Cooktown, QLD: Cultural Encounters on Cape York Peninsula

Cooktown, located in northeastern Queensland, Australia, is a small historic coastal town, located about 2,000 kilometres north of Brisbane and 328 kilometres north of Cairns. It is a place which is historically interesting and which boasts a pristine natural environment.  

The Guugu Yimithirr People

The Cooktown area is part of the traditional lands of the Guugu Yimithirr people. An area they called  Gungardie, because of the many quartz stones (gun-gaar), that were collected for use in ceremonies.

The Guugu Yimithirr language was one of the earliest Aboriginal languages to be written down. Sydney Parkinson, the botanical draughtsman on James Cook's first voyage, recorded 200 Guugu Yimithirr words during the time that the HMS Endeavour was being repaired at Cooktown in 1770.

Group from the Cooktown District, ca. 1899, The language Guugu Yimithirr (also known as Koko Yindjir, Gugu Yimidhirr, Guguyimidjir) of this region call this district Gangaar. It divides into thirty-two clan (or extended family) groups. State Library of Queensland

Aboriginal tradition had strict rules surrounding marriage. At birth, Guugu Yimithirr were given a skin group determined by the skin groups of the parents. This determined who an individual could marry. All marriages would take place between members of opposite moieties.

Marriages were often arranged by infant betrothal (before birth) and the marriage would be between a young girl and an older man.

According to Willie Gordon, Guurrbi: My Family and Other Stories, Guurrbi Tours, 2012 (see here) It was a tradition in earlier times that the mother-in-law would strike the man marrying her daughter, with a sharp stick during the wedding ceremony.  This was to ensure that the groom had no attraction to his mother-in-law, as they were often of a similar age. 

If a man was unavoidably in his mother-in-law's presence, he would sit silently (guugu-mul), with head bowed.

Group from the Cooktown District, ca 1899, This photographs depicts a group of men, women and children of this region. Some of the men have cicatrices, headband, fibre belts and spears. The woman holding the baby with the shell pendant necklace has cicatrices [scarring] on her upper left shoulder and another is wearing a hair loin cloth. State Library of Queensland

Willie Gordon also mentions other interesting aspects of culture, such as how the Guugu Yimdthirr people would travel to Lizard Island (Jiigurru), to collect essential oils from the sand goanna. (p.29) 

Emus (Burriwi) were also important to the Guugu Yimithirr (p.21), providing meat and eggs, and their oil was rubbed on the skin for aches and pains.(p.21).

The Aboriginal Protector Dr Walter E. Roth, who was appointed in 1898 and was based in Cooktown, made many reports about Aboriginal people, throughout North Queensland, including about the avoidance language (taboos). He recorded that certain relatives were strictly taboo and must not be approached, conversed with, accept anything from, nor give them anything. This especially refers to the father-in-law and mother-in-law. It is the usual practice for a man never to talk to his blood-sister, or sometimes, not even mention her name after she has reached womanhood.

Dr Roth also wrote that the presence of disease was believed to be the result of "sorcery and witchcraft and the hands of an enemy, by non-observance of certain rules of conduct, by the breaking of taboo". He also mentioned that medicine men would cure disease.

Kurdaitcha, death is willed by the kurdaitcha man, or bone-pointing, a kangaroo a bone, Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 29 May 1935

Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Saturday 31 July 1937

WOMAN OF NORTH AUSTRALIA.Wearing nose-bone, chestlet, etc., with scars on the shoulders and chest. Women of all nations, a record of their characteristics, habits, manners, customs and influence;" (1908)

One traditional story is about how Aboriginal people came to speak different languages: The clans were gathered together for a corroboree (Ngurrayin), near a lagoon at Cooktown, when a giant groper (nhinhini), leapt of the lagoon and swallowed many of the people. With the people in his belly, the groper swan out into the ocean. Returning months later, the groper spat out the people, who began talking in different languages.

The Cooktown area also had ochre mines, which were very important to many Aboriginal clans, for ceremonially painting the body.

Initiation ceremony. The initiates lie in two curved rows feet to feet, their heads towards the north and south, with the two masters of ceremonies at the two 'portals' of the circle with heads towards
east and west. The spears are thrust into the ground after being — like the initiates themselves — pipe
clayed in approved fashion. Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 29 May 1935

During certain of the complex mourning ceremonies — which may extend over a
period of three or four years — on Cape York Peninsula, North Queensland, womentrelatives of the deceased are elaborately painted and armed with spear, spear-thrower, and firesticks, when they masquerade as men, as shown in the above picture. Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 1 November 1933

Cook's Landing

Lieutenant James Cook left England in 1768, on a mission for the Royal Society. He sailed the HMS Endeavour to the islands of Tahiti, to record and observe the movement of the planet Venus, as its shadow crossed the Sun.

HMS Endeavour. On 26 August 1768, Captain James Cook departed from Plymouth on the HMS Endeavour. With him were 94 men, copious supplies, and secret instructions to locate the fabled southern continent known as ‘terra australis incognita’. They did not find the unknown continent, but they did arrive in Aotearoa New Zealand. His name, and that of the ship, has dominated the story of European exploration of Aotearoa New Zealand ever since. Archives New Zealand

Leaving Tahiti, Cook headed west to map New Zealand, discovered by Abel Tasman in 1642. He confirmed that New Zealand had two large islands. The Endeavour then turned south-west sailing for Van Dieman’s Land. 

On the 20th April 1770, Cook saw the east coast of Australia at Port Hicks. Then on 23rd April, he sees Aboriginal Australians at Ulladulla. Cook anchors at Botany Bay on 29th April and encounters the Gweagal people. The Endeavour sails north. (The Endeavour landed fourteen times on the East Australian Coastline).

On 11 June, the Endeavour was damaged when it struck part of the Great Barrier Reef. Cook wrote, "the Ship Struck and stuck fast". Naming the area Cape Tribulation, Cook wrote in his journal: "... because here begun all our troubles". 

The Endeavour managed to stay afloat for another week, eventually sighting land. The ship was landed on 10 June 1770. It takes seven weeks to repair the ship at the mouth of the Endeavour River (Waalumbaal Birri). The Guugu Yimithirr name for the area is "Charco". 

Interestingly, Jan Carstenszoon, a Dutch explorer reached the Staaten River, located on the west side of Cape York Peninsula in 1623.

British Library digitised image from page 15 of "Captain Cook's Original Voyages round the World [The abridgment of G. W. Anderson.] Embellished with engravings, etc" British Library

Postcard depicting Captain Cook's ship 'Endeavour' having repairs done to it in what is now named Cooktown, during his exploration of the Australian continent in 1770. Cooktown, Queensland - circa 1910, Kaye

Problems Over Turtles

Cook’s journal records the interaction with local people. Problems occur over turtles.

After twice setting fire to Cook’s camp and killing a suckling pig, the Aboriginal people were chased away.

