| 1486 | Diaz rounds Cape of Good Hope. |
| 1497 | Vasco da Gama sails to India via the Cape. |
| 1512 | Portuguese discover the Moluccas. |
| 1520 | Magellan enters the Pacific. |
| 1567 | Alvarez discovers the Solomon Islands. |
| 1595 | Cornelius Houtman pilots Dutch ships to the East Indies. |
| 1598 | Dutch established at Java. |
| 1606 | Quiros discovers the New Hebrides. |
| Discovery of Torres Strait. | |
| The DUYFKEN in the Gulf of Carpentaria. | |
| 1611 | Brouwer’s new route to the East. |
| 1616 | Dirk Hartog on the Western Australian coast. |
| 1622 | English ship TRIAL wrecked off the west coast. |
| 1627 | Nuytsland discovered. |
| 1636 | Van Diemen Governor of Dutch East Indies. |
| 1642 | Tasman discovers Van Diemen’s Land and New Zealand. |
| 1644 | Tasman in the Gulf of Carpentaria. |
| 1688 | Dampier in the CYGNET in Australian waters. |
| 1699 | Dampier in the ROEBUCK in Shark’s Bay. |
| 1768 | Cook’s ENDEAVOUR voyage. |
| 1770 | Cook’s discovery of New South Wales. |
| 1772 | Cook’s RESOLUTION voyage. |
| 1779 | Banks suggests founding a convict settlement at Botany Bay. |
| 1782 | End of the American War of Independence. |
| 1783 | Matra’s plan of colonization in New South Wales. |
| 1785 | Sir George Young’s plan. |
| 1786 | Determination to found a settlement at Botany Bay. |
| 1788 | Foundation of Sydney. |
| Laperouse in Botany Bay. | |
| 1789 | Establishment of New South Wales Corps. |
| Settlement of Norfolk Island. | |
| 1792 | End of Phillip’s governorship. |
| 1792-5 | Administration of Grose and Paterson. |
| 1795 | Hunter Governor of New South Wales. |
| 1795-6 | Bass and Flinders make voyages in the TOM THUMB. |
| 1797 | John Macarthur buys merino sheep. |
| Discovery of coal. | |
| 1798 | Bass discovers Bass Strait and Westernport. |
| Bass and Flinders circumnavigate Tasmania in the Norfolk. | |
| 1800 | King Governor of New South Wales. |
| Voyage of the LADY NELSON from England. | |
| Flinders’s voyage in the INVESTIGATOR. | |
| 1802 | Murray discovers Port Phillip. |
| Flinders meets Baudin in Encounter Bay. | |
| 1803 | Flinders circumnavigates Australia. |
| Wreck of the PORPOISE. | |
| Flinders imprisoned in Mauritius. | |
| Collins’s Port Phillip Settlement. | |
| 1804 | Foundation of Hobart. |
| Settlement at Port Dalrymple. | |
| 1806 | Bligh Governor of New South Wales. |
| 1807 | Arrest of John Macarthur. |
| 1808 | Mutiny in New South Wales; deposition of Bligh. |
| 1809 | Macquarie Governor of New South Wales. |
| 1810 | Extinction of New South Wales Corps. |
| Liberation of Flinders. | |
| 1813 | BlaxIand discovers a way across the Blue Mountains. |
| Evans discovers the Bathurst plains. | |
| Davey Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen’s Land. | |
| 1814 | Death of Flinders. |
| Establishment of Civil Court in New South Wales. | |
| 1816 | Bank of New South Wales founded. |
| 1817 | Oxley explores the Lachlan. |
| 1818 | Oxley explores the Macquarie. |
| 1819 | Commissioner Bigge in New South Wales. |
| 1821 | Brisbane Governor of New South Wales. |
| 1823 | New South Wales Judicature Act passed. |
| Oxley in Moreton Bay. | |
| 1824 | Wentworth’s AUSTRALIAN. |
| Foundation of Brisbane. | |
| 1824 | Annexation of Bathurst and Melville Islands. |
| Hume and Hovell’s expedition to Port Phillip. | |
| 1825 | Alteration of western boundary of New South Wales. |
| Lockyer explores the Brisbane River. | |
| Arthur Governor of Van Diemen’s Land. | |
| 1826 | The ASTROLABE at Westernport. |
| Settlement at Westernport. | |
