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Timeline: Outline Australian History. Part 4.

1949: The right to vote in federal elections was extended to Indigenous people who had served in the armed forces, or were enrolled to vote in state elections. Indigenous people in Queensland, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory still could not vote in their own state/territory elections. (here)
1949: Rather than being identified as subjects of Britain, The Nationality and Citizenship Act established Australian citizenship for people who met eligibility requirements.
1949: The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme was launched in 1949.
Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Friday 16 December 1949
1949: Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) is established.1949: Robert Menzies wins the election and serves as prime minister from 1949 to 1966.
Prime Minister Robert Menzies, wife Pattie and daughter Heather visit Bundaberg. They were given a civic reception and spoke at several meetings. 1953, Bundaberg Regional Library Service
1950: Petrol rationing ends, nearly ten years after it was introduced during World War II.
1950: The Malayan Emergency was a guerrilla war fought in the Federation of Malaya from 1948 until 1960. Australia's commitment to the emergency lasted 13 years, between 1950 and 1963, with army, air force and naval units serving.
1950: From 1950-53, 17,000 Australian member of the armed forces fought as part of the United Nations (UN) multinational force, defending South Korea from Communist North Korea.
F/L Lionel Rasmussen, doctor with No. 77 RAAF Squadron, handing out food parcels at a local orphanage. Bendigo High School also raised money for food. 1952, State Library of Victoria
1950: Between 1945 and 1965, more than two million migrants came to Australia. The post-war period, in the 1950s and 1960s, was marked by large building projects such as the Snowy River Mountain Scheme and a growing manufacturing sector.
Harold Holt, Minister for Immigration, and Zara Holt with Amelia and Sophie Offman, daughters of Polish immigrants, ca. 1950, National Library of Australia
1951: On 22 September 1951, a referendum was held in Australia by the Menzie's government, to pass a law banning the Communist Party of Australia. Voters reject the proposal to change the Constitution.
Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA : 1861 - 1954), Saturday 15 September 1951
1951: Australia signs the ANZUS treaty with the United States and New Zealand, to co-operate on military matters in the Pacific Ocean region.
1952: After the explosion of the first Soviet bomb in 1949, the British instigate Operation Hurricane, the first of Britain's atomic weapons tests, conducted off the Montebello Islands, Australia.
1954: In February 1954, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, begin a Royal Tour of Australia.
Official welcome to the Queen in Bundaberg, QLD, in 1954, State Library of Queensland
1955: The Australian Labor Party split of 1955 was the result of factional warfare between Catholics and Communists for control of the Australian labour. The Key players in the split were H. V. "Doc" Evatt and B. A. Santamaria, the dominant force behind the "Catholic Social Studies Movement" or "the Movement".
1955:  The rules that enforced that Australians finish their drinks by 6 pm, nicknamed the "Six O'Clock Swill", lasted for almost 40 years. The Liquor Amendment Act 1954, came into effect on 1 February 1955, allowing hotels to serve drinks until 10 pm.
1956: 16 September 1956, Sydney’s TCN9 becomes the first station to commence daily television transmission. Bruce Gyngell welcomes  the audience with the words: “Good evening, and welcome to television.” The Australian Broadcasting Commission's television service, ABN Channel 2, began transmission at 7 pm on 5 November 1956. The arrival of television in Australia moved the culture away from British to more American influence.
 Actor William Boyd came to Australia in 1954. He played Hopalong Cassidy on the silent-screen and then on TV, Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Monday 15 November 1954
1956: Barry Humphries performed as the the character, "Mrs Everage" (Edna Average) and screened on HSV-7's first day of programming in 1956.
1956: The 16th Summer Olympics is held in Melbourne, VIC, from 22 November to 8 December 1956. The People's Republic of China chose to boycott the event because the Republic of China had been allowed to compete.
1957: The release of, “Wild One”, by Johnny O’Keefe is considered to be the birth of rock and roll in Australia.
1957: Slim Dusty was the first Australian to have an international hit record, with his version of Gordon Parsons' "Pub With No Beer".
Slim Dusty, at the Golden Guitar awards in Tamworth, NSW
1958: The Fort Macquarie Tram Depot was demolished in 1958 and construction of the Sydney Opera House began in March 1959.
Fort Macquarie depot. Sydney. Australia, about 1940s, Wikipedia
1960:  Gough Whitlam became deputy leader of the Labor Party in 1960.
1962: Robert Menzies' Commonwealth Electoral Act ensured that all Indigenous Australians had the right to enrol and vote at federal elections, removing remaining restrictions applying in QLD, WA and NT.
1962: Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War began in 1962, and increased over the following decade.
1963:  Yolngu Aboriginal people petition the Australian House of Representatives with a bark petition after the government sold part of the Arnhem Land reserve on 13 March to a bauxite mining company.
1964: The Beatles' 1964 Australia & New Zealand tour. 
The Beatles get a soaking in Sydney, Australia - 1964, Kaye
1964: The "Melbourne–Voyager incident" was a collision between two warships of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN); the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne and the destroyer HMAS Voyager collided on the evening of 10 February 1964. Of the 314 aboard Voyager, 82 were killed.
1964: The editors of Oz magazine, an independently published counterculture publication of the 1960s, were charged with distributing an obscene publication.
1964: In April, the Menzies government refuses to ratify the International Labour Organization convention on equal pay for women. In November, Menzies announces the reintroduction of National Service.
1965: Hundreds of anti-Vietnam War protesters in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra staged Australia’s first-ever sit-down demonstrations, by blocking the traffic. The era of protest.