Read Cook's Journal

10 July 1770

"....the Natives came down to the Sandy point on the North side of the Harbour, having along with them a small wooden Canoe with Outriggers, in which they seem’d to be employed striking fish, etc … Some part of their Bodys had been painted with red, and one of them had his upper lip and breast painted with Streakes of white … we met with 5 of the Natives, and although we had not seen any of them before, they came to us without showing any signs of fear. 2 of these wore Necklaces made of Shells, which they seem’d to Value, as they would not part with them".

19 July, 1770, James Cook wrote:

“In the AM we were viseted by 10 or 11 of the natives, the most of them came from the other side of the River where we saw six or seven more the most of them women and like the men quite naked; those that came on board were very desirous of having some of our turtle and took the liberty to haul two to the gang way to put over the side, being disapointed in this they grew a little troublesome, and were for throwing every thing overboard they could lay their hands upon; as we had no victuals dress'd at this time I offer'd them some bread to eat, which they rejected with scorn as I believe they would have done any thing else excepting turtle. Soon after this they all went a shore, Mr Banks my self and five or six more of our people being a shore at the same time; emmidiatly upon their landing one of them took a handfull of dry grass and lighted it at a fire we had a shore and before we well know'd what he was going about he made a large circuit round about us and set fire to the grass on the ground in his way and in an Instant the whole place was in flames, luckily at this time we had hardly any thing ashore besides the forge and a sow with a Litter of young pigs one of which was scorched to death in the fire. As soon as they had done this they all went to a place where some of our people were washing and where all our nets and a good deal of linnen were laid out to dry, here with the greatest obstinacy they again set fire to the grass which I and some others who were present could not prevent, untill I was obliged to fire a musquet load[ed] with small shott at one of the ri[n]g leaders which sent them off. As we were apprised of this last attempt of theirs we got the fire out before it got head, but the first spread like wild fire in the woods and grass. Notwithstanding my fireing, in which one must have been a little hurt because we saw a few drops of blood on some of the linnen he had gone over, they did not go far from us for we soon after heard their voices in the woods; upon which Mr Banks and I and 3 or 4 More went to look for them and very soon met them comeing toward us. As they had each 4 or 5 darts a piece and not knowing their intention we seized upon six or seven of the first darts we met with, this alarmed them so much that they all made off and we followd them for near half a Mile and than set down and call'd to them and they stop'd also; after some little unintelligible conversation had pass'd between us they lay down their darts and came to us in a very friendly manner; we now return'd the darts we had taken from them which reconciled every thing. There were 4 strangers among them that we had not seen before and these were interduce'd to us by name by the others: the man which we suppos'd to have been struck with small shott was gone off, but he could not be much hurt as he was at a great distance when I fired. They all came along with us abreast of the ship where they stay'd a short time and then went away, and soon after set the woods on fire about a Mile and a half or two miles from us... In the PM got every thing on board the Ship, new birth'd her and let her swing with the tide. In the night the Master return'd with the Pinnace and reported that there was no safe passage for the Ship to the northward”. Read here and here

Joseph Banks (1743-1820), Joshua Reynolds

Monday 23 July: From Cook's journal

"I sent some people in the Country to gather greens, one of which stragled from the rest, and met with 4 of the Natives by a fire, on which they were broiling a Fowl, and the hind leg of one of the Animals before spoke of. He had the presence of mind not to run from them (being unarm'd), least they should pursue him, but went and set down by them; and after he had set a little while, and they had felt his hands and other parts of his body, they suffer'd him to go away without offering the least insult, and perceiving that he did not go right for the Ship they directed him which way to go."

Engraving by T. Chambers 1773 based on a drawing by Sydney Parkinson NLA

Cook also reported seeing a strange animal on Sunday 24 June 1770:

Guugu Yimithirr First Written Down

During their time at Cooktown, Cook, Joseph Banks, and Sydney Parkinson (artist on the Endeavour) recorded the Guugu Yimithirr language in their journals. These words of the Guugu Yimithirr language are probably the first written record of an Australian Aboriginal language.

Joseph Banks was greatly excited by the many botanical and zoological discoveries made in the area.

24 June 1770: Recorded by James cook:

"I saw my self this morning a little way from the ship one of the Animals before spoke off, it was of a light Mouse colour and the full size of a grey hound and shaped in every respect like one, with a long tail which it carried like a grey hound, in short I should have taken it for a wild dog, but for its walking or runing in which it jump'd like a Hare or a dear. Another of them was seen to day by some of our people who saw the first, they describe them as having very small legs and the print of the foot like that of a goat, but this I could not see my self because the ground the one I saw was upon was too hard and the length of the grass hinderd my seeing its legs..."

Sir Joseph Banks wrote in his journal that the natives called the animal a "Kangooroo" (ganguuru).

Image from page 123 of "All about animals. Facts, stories and anecdotes"1900

Survey 1819

In 1819 Captain Phillip Parker King (R.N.), accompanied by Allan Cunningham, botanist, sailing in H.M.S. Mermaid were surveying the eastern coast of Australia, when they anchored in the Endeavour
River. Allan Cunningham, who was the King’s Botanist, sent out from Kew, climbed and named Mount Cook, August 2, 1819.

Admiral Phillip Parker King. Photograph of Admiral Phillip King aged 64. Philip Parker King, in addition to being a pastoralist, became an eminent Australian born Rear Admiral in the British Navy and an important NSW Colonial Government official. He was also commissioner of the Australian Agricultural Company 1834-44.

L King wrote:

"...twelve natives boldly visited our watering party, and followed them to the tent, where they remained some time watching our movements with great attention. They repeatedly made signs for hatchets, but evinced great aversion to a clasp-knife, although its use was shown to them. Mr. Bedwell obtained a shield from one of them, of a crescented shape, and painted with black stripes; it was made from the wood of the Erythrina indica or coral tree, which grows abundantly near the anchorage".

Image from page 26 of "The naturalist in Australia" (1897)

Any Mineral Resource?

William Hann (of Maryvale Station on the Burdekin River) was commissioned by the Queensland Government 1872 to "ascertain as far north as the 14th parallel of latitude, the character of the country and its mineral resources, with a view to future settlement and occupation". On this journey, accompanied by Aboriginal stockman Kulajerry.

Hann found gold in the Palmer River, which he named after Queensland’s Colonial Secretary and later, Premier, Arthur Palmer. Though his gold reports were not encouraging, this did not stop hopeful prospectors setting out to try their luck. In October 1873, a Queensland government party, along with about 93 miners, arrived at the Endeavour River to make a track to the Palmer River and to proclaim the goldfields. 

The group was led by Northern Roads Engineer A Macmillan, Gold Commissioner H St George and the Native Mounted Police Force. Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald in 1874, Charles Heydon exclaimed, "Can it be possible that its leaders had received no instructions as to their treatment of the natives, and the importance of establishing friendly relations and treating them with kindness?"

