Australia: lnea de tiempo

40,000 BC - The first Aborigines arrive from south-east Asia. By 20,000 BC they
have spread throughout the mainland and Tasmania.
-

40,000 a.C.- Los primeros Aborgenes llegan desde el sudeste de Asia.

20,000 aos a.C ya se haban extendido por todo el continente y en
Tasmania (isla localizada al sur de Australia).

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"
-

1770.- El Capitan James Cook desembarca en la costa este su nave HM

Endeavour. Cook lo declara una posesin britnica y nombra al este de
Australia "Nueva Gales del Sur".

1788 - British Navy captain Arthur Phillip founds a penal settlement at Sydney.
He had arrived with a fleet of 11 vessels, carrying nearly 800 convicts. The
Aboriginal population at the time is thought to number several hundred
thousand.
-

1778.- El capitn Arthur Phillip de la marina de Guerra britanica funda

una prision en Sydney. Haba llegado con una flota de 11 buques,
llevando a casi 800 presos. La poblacin aborigen se cree que eran
varios cientos de miles.

1829 - Colony of Western Australia established at Perth by Captain James

Stirling.
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1829.- El capitan James Stirling establece en Perth la Colonia de

Australia Occidental.

1836 - South Australia established, with Adelaide as its capital.

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1836.- Se estableci Australia del Sur, con Adelaida como su capital.

1850 - Gold is found at several locations leading to gold rushes throughout the
decade. The population increases three-fold in 10 years to pass the million
mark. An influx of Chinese leads to restrictions on their entry. Aborigines are
treated very badly and their numbers collapse.
-

1850.- El oro encontrado en varios lugares desata una fiebre del oro
durante esa decada. La poblacion aumenta al triple en diez aos pasan
del millon. La afluencia de china conduce a la creacion de restricciones
de entrada.

1856 - Australia becomes the first country to introduce the secret ballot - or
'Australian ballot' - for elections.
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1856.- Australia se convierte en el primer pas en introducir el voto

secreto - o "boleta australiana- para las elecciones.

1877 - Australia and England play the first-ever cricket Test match in
Melbourne.
-

1877.- Australia e Inglaterra juegan el primer partido de cricket en

Melbourne.

1901 - The country is unified. The Commonwealth of Australia comes into being
on 1st January.
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1901.- El pas esta unificado. La Mancomunidad de Australia se funda el

1 de enero. La Ley de Restriccin de Inmigracin pone un freno a la
inmigracin no blanca.

1911 - Canberra is founded and designated as the capital.

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1911.- Canberra se fund y se designa como capital.

1914 - Outbreak of World War I. Australia commits hundreds of thousands of

troops to the British war effort.
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1914.- Primera Guerra Mundial. Australia se compromete con cientos de

miles de tropas del lado britnico.

Their participation - alongside New Zealanders - in the Gallipoli campaign in

Turkey in 1915 leads to heavy casualties. The Gallipoli landings help cement a
sense of identity in the young nation.
-

Su participacin - junto neozelandeses - en la campaa de Gallipoli en

Turqua en 1915 conduce a fuertes bajas. Los aterrizajes Gallipoli ayudar
a consolidar un sentido de identidad en la joven nacin.

Economic woes
1929 - The Great Depression following the Wall Street Crash hits Australia hard.
Recovery is uneven, and the Labor government is defeated in the election in 1931.

1939 - Australia follows Britain's lead and declares war on Nazi Germany.
1941 - The US declares war on Japan. Australia turns to the US for help in its
defence after the Japanese take Singapore. Australia allows the US to base its
supreme command for the Pacific war on its territory.
1948 - Australia begins a scheme for immigration from Europe. Over the next 30
years, more than two million people arrive, about one-third of them from Britain,
and hundreds of thousands from Italy, Greece and Germany.
1950 - Australia commits troops to the UN forces in the Korean war.
1956 - Olympic Games held in Melbourne.

"White Australia" policies restricted

non-white immigration in the first half of the 20th century
1965 - Australia commits troops to the US war effort in Vietnam.
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.
The government of Gough Whitlam is plagued by resignations and the blocking of
its budget by the upper house of the parliament. In an unprecedented move, the
governor-general, Sir John Kerr, dismisses the government. A caretaker
administration under Malcolm Fraser is installed.
1983 March - Bob Hawke becomes prime minister after his Labor Party secures a
landslide victory.

Bob Hawke - prime minister from

1983 to 1991 - is known for his consensus style of government and for
his economic reforms.
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.

