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50,000 BCE
50,000BC
Aboriginal people are known to have occupied mainland Australia for at least 65,000 years. It is widely accepted that this predates the modern human settlement of Europe and the Americas. Increasingly sophisticated dating methods are helping us gain a more accurate understanding of how people came to be in Australia.Oct -
1788
The First Fleet of 11 ships, commanded by Captain Arthur Phillip, set up a convict settlement at Sydney Cove (now Circular Quay) on 26 January 1788. This was the beginning of convict settlement in Australia. -
1808
Bligh arrived in the colony in August 1806 but in January 1808 was arrested and overthrown by the military during what became known as the Rum Rebellion. Bligh fled to Hobart and although the military action would later be ruled illegal in London courts, Bligh never returned as Governor. -
1917
Stretching across 1,693 kilometers of Australia's driest and most isolated terrain, the Trans-Australian Railway was completed on 17 October 1917, providing a link between the eastern states and Western Australia and helping to give the newly formed Commonwealth a sense of national unity. -
1956
Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games, athletic festival held in Melbourne that took place Nov. 22–Dec. 8, 1956. The Melbourne Games were the 13th occurrence of the modern Olympic Games -
1999
Many distrusted the Australian political classes and believed the provision of executive powers to a local politician would result in an undesirably partisan head of state, instability, dictatorship, or a possible repeat of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis. -
2008
On 13 February 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd offered a formal apology to Australia's Indigenous peoples, particularly the Stolen Generations, on behalf of the nation at Australian Parliament House. The Apology was presented as a motion for voting to the Chamber. -
2019
Bill Shorten, Australia's opposition leader, said he wants to win for former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, who died Thursday.