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History Of Australia

By Jaida Tate

  • Captain James Cook charts the East Coast

    Captain James Cook charts the East Coast
    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".

  • British Navy captain Arthur Phillip founds a penal settlement at Sydney.

    British Navy captain Arthur Phillip founds a penal settlement at Sydney.
    British Navy captain Arthur Phillip founds a penal settlement at Sydney. He had arrived with a fleet of 11 vessels, carrying nearly 800 convicts. The Aboriginal population at the time is thought to number several hundred thousand.

  • Outbreak of WW1

    Outbreak of WW1
    Outbreak of World War I. Australia commits hundreds of thousands of troops to the British war effort.

  • The Great Deppresion

    The Great Deppresion
    The Great Depression following the Wall Street Crash hits Australia hard. Recovery is uneven, and the Labor government is defeated in the election in 1931.

  • War Against the Nazi's

    War Against the Nazi's
    Australia follows Britain's lead and declares war on Nazi Germany.

  • Australia needs help from the US

    Australia needs help from the US
    The US declares war on Japan. Australia turns to the US for help in its defence after the Japanese take Singapore. Australia allows the US to base its supreme command for the Pacific war on its territory.

  • Australia Begins a Scheme

    Australia Begins a Scheme
    Australia begins a scheme for immigration from Europe. Over the next 30 years, more than two million people arrive, about one-third of them from Britain, and hundreds of thousands from Italy, Greece and Germany.

  • Constitution is Passed

    Constitution is Passed
    National referendum on changes to constitution is passed. Section which excluded Aboriginal people from official census is removed. Another change enables federal government to pass laws on Aboriginal issues.

  • The Australian Act

    The Australian Act
    The Australia Act makes Australian law fully independent of the British parliament and legal system. There is no longer any provision for Australian courts to mount final appeals to the Privy Council in London.

  • The Citizenship Act

    The Citizenship Act
    The Citizenship Act is amended to remove swearing an oath of allegiance to the British Crown. Prime Minister Paul Keating's Labor government pledges to make Australia a republic and to concentrate on links with Asia.