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The Enlightenment
The Enlightenment was a time period in which people began to realise that they could solve their own problems. It affected people all over the world and allowed scientific discoveries to be made and for people to develop their knowledge. Once the enlightenment began, it led people to believe that their world was an unfair place, leading to the beginning of democracies. Revolutions also began (French Revolution) and changed our way of thinking and allowed us to learn new things. -
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The Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was when England first discovered that it was much cheaper and easier to make goods in large factories with machines, rather than forcing people to work in small workshops. People also began to move on from farming and to work in factories where the pay and hours were better. The revolution occurred because people were beginning to invent new things and think for themselves. This changed manufacturing processes and allowed mass production to begin and spread world-wide. -
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American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary war was fought between the British and the 13 colonies of America, when the colonies wanted to become independent of Britain. The British eventually lost, and America declared their independence, with George Washington as their leader. The war broke out because the colonists were tired of the British deciding how the colonies would trade and what they would pay taxes on. The final battle was fought in Yorketown, with the British surrendering after their soldiers lost. -
The Arrival of the First Fleet
The First Fleet was a group of 11 ship which left London, England on the 13th of May 1787, bound for the then unknown land of Australia. The prisons in Britain were fast filling up and the Convicts were forced to Australia to carry their sentence. When the fleet left, there were 1403 people, 40 died on the way and 7 babies were born. Britain created a new country with the convicts as builders and the country has developed since. -
Smallpox Epidemic
About 15 months after the First Fleet arrived in Australia; an epidemic of smallpox broke out and killed many of the natives, as they were vulnerable due to never encountering the disease before. In the diaries of the settlers, it is said that one of the convicts had become a carrier of the disease when in England and unknowingly brought the disease to the new land. The aboriginals eventually stopped dying and the smallpox virus has been virtually wiped out. -
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French Revolution
The French Revolution occurred in France when the people of France demanded more rights and changes to how the country was being run. It began with the storming of Bastille, thereby ending the monarchy and entering into the Reign Of Terror. Many people were killed, including the king, because of their reservations about the revolution. The Revolution concluded with Napoleon Bonaparte becoming emperor and many changes in society, the economy, politics and religion. -
Myall Creek Massacre
The Myall Creek massacre was a horrible event. It began when a group of around forty Aboriginal people were forced to move their camp after being found by convicts who wanted to kill them. When they fled, more convicts and soldiers found them. The young men were out gathering, and so only women and children were left. The convicts took the people and murdered 28 of them. Fortunately, they were tried and hanged and the others from the group survived. -
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The Australian Gold Rush
The Australian Gold Rush occurred around the end of the Californian Gold Rush. Word of gold found near colonies spread very quickly, and the remote area had over 2000 people digging for gold just four months after the first nugget was dug up. People had to pay to dig for gold too. Before 1851, there had been a few nuggets of gold found, but it was hushed up. Merely 50 years after the first incident, Australia was the world’s largest producer of gold. -
First Official AFL Game
The game of AFL, or football as it is known in Australia, was actually a game that was invented to keep the cricketers busy and fit during the off season. The inventor of football, Tom Wills, wrote a letter to Bell’s Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle in 1858. Soon after, the first recorded game of AFL was played. AFL is now a huge part of Australian culture, and there are now 18 teams who participate each year. -
Boxer Rebellion
During the late 1800’s, China was ruled by a number of foreign countries, including Japan, the USA and Great Britain. The Chinese natives were tired and angry that others were ruling their country. So the formed a group called the Boxers and went to war with the other countries in order to gain their freedom. The Boxers Rebellion lasted 55 days, and the Chinese were unsuccessful in their war. The power fell soon after though, and now China is strong.