| Darling Governor of New South Wales. | |
| 1827 | Lockyer’s Settlement at King George’s Sound. |
| Darling’s law to regulate the press. | |
| Alan Cunningham explores the Liverpool Range and the Darling Downs. | |
| Stirling examines the Swan River. | |
| 1828 | Enlargement of the Legislative Council of New South W ales. |
| Westernport Settlement abandoned. | |
| Sturt discovers the Darling. | |
| 1829 | Annexation of the Swan River. |
| Whole of Australia claimed as British territory. | |
| The PARMELIA conveys first immigrants to Swan River. | |
| Publication of Wakefield’s LETTER FROM SYDNEY. | |
| 1830 | Accession of William IV. |
| Act establishing trial by jury in New South Wales. | |
| Sturt explores the Murray to the sea. | |
| Perth founded. | |
| Governor Arthur’s ‘Black Drive.’ | |
| 1834 | Act to establish Colony of South Australia. |
| The Hentys settle at Portland. | |
| The Dorsetshire labourers transported. | |
| 1835 | John Batman in Port Phillip. |
| 1836 | Mitchell explores Australia Felix. |
| Adelaide founded. | |
| Lonsdale takes charge of the Port Phillip Settlement. | |
| Bourke’s grazing licences policy. | |
| 1837 | Accession of Queen Victoria. |
| Melbourne named. | |
| House of Commons Committee on Transportation. | |
| 1837-40 | George Grey’s explorations in Western Australia. |
| 1838 | Gawler Governor of South Australia. |
| Military settlement at Port Essington. | |
| 1839 | Latrobe appointed superintendent of Port Phillip. |
| Strzeleeki finds traces of gold. | |
| 1839 | Death of John Batman. |
| Lord Durham’s report on the state of Canada. | |
| McMillan’s first expedition to Gippsland. | |
| Abandonment of Moreton Bay Settlement. | |
| 1840 | Order in Council discontinuing transportation to Australia. |
| Eyre starts for the centre of the continent. | |
| Strzelecki’s journey through Gippsland. | |
| 1841 | Grey appointed Governor of South Australia. |
| 1842 | Robert Lowe in New South Wales. |
| Act for the Government of N.S.W. and Van Diemen’s Land passed. | |
| 1843 | Ridley invents the stripper. |
| 1844 | Convicts shipped to Port Phillip. |
| Sturt’s journey to the interior. | |
| Leichhardt’s first exploring expedition. | |
| 1845 | Grey appointed Governor of New Zealand. |
| Burra copper mine discovered. | |
| 1846 | Fitzroy ‘Governor-General’ of Australia. |
| Lieutenant Yule hoists British flag in New Guinea. | |
| 1847 | Gold found in Port Phillip. |
| The Gladstone Colony at Port Curtis. | |
| 1848 | Melbourne elects Lord Grey to the Legislative Council. |
| Leichhardt’s last expedition. | |
| 1849 | The RANDOLPH in Hobson’s Bay: resistance to convict immigration. |
| Port Essington abandoned. | |
| 1850 | Western Australia becomes a penal colony. |
| University of Sydney founded. | |
| Australian Colonies Government Act passed. | |
| Railway from Sydney to Goulburn built. | |
| 1851 | Separation of Victoria from New South Wales. |
| Hargreaves digs for gold on Summerhill Creek. | |
| Gold found at Ballarat. | |
| The diggings commence. | |
| 1852 | University of Melbourne founded. |
| 1853 | Tasmania named. |
| Town of Gladstone founded. | |
| French annexation of New Caledonia. | |
| 1854 | The Eureka Stockade. |
| Hobson’s Bay railway built. | |
| 1855 | Transportation to Norfolk Island ceased |
| 1855 | New constitutions come into effect in New South Wales, Victoria, |
| South Australia, and Tasmania. | |
| Ballot Act passed in Victoria. | |
| First anti-Chinese legislation passed. | |
| 1858 | Torrens Real Property Act passed. |