Police Riot Squad and Native Mounted Police, c1890's, Queensland State Archives

The Rush is On

James Venture Mulligan and companions brought back 102 ounces of payable alluvial gold from the Palmer River in 1873, which triggered one of Australia's last gold rushes.

The Endeavour River was soon full of steamships carrying hopeful diggers from all over Australia, New Zealand, the British Isles, China and the world. The port and town of Cooktown came into existence.

Cooktown was founded in October 1873 as the Endeavour River port for the Palmer River goldfields, as a supply and administrative centre. Within six months Cooktown had 20 restaurants, 12 large and 20 smaller stores, 6 butchers, 5 bakers, 3 tinsmiths, and chemists, fancygoods shops, watchmakers, bootmakers and saddlers; 65 publican's licenses had been issued for the Cooktown-Palmer River district, with 30 more applied for by April 1874. Two Cooktown newspapers were established in 1874.

Cooktown was declared a municipality on 5 April 1876.

The Cooktown to Laura railway was built in 1884-88, and many roadworks were instigated to enable access roads between the Palmer River goldfields, the Annan River tin mines and the wharves at Cooktown.

The first Cook District Hospital, a small timber structure situated on the ridge above Charlotte Street (between Banks and Green Streets), was erected in April 1874.

An unofficial post office was established in Cooktown from 1 January 1874, and became official later in the year.

Charlotte Street, Cooktown, 1878, QLD

The Wild Frontier

According to research,  more than twice as many people were reported killed by Aboriginal people in the Cooktown-Palmer District than all other North Queensland frontier mining fields. See here

The Native Police camp was established at Laura in 1875 and stayed in the region for more than 30 years. In 1889, there were 43 Native Police, troopers in the Cooktown District (which included the far northern Peninsula).

Many abuses were also committed against Aboriginal people, especially the women. The Water Police Magistrate at Cooktown reported about pearl and [beche-de-mer] fishing vessels abducting "natives". Little was done to combat the problem.

Decline

By 1882 the number of hotels at Cooktown had declined to six, and there were two European Stores, 10 Chinese stores, two banks, two butchers, baker, blacksmith, saddler, chemist, lemonade factory and printer. A post office existed from 1876 to 1945. By 1877, the Golden Age newspaper was printed followed by the Palmer Chronicle in 1883. The Cooktown Independent was first published in Cooktown on 6 June 1884 by James Fowler.

Cooktown Botanic Gardens and Recreation Reserve was built from 1878 to 1980s.

Emanuel Borghero is listed in Pugh’s Directory of 1878 as “coach proprietor” in Cooktown “for Cobb & Co”. He is probably the well known “Manny” Borghero from Irvinebank and Herberton.

Russian Invasion

Cooktown Town Council on 10-4-1885 carried the following motion asking the Premier of Queensland that Cooktown be defended against the threat of a Russian invasion:

"A WIRE BE SENT TO THE PREMIER REQUESTING HIM TO SUPPLY ARMS, AMMUNITION & A COMPETENT OFFICER TO TAKE CHARGE OF SAME, AS THE TOWN IS ENTIRELY UNPROTECTED."

​On 10 April 1885, the Cooktown Council carried the following motion: “A wire be sent to the premier in Brisbane requesting him to supply arms, ammunition and a competent officer to take charge of same as the town is entirely unprotected against the threat of a Russian invasion. This gun, three cannonballs, two rifles and one officer were sent. Watch out Russians!

This gun cast in Carron, Scotland in 1803 and two rifles were sent. Cannon, Cooktown, c 1966, Queensland State Archives

Criminal Matters

Western Star and Roma Advertiser (Toowoomba, Qld. : 1875 - 1948), Wednesday 6 May 1885

  

A visit of Chinese Commissioners

A visit of Chinese Commissioners to Cooktown in 1887. User Ann-Britt Sternfeldt on sv.wikipedia

Pirate

ustralian Star (Sydney, NSW : 1887 - 1909), Wednesday 4 July 1888,

Aboriginal  Dispossession

Aboriginal people experienced dispossession and immense social disruption. Some took on jobs at surrounding pastoral stations and lived in fringe camps on the outskirts of towns. By 1885, Aboriginal people were excluded after dark.

In 1885 Lutheran missionary Johann Flierl negotiated with the Queensland Government to establish a mission close to Cooktown at Cape Bedford, on the land which had previously been gazetted as an Aboriginal reserve in 1881. The original mission on the beach at Cape Bedford was known as Elim.

The Lutheran missionaries believed that the best way to convey the "Word of God" was by using local languages. As a result, unlike most other missions, the children at Cape Bedford were taught in the local Guugu-Yimidhirr language.

A second site for the mission was established in December 1887, which was called Hope Valley. For 13 years the mission operated out of both locations. In 1900, Swartz closed down Elim and consolidated the mission at Hope Valley.

"Cooktown tribe at Barambah Aboriginal Settlement" no date, possibly 1908, State Library of Queensland. “Each tribe retains its customs, although they fraternise well. The western blacks hold corroborees frequently, and to some extent look down on the Burnett blacks because they have lost this art of handing down their history”
— the Queenslander, June 1907

Fears of Invasion

During world war II, there were fears of a Japanese invasion, and suspicions about "enemy aliens". On 11 May 1942 military authorities ordered the evacuation of Hope Vale. Pastor Schwarz was arrested and jailed in Cooktown. The Guugu Yimithirr people were evacuated from the Mission during World War I. Read more here

Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Saturday 27 February 1937

Mary Watson

Born in Cornwall, England, Mary Watson migrated to Queensland with her family in 1877. She met and married a bêche de mer fisherman, Captain Robert F. Watson, in May 1880. Her husband, took Mary with him when he set up a fishing station on Lizard Island, which was uninhabited at the time.

In September 1880, Mary's husband left for an extended fishing trip, leaving Mary, their child and two Chinese servants known as Ah Sam and Ah Leung, on the island.

Portrait of Mary Beatrice Watson John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland

Some weeks later, a group of Aboriginal Guugu Yimithirr people, arrived on Lizard Island, which according to oral tradition, was a ceremonial place. The Aboriginal people killed Ah Leung as he worked in the vegetable garden. He had seven spear wounds.

Mary fired a shotgun, which frightened the Aboriginal men away, but they attacked and wounded Ah Sam. Mary, the baby and Ah Sam grabbed food and water and escaped in a tank used for boiling 'bêche de mer. 

From 2 to 7 October, Mary, the baby and Ah Sam drifted at sea hoping to be picked up by a passing vessel.

Mary wrote a diary at this time, the final entry: "No water. Near dead with thirst".

Fishing vessels passing Lizard Island reported the wrecked cottage and fire burning. Mounted police and native troopers sent to the region shot many Aboriginal people at Cape York in retaliation.  

