This is a timeline of Australian history.

Prehistory

• 70,000BC : Aborigines are thought to have migrated to Australia
• 42,000BC : Aboriginal engravings have been found in South Australia that date back to this time.
• 35,000BC : Aborigines are thought to have reached Tasmania.

1600s

• 1603 - Dutch ship Duyfken, under Capt. Willem Janszoon , explores northern Australian coastline (western coast of Cape York), being first recorded European encounter
• 1616 - Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog explores the west coast of Australia
• 1642 - Dutch explorer Abel Tasman explores the west coast of Tasmania, lands on the east coast and names the island Anton Vandiemenslandt
• 1688 - English explorer William Dampier explores the west coast of Australia

1700s

• 1770 - Captain James Cook charts the eastern coast
• 1788 - The First Fleet arrives in Australia and founds Sydney
• 1789 - A settlement is founded at Norfolk Island
• 1792 - Two French ships, La Recherche and L'Espérance anchored in Recherche Bay, named after one of their ships, near the southernmost point of Tasmania at a time when Britain and France were vying to be the first to discover and colonise Australia

1800s

• 1804 - A settlement is founded at Risdon on the Derwent River in Van Diemen's Land by Lt. Bowen
• 1804 - Vinegar Hill convict rebellion
• 1804 - The settlement is moved to Sullivan's Cove, now Hobart in Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) by Col. David Collins
• 1806 - Matthew Flinders completes the first circumnavigation of the continent
• 1808 - The Rum Rebellion
• 1813 - Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth successfully cross the Blue Mountains
• 1817 - John Oxley charts the length of the Lachlan River
• 1818 - Oxley charts the length of the Macquarie River
• 1824 - The city of Brisbane is founded
• 1824 - Bathurst and Melville Islands are annexed
• 1828 - Charles Sturt charts the length of the Darling River
• 1829 - The whole of Australia is claimed as British territory
• 1830 - Sturt arrives at Goolwa, having charted the length of the Murray River
• 1830 - The city of Perth is founded
• 1833 - The Tasmanian penal settlement of Port Arthur is founded
• 1835 - John Batman arrives at Port Phillip with the intention to found a settlement there
• 1837 - The settlement founded by Batman is named Melbourne
• 1845 - Copper is discovered at Burra in South Australia
• 1850 - Western Australia becomes a penal colony
• 1850 - Australia's first university, the University of Sydney, is founded
• 1851 - Victoria separates from New South Wales
• 1851 - The Victorian gold rush begins when gold is found at Summerhill Creek and Ballarat
• 1854 - The Eureka Stockade occurs
• 1855 - The transportation of convicts to Norfolk Island ceases
• 1859 - Queensland seperates from New South Wales
• 1860 - John McDouall Stuart reaches the centre of the continent
• 1861 - The ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition occurs
• 1862 - Stuart reaches Port Darwin, founding a settlement there
• 1863 - South Australia takes control of the new Northern Territory
• 1867 - The transportation of convicts to Western Australia ceases
• 1867 - Gold is discovered at Gympie, Queensland
• 1873 - Uluru is first sighted by Europeans
• 1879 - The first congress of trade unions is held
• 1880 - Ned Kelly is hanged
• 1880 - Parliamentarians in Victoria become the first to be paid for their work
• 1883 - Opening of the Sydney-Melbourne railway
• 1883 - Silver is discovered at Broken Hill
• 1887 - Australian cricket team established, defeating Britain in the first Ashes series
• 1889 - Completion of the railway network between Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney
• 1889 - Sir Henry Parkes gives the Tenterfield Oration
• 1890 - The Australian Federation Conference decides to call a constitutional convention
• 1891 - National Australasian Convention meets, agrees on adopting the name "Commonwealth of Australia" and agrees to draft a Constitution
• 1891 - The first attempt at a federal Constitution is drafted
• 1891 - The Convention adopts the Constitution, though it still has no legal status
• 1892 - Gold is discovered at Coolgardie , Queensland
• 1893 - The Corowa Conference (the "people's convention") calls upon the colonial parliaments to pass Enabling Acts, allowing the election of delgates to a new Constitutional Convention aimed at drafting an agreeable proposal, and then putting it to a referendum in each colony
• 1895 - All the Premiers (with the exceptions of Queensland and Western Australia) agree to implement the Corowa proposals
• 1895 - Waltzing Matilda is first sung in public, in Winton, Queensland
• 1895 - Banjo Patterson publishes The Man From Snowy River
• 1896 - Bathurst Conference (the second "people's convention") meets to discuss the 1891 draft constitution
• 1897 - In two sessions, the Second National Australasian Convention meets (with all colonies except Queensland present). They agree to adopt a constitution based on the 1891 draft, and then revise and amend it later in the year.
• 1898 - The Convention agrees on a final draft to be put to the people
• 1898 - After much public debate, the Victorian, South Australian and Tasmanian referenda are successful; the New South Wales referendum narrowly fails
• 1899 - All colonies except Western Australia vote "yes", after new referenda
• 1899 - The decision is made to site the national capital in New South Wales, but not within 100 miles of Sydney
• 1899 - The Australian Labor Party takes power in Queensland, becoming the first trade union party to do so anywhere in the world

