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1770
Captain James Cook charts the east coast in his ship HM Endeavour. Cook claims it as a British possession and names eastern Australia "New South Wales". -
First Fleet Arrives
The First Fleet of 11 ships, each one no larger than a Manly ferry, left Portsmouth in 1787 with more than 1480 men, women and children onboard. Although most were British, there were also African, American and French convicts. After a voyage of three months the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay on 24 January 1788. -
First bank of Australia
The Bank of New South Wales, which later became Westpac, was established in 1817 under a charter of incorporation signed by Governor Lachlan Macquarie. It was Australia's first bank and first public company. -
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The Black war (Guerrilla war)
The Black War was the period of violent conflict between British colonists and Aboriginal Australians in Tasmania from the mid-1820s to 1832. -
South Australia Founded
South Australia was established in 1834, when the British Parliament passed the South Australia Act (also known as the Foundation Act). The creation of South Australia was the result of a long campaign to establish a colony according to the principles of systematic colonisation, rather than convict transportation which was forbidden. -
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Victoria Founded
Until 1851 Victoria was part of NSW from then till 1901 it was the Colony of Victoria with it's own government within the British empire, in 1901 it became a state of the Commonwealth of Australia -
Melbourne Parliament House
Victoria's first Legislative Council (1851-6) took three decisions that profoundly influenced the course and conduct of parliamentary democracy in Victoria. It drafted a Constitution; it introduced the Secret Ballot; it began the construction of Parliament House.
the building was finished in 1929 -
Victorian gold rush
The Discovery of gold in Victoria revolutionized Australia as an influx of migrants arrived and the wealth of the nation increased dramatically -
Secret Ballot Created
Victoria enacted legalisation of Secret Ballots in 1856 south Australian Electoral Commissioner William Boothby generally gets credit for creating the system finally enacted into law in South Australia on 2 April of that same year (a fortnight later). ... New Zealand implemented secret voting in 1870. -
Australia becoming a federation
Australia became a nation on 1 January 1901, when the British Parliament passed legislation enabling the six Australian colonies to collectively govern in their own right as the Commonwealth of Australia.