Turning to Asia

1991 December - Paul Keating becomes prime minister.

1992 - The Citizenship Act is amended to remove swearing an oath of allegiance
to the British Crown. Prime Minister Paul Keating's Labor government pledges to
make Australia a republic and to concentrate on links with Asia.
1993 - Keating wins elections. The Native Title Act establishes a process for the
granting of Aboriginal land rights.
1996 - Keating defeated in elections. John Howard of the Liberal Party 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 quo.
1999 - Australia leads intervention force in East Timor to counter pro-Indonesia
militia violence after territory's independence vote. Relations with Indonesia
worsen.
2000 - Australia hosts the Olympic Games in Sydney, the most popular ever.
2001 January - Australia celebrates 100 years since its inauguration as the
Commonwealth of Australia.

Australian troops helped to

stabilise newly-independent East Timor
2001 February - Sir Donald Bradman, Australia's most famous cricketer, dies at
the age of 92.
2001 May - Churches rebuke Prime Minister John Howard for failing properly to
acknowledge suffering of thousands of Aborigines under past assimilation policy.
Howard has refused to apologise to "Stolen Generations" of Aborigines who as
children were forcibly removed from their parents to live with whites.
2001 August - Australia turns away hundreds of boat people over several months,
the most prominent group having been rescued from a sinking ferry. Australia pays
Nauru to detain many of them.
2001 November - Howard wins a third term in general elections.
2002 - Aid agencies, rights groups and UN report criticise policy of holding
asylum seekers in detention camps until their visa applications are processed.
Woomera desert camp in South Australia sees riots, hunger strikes and escapes.

Bali bombing

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 Islamists.

Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah

militants were blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings

2003 January - Australia deploys troops to the Gulf ahead of a possible war. The
move sparks public protests.
Bushfire ravages the capital, Canberra. More than 500 homes are destroyed. Other
fires rage across New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania.
2003 February - Senate passes no-confidence motion against Prime Minister
John Howard over his handling of Iraq crisis. It is Senate's first-ever vote of noconfidence in serving leader.
2003 May - Governor-General Peter Hollingworth resigns after admitting that, as
an Anglican archbishop in the 1990s, he allowed a known paedophile remain a
priest.
2003 July - Australia heads peacekeeping force intended to restore order in
troubled Solomon Islands.
2004 February - Race riots in district of Sydney, sparked by death of Aboriginal
teenager.
2004 March - Parliamentary committee clears government of lying about threat
posed by weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In July, report details intelligence
failings over Iraq, Bali bombings, but clears government of manipulating Iraq
intelligence.
2004 August - Government announces a multi-million dollar cruise missile
programme, set to give Australia the region's "most lethal" air combat capacity.
2004 September - Bomb attack outside Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia,
kills at least nine, injures dozens more.

Howard's fourth term

2004 October - John Howard wins fourth term as prime minister; his party extends
its grip on parliament.

John Howard took a tough stance

on big issues, including asylum seekers and the Iraq war
2004 November - Death of Aboriginal man in police custody sparks rioting on
Palm Island, off north-east coast.
2005 January - Worst bush fires for more than 20 years kill nine people in South
Australia.
2005 July - Australia says it will deploy 150 special forces troops in Afghanistan to
counter rebel attacks. The original contingent was withdrawn in 2002. Further
deployments are announced in 2006.
2005 November - As parliament debates controversial new anti-terrorism laws,
police say they have foiled a planned "large-scale terrorist attack".
2005 December - Racially-motivated violence, involving thousands of youths, hits
Sydney.
2006 January - Australia and East Timor sign a deal to divide billions of dollars in
expected revenues from oil and gas deposits in the Timor Sea. Under the
agreement, discussions on a disputed maritime boundary are postponed.
2006 April-May - Australian troops spearhead peacekeeping forces in the
Solomon Islands and East Timor after unrest in both countries.
2006 August - Proposed legislation, under which future asylum seekers who
arrive by boat will be sent to offshore detention camps, is scrapped after a revolt by
ruling party lawmakers.
2006 December - Amid the worst drought in a century, the government slashes
economic growth forecasts, reflecting a slump in farm output. In January PM John
Howard declares water security to be Australia's biggest challenge.

Rudd as PM

2007 November - Opposition Labor Party, under Kevin Rudd, sweeps to power
with landslide victory over John Howard.

Deadly bushfires menaced Victoria

in 2009
2007 December - Prime Minister Rudd signs documents ratifying Kyoto protocol
on climate change, reversing the previous government's policy.
2008 February - Government apologises for past wrongs committed against the
indigenous population.
Australia ends its policy of sending asylum seekers into detention on small Pacific
islands, with the last refugees leaving Nauru.
2008 July - Labor government abandons policy - introduced in 1990s - of holding
all asylum seekers in detention centres until their cases are heard.
2008 September - Quentin Bryce sworn in as Australia's governor-general, the
first woman to hold the post.
2009 February - Devastating bushfires in the south-eastern state of Victoria kill
more than 170 people.
2009 May - Australia announces plans to more than double its submarine fleet
and buy 100 US Stealth fighters as part of a $70bn military modernisation
programme.
Indian students hold rallies in protest against a series of violent attacks - more than
70 in the past year - which they say are racially motivated. India voices concern
about the violence.
2010 February - Five Muslim men are sentenced to lengthy prison terms for
conspiracy to carry out attacks.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown apologises for the policy of sending
thousands of children to former colonies under a migrant programme that ended 40
years previously.

