dies. However, The
details three full-blood Tasmanian Aboriginal women, Sal, Suke and Betty, who resided on Kangaroo Island in South Australia in the late 1870s and "all three outlived Truganini". There is also dispute within the Tasmanian Aboriginal community, over what constitutes Aboriginality.
: Legislation is enacted in Queensland, in November, creating the first public fire service in Australia.
between 15 and 19 March 1877, played between England and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
: The telephone is used for the first time in Australia in Melbourne.
: Advance Australia Fair is first sung publicly at the Highland Society of NSW.
: Ned Kelly and his gang, on December 9, lock 22 people in a storehouse on a sheep station near Euroa, Victoria. The next day they rob Euroa's bank.
: The first nation-wide meeting of unions in Australia took place in October 1879, at the Mechanics Mechanics' School of Arts, Pitt Street, Sydney.
1880: The bushranger Ned Kelly was hanged 11 November.
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| Ned Kelly the day before his execution, National Archives of Australia |
1880: Victorian parliamentarians become
the first in Australia to be paid for their work.
1881: Adelaide became the first city in Australia to use a water-based sewerage system.
1883: In 1883, the first regular train service between Sydney and Melbourne
was established.
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| "Three men shown with a train engine, engine number 36." [ca. 1885-ca. 1887], SLVIC |
1884: Henrietta Dugdale formed the first Australian women's suffrage society in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1884.
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| Henrietta Dugdale, formed the first Australian women's suffrage society in Melbourne, Victoria in 1884, as a single woman c1845 |
1885: In 1885 a rich vein of silver was found at Broken Hill, NSW, which turned out to be one of the world's largest known silver-lead-zinc lodes. Broken Hill Proprietary Company (later to become the world's largest mining company, BHP Billiton) is
registered as a company in Victoria.
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| A team of donkeys pulling a wagon. Men and women on board, men standing next to the wagon. B.H.P. Company mine in the background. SLSA |
1886: The
SS Ly-Ee-Moon sinks off Green Cape, New South Wales, with the loss of 71 persons.
1887: Construction of
Goulburn Weir commenced, one of Australia's earliest
irrigation schemes.
1887: 81 miners are killed during a coal gas explosion at Bulli. And a cyclone hits a pearling fleet off Eighty Mile Beach, 120 men drown.
1887: Gold was discovered around Southern Cross, WA, in 1887.
1888: The Dawn, was a Journal for Australian Women, which was published monthly in Sydney, between 1888 and 1905. It was first published, 15 May 1888, by Louisa Lawson.
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| The front cover of the first issue of the '"Dawn. The magazine was the first feminist journal published in Australia. |
1889: Railway network between Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney completed.
1889: On 24 October 1889, Henry Parkes made a speech at the Tenterfield School of Arts on the need for the
Australian colonies to federate into one nation.
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| Henry Parkes (27 May 1815 – 27 April 1896) by Henry Walter Barnett |
1890: Banjo Paterson published, "The Man from Snowy River". "Waltzing Matilda" was written in 1895 by Banjo Paterson.
1890: From 1890 to 1893 a severe economic depression caused many banks to collapse and close.
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| Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), Monday 1 May 1893 |
1891: The 1891 Constitutional Convention was held in Sydney in March to consider a draft Constitution for the federation of the British colonies in Australia and New Zealand. The Convention approved a constitutional draft, but the colonial parliaments failed to act to give it effect.
1893: The Corowa Conference was a political meeting held at Corowa, NSW, in 1893, to discuss a proposed federation of the Australian colonies.
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| The drafting committee at the 1897–98 convention – John Downer, Edmund Barton and Richard O'Connor. |
1894: South Australia became the first
Australian colony, and the second place in the world, to grant women the right to vote, as well the first Parliament in the world to allow women to stand for office.
1894: Women in
South Australia and the Northern Territory became eligible to vote for the Parliament of South Australia following passage of the Women's Suffrage Bill in December 1894. This received Royal assent in 1895.
1895:The premiers of all colonies, except Queensland and Western Australia, agreed to implement the Corowa proposals, to federate the Australian colonies.
: The Federal Convention
at Bathurst (NSW) provided a forum for ordinary citizens to discuss the Constitution Bill of 1891.
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| The People's Federal Convention --The Ladies' Committee, Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1907), Saturday 28 November 1896 |
1896: Passengers Alighting from Ferry Brighton at Manly, was the first film shot and screened in Australia.
1897: Catherine Helen Spence became the first female political candidate for political office in Australia.
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| Portrait of Catherine Helen Spence in the 1890s. First female political candidate for political office |
1899: Anderson Dawson formed a Labour minority government in Queensland, the first Labour Party government in the world, which lasted one week while the conservatives regrouped after a split.
1899: Dot and the Kangaroo, a children's book by Ethel Pedley, is published.
1899: An electric tram service begins in Sydney, along George Street from the railway to Circular Quay.
