The History of Australia refers to the history of the area and people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding Indigenous and colonial societies. Aboriginal Australians are believed to have first arrived on the Australian mainland by sea from Maritime Southeast Asia between 40,000 and 70,000 years ago
A number of European explorers sailed the coast of Australia, then known as New Holland, during the 17th century. But it wasn’t until 1770 that Captain James Cook chartered the east coast and claimed it for Britain. The new outpost was put to use as a penal colony and on 26 January 1788, the First Fleet of 11 ships – carrying 1,500 people, half of them convicts – arrived in Sydney Harbour. When penal transportation ended in 1868, more than 160,000 men and women had come to Australia as convicts.
Australia-Timeline
1770 - Captain James Cook charts the east coast in his ship HM Endeavour. Cook claims it as a British possession and names eastern Australia "New South Wales".
1911 - Canberra is founded and designated as the capital
1967 - National referendum on changes to constitution is passed. Section which excluded Aboriginal people from official census is removed. Another change enables federal government to pass laws on Aboriginal issues.
1975 - Australia introduces new immigration laws, restricting the number of unskilled workers allowed into the country.
1983 March - Bob Hawke becomes prime minister after his Labor Party secures a landslide victory.
1986 - The Australia Act makes Australian law fully independent of the British parliament and legal system. There is no longer any provision for Australian courts to mount final appeals to the Privy Council in London.
1991 December - Paul Keating becomes prime minister.
1998 - Elections see Howard's Liberal and National party coalition re-elected, but with a reduced majority. Delegates to a constitutional convention vote to replace Queen Elizabeth II as head of state with a president chosen by parliament. The issue is put to a referendum in 1999. The proposal is defeated, with 55% voting to retain the status.
2002 October - Australia mourns as 88 of its citizens are killed in a night club bombing in Bali, Indonesia, which some call Australia's September 11. The attacks - which killed 202 people in total - are blamed on al-Qaeda-linked Islam
2004 October - John Howard wins fourth term as prime minister; his party extends its grip on parliament.
2007 November - Opposition Labor Party, under Kevin Rudd, sweeps to power with landslide victory over John Howard.
2007 December - Prime Minister Rudd signs documents ratifying Kyoto protocol on climate change, reversing the previous government's policy.
2008 July - Labor government abandons policy - introduced in 1990s - of holding all asylum seekers in detention centers until their cases are heard
2010 June - Julia Gillard becomes prime minister, ousting Kevin Rudd in a Labor Party leadership challenge.
2013 July - Australia reaches deal with Papua New Guinea that will allow it to ship asylum seekers arriving by boat onward to its Pacific neighbour.
2016 April - Prime Minister Turnbull announces plan to hold early parliamentary and Senate elections in June, after Senate rejects government bill twice.
2016 July - An early general election sees Prime Minister Turnbull's conservative Liberal-National coalition secure the narrowest of majorities over the opposition Labor Party.
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