“Australian history is almost always picturesque; indeed, it is so curious and strange, that it is itself the chiefest novelty the country has to offer, and so it pushes the other novelties into second and third place. It does not read like history, but like the most beautiful of lies. And all of a fresh new sort, no mouldy old stale ones. It is full of surprises, and adventures, and incongruities, and contradictions, and incredibilities; but they are all true, they all happened.” – Mark Twain
~60kya -50kya: African-ancestry Aboriginals settle Australia (before most of Eurasia)…
… or more accurately, Sahul
Australian Aborigines are not one ethnic group, but incredibly diverse tribes, many with their own language.
47kya: Large herbivore marsupials (inc diprotodon) extinct. Aborigines torch the continent, destroying most of its rainforests.
12kya: Rising sea levels isolate Tasmania from mainland
~4kya: Dingo introduced to Australia; most likely from Polynesians
150AD: Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy popularised Aristotle’s vision by drawing map with big lumpy southern continent named Terra Australis
Early Western world contact with Australia:
– 1567: Viceroy of Peru commissions trip to discover Terra Australis; instead discover Solomon Islands.
– 1595: Portugese expedition narrowly misses Cape York
– 1606: First known European to land in Australia, Dutch VOC captain Janszoon, lands in Cape York Peninsula. Months later, Spanish Luis Vas de Torres sails through the Torres strait but never lands. Another Dutchman Hartog lands in Shark Bay in 1616, Western Australia and posts plate to a post before returning to Batavia. Another Dutch visits same spot and replaces plate 81 years later
– 1622: First known Englishman in Australia, captain Brookes, lands there by accident en route to East Indies
Early 1600s: Dutch frequent Western Australian shores, mapping much of Western and Southern Australia. First Dutch baby born on Australian shore in 1623.
1642: Abel Tasman claims Van Dieman’s Land (Tasmania)
~1700 onwards: For centuries, Makassan traders from Sulawesi harvest trepang (sea cucumbers) on north Australian coast to meet Chinese demand for aphrodisiacs.
1707: England, Wales and Scotland become Great Britain
1758: British Raj est in India
1769: England’s Royal Society decides to send observers to Canada, South Australia, and Tahiti to calculate distance between earth and sun for the 1769 astronomical transit. Captain Cook chosen for task with botanist Joseph Banks on board.
1770: After charting New Zealand in 1769, Captain Cook lands in Botany Bay, Australia on the Endeavour; and claims eastern Australia for Britain.
1776: US Declaration of Independence. British now in need of new place to dump convicts.
1700s: British laws become increasingly harsh on crime; mostly designed to keep country people in their place. Return of 160k now unemployed soldiers returning from American Revolutionary War leads to spike in crime rate in late 1770s/early 1780s
1779: British Parliamentary committee considers new sites to send convicts. Joseph Banks recommends Botany Bay. King George authorises sale of convict labour to America, but Americans prefer African slaves.
1785: France sends Laperouse to explore South Seas and Russia’s Catherine the Great forms cannabis cartel (which British used to make rope and canvas); prompting establishment of colony at Botany Bay
1788: First Fleet’s 11 ships under Philip land at Botany Bay on 18 January 1788 (after 8 month journey, departing England on 13 May 1787) with ~750 convicts, their guards, and workers; names large harbour north of Botany Bay after Lord Sydney on 26th Jan; formally establishes government on 7th Feb.
1789: Smallpox wipes out half of Sydney’s Aboriginals the Eora. French Revolution begins in Europe.
1790: Second Fleet arrives (inc Lady Juliana); but with high death toll and diminished supplies after hitting iceberg.
1792: Governor Philip returns to England due to ill health. New South Wales Corps major Francis Grose takes over command of the colony.
1797: Spanish merino sheep brought to Australia from Cape of Good Hope. Army officers of New South Wales Corps led by Macarthur establishes near-monopoly of trade and land grants.
Early 1800s: Convict transport continues until 1840 in NSW, and 1868 in WA. By 1820, Australia’s European population is 84% convict and former-convicts. In first few decades, Australia is dependent on British food supplies. Several decades until Australia is able to send significant exports back to Britain (whale and seal products initially, then wool from 1830s onwards, gold since 1851, and meat/butter since 1880s with refrigeration)
1804: Castle Hill Rising; first rebellion in Australian history; rebels capture convict station. Haiti Revolution (1791-1804) in Americas.
1806: William Bligh appointed Governor (r.1806-1810)
1807: Napoleon France blockades Britain (Milan Decree)
1808: NSW Governor arrested by Corps officers led by John Macarthur (Rum Rebellion); only military coup in Australian history. Military assumes power until 1810.
1810: Lachlan Macquarie sworn in as NSW Governor; disbands New South Wales Corps and restores government power. Recommends that Britain adopt the name Australia in 1812
1813: Blaxland, Lawson, and Wentworth cross the Blue Mountains
1823: New South Wales Act passed by British Parliament; reducing power of the Governor, and creating council
1830s:
– More political democracy introduced. First Reform Act in 1832.
