BUILDING VIRTUAL BRIDGES - Malta and Australia

Maltese Council

Maltese in Gallipoli

Maltese Folklore

Oz/Maltese History

Maltese Links Aussie Links What is Malta?

Welcome-Merhba - Today is .....

Australian History

Australia is the only country in the world that occupies a whole continent. It is the most highly industrialised nation south of the equator, and it plays a leading role in the South Pacific and Southeast Asia. Australia is the world's leading wool producer, is one of the world's leading meat-exporting countries, and has a booming iron-ore mining industry.
Australia is sometimes called "the land down under" because it lies in the Southern Hemisphere. This great distance from large European population centres and heavily travelled trade routes also helps account for Australia's late discovery by Europeans and its being the last habitable continent populated by them.
Covering an area of almost 3 million square miles, Australia ranks sixth in area among the countries of the world, behind the Soviet Independent States, Canada, China, the United States, and Brazil. With a population of only 19.5 million, however, Australia is one of the world's most sparsely populated countries. Much of its land is almost uninhabited, with the bulk of the population concentrated along the east, southeast, and southwest coasts. Copyright © Compton's Encyclopaedia 1993.

12000 years ago rising seas separated Tasmania from the mainland.

8000 years ago New Guinea separated from Australian mainland.

1606
William Jansz landed on the Gulf of Carpentaria, in The Duyfken, becoming the first authenticated
landing of Europeans.

1642
Abel Tasman reached Tasmania which he named Van Dieman's Land, after the Dutch
governor-general.

1642- 1770
There were a number of landings within these years but none of any major subsequence.

1770
Aug - Captain James Cook landed proclaiming the whole of eastern Australia a British
possession.

1788
The First Fleet (consisting of 11 ships) arrived, Commanded by Captain Arthur Phillip.

1788
18 Jan - The first fleet arrived at Botany Bay with 1530 people including 736 convicts.

1788
26 Jan - The first Australian settlement (which become Sydney) was made at Port Jackson.

1797
The first merino sheep arrived in Australia. John Macarthur purchased two and went on to establish his famous flock of merinos.

1802-1810
Merino wool established.

1808
Jan - Governor Bligh was deposed by officers of the NSW Corps. He was held prisoner for over a year before being released and returning to England. This became known as The Rum Rebellion.

1813
The Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, were crossed by Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth. In the years that followed, settlements were established on the Brisbane River (QLD) 1824, the Swan River (WA) 1829, Port Phillip Bay (VIC) 1835 and Gulf St Vincent (SA) 1836.

1840
Convict transportation ceased to the mainland and 13 years later ceased in Tasmania. 157 000 convicts were sent to Australia up to 1856. Only one third the total sent to the U.S.

1850
Australia's population reached 400 000.

1851
The first significant gold strike in Australia was discovered near Bathurst in NSW. A Gold rush started and soon spread to other areas of the country.

1854
A group of miners staged a revolt in protest of the cost of mining licences and the restrictions on prospecting at the Eureka Stockade.

1859
Thomas Austin imported 72 partridges, 24 wild rabbits and 5 hares into Australia. This single action has left a legacy that has devastated farming and natural flora to this day.

1861
Australia's population has jumped to 1.2 million. The first Melbourne Cup was run. It has gone on to be the race that stops a nation.

1871
A telegraph cable linked Port Darwin with Java. The first overseas telegram arrived four days later.

1876
Truganini, the last full blooded Tasmanian Aborigine, died in Hobart.

1877
The first Test cricket match took place between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Australia won by 45 runs.

1880
Australia's most famous bush ranger and folk hero, Ned Kelly, was hanged in Melbourne.

1884
South Australia became the first state to introduce income tax. The federal Government introduced the tax in 1915.

1894
South Australian women are the first to gain the right to vote and stand for parliament.

1901
The colonies joined to become The Commonwealth Of Australia.

1906
In line with the White Australia Policy, 3600 kanakas are repatriated.

1909
Australia's Shackleton expedition reaches magnetic South Pole.

1911
Mar - Compulsory military training introduced.
Jul - Royal Australian Navy established

1913
Mar - Lady Denman officially names Canberra in a ceremony at Capital Hill.

1914
Aug - Britain declared war on Germany. As a result Australia also went to war. (Between
1914-1918 Australia sent 330 000 volunteers to the war.)

1915
25 Apr - Australian and New Zealand (the Anzacs) armies launched a drive against the Turkish forces at Gallipoli. This subsequently became Australia's national day of homage to all men and women who have fought for our country.