1900s

• 1900 - Several delegates visit London to resist proposed changes to the agreed-upon constitution
• 1900 - The constitution is passed by the House of Commons and House of Lords as the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, and is given royal assent
• 1901 - Australia becomes an independent nation as of January 1
• 1901 - Edmund Barton becomes Prime Minister; Lord Hopetoun becomes Governor-General
• 1901 - The first parliament meets in Parliament House, Melbourne
• 1902 - The Franchise Act guarantees women the right to vote in federal elections (by this stage, most states had already done this). However, it excludes most non-European ethnic groups, including Aboriginal people.
• 1902 - Breaker Morant is executed for having shot Boers who had surrendered
• 1903 - The High Court of Australia is established
• 1903 - The Defence Act gives the federal government full control over the Australian Army
• 1903 - Alfred Deakin elected Prime Minister
• 1904 - Dalgety chosen as the site for the national capital
• 1906 - Australia takes control of Papua New Guinea
• 1907 - The Commonwealth takes control of the Northern Territory from the South Australian government
• 1908 - Dorothea Mackellar publishes My Country
• 1908 - The Dalgety proposal for the national capital is revoked, and Canberra is chosen instead
• 1909 - The first powered aeroplane flight in Australia is made.

1910s

• 1911 - The Royal Australian Navy is founded
• 1911 - The Northern Territory comes under Commonwealth control, being split off from South Australia
• 1911 - The first national census is conducted
• 1912 - Australia sends women to the Olympic Games for the first time
• 1912 - Walter Burley Griffin wins a design competitionfor the new city of Canberra
• 1913 - The foundation stone for the city of Canberra is put in place
• 1914 - Australian soldiers are sent to the First World War. This was first time Australians had fought under the Australian flag.
• 1915 - Australian soldiers land at Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey

Surfing is first introduced to Australia

• 1916 - Hotels are forced to close at 6pm, leading to the beginning of the "six o'clock swill"
• 1916 - The Returned Sailors’ and Soldiers’ Imperial League of Australia, the forerunner to the Returned and Services League is founded
• 1916 - First referendum on conscription
• 1917 - Third referendum on conscription

1920s

• 1920 - The airline QANTAS is founded
• 1921 - Edith Cowan becomes the first woman elected to an Australian parliament
• 1922 - The Smith Family charity is founded in Sydney
• 1923 - Vegemite is first produced
• 1926 - The first Miss Australia contest is held
• 1927 - The tenth parliament is formally opened in Canberra, finalising the move to the new capital
• 1928 - Bert Hinkler makes the first successful flight to Britain, and Charles Kingsford Smith the first flight to the United States

1930s

• 1930 - Don Bradman scores a record 452 not out in one cricket innings
• 1930 - Phar Lap wins its first Melbourne Cup
• 1931 - Sir Douglas Mawson charts 4,000 miles of Antarctic coastline and claims 42% of the icy mass for Australia
• 1932 - The Sydney Harbour Bridge opens
• 1933 - Western Australia produces a referendum for secession but it is rejected by Parliament.
• 1936 - The last Tasmanian tiger dies
• 1937 - The radio series Dad and Dave begins
• 1938 - Sydney hosts the Empire Games , the forerunner to the Commonwealth Games
• 1939 - Australia enters the Second World War
• 1939 - The first flight is made by an Australian-made warplane, the Wirraway
• 1939 - Victoria is devastated by the Black Friday bushfires.

1940s

• 1940 - A team of scientists, under Howard Florey, develops penicillin
• 1942 - Japan bombs Darwin, Broome and Queensland
• 1942 - Daylight saving is introduced
• 1943 - Australia wins its first Oscar, with cinematographer Damien Parer being rewarded for his coverage of the war
• 1944 - The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme is introduced, providing subsidised medicine to all Australians
• 1945 - Australia becomes a founding member of the United Nations
• 1945 - The Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race is held for the first time
• 1946 - Minister for Immigration Arthur Calwell introduces the major post-war immigration scheme
• 1946 - An Australian is voted in as the first President of the United Nations Security Council.
• 1948 - Australian Minister for External Affairs, Dr. Herbert Evatt is elected President of the United Nations General Assembly.
• 1948 - Australia becomes a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• 1949 - Construction of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme begins
• 1949 - Indigenous Australians who are eligible to vote in State Elections in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania are also given the right to vote in Federal Elections.
• 1949 - The Nationality and Citizenship Act is passed. Rather than being identified as subjects of Britain, the Act established Australian citizenship for people who met eligibility requirements.

