A time-line of Australia and New Zealand

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A history of England

(Copyright © 1999 Piero Scaruffi)


1642: Dutch explorer Abel Tasman discovers New Zealand
1769: James Cook reaches New Zealand
1770: James Cook lands in Australia and claims it for Britain
1788: The British colony of New South Wales, including New Zealand, is established after 800 convicts are deported from Britain to Sydney
1793: the first British settlers arrive in Australia
1800: Australia has a white population of 10,000
1829: The British colony of Western Australia is established
1836: The British colony of South Australia is established
1840: The last convicts are deported to New South Wales, Australia
1840: The divided Maori tribes of New Zealand accept to be annexed by Britain
1841: The British colony of New Zealand is separated from New South Wales
1851: Gold is discovered in Australia
1851: Edward Hargraves discovers gold near Bathurst in Australia, starting a gold rush
1852: 370,000 immigrants arrive in Australia in the first year of the Gold Rush
1855: Earthquake in New Zealand
1860: Australia's population passes one million
1868: The last convicts are deported to Western Australia
1871: Following the Gold Rush, the population of Australia is 1.7 million up from 430,000 in 1851
1890: For the first time the majority of Australians are Australian-born
1893: New Zealand is the first country to grant women the right to vote
1896: New Zealand's population is 743,214
1900: Britain authorizes the Commonwealth of Australia uniting the separate colonies on the continent under one federal government with capital at Melbourne
1901: The British colonies of Australia become the Federated Commonwealth of Australia
Mar 1902: Richard Pearse in New Zealand flies his home-made airplane for 91 meters
1907: New Zealand becomes a self-governing dominion of the British empire
1911: the New Zealand scientist Ernest Rutherford discovers that the atom is made of a nucleus and orbiting electrons
1913: The newly built city of Canberra becomes the capital of Australia
1914: Australia enters World War I on Britain's side
1918: At the end of the war the British army has 8.5 people, of which 5.7 are from Britain, 1.4 from India, 630,000 from Canada, 420,000 from Australia, 136,000 from South Africa and 129,000 from New Zealand plus about 300,000 Egyptian, black African and Chinese laborers
1920: The airline Qantas is founded to link the settlements of Australia
1939: Australia enters World War II on Britain's side
1947: New Zealand becomes an independent country
1948: Australia opens to immigration from Europe
1953: New Zealand's Edmund Hillary and Nepal's Tenzing Norgay are the first explorers to reach the summit of Mount Everest
Mar 1983: Bob Hawke of the left-wing Labor Party becomes prime minister of Australia after parliamentary elections
1991: Paul Keating of the left-wing Labor Party becomes prime minister of Australia
Apr 1996: Martin Bryant kills 35 people in Port Arthur, Australia, and Australia decides to confiscate 650,000 guns to reduce gun violence
1996: John Howard of the right-wing Liberal Party wins becomes prime minister of Australia after parliamentary elections
1997: Jenny Shipley becomes Zealand's first female prime minister
1999: Australia defends East Timor's independence from pro-Indonesia militias
Oct 2002: Islamists kill dozens of Australian tourists in the Bali terrorist attack
2004: The USA and Australia sign a free-trade treaty
Jan 2007: Australian hacker Julian Assange launches the website WikiLeaks
Nov 2007: Kevin Rudd of the left-wing Labor Party becomes prime minister of Australia after parliamentary elections
2009: The longest recession in New Zealand's history
2010: Julia Gillard of the Labor Party becomes the first female prime minister of Australia
2011: Australia holds about 40% of the world's uranium
Jun 2013: Kevin Rudd of the left-wing Labor Party becomes Australia's prime minister for the second time, while Australia enjoys its 22nd year of consecutive economic growth
Sep 2013: Tony Abbott of the right-wing Liberal Party becomes prime minister of Australia after parliamentary elections
Sep 2015: Malcolm Turnbull of the right-wing Liberal Party becomes prime minister of Australia
Oct 2017: New Zealand elects the 37-years-old Jacinda Ardern as prime minister, the youngest ever
Aug 2018: Finance minister Scott Morrison of the right-wing Liberal Party becomes prime minister of Australia
Mar 2019: White suprematist Brenton Tarrant kills 50 Muslims in two mosques of New Zealand
Jan 2020: A heatwave causes the biggest wildfires in Australia's history
Nov 2020: Fifteen countries of the Asia-Pacific (China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the ASEAN countries) sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world's largest trading bloc, covering almost a third of the world's economy
Timeline of the British Empire

World News | Politics | History | Editor
(Copyright © 1999 Piero Scaruffi)