1918
11 Nov - World War I ended. Of the 416 809 Aussies who enlisted, 59 258 died and
226 073 were wounded. Total population was 5 million.

1920
16 Nov - Qantas established by Paul. J Mcginness and W. Hudson Fysh.

1921
First woman elected to parliament.
The Royal Australian Air Force was established.

1923
13 Jun - Vegemite appears for the first time.

1926
Police massacre up to 100 Aborigines after the murder of a white settler in WA.

1927
Parliament House opened in Canberra. The Federal Parliament was transferred from
Melbourne to Canberra.

1928
15 May - The worlds first flying doctor service starts.

1930
30 Apr - The first overseas phone call between Australia and Britain is made by Prime Minister
Scullin.
07 Nov - Phar Lap won the Melbourne Cup.

1931
Apr - Airmail service between Australia and Britain begins.

1932
The Sydney Harbour Bridge opened. A member of the New Guard organisation slashed the ribbon at the opening ceremony before Premier Jack Lang was able to, delaying the ceremony.

1933
Australia claims a large slice of The Antarctic Territory.
Western Australia holds a referendum and votes to secede, however the British government
declared the result constitutionally unacceptable.

1939
Jan - The Black Friday bushfires kill 71 and destroy millions of hectares in Victoria.
3 Sep - Australia sends troops off to WWII, after England declares war on Germany.

1942
19 Feb - More than 70 Japanese planes attack Darwin, with the loss of 243 lives.
31 May - Japanese midget submarines enter Sydney Harbour. Two were destroyed and the third was caught in an anti-submarine net.
1943
Aug - Enyd Lyons and Dorothy Tangney become the first women elected to federal parliament

1945
15 Aug - WWII ended. 993 000 Australians had served, 27 073 died, 23 477 were wounded,
30 560 were Japanese or German POWs.

1947
Sep - Federal Arbitration rules that Australians should work a 40 hour week.

1948
Nov - The first Holden motor car is launched.

1949
Mar - The vote is given to Aborigines who have "sufficiently developed the attributes of civilisation" to be able to vote.

1950
Australia sends troops to the Korean War.

1951
1 Jul - NSW becomes the first government in the world to legislate paid sick leave and paid long
service leave.

1952
Oct - England detonates its first nuclear bomb at Monte Bello Isle's off WA. Tests were later held at Maralinga in SA in 1956.

1956
Nov - The Olympic Games open in Melbourne. The medal tally finished with the Soviet Union first, the U.S. second and Australia third.

1959
Australia's population reached 10 million.

1960
Aborigines become eligible for social security benefits on the same terms as the rest of the community.

1965
May - Australia sends regular army troops to Vietnam.

1966
14 Feb - Australia begins changing to decimal currency.
18 Apr - The first national service troops leave for Vietnam

1966
The White Australia Policy is discarded, meaning that immigrants were now admitted on criteria other than race.

1967
3 Feb - Ronald Ryan is the last man hanged in Australia.
17 Dec - Prime Minister Holt disappears while swimming at Portsea, Victoria.

1968
Feb - Australia stops sending troops to Vietnam.

1971
May - Neville Bonner, the first Aboriginal Member of Parliament.

1971
Aug - Australia withdraws from the Vietnam War.
1972
Dec - Commonwealth Arbitration Commission awards women equal pay.

1973
20 Oct - The Sydney Opera House is opened by Queen Elizabeth II.

1974
Dec - Cyclone Tracy flattens Darwin. 65 people died and 90% of all buildings were destroyed.

1975
11 Nov - Prime Minister Gough Whitlam is sacked by the Governor-General.

1977
Jan - 80 people die in Australia's worst train accident at Granville, Sydney.

1981
Nov - Pat O'Shane becomes both first woman and first Aborigine to head a Government
Department.

1982
17 Dec - Random breath testing for alcohol begins in NSW and the ACT.

1983
Feb - Ash Wednesday, bushfires kill 72 and destroy vast areas of SA and VIC.
Sep - Australia became the first country to take the America's Cup from the U.S. in the history of the 132 year old race.

1984
Medicare introduced by the federal government. It is a health care scheme funded by a levy on wages.

1985
Oct - The Mutitjulu people are recognised as the owners of Ayers Rock which is subsequently
renamed Uluru.

1986
The Proclamation of Australia Act severs the legal bond between Australia and Britain.

1988
Jan - Australia's Bicentennial is celebrated.

1989
25 Jan - The Royal Commission into aboriginal deaths in custody delivers the first four reports.
28 Dec - An earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale devastates areas of Newcastle
killing 12 people.