Some months later, the remains of Mary and her baby were found, still in the iron tank, amongst mangroves on 5 Howick Island. Ah Sam had died, nearby on the beach.

The beche-de-mer boiler used by Mary Watson, her child and Ah Sam to sail from the Lizard, half filledCapricornian (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1875 - 1929), Thursday 27 January 1927

January 4, 1882, a funeral was held in Cooktown for Mary Watson, her baby Ferrier, and servant Ah Sam, attended by over 600 people

Unveiling the Mary Watson Memorial in Cooktown, Qld, 1888. (State Archives)

1890s

The Cooktown Courier reported in 1894 of the Aboriginal people being "very troublesome".

 St Mary's Convent at Cooktown, QLD, nd. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.

Shire Hall, old Post Office and Telegraph and new Post and Telegraph and School of Arts c 1890., Vintage Queensland

By the 1890s the Palmer River gold fields and Cooktown as a service centre and supply port were in decline, as the alluvial gold was worked out.

Merry-go-round being assembled at a Cooktown fair, ca. 1895, State Library of Queensland

Merry-go-round in action in Cooktown, QLD, ca. 1895. State Library of Queensland - John Oxley Collection

 Ferrari Estates Building is a heritage-listed former bank building at 126 Charlotte Street, Cooktown. Bank of North Queensland, Cooktown, 1899. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.

Group from the Cooktown Districts ca 1899, QLD, State Library of Queensland

1900

Charlotte Street, Cooktown, ca. 1900 Caption on photograph: Charlotte St., Cooktown, looking south from B.P. & Co's. SLQLD

Chinese cook in Cooktown, c1900, Nt QLD, SLQLD

Chinese consul in Cooktown, QLD, c1900. State Library of Queensland

Children in traditional Chinese costume, Cooktown, Queensland, c1900, SLQLD

Charlotte Street, Cooktown, QLD, 1900

Bloomfield River, 16 miles south of Cooktown, Qld - very early 1900s, Kaye

On 9 February 1879, a French naval vessel arrived in Cooktown twenty-one deaths had occurred and 157 others were ailing. The dead were buried on the north shore, about a hundred metres from the beach, and a monument to their memory was erected and enclosed by a fence. In 1905 the remains of the French were found an reburied. Over 500 townsfolk escorted the hearse to the cemetery, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Wednesday 24 May 1905

Cooktown Harbour, 1906, QLD

Three children in maritime costume pose on a model ship, Cooktown, QLD, 1907. State Library of Queensland - John Oxley Collection

Endeavour River, Cooktown, Qld - circa 1908, Kaye

Cyclone damage in 1907 destroyed large numbers of Cooktown buildings which were never re-built.

View of Cooktown, QLD - circa 1910, Vintage Queensland

Gambling tables at the Cooktown races, ca. 1910, State Library of Queensland

Upper Charlotte St, Cooktown, QLD, 1910, Kaye

Beche-de-mer Luggers, Cooktown, North Queensland - circa 1910, Kaye

Charlotte Street, Cooktown, 1913. This view of Charlotte Street, Cooktown, takes in the avenue of trees and buildings. The street is deserted and the awnings, verandahs and shopfronts of the buildings are well-featured. SLQLD

WW1

Units: 9th Infantry Battalion; 3rd Squadron Rank: Private
Unit on Discharge: 15th Infantry Battalion. Recipient of The 1914-15 Star,
The British War Medal and The Victory Medal. Address: Cooktown, Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld. : 1913 - 1939), Friday 14 December 1917

 John James MATTHEWS, Cooktown, Queensland, Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld. : 1913 - 1939), Friday 1 June 1917

Aboriginal Stockmen

Aboriginal stocken, Cape York, QLD, Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 11 January 1919

 An Aboriginal horseman breaking in a Peninsula brumby .Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 11 January 1919

1920s

Donald and Black' s store, opposite hotel, Cooktown, QLD

1930s

Cooktown men at Barambah Aboriginal Settlement Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Tuesday 19 January 1932

Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900 - 1954), Sunday 21 May 1933

Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), Thursday 16 July 1936

"Australia's Greatest Black Tracker Follows the Last Long Trail MUNDI, one of the most pictureesque and famous Black-trackers Australia has ever known, was for 62 years a tracker in the Queensland police force, died in Cooktown recently at the age of more than 90 years. He was permanently employed as a member of the force until ten yearsago, when he retired from tracking to become head wardsman at the aborigines' medical ward at the Cooktown Police Compound. He served much longer than any other tracker in Australia." Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), Thursday 16 July 1936

The manager of the Bank of New South Wales at Cooktown, on his periodical visits to the goldfields, has to travel in the saddle, vehicular traffic of any kind being out of the question. Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 2 November 1938

BUILT IN THE DAYS OF COOKTOWN'S PROSPERITY. This building, erected at a cost of something like £30,000 in the boom days, is now occupied by the local branch of the Bank of New South Wales.Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 2 November 1938

Miss. Barbara Hitchins, woman pilot, lands in Cooktown, QLD. Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1907 - 1954), Friday 10 June 1938

World's News (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 1955), Saturday 3 June 1939

1940s

Water tanks for drinking and washing at the rear of a Cooktown house, 1942 Corrugated iron building assigned for enlisted men of the American Army's 7th Portable Surgical Hospital at Cooktown.
Date 1942, State Library of Queensland

Pilot Officer Gough Whitlam, No 13 Squadron, RAAF, poses with a mug in his hand, at Cooktown, Queensland, 1944. AWM image number P04697.001

Billy Gibson, an Indigenous Australian of the Gulf region being operated on by a RAAF doctor. Australia: Queensland, North Queensland, Cape York, Cooktown. AWM

Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), Saturday 12 October 1946

Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1931 - 1954), Tuesday 15 February 1949

1950s

Ghost Hotel, Cooktown, QLD, Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), Wednesday 25 November 1953

Peanut thresher, Cooktown, QLD, Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), Wednesday 25 November 1953

Charlotte St, Cooktown, Saturday morning, Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), Wednesday 25 November 1953

1960s

Grassy Hill Lighthouse, Cooktown, c 1966, Queensland State Archives

1970s

Charlotte Street, Cooktown, Queensland, Australia - 1971, Kaye

Around Cooktown

This two-storeyed brick building was completed in 1891, for the Bank of New South Wales, Cooktown, QLD

The Cooktown History Centre was built in 1876 as the first Post and Telegraph Office in Cooktown, it is the oldest surviving building in Charlotte Street, Cooktown, QLD

Cooktown Post Office, built 1880, Cooktown, Far North Queensland

Cooktown Hotel AKA The Top Pub, was established in 1874, Cooktown, QLD

The Sovereign Hotel, Cooktown, QLD, was originally constructed in 1874, at the port end of Charlotte Street

State of Queensland: Queensland Heritage Register: Cook Shire Council Chambers (1996), Kerry Raymond

Cook Shire Hall, was erected in 1907 for the Loyal Captain Cook Lodge of the North Queensland Branch of the Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows Friendly Society Heritage branch staff

The Cooktown Powder Magazine. QLD, was constructed in 1875-76 for the Queensland Department of Ports & Harbours

Early Granite Kerbing and Channelling, Cooktown, built from 1884 to 1905 by Thomas Pascoe.

