Australians vote on enshrining an Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Voice in the Constitution; the proposal is rejected

Affordability and homelessness become central social issues

Interest rate rises and housing stress dominate public debate

First Labor budget focuses on cost of living, climate, and rebuilding services.

Public and political discussion grows around nuclear-powered submarines and regional security.

Anthony Albanese becomes Prime Minister; Labor forms government, ending nearly a decade of Coalition rule

PM Scott Morrison & French President Emmanuel Macron accuse each other of lying over the way Morrison cancelled their submarine contract

US President Joe Biden tells France’s President Emmanuel Macron, that the US was ‘clumsy’ in Aussie sub deal

Australia cancels its Attack-class submarine submarine construction deal with France in favour of the AUKUS security alliance with the United States and United Kingdom

The national Census of Population and Housing is held.

Australian Travel Bubble is suspended with New Zealand over concerns for the rising cases in Australia. [Covid-19]

World No. 1 women's tennis player Australian Ash Barty wins her first Wimbledon ladies' singles title

Total travel bubble paused from all Australian states to New Zealand [Covid-19]

Australia and New Zealand start their safe travel bubble arrangement. [Covid-19]

The first Australian died from thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), after vaccination with the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

Tens of thousands of people attend March 4 Justice rallies across Australia calling for an end to gender-based violence and workplace harassment.

The first public COVID-19 vaccination in Australia, with the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine

Facebook blocked news to Australians on its platform over a dispute regarding a proposed law which would force it and Google to pay news publishers for content

142,000 doses of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Australia

The words of the Australian national anthem, "Advance Australia Fair", are changed, amending the line "For we are young and free" to "For we are one and free"

New South Wales and Victoria reported no new cases of Covid-19 for the previous 24 hours. Queensland and Western Australia report one new (international) case each, the lowest national total since February

New national restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus are put in place through the Public Health Act 2010, via Sect 7 of the Act. [Covid-19]

Australia closed its borders to all non-residents and non-Australian citizens.. A ban was imposed on Australians travelling overseas unless exempt. [Covid-19]

All travellers arriving in or returning to Australia were required to self-isolate for 14 days (Covid-19)

Morrison announces that all travellers arriving in or returning to Australia from overseas must self-isolate for 14 days, mirroring a similar requirement imposed by New Zealand [Covid-19]

The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic

Australia reported its 100th case of Covid-19. Australia's first wave begins.

Australian Associated Press announces it will close its newswire service in June, after 85 years in operation.

Australia records its first death from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements announced to look into the fires that devastated the country over summer. 18 million hectares (44 million acres) burned, 28 people died, and 3,000 homes were destroyed,

General Motors announces it is pulling its Holden brand from Australia.

Australia banned the entry of foreign nationals who had been in mainland China, and ordered its own returning citizens who had been in China to self-quarantine for 14 days [Covid-19]

WHO declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern

Biosecurity officials began screening arrivals on flights from Wuhan to Sydney for Covid-19

Melbourne records first case of Covid-19. On same day Sydney recorded 3 more cases.

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirms its concern about Coronavirus outbreak

A novel coronavirus that caused a respiratory illness was identified in Wuhan, Hubei, China, in December 2019, and reported to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Budj Bim Cultural Landscape inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage. One of the world’s oldest and most extensive aquaculture sites, dating back at least 6600 years.

Scott Morrison remains Australian prime minister in surprise win election

Scott Morrison succeeds Malcolm Turnbull as Australian prime minister.

The first weddings under the amended same-sex marriage law occurred.

Same-sex marriage bill comes into effect. Couples still had to wait the 1 month waiting time to get married.

The same-sex marriage referendum produced 61.6% of respondents voting "YES" for same-sex marriage.

Australian federal election: Malcolm Turnbull remains as Prime Minister of Australia.

Death of Malcolm Fraser, 22nd Prime Minister of Australia.

Carbon price is dropped by the Abbott Government.

Australian federal election: Tony Abbott defeats Kevin Rudd to become the 28th Prime Minister of Australia.

Kevin Rudd defeats Julia Gillard in a leadership spill, 57 votes to 45. Gillard resigns from parliament, Rudd is sworn in as prime minister.

Carbon price introduced by the Gillard Government.

Australian federal election: Election results in hung Parliament and narrow victory by Julia Gillard (ALP) over Tony Abbott (Lib-Nat Coalition)

Liberal Ken Wyatt becomes the first Aboriginal elected to the Australian House of Representatives

Julia Gillard challenged and replaced Kevin Rudd as leader of the Labor Party to become the 27th and first female Prime Minister of Australia.

Quentin Bryce assumed office as Governor-General of Australia & the first female

Heath Ledger Dies from an accidental prescription drug intoxication

Australian federal election: Kevin Rudd (Australian Labor Party) defeats John Howard (Liberal-National Coalition) to become the 26th Prime Minister of Australia.

Australia avoids recession amidst Global Financial Crisis

Australian Forces are again deployed to East Timor to help stabilize the country

Media mogul Kerry Packer dies. Claimed to be richest man in Australia.

New anti-terrorism bill passed in response to London bombings in July. Generated heated debated among community.