1950s

• 1950 - Australian troops are sent to the Korean War, as well as to fight a communist insurgency in Malaya
• 1951 - Australia signs the ANZUS treaty with the United States and New Zealand
• 1954 - The Petrov Affair occurs
• 1954 - Hotels no longer have to close at 6pm, ending the "six o’clock swill"
• 1954 - Elizabeth II and Prince Philip make a royal visit.
• 1956 - Melbourne holds the Summer Olympics
• 1959 - The Sidney Myer Music Bowl is opened
• 1959 - Australia becomes a signatory to the International Antarctic Treaty

1960s

• 1962 - Indigenous Australians gain the right to vote
• 1962 - Australia enters the Vietnam War
• 1966 - The ban on the employment of married women in the Commonwealth Public Service is lifted.
• 1967 - South-eastern Tasmania devastated by bushfires on 7 February, killing 62 people
• 1967 - Indigenous Australians gain the right to citizenship after a referendum to allow the federal government to legislate for them is supported by over 90% of the population
• 1968 - Australia signs the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

1970s

• 1970 - More than 200,000 people participate in the largest demonstrations in Australian history, against the Vietnam War
• 1971 - Neville Bonner becomes the first Aboriginal to become an Australian Member of Parliament
• 1972 - The Commonwealth Arbitration Commission rules that women doing the same job as men have the right to be paid the same wage.
• 1972 - First Labor Govt since 1949 is elected under the leadership of Gough Whitlam
• 1972 - Australia recognises the People's Republic of China
• 1973 - The Sydney Opera House is opened
• 1973 - The federal voting age is dropped from 21 to 18
• 1973 - Unionists save the historic "The Rocks" area of Sydney from demolition by introducing "green bans "
• 1973 - Patrick White becomes the first Australian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature
• 1974 - Darwin is devastated by Cyclone Tracy
• 1975 - A constitutional crisis occurs when Malcolm Fraser's opposition blocks supply, bringing the nation to a standstill until Governor-General John Kerr controversially sacks Prime Minister Gough Whitlam
• 1977 - Advance Australia Fair becomes Australia's official national anthem
• 1979 - Australian women win the right to maternity leave
• 1979 - Kakadu National Park and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park are both proclaimed.

1980s

• 1980 - The Australia Act ends the right of appeal to the British Privy Council, making the High Court the final destination of appeal.
• 1983 - Australia wins the America's Cup
• 1985 - The government grants the freehold title of a large area of land in central Australia, including prominent landmarks Uluru and Kata Tjuta, to the Mutitjulu people, who in turn give them a 99-year lease
• 1988 - Australia celebrates its bicentenary, with large celebrations and major funding for capital works projects
• 1988 - The new Parliament House opens
• 1989 - A 5.6 magnitude earthquake strikes Newcastle on 28 December. This was Australia's most serious natural disaster to date, killing 13 and injuring more than 160 people.

1990s

• 1991 - Bob Hawke becomes the first sitting Prime Minister to be dumped in a leadership challenge, and is replaced by Paul Keating
• 1991 - Seven people die in the Strathfield massacre
• 1991 - Prominent heart surgeon Victor Chang is gunned down
• 1991 - The Coode Island chemical storage facility in Melbourne explodes, leaving a toxic cloud hanging over the city for days
• 1992 - The Sydney Harbour Tunnel opens
• 1992 - New South Wales Premier Nick Greiner resigns after a corruption inquiry finds against him
• 1993 - The High Court delivers the Mabo Decision, which rules that indigenous native title does exist. This effectively extinguishes the concept of terra nullius.
• 1993 - Paul Keating defeats John Hewson in an election that had been widely described as being "unwinnable" for him; the Australian Greens stand candidates for the first time
• 1995 - The Northern Territory legalises voluntary euthanasia, but it is overruled by the federal government when Liberal MP Kevin Andrews proposes the Andrews Bill
• 1996 - The High Court hands down the Wik Decision, which holds that indigenous native title can survive the granting of pastoral leases.
• 1996 - John Howard becomes Prime Minister, defeating Paul Keating
• 1996 - All Australian states and territories agree to introduce uniform gun laws following the deaths of 35 people in the Port Arthur massacre
• 1997 - Controversial right-wing MP Pauline Hanson forms the One Nation Party
• 1997 - Eighteen people die when the Bimbadene and Carinya Lodges collapse at Thredbo Alpine Village at 11.30pm on 30 July
• 1998 - A major strike results when Patrick Stevedores attempt to introduce non-union labour to reduce the influence of the Maritime Union of Australia
• 1998 - The Australian Stock Exchange is demutualised and floated as a public company, becoming the world’s first stock exchange to be listed on an exchange.
• 1999 - Both houses of the federal parliament pass a motion signifying both recognition of and regret at past treatment of indigenous Australians.
• 1999 - A referendum on changing to a republic is unsuccessful
• 1999 - Australian soldiers are deployed to East Timor as part of the INTERFET peacekeeping force

2000s

• 2000 - Sydney holds the Summer Olympics
• 2001 - The Tampa affair and Children overboard affair occur amidst a crackdown on refugees
• 2002 - On 12 October, 2002 a bomb in a Bali nightclub kills 202 people, including 88 Australians.
• 2004 - A bomb explodes outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia.
• 2004 - John Howard wins his fourth term in office after defeating Mark Latham in the election