Ferrari Estates, built in 1886 for the Bank of North Qld, and Seagren's Inn, erected in 1880 by Pher Erick Seagren (Sjorgren) as a store, for his cabinet maker and furniture dealer business, at Cooktown in Far North Qld

James Cook Historical Museum, was erected in 1888-1889 as St Mary's Convent and School, Cooktown QLD. St Mary's Convent and School remained an important educational facility for girls in far North Queensland until the 1930s.

Mary Watson's Monument was erected in 1886 by the citizens of Cooktown, QLD, to honour Mrs Mary Watson, who perished, along with her infant son and her Chinese employee Ah Sam

The former Cooktown Hospital was erected in 1879-81, QLD

View of Cooktown harbour, QLD

Things To Do and Places To Go

Cooktown Heritage Trail

Cooktown Walks

James Cook Museum

Cooktown History Centre

Learn Guugu Yimithirr

Maytown

Timeline: Outline Australian History. Part 5.

1975: Medibank is introduced, Australia Post and Telecom are formed from the Postmaster-General's Department(PMG).
1975: The greatest political and constitutional crisis in Australian history. The Whitlam Government was beset by economic difficulties and the Loans Affair scandal. In October 1975, the Senate blocked the Supply bills (money) in the Senate, until the Whitlam government agreed to call a general election; which meant that the Government would soon run out of money to pay public servants, provide pensions, and services etc. This crisis culminated when the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, sacked Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and appointed opposition leader, Malcolm Fraser as caretaker, on the 11th of November.

This shot recaptures one of Australia's most dramatic political events; the Whitlam Government was sacked by the then Governor General John Kerr on 11th November 1975. Peter van der Veer

1975: Malcolm Fraser wins the December 1975 election and becomes Prime Minister.

John Malcolm Fraser in 1975, https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Malcolm_Fraser_1977_-_crop.jpg#mw-jump-to-license

1975: The Australian Capital Territory legalises homosexuality between consenting adults in private.

1977: The Granville rail disaster occurred on 18 January 1977. Eighty-three people died, more than 210 were injured, and 1,300 were affected.

The Granville rail disaster occurred on 18 January 1977 in the Sydney suburb of Granville, Blue Mountains Library, Local Studies

1978: Sydney's Gay Solidarity Group organised a day of events culminating in the first Mardi Gras street festival.

Lesbians march in a 1978 International Women's Day parade, Sydney, NSW. State Library of New South Wales

1979: Australian women win the right to maternity leave.

1979: Kakadu National Park and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, are proclaimed.

1980: On 17 August, nine-week-old Azaria Chamberlain disappeared from an Uluru campsite. Her mother Lindy Chamberlain went to the tent, found the baby missing, and reported seeing a dingo. Lindy Chamberlain was convicted of murder on 29 October 1982, and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Lindy and Azaria (baby) Chamberlain, who was taken by a dingo on the night of 17 August 1980

1980: 18 October 1980: Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, was elected to a third term with a much-reduced majority, defeating the opposition Labor Party, led by Bill Hayden.

1981: The Tasmanian power referendum, held on 12 December 1981, was a one-question referendum about the proposed construction of a hydroelectricity dam, to be built on the Gordon River in Tasmania.

1982: The 1982 Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane, Queensland, from 30 September to 9 October 1982.

Games Mascot Matilda the Kangaroo at the Closing Ceremony of the XII Commonwealth Games at the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Sports Centre, Brisbane, 1982, Queensland State Archives

1982: The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT, is opened.

1983: Ash Wednesday bushfires: February 16, 1983. High temperatures and strong winds, after 10 months of severe drought, sparked bushfires and the loss of 75 lives.

1983: The incumbent Coalition government was defeated in a landslide by the opposition Labor Party led by Bob Hawke in the federal election held 5 March.

Bob Hawke, Labor spokesman on industrial affairs and ACTU presidentHawke addresses the Labour Day crowd, 1980. State Library of South Australia

1983: Australia wins the America's Cup.

1983: Hawke–Keating Labor government began deregulating the banking system and floated the Australian dollar.

1983: "Advance Australia Fair" is proclaimed as Australia's official national anthem.

1984: Medicare is established. Medibank had been introduced by the Whitlam government in 1975. However, Malcolm Fraser's Government refused to finance it. On 1 February 1984, Medicare was introduced, allowing basic health care for all Australians.

1984: A group of Pintupi people were tracked down in the Gibson Desert in Western Australia and brought into a settlement. They were living a traditional hunter-gatherer desert-dwelling life and are believed to have been the last uncontacted tribe in Australia.

1984: The one-dollar coin replaces the one-dollar note.

The Australian one-dollar note (or $1 bill) was introduced in 1966 due to decimalisation

1984: Labor wins the 1984 Australian federal election.

1985: On 26 October 1985, the Governor-General of Australia gives the title deeds of a large area of land in central Australia, including prominent landmarks Uluru and Kata Tjuta to the Mutitjulu people.

1986: The Australia Act removes all remaining rights of the UK parliament to pass laws for Australia.

1986:  Lindy Chamberlain is released from prison in Darwin on licence after serving 39 months of a life sentence.

1986: Australia shocked and outraged by the abduction and murder of registered nurse, 26-year-old Anita Cobby.

1986: The Russell Street bombing takes place at the headquarters of Victoria Police in Melbourne. A police constable, Angela Taylor, is killed.

1986:  Crocodile Dundee is released in Australia.

1987: Hoddle Street massacre kills 7 victims and injures 19.

1987: Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen resigns after nineteen years as Premier of Queensland, after corruption allegations.

1987: Prime Minister Bob Hawke establishes a Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

1987: The Queen Street massacre occurred on 8 December 1987.

1988: The bicentenary of Australia was celebrated in 1988. It marked 200 years since the arrival of the First Fleet of British convict ships at Sydney in 1788.

Photographed onboard HMAS MORESBY prior to the Bicentennial Naval Salute, incorporating the International Naval Review, Sydney 26 Sep-4 Oct 1988. Steve Swayne

1988: Australian referendum, 1988. It proposed to alter the Australian constitution such that Senate terms be reduced from six to four years, and House of Representative terms be increased from three years to four years.
1988: Brisbane hosts World Expo 88.

Performers, Brisbane, QLD - Expo 88, Queensland State Archives

Expo 88 opening day crowds at the Riverstage, Queensland State Archives

1988: During Australia's bicentenary celebrations Queen Elizabeth II, opens the New Parliament House, on May 9, 1988.

