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COOK CLAIMS AUSTRALIA - CAPTAIN JAMES COOK
Born on 27 October 1728, James Cook was a British Royal Navy captain, explorer, navigator and cartographer. He mapped the eastern coast of the continent, claimed it for the British Crown in 1770, naming it New South Wales. This has become part of our history today, told at many museum exhibitions. This triggering British colonisation and allowing for dispossession of Indigenous peoples from their land, which was terrifying.
https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/cook-claims-australia -
CONVICT CARGO - CAPTAIN ARTHUR PHILLIP
Born 11 October 1738, Captain Arthur Phillip was a RN officer who sailed 11 ships into Botany Bay in 1788 to establish convict settlement (Australia's 1st colony). This event celebrated each year as Australia Day on the 26th January. This was the beginning of European settlement and many people migrated to Australia thereafter. It brought terrifying violent conflict and devastating diseases for the indigenous people. https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/convict-cargo -
SMALLPOX EPIDEMIC
Smallpox has been one of humanity’s deadliest disease, though it is now eradicated due to vaccination. Europeans, who arrived in Sydney in 1788, had developed some resistance through earlier exposure to the disease. However the Aboriginal people had not and up to 70% were killed by the disease.This pandemic was terrifying for the Aboriginal people, causing widespread death. Those who survived were often badly scarred or blinded.
https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/smallpox-epidemic -
MATTHEW FLINDERS
Born 16 March 1774, English navigator and cartographer Matthew Flinders was the first person to circumnavigate Australia. He charted much previously unknown coastline and his maps were the first to accurately depict Australia, using the term Australia in his map writings. He proved Australia was a single continent. He was accompanied by two Aboriginal men and would have been of great value to the expedition.
https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/flinders-circumnavigates-australia -
ISAAC NICHOLS - FIRST POST OFFICE
Born 29 July 1977 Isaac Nichols was a convict sent to NSW. For everyone, letters were the only way to maintain a connection with Britain. Ships arriving in Sydney were mobbed by people looking for mail. Fraud, theft and extortion were rife. On 25 April 1809 the government appointed him to the position of Postmaster, to take control of the distribution of mail within the colony and set up the first post office in his home.
https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/first-post-office -
HOLLEY DOLLAR
To help the plagued economy and luck of currency of NSW, Governor Lachlan Macquarie attempted to remedy this by importing 40,000 silver Spanish eight-reale pieces. By having the centres stamped out of the coins, Macquarie distinguished them as belonging to the colony of NSW and prevented them from going straight out again. This event helped to shape Australia as this created the first currency to be minted in Australia.
https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/holey-dollar -
FOUNDING OF PERTH
Perth was founded by Captain James Stirling on Whadjuk country as the capital of the Swan River Colony in 1829. It was the first free-settler colony in Australia established by private capital. From 1850, convicts began to arrive at the colony in large numbers to build roads and other public infrastructure. At first they had amicable relationship with the locals, but quickly deteriorated into terrifying armed conflict.
https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/founding-of-perth -
GOLD RUSHES
When gold were discovered in 1851 in VIC, gold-seekers from around the world began pouring into the colonies, increased the population and boosted the economy, changing the course of Australian history. This event is still told and experienced by many through an open air museum Sovereign Hill. This event made some people rich, which was terrific. However, terrifying for others as they died because of diseases and poor conditions.
https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/gold-rushes -
EUREKA STOCKADE
The Eureka Stockade was a dispute between miners and the authorities over the gold licensing system on 3rd December 1854 as the miners object to the expense of miner’s licenses. Although the battle was lost, claiming 22 lives, the war for greater equality for the miners was won and marked as the birth of Australian Democracy. This event resulted in one of the greatest victories for equity and fairness in Australia’s history.
https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/eureka-stockade -
FIRST MELBOURNE CUP
On 7 November 1861 about 4000 people gathered at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne to watch a horse, one of Australia’s most important sporting events. The Melbourne Cup is known as ‘the race that stops a nation’, drawing crowds of thousands on the first Tuesday in November every year. The National Museum of Australia holds some important objects related to the Cup including Phar Lap’s heart and Peter Pan’s 1934 Melbourne Cup.
https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/melbourne-cup -
NED KELLY
On 28 June 1880 Victorian police captured bush ranger Ned Kelly after a siege at the Glenrowan Inn. His gang had been outlawed for the murders of 3 police officers in 1878. Ned was tried and executed in Melbourne in November 1880. The Kelly Gang’s last stand has become an Australian folk legend. The story has featured in Australian cinema, art, music and poetry, and is a firmly established part of Australia’s colonial history.
https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/ned-kelly -
EDWIN FLACK - AUSTRALIA'S FIRST OLYMPIAN
Born on 5 November 1873, Edwin Flack, an accountant and a Australian champion runner, is considered Australia’s first Olympian. At 1st Athens Olympic Games in April 1896, he won the 800m and 1500m sprints, took part in the marathon and won a bronze medal in doubles tennis. Flack symbolises the Australian have-a-go spirit. The Olympic Games are consistently one of the most popular televised sporting events in Australia.
https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/edwin-flack-first-olympian