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| "Railway" (Central Station) tram, Macquarie Bond Store, Circular Quay, c.1898, SLNSW |
1898/9: Referendums were held in all colonies (except Western Australia).
: The war between the British and the two Dutch South African republics – the Boer War - raged from 11 October 1899, until 31 May 1902.
All Australian troops fought under the Union Jack in the Boer War.
1900: 17 September 1900, Queen Victoria issued a Royal Proclamation which declared:
On and after 1 January 1901, the people of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia shall be united in a Federal Commonwealth under the name of the Commonwealth of Australia.
1901: Australia became a nation on 1 January 1901, when the 6 British colonies, united to form the Commonwealth of Australia. Prime Minister – Edmund Barton (from 1 January). The 7th Earl of Hopetoun becomes Governor-General.
1901: Queen Victoria died at the age of 81 on 22 January 1901.
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| Queen Victoria, lived from 24 May 1819 to 22 January 1901, She was Queen of the United Kingdom from 20 June 1837 until her death. |
1901. Outbreak of bubonic plague. Health authorities and government swung into action and there were few deaths. Cleaning of infected neighbourhoods began and rat extermination.
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| Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Tuesday 28 May 1901 |
1901: 0n 9 May, the first Commonwealth Parliament met at the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne. The states transferred their naval and military forces to the Commonwealth of Australia under the control of the Department of Defence.
1901: The Immigration Restriction Act 1901 – commonly known as the "White Australia Policy", enshrined in law.
1901: The Flag
of Australia, with a six-pointed Commonwealth Star, was chosen in 1901.
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| Australian flag seen flying in Toowoomba, Queensland, Lachlan Fearnley |
1902: The Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 set uniform rules across Australia, and gave all women, over the age of 21, the right to vote and stand for election for federal Parliament. The Act disqualified some Indigenous Australians, Asian people, African people and Pacific Islanders (except New Zealand Maori) from voting.
1902: 27 February, Lieutenants Harry "Breaker" Morant and Peter Handcock were executed by firing squad for murdering 12 Boer prisoners of war.
1903: The High Court of Australia
was established in 1901 by Section 71 of the Constitution. However, the appointment of the first Bench had to await the passage of the Judiciary Act in 1903.
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| The first bench of the High Court: Barton, Griffith and O'Connor seated, with court officials in the background. Photo taken at the first sitting of the court on 6 October 1903. |
1903: The Defence Act gives the federal government full control over the Australian Army.
1903: Alfred Deakin is elected as the 2nd Prime Minister of Australia in the 1903 federal election.
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| Photographic portrait of Alfred Deakin, Arthur J. Melhuish - National Library of Australia |
1904: Chris Watson, whose name at birth was Johan Cristian Tanck, formed the first federal Labor (minority) government. After Deakin resigned, Watson briefly became the 3rd Prime Minister of Australia. On the 18th of August, George Reid became the 4th Prime Minister of Australia.
1905: Deakin returns as prime minister on 5 July.
1906: In 1906, Australia assumed responsibility for the external territory of Papua — the southern half of what is now Papua New Guinea, due to anxieties about German intentions to annexe the eastern part of New Guinea (the western part was Dutch controlled).
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| Papuans on the Lorentz River, photographed during the third South New Guinea expedition in 1912–13, Tropenmuseum, part of the National Museum of World Cultures |
1906:
The incumbent Protectionist Party minority government led by Alfred Deakin was reelected.
1908: House of Representatives selects Yass-Canberra over Dalgety as the site for the National Capital.
1908: "My Country", a poem about Australia, written by Dorothea Mackellar at the age of 19, is published.
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| Part of "My Country" by Dorothea Mackellar, Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Thursday 29 June 1950 |
1908: Andrew Fisher became 5th Prime Minister of Australia.
1909: Martha Rendell becomes the last woman to be hanged in Western Australia.
1909: The University of Queensland is established.
1910: John Robertson Duigan built and flew the first Australian-made aircraft.
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| John Duigan & his Biplane in Flight, Mia Mia, Victoria, circa 1910, Source: Museums Victoria |
1910: Edward VII dies, his son George V becomes King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions.
1910: The Royal Australian Navy is established.
1911: 1 January – The Northern Territory is politically separated from South Australia and transferred to Commonwealth control. And Compulsory military training comes into effect in Australia.
1911: Australia's first national population census. The Commonwealth Attorney-General stated that persons of half or less Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent should be included in the population figures. As a result, all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people encountered were asked to complete the Census form.
1911: Australian Capital Territory proclaimed.
1912: Fanny Durack was the first Australian woman to compete in the Olympic Games. She won the gold medal in the 100 meters freestyle event in 1912, with fellow teammate Mina Wylie winning the silver medal.
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| Australian swimmers Fanny Durack and Mina Wylie, with British swimmer Jennie Fletcher, on a diving board poised to dive. National Museum of Australia |
1912: The RAAF traces its history back to the Imperial Conference held in London in 1911, where it was decided aviation should be developed within the armed forces of the British Empire. Australia implemented this decision and the "Australian Aviation Corps" was established.