University of Sydney Commem Day procession, Old Medical School, 5 May 1965 / photographer Jack Hickson, Australian Photographic Agency. State Library of New South Wales
1966: In 1966, women in the Australian public service won the right to remain employed after marriage.
1966: Robert Menzies retired as Prime Minister on 20 January 1966, at 71 years of age and is succeeded by Harold Holt.
1966: Arnna, Grant and Jane Beaumont disappeared from Glenelg Beach near Adelaide, South Australia, on 26 January 1966 (Australia Day). They never came home.
The News front page the day after the Beaumont children disappeared, on January 27, 1966.
1966: On 14 February 1966, Australia converted to decimal currency (money worked out in lots of ten). Before decimalisation, currency was in the form of pounds, shillings and pence.
1967: Ronald Joseph Ryan was the last person to be legally hanged in Australia.
1967:  Hobart and south-eastern Tasmania are devastated by the Black Tuesday bushfires and 62 people were killed.
1967:  Arthur Calwell retired as Labor leader in 1967, following Labor's poor result in the 1966 election. Whitlam was elected party leader in April 1967. (Whitlam defeats Dr Jim Cairns and Frank Crean).
1967: In the Referendum on Saturday 27th of May 1967, Australians voted overwhelmingly to amend the Constitution to allow the Commonwealth to make laws for Aboriginal people and include them in the census.
1967: Sydney is rocked by a series of brutal underworld killings, as rival gangs battle for control of the city's lucrative gambling and prostitution rackets.
1967: Prime Minister Harold Holt disappears while swimming in heavy surf at Cheviot Beach, near Portsea, Victoria.
Harold Holt with ABC crew. Cameraman Don McAlpine and Director John Tingle (ABC Supervisor of TV News, Sydney) discuss underwater sequences during filming of the PM for a Weekend Magazine story from his weekend home at Portsea, Vic. The program was broadcasts on the ABC on 10/4/1966 a year before his death. Australian Broadcasting Corporation
1967: Harold Holt was officially presumed dead by the government. John McEwen is sworn in as Prime Minister, on an interim basis, pending the Liberal Party electing its new leader.
1968: On 10 January 1968, John Gorton became the 19th Prime Minister. He was elected Liberal Party leader to replace Harold Holt. In the following year, John Gorton was reelected as Prime Minister.
John and Bettina Gorton c. 1968
1968: Lionel Rose MBE, an Australian bantam weight boxer, became the first Indigenous Australian to win a world title. He was also named Australian of the Year.
Lionel Rose 1969, first Indigenous Australian to win a world title
1969:  The Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission rules that equal pay for women doing the same work as men must be phased in by 1972.
1970: Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family tour Australia. Pope Paul VI visits Australia.
1971: Neville Thomas Bonner, was the first Aboriginal Australian, to become a member of the Parliament of Australia.
Senator Neville Bonner seated circa 18 December, 1979. The first Aboriginal Australian to become a member of the Parliament of Australia.
1971: John Gorton resigns as Prime Minister and is succeeded by William McMahon.
1971: Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen declares a State of Emergency to allow the touring South African Springboks football team to play, due to protests.
1971: Daylight saving is adopted in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. Queensland abandons Daylight Saving in the following year.
1971: The New South Wales Builders Labourers' Federation imposed the world's first green bans. Fifty-four bans were imposed in NSW between 1971 and 1974, saving some of the oldest and irreplaceable buildings in Australia from demolition.
Builders' Labourers' Federation protests at the Western Distributor Demonstration, Ultimo, New South Wales, 1973 / Roger Scott. PD.
1971: Australia and New Zealand announce pullout of troops from Vietnam (December).
1972: The Aboriginal Tent Embassy, is established in 1972, to represent the political rights of Aboriginal Australians.
First day of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, outside Parliament House, Canberra, 27 January 1972. Left to right: Billy Craigie, Bert Williams, Michael Anderson and Tony Coorey. State Library of New South Wales
1972: The first Labor government since 1949 is elected. The Labor Party led by Gough Whitlam defeats the Liberal/Country Coalition Government led by Prime Minister William McMahon.
Gough Whitlam - With Mrs Whitlam official portrait, 1972, National Archives of Australia
1972: Australia establishes diplomatic relations with Communist China in 1972 and recognises the government of the People's Republic of China.
1973: Sydney Opera House was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 20th October 1973.
20th October 1973: Queen Elizabeth II officially opens the new Sydney Opera House, designed by Danish architect Joern Utzon. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) RV1864
1973: In 1973 the Whitlam Labor government renounces the White Australia policy.
1973: Vietnam War ends.
1973: Papua New Guinea becomes self-governing on 1 December 1973 and achieved independence on 16 September 1975.
1973: The federal voting age is dropped from 21 to 18.
1973: Australian novelist and playwright, Patrick White, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1973.
Patrick White in 1973. Dutch National Archives, The Hague, Fotocollectie Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau (ANEFO), 1945-1989
1974: "Advance Australia Fair" recognised as Australia's national song, but not as the national anthem.
1974: Cyclone Tracy devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, from 24 to 26 December 1974.
Houses after the destruction caused by Cyclone Tracy, Darwin, 1974, Billbeee
1975: In 1975, the Privy Council (Appeals from the High Court) Act 1975 was passed, which had the effect of closing all routes of appeal from the High Court, to appeal High Court decisions to the British Privy Council.
1975: The Tasman Bridge disaster occurred on the evening of 5 January 1975, in Hobart, Tasmania.
1975: On 27 August 1975, South Australia became the first Australian state to decriminalise homosexual acts.
1975: The Aboriginal Land (Northern Territory) Bill was introduced to parliament in October 1975, but the Whitlam Government was dismissed before the legislation could pass the Senate.