– Wool replaces whale products as primary exports
1836: First non-British non-convict immigrants (German Lutherans) begin to arrive, in South Australia; seeking religious freedom
1840: Last convicts arrive in NSW
1842: First partly elected representative colonial govt in NSW
1851: Australian gold rush begins 2nd wave of non-British immigration; drawing in many Europeans, Americans, and (more controversially) Chinese. State of Victoria is carved out of NSW.
1854: Eureka rebellion
1856: Two-house Parliament established (modelled on the Westminster system); followed by 1858 Electoral Reform Act giving most men to vote (nearly 60 years before England); women given right to vote in 1902 (many years before England). VIC and TAS become first in world to offer secret ballot in elections
1860s: Third wave non-British immigrants due to sugar plantations in Queensland; workers mostly kidnapped Pacific Islanders from New Guinea, Melanesia, and Polynesia
1868: Last convicts in Australia, in WA
1870: Last British troops withdraw from Australia
1885: First expeditionary force is sent by NSW to British Sudan to quell rebellion. States are like independent countries, erecting protective tariffs against one another, import duties etc.
1889: Second expeditionary force sent to Boer War
1901: 6 UK colonies form Commonwealth of Australia on 1st Jan. One of the first Acts is Immigration Restriction Act (White Australia Policy), barring immigration of prostitutes, criminals, and non-whites.
1914:
– Jun14: Australia joins Britain in World War I against Germany with huge volunteer force of 400,000 – more than half of all eligible Australian men from total population of just 5 million.
– Aug-Sep14: German colonies in Pacific surrender to Australia-New Zealand force
1915:
– Apr15: ANZAC landing at Gallipoli, Turkey, ends in disaster; blood and sacrifice cements Australia’s identity as Australians rather than as Victorians or Tasmanians
1917: Trans-Australian railway completed, connecting all 5 capital cities on mainland
1920: League of Nations places New Guinea and Nauru under Australian control
1923: British Empire allows its Commonwealth dominions to appoint their own foreign ambassadors; Canada, South Africa, and Ireland follow suit, but Australia doesn’t as there was no public enthusiasm for seeking independence against Britain
1927: Parliament formally moves its capital from Melbourne to Canberra.1992: High Court of Australia finally legally recognises Aboriginal people in Mabo case
1928: European settlers massacre 32 Aborigines and Australian public supports this
1930s: ‘Stolen generation’ policy begins; forcibly removing Aboriginal children to be raised in white institutions or foster homes
1932: Sydney Harbour Bridge opens
WWII 1939-1945:
– Feb42: Japan captures British Singapore (5th) and its 100k troops (including 2k Australians that arrive only 3 weeks ago), signalling British powerlessness in the region. Japan bombs Darwin (19th) – first of more than 60 air raids on Australia
– May42: US victory at Battle of Coral Sea
– Jul42-Nov42: Australian troops repel Japanese invasion of New Guinea at Kokoda Track campaign
1945-1950: Australia receives 700K immigrants (10% of its 1945 population); half British, half other European
1951: ANZUS Treaty established (Aus, NZ, US); further signifying Australia’s military reliance on US over Britain
1953: Armistic ends Korean War (1950-1953)
1954: SEATO military pact (Australia, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand)
1957: Trade agreement signed with Japan, lifting iron ore ban in 1960. Becomes largest trading partner in 80s.
1958: MIgration Act allowed high-skilled Asians to immigrate
1961: UK’s application to join European Economic Community shocks Australia (due to tariff implications)
1964: Australian dollar introduced
1967: PM Harold Holt goes missing after swimming at sea
1972: Labor Party under Gough Whitlam comes to power after 23 years. Within 19 days (even before appointing a new cabinet) Whitlam and his deputy: ends White Australia Policy, military draft, withdraws all troops from Vietnam, recognises mainland China, announces independence of Papua New Guinea, abolishes Britain’s systems of honors. And throughout term reduces voting age to 18, increases minimum wage, introduces no-fault divorce, medical insurance, educational changes, and more…
1973: Sydney Opera House opens
Late 70s – early 80s: Between 1978-1980 Australia admits more Vietnamese & Cambodian refugees as percentage of its population than any other country in world.
1980s: Japan is largest trading partner (in 1982, Japan is 28%, US 11%, UK only 4% of Aus exports). Chamberlain dingo baby case
1986: Australia Act makes Australia completely independent to UK
1988: Parliament House opens.
1999: Referendum on abandoning British Queen as head of state and becoming republic defeated (55% no, 45% yes)
2008: PM Kevin Rudd says sorry
2020: COVID. Melbourne has longest lockdown in world.
See also:
Visual Timeline Series