1989: Newcastle earthquake kills 13 people. ACT gains self-Government. The Kempsey bus crash and Grafton bus crash kills a total of 56 people.

1989: Queensland commences three-year trial of Daylight Saving.
1989: Rosemary Follett becomes the first Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory,  the first woman to become head of government in an Australian state or territory.

1990: After Iraq invaded Kuwait, Australia became part of the international coalition which contributed military forces to the 1991 Gulf War. More than 1,800 Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel were deployed to the Persian Gulf from August 1990 to September 1991, while contingents from the Royal Australian Navy circulated through the region in support of the sanctions against Iraq until November 2001.

1990: Carmen Lawrence becomes the first female premier of an Australian state.

Dr Carmen Lawrence first woman Premier of WA, at a press interview, 1990, State Library of WA

1990: Labor wins the 1990 federal election.

1990: Renowned heart surgeon Victor Chang was murdered in a failed extortion attempt by two Malaysian men, Chew Seng (Ah Sung) Liew and Choon Tee (Phillip) Lim.

Victor Peter Chang, a cardiac surgeon and a pioneer of modern heart transplantation, died 4 July 1991 (aged 54)

1991: The Strathfield massacre occurred at a shopping mall in Strathfield, Sydney, on 17 August 1991. The shooter, Wade Frankum, killed himself as police arrived at the scene. Eight people died, and six were wounded.

1991: Privatisation accelerated during the 1990s; including the sale of the first tranche of the Commonwealth Bank in 1991. Privatisation is the full or partial transfer of ownership of public assets to the private sector.

1991: On 21 August 1991, an explosion occurred on Coode Island in Melbourne, after a 600,000 litre chemical storage tank filled with acrylonitrile exploded and caught fire.

1991: Bob Hawke was prime minister from 1983 to 1991. In June 1991, Paul Keating resigned from the Government to unsuccessfully challenge for the party leadership; after Hawke reneged on the agreement of January 1991, to transfer power, following a "treacherous" speech by Keating, which belittled Hawke's leadership. Keating mounted a second successful challenge six months later.

 Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944), Australian politician and 24th Prime Minister of Australia NAA

1992: The Mabo Case was a landmark decision which recognised that a group of Torres Strait Islanders, led by Eddie Mabo, held ownership of Mer Island (Murray Island).

Edward Koiki Mabo (29 June 1936 – 21 January 1992), from the Torres Strait Islands known for his role in campaigning for Indigenous land rights

1992: Queensland holds a referendum on daylight saving, which is defeated, with a 54.5% "no". vote.

1992: The formation of the federal Greens Party in 1992, brought together over a dozen green groups, from state and local organisations, some of which had existed for 20 years. The Greens had their first leadership election on 29 November 2005; prior to this, they did not have a party leader.

1993: Keating defeats John Hewson. When asked by Opposition Leader John Hewson why he would not call an early election, Keating replied, "because I want to do you slowly." Hewson's package of proposed reforms called Fightback! included the introduction of a consumption tax (GST).

1996: The High Court hands down the Wik Decision, which determined that pastoralists did not have exclusive rights to the land. The Wik and Thayorre people were granted Native Title for two areas of land.

1996: The 1996 Australian federal election: John Howard defeats Paul Keating in the 1996 federal election, ending 13 years of Labor rule. The Liberal-National Party Coalition pledged that if elected Telstra would be partly privatised.

Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard meets with Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen at the Pentagon on June 27, 1997. DoD photo by Helene C. Stikkel

1996:  Port Arthur massacre 28 April: Martin Bryant kills 35 people and injures 21 in a shooting spree at the Port Arthur, Tasmania. The following month, Prime Minister John Howard announces new gun control measures.

1996: The Northern Territory legalises voluntary euthanasia. The legislation would be later be repealed by a conscience vote in the federal parliament in 1997.

1997:  Ivan Milat is found guilty of the murder of seven backpackers between December 1989 and April 1992, in the Belango State Forest, south-west of Sydney.

1997: Governor-General Sir William Deane urges action to address the widening gap in health between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.

1997:  Pauline Hanson launches the One Nation party in Ipswich, Queensland.

Kurri Kurri Nostalgia Festival - fashion parade judge, Pauline Hanson, Steve Daggar

1997: Tasmania becomes the last state in Australia to decriminalise homosexuality.

1997: The Thredbo landslide occurs, killing 17 people. Stuart Diver, a ski instructor, is rescued as the sole survivor.

1997: Aboriginal activist Burnum Burnum dies, 18 August, at his Woronora home near Sydney. On Australia Day 1988, he claimed Britain on behalf of the Aboriginal people, while Australia celebrated its bi-centennial.

1997: On the morning of 22 November 1997, Michael Hutchence was found dead in his hotel room in Sydney.

1998: Patrick Corporation sacks 2,000 dock workers on the waterfront. The Maritime Union of Australia responds with one of the largest industrial disputes Australia has ever seen. In the end, the jobs are restored to the workers in exchange for improvements in efficiency.

1998: 50th anniversary of the first Holden motor car (Nov).

1998 Holden Ute brochure cover, JOHN LLOYD

1998: Australian Stock Exchange demutualised to become a listed company. It was the first exchange in the world to demutualise and list on its own market.

1999: The Snowtown murders case, Australia's worst ever serial killings.

1999: A motion was tabled in Parliament expressing "deep & sincere regret that indigenous Australians suffered injustices under the practices of past generations".

1999: A referendum on whether to become a republic or to retain the monarchy, choose to retain the monarchy.

1999: East Timor votes for independence from Indonesia and Australia has a major role in peacekeeping forces after violence breaks out.

2000: Howard Government introduces a Goods and Services Tax (GST).

2000: The 2000 Summer Olympics was held from 15 September to 1 October 2000, in Sydney, New South Wales.
2001: January 1 2001, Australia celebrated the centenary of Federation. 
2001: Death of Donald Bradman aged 92 in Kensington Park, Adelaide, South Australia (25 Feb.).

Bradman walking out to bat in the Third Test against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1937. His 270 runs won the match for Australia and has been rated the greatest innings of all time.

2001: In late August 2001, the Howard Government of Australia refused permission for the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa, Norwegian cargo ship, which had rescued 433 people from a boat, to enter Australian waters.

2001: War On Terror: Australia's military involvement in Afghanistan began in late 2001.

Australian soldier on patrol in Tarin Kowt on June 15, 2007. Afghanistan 5, David Axe

2001: 7 October 2001: The Children Overboard affair involved public allegations by Howard Government ministers that asylum seekers at sea had thrown children overboard. The implication being that this was a ploy, aimed toward maritime rescue and to gain asylum in Australia.

2001: John Howard is reelected as Prime Minister (10 Nov.).

2002: Two bombs, ripped through the Kuta area of the Indonesian tourist island of Bali, on 12 October 2002. The attack killed 202 people. A further 209 people were injured (including 88 Australians).

