to reach Port Jackson, which was one of the slowest journeys made by a convict ship.
During the voyage only five convicts died. After repairs to the ships strained timbers, the Lady Juliana set sail for China on 25 July 1790 to take on a cargo of tea for the East India Company. -
1789- British ship sinks
The HMS Bounty set sail on December 23rd 1787 from Spithead to Tahiti. On the 4th of April 1789, Bounty left Tahiti with her cargo and set sail. Around 2,100km west of Tahiti a riot broke out. Although threats were heard on both sides, Bounty was taken bloodlessy and the cargo was lost, never to reach it's final destination. -
1791- The process of British colonisation
The process of British colonisation in Western Australia when George Vancouver claimed the Albany region in the name of King George III occured on the 29th September 1791.
Between 1791 and 1815, British North America took on outlines that it would largely carry into the Canadian federal union of 1867. In the West, its territories expanded across the continent to the Pacific. -
1791- The Process of British Colonisation
Aboriginal people who lived in tribes and were nomadic. They moved from place to place in search of food and water. For food, Aboriginal people caught fish and shellfish from the sea and rivers, hunted kangaroos, possums and birds, collected plants or caught lizards. They used wood, bone and shells to make tools and weapons. When the natural resources of an area began to run low, Aboriginal people moved on to the next place. They did not farm the land, plant or harvest crops or herd animals -
1797- Merino Sheep Imported
For many years, wool was the most important product to the Australian economy. The wool industry dates from 1797, when John Macarthur and Reverend Samuel Marsden imported Spanish merino sheep to attempt to start a wool industry. Up until then, the only sheep in the colony were the fat-tailed sheep which the First Fleet brought with it from the Cape of Good Hope. These were used primarily for meat, rather than wool. -
1802- Pemulwuy, Resistance fighter shot
Pemulwuy was a powerful Aboriginal resistance leader against the British settlers. Through the final decade of the eighteenth century, Pemulwuy led guerrilla attacks against farms, burning their huts, crops and livestock. On the 2nd June 1802, Pemulwuy was shot dead and decapitated. -
1808- The 1808 'Rum' Rebellion
On 26th January 1808, officers and men of the New South Wales Corps marched to Government House in a rebellion against Governor William Bligh. Bligh was arrested and the colony was placed under military rule. This was the only time in Australian history that a government was overthrown by a military coup. The overthrow of Bligh became known as the ‘Rum Rebellion’ because the NSW Corps was involved in the trade of rum in the colony and was nicknamed the ‘Rum Corps’. -
1814- Norfolk Island abandoned
Because of the island's inaccessibility, Brisbane decided that it was the best place to send the worst felons "forever to be excluded from all hope of return" Norfolk Island was "the ne plus ultra of Convict degradation", "a place of the extremest punishment short of Death." -
1823 to 1825- Redcliffe suitable for convict settlement
John Oxley chose Redcliffe Point as the first site because there was plenty of fresh water, soil and plenty of timber for building. Altogether, he sailed 80 kilometres up the Brisbane River. On the 24th September that same year the brig Amity brought officials, soldiers, their wives and children, and 29 convicts to Redcliffe. -
1836- Old Gum Tree
The Old Gum Tree is a historic site in Glenelg North, Australia. On 28th December 1836, the British governor John Hindmarsh delivered the proclamation creating the colony of South Australia.
The tree which was probably a red gum, died a long time ago. Its decayed outer surface was encased in concrete in 1963. -
1856- Men Allowed To Vote
On 22 May 1856, the bicameral New South Wales Parliament opened and sat for the first time.
Until 1858 men had to be white, paid bills and own their own house to be allowed to vote. Soon after almost every man was allowed to vote but had to be over the age of 21 and had to be a natural born. -
1861- First Melbourne Cup
There is a legend, recounted many times in newspaper reports, books and even a film, that the racehorse, Archer, accompanied by Dave Power, a stableman, walked over 700 kms from Nowra in New South Wales, to Flemington to win the first Melbourne Cup -
1881- APB established in NSW
The Aboriginal Protection Board is established in NSW. Aboriginal people at Maloga Mission on the Murray River are moved to Cumeroogunga. By the end of the 1880s several reserves had been established in NSW. -
1895- Women Allowed to Vote in SA
South Australia had granted voting rights in local government elections to women property owners in 1861. But it took eight attempts and another 30 years before the parliamentary franchise was extended to all adult females. After Private Members Bills had failed, the Government of Charles Cameron Kingston adopted the proposals of the Women’s Suffrage League. -
1900- Queen Victoria Proclaims the Commonwealth of Australia
On 17 September 1900, Queen Victoria proclaimed that the Commonwealth of Australia would come into existence on 1 January 1901.
The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 represents the 'blueprint of the Commonwealth'. It describes how the new federation will be established and how it will provide the authority for the powe of the legislature, the executive and the courts. -
1901- Australian Federation
The Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed in Centennial Park, Sydney.
Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia; These six seperate colonies all bound together to form one nation on the 1st January 1901. The nation kept the systems of government that they had developed as separate colonies, but they also agreed to have a federal government that was responsible for matters concerning all six colonies. -
1914- World War 1
The First World War began when Britain and Germany went to war in August 1914, and Prime Minister Andrew Fisher's government pledged full support for Britain. The war started in Australia with great enthusiasm.
Australian women volunteered for service during the war as cooks, nurses, drivers, interpreters, munitions workers, and skilled farm workers. -
1918- End World War 1
The last day of World War One was November 11th 1918, (known as Armistice Day) Despite November 11th being the last day of the war, on many parts of the Western Front fighting continued as normal. This meant, of course, that casualties occurred even as the people of Paris, London and New York were celebrating the end of the fighting.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) states that their records show that 863 Commonwealth soldiers died on November 11th 1918.