Nguyen, convicted Australian heroin smuggler,executed in Singapore. The first since McAuliffe in Malaysia in 1993.

Dr Barry Marshall & Dr Robbin Warner won the Nobel Prize for Medicine, proving that a bacteria not stress caused stomach ulcers & gastritis.

Suicide bombers once again targeted tourists in Bali, with another bomb attack.

Schapelle Corby sentenced to 20yr jail term in Bali for possession of over 4kg of marijuana.

The Bali Nine are arrested in Bali for allegedly smuggling 11kg of heroine into Sydney

The Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Commissions is officially abolished by Federal legislation

Cate Blanchett wins Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in The Aviator

Australian federal election: John Howard Government (Lib-Nat Coalition) defeats Mark Latham (Labor)

A bomb explodes outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia

HSV 7 Melbourne began broadcasting on 4 November 1956.

First nuclear weapons test by British at Maralinga

Australia's first locally made car, the Holden 48-215, launched

Commonwealth & State governments agree to celebrate Australia Day on January 26th

Florey, Fleming & Chain win Nobel Prize for developing penicillin

Australia plays an important role in the founding of the United Nations

The Liberal Party of Australia is formed

Formation of the Australian Broadcasting Commission - ABC

Height of the Great Depression, with 32% unemployment

Influenza pandemic reaches Australia

End of First World War & Treaty of Versailles

The First ANZAC Day commemorations

Commonwealth Franchise Act gives women the vote in Federal elections.

White Australia Policy enshrined in law

Bubonic Plague arrives in Australia

Cyclone Mahina was a devastating and historically deadly storm that claimed the lives of hundreds of divers and seamen from South-east Asia, the Torres Strait, and Pacific islands.

Total Lunar Eclipse

The first telegrams are sent from Sydney to England

Australia receives it's first telegraph message

Married women are now allowed to own personal property, such as wages & dividends

Total Lunar Eclipse

Lunar eclipse

Convict transportation to Australia ends

The secret ballot was introduced, and all adult men could vote

During a period of eighty years, over 162,000 convicts were sent to Australia, with around 7,000 arriving in 1833 alone!

From 1831 the British and Australian colonial governments subsidised or paid for thousands of migrants to move to Australia.

The Sydney Herald (later to become The Sydney Morning Herald) was first published.

A penal settlement is established at Redcliffe on Moreton Bay (still NSW). The following February it is moved to the Brisbane River, which is now the City of Brisbane

Ex-convict Andrew Bent founds first free press in the Australian colonies

The first official celebrations are held in Sydney to mark the 30th anniversary of the original settlement

Matthew Flinders' book "A Voyage to Terra Australis" recommended using the name Australia instead of New Holland

Introducing the exciting 'holey dollar', Australia's first coin with a hole in the middle!

Convict Isaac Nichols appointed as Australia's first postmaster

The Rum Rebellion of 1808 was the only successful armed takeover of government in Australian history. Later referred to as the Great Rebellion. It lasted until 1st January, 1810.

Martial Law is declared & Governor William Bligh is placed under house arrest & held prisoner for more than a year before being returned to England

A report of a cricket match is published in the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser. It is the first account of a sporting event in Australia

Captain Matthew Flinders completed the first circumnavigation of the Australian continent (still known as "New Holland"). His ship the Investigator was subsequently judged to be unseaworthy and condemned.

First Merino sheep are imported from South Africa

The name Australia was specifically applied to the continent for the first time with the botanists George Shaw and Sir James Smith writing of "the vast island, or rather continent, of Australia, Australasia or New Holland" in their 1793 Zoology and Botany of New Holland.

The first ship of the Third Fleet arrived at Sydney Cove.

5 of 6 ships of the beleaguered Second Fleet have arrived during the past month. The colony was gripped by a food crisis.

The first play performed in Australia was for the Kings birthday. The play called The Recruiting Officer was performed by convicts

Smallpox and other diseases brought by European settlers decimated First Nations populations while the colonists remained relatively unscathed.

Aboriginal Australians couldn't be coaxed into the settlement. Captain Phillip wanted to promote good relations between Aboriginal Australians and Europeans, so he captured one named Arabanoo & held him in confinement, hoping to learn his language.

Lt. King took possession of Norfolk Island. British settlement founded.

The First Fleet led by Captain Arthur Phillip left England to found a penal colony in Australia. It reached Botany Bay in mid-January 1788.

Captain Cook takes possession of the whole eastern coast in the name of King George III, naming it New South Wales

British Lieutenant James Cook, in search of the postulated continent of Terra Australis, was to be the first documented European expedition to reach the eastern coastline.

Aboriginal people of northern Australia and Makasar from Sulawesi began trading with each other in an engaging manner.

Pedro Fernandes de Queirós expedition reached the islands later called the New Hebrides (Vanuatu). Queirós landed on a large island which he took to be part of the southern continent, and named it Australia del Espiritu Santo.

The name "Austrialia" was used for the first time by Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, a Portuguese navigator, who sailed south with the intention of finding Terra Australis, the mythical "great south land," and claiming it for Spain and the Church.