Gillard as PM

2010 June - Julia Gillard becomes prime minister, ousting Kevin Rudd in a Labor
Party leadership challenge.

Asylum seekers: Migration remains

a politically-sensitive issue
2010 August - Parliamentary elections fail to deliver a clear winner. Prime Minister
Gillard clings to power after securing support of independents to form a minority
government.
2011 January - Queensland is hit by floods which are described as the most
expensive natural disaster in the country's history.
2011 December - Economy grows unexpectedly fast in the third quarter of 2011,
driven by construction and mining. GDP rose 2.5% on the year, whereas analysts
had expected 2.1%.
2012 January - Talks between government and opposition on asylum seekers
break down. The opposition says the government fails to address concerns about a
plan to swap refugees with Malaysia that the high court had declared unlawful.
2012 February - Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd resigns to mount a challenge to
Prime Minister Gillard's leadership, but is defeated.
2012 July - Controversial carbon tax, which penalises big polluters, comes into
force. Prime Minister Gillard says it is needed to meet climate change obligations;
opponents say it will cost jobs and raise prices.
2012 August - Five Australian troops are killed in Afghanistan in what Prime
Minister Gillard says is Australia's deadliest day in combat since the Vietnam War.
2012 September - After an independent panel recommends setting up holding
centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea to cope with rising numbers of asylumseekers, the government says it will send the first group for processing in Nauru.
Australia also signs an agreement with Papua New Guinea to conduct offshore
processing on Manus Island.

2013 January - Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard says elections will be held in
September, hoping to use the long run-in to recoup support.
2013 March - A chaotic and abortive leadership challenge bounces Prime
Minister Gillard into a major cabinet reshuffle to oust supporters of long-standing
rival Kevin Rudd. The previous month the Greens dropped their alliance with Labor,
but pledged to keep the government in power.

Gillard ousted
2013 June - After months of infighting, Kevin Rudd manages to oust Julia Gillard
as Labor leader and prime minister in a parliamentary party vote.
2013 July - Australia reaches deal with Papua New Guinea that will allow it to ship
asylum seekers arriving by boat onwards to its Pacific neighbour. Papua New
Guinea will receive generous aid in return, and the offshore processing centre on
PNG's Manus Island will be significantly expanded to hold up to 3,000 people.
2013 September - Parliamentary elections. Landslide victory for Liberal-National
Coalition, led by Tony Abbott.
2013 December - Iconic car maker Holden announces that it will stop making cars
in Australia by the end of 2017.
2014 March - Australia takes a leading role in search for missing Malaysian
Airlines plane MH370, thought to have been lost in the southern Indian Ocean.
Australia reintroduces the appointment of knights and dames after discontinuing
the honour in 1986.
2014 April - New South Wales Premier Barry O'Farrell resigns after it emerges
that he failed to declare an expensive bottle of wine given to him as a gift.
Royal tour by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Crowd turnout is said to be
smaller than for previous royal visits, but opinion polls show increased support for
the monarchy.
Japan and Australia reach an agreement over a trade deal that will lower tariffs
between the two nations.

The Lindt Cafe siege happened at a time Australia was on guard against
Islamist threats
2014 September - Australia says it is sending 600 troops to the Middle East
ahead of possible combat operations against Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq.
Police carry out the nation's biggest ever counter-terrorism raids, with 15 arrests in
Sydney and Brisbane, sparked by intelligence reports that Islamic extremists were
planning random killings.
2014 December - A lone gunman takes 18 people hostage in a Sydney cafe in an
Islamist-inspired terrorist incident. Police storm the premises and three people
including the gunman die.
2015 February - Prime Minister Tony Abbott narrowly sees off challenge to his
leadership of the Liberal Party after several weeks of mounting criticism,
culminating in a public row over his granting of an Australian knighthood to the
Duke of Edinburgh.
2015 March - Parliament passes law requiring its internet and mobile phone
providers to store customer data for two years as anti-terror measure.
2015 April - Australia recalls ambassador after Indonesia executes two Australian
drug convicts, in a group also including three Nigerians, an Indonesian, a Brazilian
and a Ghanaian.