1912: Walter Burley Griffin won the design competition after submitting designs drawn by his wife, Marion Mahony Griffin, for the design of the city of Canberra.
1913: Canberra is officially named as the Capital of Australia.
1913: Joseph Cook is elected as the 6th Prime Minister of Australia.
1914-1918: 416,809 Australians enlisted during the WWI and 334,000 served overseas, from a population of fewer than five million.
1916: Australia was involved in 29 battles on the Western Front, with more casualties in the first six weeks of our involvement than the entire eight-month Gallipoli campaign. Every minute of the Battle of Fromelles, which lasted for 10 hours, nine Australian soldiers were either killed, wounded or taken prisoner.
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| Informal group portrait of soldiers returning to Australia on HMAT Medic. Identified are 3718 Private (Pte) Frank Leslie Corpe (at the back, circled) and 6020 Pte Douglas Grant, an indigenous soldier (second row, seated fourth from the left). Both men served with the 13th Battalion and along with other members of the battalion were taken prisoner of war (POW) on 11 April 1917 at Riencourt, Germany. This group probably includes fellow 13th Battalion POWs who returned on the Medic with Privates Corpe and Grant. This image is from the collection of Frank Corpe. First World War, 1914-1918 AWM |
1914: Andrew Fisher becomes Prime Minister. Fisher was the leader of the Australian Labor Party from 1907 to 1915.
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| Queensland nurses leaving on the SS Omrah for World War I, circa 1914 |
1915: On 25 April, Australian soldiers land at ANZAC Cove on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey. An estimated 27,000 French and 115,000 British and dominion troops (Great Britain and Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, and Newfoundland) were killed or wounded. More than half these casualties (73,485) were British and Irish troops.
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| Australian sniper using a periscope rifle at Gallipoli, 1915. He is aided by a spotter with a periscope. The men are believed to belong to the Australian 2nd Light Horse Regiment and the location is probably Quinn's Post, created by the United Kingdom Government |
1915: Surfing was brought to Australia in 1915 by Hawaiian man, Duke Kahanamoku.
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| Duke Kahanamoku, at the 1924 Paris Olympics, in 1904-1984, with American Olympic swimmer, Johnny Weissmuller, Bettman Collection |
1915: William Morris Hughes (Billy), served as the 7th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1915 to 1923. He led the country during World War I.
1916: Hotels are forced to close at 6 p.m., leading to the beginning of the "six o'clock swill". The six o'clock swill was
an Australian and New Zealand slang term for the last-minute rush to buy drinks at a hotel bar before it closed, which fostered a culture of binge drinking.
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| "six o'clock swill", Smith's Weekly (Sydney, NSW : 1919 - 1950), Saturday 11 February 1950 |
1916: The Returned and Services League (RSL) was formed in June 1916 by troops returning from WWI with the purpose of preserving the spirit of mateship formed amidst the carnage and horror of battle.
: The Australian Labor Party split, followed severe disagreement within the Australian Labor Party over the issue of proposed conscription in Australia.
1917: The Trans-Australian Railway, opened in 1917, through Australia's driest and most isolated terrain, running from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, crossing the Nullarbor Plain.
1917: Billy Hughes reelected as Prime Minister. (Hughes was born Pimlico, London, but both his parents were Welsh).
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| William Morris Hughes in 1908, National Library of Australia |
1917: The Battle of Beersheba, fought on 31 October 1917, is a significant event in Australian history. It has been called "Australia's first big achievement on the world stage".
1918: Battle of Amiens: Australian troops spearhead 8 August offensive against Hindenburg Line: the "black day of the German Army". On 12 August, Australian commander General Sir John Monash is knighted in the field of battle by King George V. John Monash was born in West Melbourne on 27 June 1865 to German-Polish Jewish parents.
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| His Majesty King George V, knighting Lieutenant General Sir John Monash, Australian Corps Commander, at the Corps Headquarters in the Chateau, when General Monash was invested as a Knight Commander of the Bath. 12 August 1918, AWM. |
1918: 11 November, WWI ends with almost 54,000 Australians (mostly men), dead. 4,000 were taken prisoner, and 155,000 were wounded.
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| Armistice Day, Martin Place,, Sydney in 1918, Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Saturday 11 November 1933 |
1918: Tales of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, by may Gibbs, was published in 1918.
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| Tales of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, by May Gibbs, First Edition 1918 |
1918: On 17 December 1918, more than 300 hundred men led by the Australian Workers Union secretary, Harold Nelson, marched on Government House demanding the resignation of John Gilruth, Administrator of the Northern Territory.
1919: Prime Minister Billy Hughes signs the Treaty of Versailles at the Paris Peace Conference on 28 June 1919.
1920: Qantas was founded in Winton, Queensland, on 16 November 1920 by Hudson Fysh, Paul McGinness and Fergus McMaster, as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited.