2003: In 2003, the United States, organised a “coalition of the willing”, based on the belief that Iraq was concealing weapons of mass destruction and had links with terrorist groups such as al Qaeda. The chief participants to join the Coalition in Iraq were the United States, Britain, and Australia.

Iraq (September 2003), Photo RNW.org

2003: ASIO raids the Sydney homes of six suspected terror suspects(October).
2003: The Federal Government announces a budget surplus (December).

2004: The ABC airs an episode of "Play School" featuring a segment about a little girl and her two "mums”.

2004: The Liberal Government of John Howard is returned for a fourth term. Defeats Mark Latham led Labor Party.

2004:  26 Australians are among the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, 26 December. The tsunamis killed an estimated 227,898 people in 14 countries.

2005: The Bali Nine are arrested for drug smuggling in Indonesia.

2005:  The Cronulla riots erupted on 11 December 2005.

2006; The 2006 Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne, between 15 and 26 March 2006.

2006:  Australian-led military deployment to East Timor to quell unrest and return stability.

2006: Steve Irwin dies in an accident when he is struck in the heart by a stingray barb off Queensland's coast. Death of Peter Brock aged 61.

The Late " Crocodile Hunter " Steve Irwin during a TV show at the Zoo, Australia Zoo, Beerwah, South Queensland, AUSTRALIA, Bernard DUPONT

2007: Anna Bligh is sworn in as Queensland's first female premier. Anna Bligh become first female to She is a descendant of William Bligh, who is famous for the Mutiny on the Bounty and being the 4th Governor of New South Wales.

2007: 24 November 2007: The Australian Labor Party, led by Kevin Rudd, won government at Australia's 42nd federal election.

2007: The global financial crisis (GFC) was a period of extreme stress in global financial markets and banking systems, between mid-2007 and early 2009. The responses of the Australian Government (stimulus package) and Reserve Bank of Australia, avoided a recession.

Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website

2008: Heath Ledger dies of an accidental prescription drug overdose. On January 22, 2008.

2008: After 128 years, the final edition of The Bulletin is published.

2008: An apology containing the word "sorry" is made by Kevin Rudd to Indigenous Australians for the stolen generation, 13 February.

National Sorry Day, Kevin Rudd issued a formal apology on behalf of the government and people when he was prime minister, on 13 February 2008. Pierre Pouliquin

2008: In March, Adelaide experiences a national record heatwave for an Australian capital city, recording over ten straight days of temperatures over 35 degrees Celsius.
2008: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announces in December, that Australia will cut its greenhouse gas emissions by five per cent of 2000 levels, by the year 2020. This is criticised by the Australian Greens and environmental groups as not going far enough.

2008: Quentin Bryce becomes 25th Governor-General of Australia, serving from 2008 to 2014. She is the first woman to have held the position.
2009: The Black Saturday bushfires, swept across Victoria and killed 173 people, 120 in the Kinglake area alone. Another 414 people were injured. More than 450,000 hectares burned and 3500 buildings destroyed.

Victorian bushfires 2009, Elizabeth Donoghue

2009: On 4 August 2009, over 400 police and intelligence officers conduct a series of dawn raids, resulting in five men from Melbourne, Victoria, being charged over the Holsworthy Barracks terror plot.

2010: In May, Kevin Rudd announces the resource super profits tax (RSPT), which will help bring about his downfall.

2010: June 24: After a leadership spill, Julia Gillard replaces Kevin Rudd as Labor leader.

Julia Gillard , Prime Minister of Australia, The Commonwealth

2010: Federal election results in hung Parliament and narrow victory for Julia Gillard (ALP).

2010:  Australian, Mary MacKillop, is declared by Pope Benedict XVI to be a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.

2010-11 (dec-Jan): The most widespread flooding disaster in Queensland history.

2011: Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced the introduction of a market-based carbon pricing scheme. After this, Julia Gillard’s entire term in office is dogged by her previous statement: “there will be no carbon tax under the government I lead”, uttered on August 16, 2010. 

2011: Remains of a person found on the grounds of the former HM Prison Pentridge confirmed to be those of bushranger Ned Kelly.

2011: (Nov): The President of the United States Barack Obama visits Australia.

President Barack Obama delivers remarks honoring 60 years of the U.S. and Australian Alliance to a crowd of some 2000 soldiers and guests at the Royal Army Air Force Base in Darwin Australia, Nov.17, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) Charles McCain

2012: (1 July): A carbon pricing scheme is introduced in Australia.

2012: On 15 September 2012, a protest by Salafi Muslims against perceived anti- Islamic film "Innocence of Muslims", turned violent and six police officers and 19 protesters were injured.

Muslim protesters carry signs reading "Behead all those who insult the Prophet" and "Our dead are in Paradise. Your dead are in HELL!" Photograph taken at 2012 Sydney protest against the film Innocence of Muslims. Jamie Kennedy

2012: Julia Gillard announces a national Royal Commission into institutional responses to instances of child sexual abuse.

2013: Prime Minister Julia Gillard makes a speech apologising on behalf of the Federal Government to families affected by forced adoption in Australia (March).

2013: Prime Minister Julia Gillard announces $14.5 billion worth of funding for schools over the next six years (April).

2013:  Kevin Rudd defeats Julia Gillard, 57 to 45, in an Australian Labor Party leadership spill (June).

2013: The Liberal–National coalition led by Tony Abbott wins the September 2013 federal election.

Anthony John Abbott, AC (born 4 November 1957) is an Australian former politician who served as the 28th Prime Minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015, Global Panorama

2013:  The Marriage Equality Act 2013 is passed in the Australian Capital Territory, making the ACT the first state or territory to legalise same-sex marriage in Australia.

2013: Car manufacturer Holden announces it will cease production of vehicles in Australia by 2017.

2013: A Royal Commission into the Rudd Government's home insulation scheme, which subsidised insulation as part of an economic stimulus package to counter the financial crisis, begins in Brisbane.

2014: Premier of NSW, Barry O'Farrell announces the introduction of laws to prevent "one-hit punches".

2014: In March, Prime Minister Tony Abbott announces that the titles of knights and dames will be reintroduced into the Order of Australia honours list after being abolished in 1986.

2014: In April 2014, Prince William arrived in Australia for a ten-day tour with his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, and their son, Prince George.

2014: After Tony Abbott promises to reduce the "debt and deficit disaster", Federal Treasurer, Joe Hockey's first budget has tax increases, more welfare rules, a new $7 co-payment, and cuts to health and education spending.

2014: Australia becomes the first country in the world to abolish a functioning carbon pricing scheme.

2014: Australia's 21st Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, dies at the age of 98. Inside the Sydney Town Hall, former Prime Ministers Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, pay their respects. Noel Pearson, Aboriginal lawyer and academic delivered the eulogy. "We salute this old man for his great love and dedication to his country and to the Australian people."

