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The First North American Colony, Jamestown
The first successful English colony was Jamestown, established on May the 14th, 1607. It began as a business
venture by King James I of England under the direction of the Virginia Company of London. Most of the first English settlers were investors in the company, all of them wanting to make their fortune from finding gold and growing crops to export to other countries. Its first years were extremely difficult, with very high death rates from disease, starvation and a lack of gold being found. -
Encyclopedie
Encyclopedie was the first encyclopedia ever to adress knowledge as a product of human reason rather than divine power. It was published in France in 1751. It was edited by Denis Diderot whose aim was to change the way people think. He wanted to include most of the world's knowledge into the Encyclopedie and hoped that the text would distribute all of its information to the public and future generations. It composed of 28 volumes, with 71,818 articles and 3,129 illustrations. (I ran out of room -
First Fleet Arrive in Bottany Bay
The First Fleet of 11 ships 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. The Aboriginal people met the British in an uneasy stand off at what is now known as Frenchmans Beach. -
Eureka Stockade (or Rebellion)
The Eureka Stockade was an organised rebellion of gold miners in Victoria who revolted against the colonial authority of the United Kingdom. The Battle of the Eureka Stockade was fought between miners and the Colonial forces of Australia on 3 December 1854 at Eureka Lead and named for the stockade structure built by miners during the conflict. And to think, all England had to do was remove that silly miner tax. -
Australia Becomes The Largest Exporter of Wool
Between the 1880s and 1930s the international wool auction market shifted decisively from Britain to Australia. A series of historical developments altered the efficiency criteria for the
existing institutional arrangements, notably the growing international dominance of Australian wool production, the evolution of the small grazier, the geographical diversification of demand, and improved international transport and communications. -
The Tenterfield Oranation
The Tenterfield Oranation was a speech given by Sir Henry Parkes at the Tenterfield School of Arts in New South Wales on 24 October 1889 calling for the Federation of the seven Australian colonies, which were at the time self-governed but under the distant central authority of the British Colonial Secretary. At Tenterfield, Parkes urged the seven colonies to ‘unite and create a great national government for all Australia’. -
Maritime Strike
Although the origins of the 1890 Maritime strike are disputed, the events that accompanied and followed this strike were a turning point in Australian history. The strike began in Adelaide and rapidly spilled over into all the other colonies. The battle was particularly bitter in Victoria and New South Wales. Both employers and unions were very tense. As the Union Movement grew stronger they were able to launch campaigns that boycotted products that were made or moved by non-union labor. Ran out -
South Australia Introduces Female Suffrage
Women's suffrage in Australia began to be established during the late 19th century, beginning with South Australia in 1895 and Western Australia in 1899. In 1902, the newly established Australian Parliament passed the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902, which enabled women to vote and stand for election for the federal Parliament. This eradicated gender as a point of discrimination in relation to electoral rights for federal elections in Australia. -
The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne. He and his wife, Sophie, were touring the Balkan province of Bosnia and Herzegovina when he was assassinated on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo. He and his wife had already survived one assassination attempt earlier that day. As they returned from visiting people who had been injured in that attack, the driver of their car took a wrong turn which brought them into the path of another assassin who shot and killed them both. -
The Second Battle of Ypres
The Second Battle of Ypres was a battle in World War I. It was fought for control of the town of Ypres in western Belgium. It happened in the spring of 1915. It was the first time that Germany used poison gas on a large scale on the Western Front. -
Battle of Gallipoli
The Gallipoli Campaign was an Allied attack on the Gallipoli peninsula during World War I. The Allies were fighting the Ottoman Empire and Germany. The reason for the campaign was to break the stalemate on the Western and Eastern Front and to help the Russians. The campaign started with a naval attack along the Dardanelles which failed. There was trench warfare until an evacuation of all Allied troops was finally ordered. The campaign is widely viewed as an Allied failure.