1990
Feb - Carmen Lawrence becomes the first female Premier.
10 Aug - The Federal government announces the deployment of ships to the Persian Gulf.

1991
27 Mar - The governor of NSW Rear-Admiral Peter Sinclair, makes the first official crossing
through the Sydney Harbour Tunnel.

1993
20 Jun - The UK government agreed to pay $100 million to clean up the nuclear contamination at Maralinga.

1994
01 Jan - The Native Title Bill became law.
04 Jan - 150 bushfires burned from QLD to the south coast in the worst bushfires in NSW for 30 years.

1995
Mar - The CSIRO released the calici virus in a test at Wardang Isle, SA. The virus wiped out huge numbers of rabbits throughout the mainland.

1996
28 Apr - The Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania. This event resulted in stronger uniform gun rules across Australia.

1998
2 Feb - 152 delegates attend the Constitutional Convention to debate whether Australia should become a republic and what model should be used. A national referendum was set for 1999 to
vote on the proposal.
26 May - National Sorry Day commemorated the forcible removal of indigenous children from their families and the subsequent effects.
25 Sep - Victorian gas supplies are cut after an explosion at the Longford gas plant. The accident killed two workers, cost business millions and left many Victorians without hot water for two weeks.

1999
27 Sep - As a result of militia fighting in East Timor after the people voted to break away from 24 years of Indonesian rule, Australia led an international peace keeping force to ensure
a peaceful transition to self rule. It was the largest single military action by Australia since the Viet Nam war. The UN took over the job in Feb 00.
06 Nov - Australians voted in a referendum to decide whether to become a republic. The vote
was 55% against, 45% for. It is widely accepted that at least 75% of Aussies want a republic and that the republic was defeated because the people were asked to vote for a particular model of republic, not simply "do you want a republic?".
22 Dec - The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) was advised by Mobil Australia that
supplies of Avgas 100/130 had been contaminated. As a result almost 5000 piston-engine aircraft in Australia are grounded. The worlds largest ever grounding of aircraft.

2000
18 Feb - The Australian government agreed to assist the clean up of environmental damage in Romania and Hungary after cyanide escaped into rivers from a mine partly owned by
Australian company Esmerelda Mining.
25 Feb - Floods in western Queensland, said to be worse than 1974, cover one third of the state including Longreach and Winton reaching into New South Wales.
01 Mar - For the first time, uniform road rules are introduced in all states and territories across Australia.
01 Jul - The Goods and Services Tax comes in to effect, changing the Australian tax system like never before.
13 Sep - The 27th Summer Olympics start in Sydney with the Opening Ceremony. Australia
finished Fourth with 16 Gold, 25 Silver & 17 Bronze.
Looking at medals per million population, no one ranks higher at 3.0223 (Well ok, we were behind the Bahamas, Barbados and Iceland who won a total of nine medals
between them.)
20 Nov - One third of NSW is affected by flooding in the states worst floods for fifty years. Estimated damage is around half a billion AU$.

2001
25 Feb - Sir Donald Bradman, the greatest batsman of all time, and in the eyes of many the
greatest cricketer from any country, has died at the age of 92. Sir Donald died at his home
in the Adelaide suburb of Kensington after a bout of pneumonia.
09 Mar - The Aussie dollar falls to an all time low of US$0.50.61c before a slight recovery. Speedo, the 75 year old Aussie swimwear company and Aussie icon goes offshore to China.
15 Mar - The Aussie dollar falls below US$.50c for the first time ever.
07 May - Australia's first legal heroin injection room opened in Sydney. The room is a trial system to reduce drug use in the city streets.
09 May - The centenary of the opening of the first Federal Parliament is celebrated. Opened by King George V, the first Federal Parliament followed elections held on March 29
and 30, 1901.
18 May - Australia's largest company BHP, announces a 57 billion dollar merger with Billiton.
14 Sep - Ansett Airlines collapses. Blame is centred around parent company Air New Zealand
who had not long purchased the 66 year old airline.
17 Oct - Prime Minister Howard announces the deployment of troops to Afghanistan. 10 Nov - Prime Minister Howard and the Coalition won a third term in the Federal election.

2002
10 Jan - Raging bush-fires in New South Wales are mostly extinguished after the first of the fires started on Christmas eve. Fires on the south coast took a little longer to control. The damage
and cost are the greatest in history of fires in NSW.

You are visitor number

Thank you for your visit

Click here to add "BUILDING VIRTUAL BRIDGES" to your favourites