A time-line of Australia and New ZealandWorld News | Politics | History | EditorA 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 |
(Copyright © 1999 Piero Scaruffi) |