2014: The Lindt Cafe siege was a terrorist attack that occurred on 15–16 December 2014. Man Haron Monis held ten customers and eight employees of a Lindt chocolate café, hostage, in the APA Building in Martin Place, Sydney. Two people died, along with an Islamist gunman.

Lindt Cafe Memorial Martin Place, Sydney, NSW, Goran Has

2015: On 2 January 2015, fire broke out at Sampson Flat, about 38 kilometres north-west of Adelaide. Destroys 32 houses and 125 outbuildings.

2015; Rolf Harris is stripped of his Australian honours (Feb).

2015: Death of Malcolm Fraser, 22nd Prime Minister of Australia, aged 84 (March). Peter Nixon, who delivered a eulogy, said the country had "lost a unique and great Australian".

2015;  Tony Abbott shocked Australia when he ate a whole, raw onion on TV in March.

2015: 25 April: The centenary of the Gallipoli Campaign is commemorated on Anzac Day.

2015: Johnny Depp's wife, Amber Heard, brings pet dogs Pistol and Boo into Australia illegally. A war of words breaks out between Depp and Australian Deputy, PM Barnaby Joyce.

Minister for Agriculture Barnaby Joyce visits APAL - DSC_6005, Apple and Pear Australia Ltd

2015: Turnbull wins the leadership ballot and is sworn in as the 29th Prime Minister of Australia on 15 September.

2016: Malcolm Turnbull returned as Prime Minister of the Coalition Government (July).

2016: Chief Scientist Alan Finkel releases a report which shows that Australia is not on track to meet Paris climate change commitments.

2016: On 23 December 2016, seven people were arrested in Melbourne for plotting a terror attack on Christmas Day.

2017: Five people are killed and more than 30 injured when a man drives a car into pedestrians on Bourke Street in the Melbourne City Centre (January).

2017: A heatwave in south-eastern Australia results in record-breaking temperatures and extensive power failure and blackouts (Febuary).

2017: Malcolm Turnbull meets with U.S. President Donald Trump in New York City.

President Donald Trump meets with Australian Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull for a bilateral meeting aboard the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, Thursday, May 4, 2017, in New York City. The White House

2017: John Cameron, a Perth barrister sets off the 2017 citizenship crisis by revealing former Greens senator Scott Ludlam's dual citizenship.

2017: The Australian car manufacturing industry closed.

2017: Same-sex marriage is legalised (December), after Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey: 7,817,247 'Yes' responses (61.6%), 4,873,987 'No' responses (38.4%).

2018:  A state of disaster is declared in Queensland, after flooding between Cairns and Townsville (March).

2018: A bushfire destroys over 70 buildings at Tathra on the New South Wales South Coast, while 18 homes are destroyed by a grass fire in Western Victoria (March).

2018:  On 21 August, there is a leadership spill in the Liberal Party. Malcom Turnbull is cha lenged by Peter Dutton, but Turnbull wins the vote by 48 to 35 votes.

2018: On 24 August, there is a second leadership spill. Malcolm Turnbull resigns as party leader, and Scott Morrison becomes the 30th Prime Minister of Australia.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison delivers remarks prior to the signing of a letter of intent between NASA and the Australian Space Agency, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2019 at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky) NASA HQ PHOTO

2018: The Queensland Government offers a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest of a person responsible for the contamination of strawberries using needles and pins.

2018: The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety is established on 8 October 2018.

2018: A man crashed a car full of gas cylinders in the Melbourne CBD, 9 November, before stabbing three people in a terror attack. One of the stabbed victims died at the scene.

2018: Australia becomes one of the few countries to formally recognise West Jerusalem as Israel's capital (December).

2019: Between 27 January and 8 February 2019, Townsville received 1250mm of rain, followed by mass flooding. Two men drown on 4 February, and two young boys on 25 February. Hundreds of thousands of cattle die.

Flooding in Townsville, QLD, Sunrise on Seven

2019: Nineteen homes are destroyed by bushfires in the New England and Northern Rivers, NSW (February).

A kangaroo rushes past a burning house in Lake Conjola, Australia, on Tuesday, Dec. 31 2019. This fire season has been one of the worst in Australia's history, with at least 15 people killed, hundreds of homes destroyed and millions of acres burned. (Matthew Abbott/The New York Times) Bruce Detorres

2019: Cardinal George Pell is convicted in an Australian court of sexually assaulting two 13-year-old choirboys in the 1990s and sentenced to six years in prison.

2019: Anthony Albanese, replaces Bill Shorten, as Labor Party leader (May).

2019:  4 June 2019, a mass shooting occurred in Darwin, Northern Territory. Four people killed.

2019:  The Australian Federal Police raid the home of News Corp Australia journalist Annika Smethurst and the headquarters of the ABC (June).

2019: Climbing Uluru is banned.

2019: Three people are killed and 150 homes are destroyed by bushfires in New South Wales and South East Queensland (November). Eight people are killed (December) in bushfires on the New South Wales South Coast and in Victoria's East Gippsland.

This picture taken on December 31, 2019 shows a horse trying to move away from nearby bushfires at a residential property near the town of Nowra in the Australian state of New South Wales. (Photo by SAEED KHAN / AFP) (Photo by SAEED KHAN/AFP via Getty Images) Bruce Detorres

2020:  Eden, NSW is evacuated due to the bushfires (January).

2020: Australia confirms its first COVID-19 case in Melbourne, 25 January.

2020: Lockdowns and social restrictions implemented due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2020: Adam Bandt is elected leader of the Australian Greens (February).

2020: February 19, estranged husband, Rowan Baxter, took his own life after horrifically killing his family.

2020:  ASIO head, Mike Burgess, states that there is rising foreign and far-right interference in Australia, and that violent Islamist fundamentalism remains ASIO's primary concern.

2020: March 1: Australia records its first death from the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns and social distancing.

Queuing to enter a bank during the spring 2020 Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, citytransportinfo

2020: Panic buying of toilet paper.

2020: Formation of the National Cabinet (prime minister, premiers and chief ministers), to manage the impacts of the coronavirus.

2020: The High Court unanimously quashes Cardinal George Pell's convictions (April).

2020: Black Lives Matter and pro-refugee protests amid Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions (June).

2020: Cyber attack against the Australian government (June).

2020: Millions of Victorians go into lockdown (July).

2020: The Australian economy goes into recession (September).

2020: 19 December: COVID-19 outbreak in the Northern Beaches area of Sydney, causes all other states and territories to close their borders to all residents of greater Sydney.

2021: Words of the Australian national anthem, "Advance Australia Fair", are changed (January 1).

2021: Greater Brisbane area goes into 3-day lockdown, to stop the spread of a UK COVID-19 variant.

Timeline: Outline Australian History. Part 1.

Timeline: Outline Australian History. Part 2.

Timeline: Outline Australian History. Part 3.

Timeline: Outline Australian History. Part 4.