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Period: to
1788 - 1901
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First Fleet Arrives
The First Fleet had 11 ships and was led by Captain Arthur Phillip. They docked at Botany Bay. -
Rum Rebellion
The Rum Rebellion was the only successful armed takeover by the Government in Australian history. In the 19th century it was commonly known as the Great Rebellion -
The Wool Industry
John and Elizabeth Macarthur, two famous pastoralist introduced rare Spanish sheep to Australia. The sheep before this were bred for only meat. The introduction of the sheep started the wool industry. -
First Bank in Australia
In April 1817 Australia's first bank, the Bank of New South Wales which is now named Westpac, opened in Sydney. Governor Lachlan Macquarie and Judge-Advocate John Wylde were instrumental its formation. -
'Australia' is named
The name Australia derives from Latin australis meaning southern, and dates back to 2nd century legends of an "unknown southern land" (that is terra australis incognita). The explorer Matthew Flinders named the land Terra Australis, which was later abbreviated to the current form. -
The Black War
The Black War was the period of violent conflict between British colonists and Aboriginal Australians in Tasmania from the mid-1820s to 1832. -
Pinjarra Massacre
The Pinjarra Massacre, also known as the Battle of Pinjarra, was an attack that occurred at Pinjarra, Western Australia on a group of up to 80 Noongar people by a detachment of 25 soldiers, police and settlers led by Governor James Stirling in 1834. -
Melbourne was Founded
Melbourne is founded by John Batman and John Fawkner, both sons of convicts. I have promises to pay the local Wurundjeri people in an annual sum of knives, axes, blankets, scissors, handkerchiefs, mirrors, shirts and flour.
The British Government declare this agreement to be in disagreement with 'terra nullius', which states that there was no one who already owned land in Australia before European settlement. -
New Zealand made a Separate Colony
New Zealand was once a part of ‘Australia’ in 1840 and 1841, but it didn’t work because New Zealand was 2100 kms away from the nearest Australian colony of New South Wales. -
First University in Australia
The University of Sydney (USYD, or informally Sydney Uni) is an Australian public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it was Australia's first university and is regarded as one of the world's leading universities. -
The Gold Rush
During the Australian gold rushes, significant numbers of workers relocated to areas in which gold had been discovered. A number of gold finds occurred in Australia prior to 1851, but only the gold found from 1851 onwards created gold rushes. -
The First Steam Railway
The first lines were short. Gradually, railways lines began to criss-cross the continent, linking lands, wool depots and mines. -
The Great Fire of Brisbane
The Great fire of Brisbane was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of Brisbane in the Colony of Queensland on 1 December 1864. -
The Eureka Stockade
The Eureka Rebellion was a rebellion in 1854, instigated by gold miners in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, who revolted against the colonial authority of the United Kingdom. -
Van Diemen's Land - Tasmania
Van Diemen's Land was the original name used by most Europeans for the island of Tasmania, part of Australia. The name was changed from Van Diemen's Land to Tasmania in 1856. -
First game of AFL
The first game of AFL that was ever recorded. -
Burke & Wills Expedition
The Burke and Wills expedition was organised by the Royal Society of Victoria in Australia in 1860–61 of 19 men, led by Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills, with the objective of crossing Australia from Melbourne in the south, to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north, a distance of around 3,250 kilometres. -
The Sisters of St Joseph
The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, often called the "Josephites" or "Brown Joeys", were founded in Penola, South Australia, in 1866 by Mary MacKillop and the Rev. Julian Tenison Woods. Members of the congregation use the postnominal initials RSJ -
Uluru First Sighted by Europeans
Uluru, or Ayers Rock, is a massive sandstone monolith in the heart of the Northern Territory’s arid "Red Centre". The nearest large town is Alice Springs, 450km away. Uluru is sacred to indigenous Australians and is thought to have started forming around 550 million years ago. -
The Great Depression
Then the Wall Street crash of 1929 led to a worldwide economic depression. The Australian economy collapsed and unemployment reached a peak of 32 per cent in 1932.It took Australia almost a decade to recover from the Great Depression. -
Federation
The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia agreed to unite and form the Commonwealth of Australia, establishing a system of federalism in Australia.