| 1859 | Colony of Queensland proclaimed. |
| Kingsley’s GEOFFREY HAMLYN published. | |
| 1860 | McDouall Stuart reaches the centre of the continent. |
| 1861 | Burke and Wills expedition. |
| Cowper’s quarrel with the New South Wales Legislative Council. | |
| 1862 | McDouall Stuart crosses the continent to Port Darwin |
| Duffy’s Land Act. | |
| 1863 | South Australia undertakes to administer the Northern Territory. |
| New Caledonia a convict colony. | |
| 1865 | McCuIloch proposes protection in Victoria. |
| 1867 | End of transportation to Western Australia. |
| Gold discovered at Gympie. | |
| The Darling grant controversy. | |
| 1868 | First Queensland Act to regulate Kanaka labour |
| 1869 | John Forrest’s journey in search of Leichhardt. |
| 1870 | British troops withdrawn from Australia. |
| Adam Lindsay Gordon died. | |
| 1872 | Overland telegraph line from Adelaide to Port Darwin constructed. |
| 1873 | John Forrest explores the interior. |
| Moresby’s discoveries in New Guinea. | |
| Stephens’s ‘free, compulsory, and secular’ Education Act. | |
| 1874 | University of Adelaide founded. |
| John Forrest’s journey from Perth to Adelaide. | |
| Fiji annexed by Great Britain. | |
| Clarke’s FOR THE TERM OF HIS NATURAL LIFE published. | |
| 1875 | Ernest Giles’s inland journey. |
| 1877 | Dispute as to payment of members in Victoria. |
| High Commissionership of the Pacific established. | |
| Brunton Stephens’s poem, THE DOMINION OF AUSTRALIA, published. | |
| 1878 | Black Wednesday’ (January 8). |
| 1879 | First Australian Trade Union Congress. |
| 1880 | Capture of the Kelly Gang. |
| 1880 | Payment of members carried in Victoria. |
| 1881 | Reform of the Victorian Legislative Council. |
| 1882 | Discovery of Mount Morgan. |
| The Kimberley gold rush. | |
| Henry Clarence Kendall died. | |
| 1883 | Silver discovered at Broken Hill. |
| McIlwraith annexes New Guinea. | |
| 1884 | German annexation of Kaiser Wilhelm’s Land, the Bismarck |
| Archipelago, and Samoa. | |
| 1885 | Federal Council established. |
| Soudan contingent from New South Wales. | |
| 1887 | Anglo-French Condominium in the New Hebrides. |
| First Colonial Conference. | |
| 1888 | Intercolonial Conference on Chinese immigration. |
| ROBBERY UNDER ARMS published. | |
| 1890 | Great maritime strike. |
| University of Tasmania founded. | |
| 1891 | First Federal Convention. |
| 1892 | Coolgardie gold-field discovered. |
| 1893 | Corowa Conference on Federation. |
| 1894 | Women’s enfranchisement in South Australia. |
| 1895 | Victorian Wages Board system established. |
| Paterson’s THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER published. | |
| 1896 | Henry Lawson’s IN THE DAYS WHEN THE WORLD WAS WIDE published. |
| 1897 | The second Colonial Conference. |
| 1897-8 | The Federal Convention. |
| 1898 | First Federal Referendum. |
| 1899 | Second Federal Referendum. |
| First Labour Government (Queensland). | |
| Australian contingents sent to South African War. | |
| 1900 | The Commonwealth Constitution before the Imperial Parliament. |
| 1901 | (May 9) First Commonwealth Parliament opened. |
| 1902 | Immigration Restriction Act passed. |
| Third Colonial Conference. | |
| 1903 | First Deakin Government. |
| Amended Naval Agreement. | |
| 1904 | The Watson Government. |
| Reid-McLean Government. | |
| Dalgety selected as site for federal capital. | |
| 1905 | Second Deakin Government. |
| 1906 | Amended Anglo-French agreement as to New Hebrides. |
| 1907 | Act for construction of Kalgoorlie to Port Augusta railway passed. |
| Imperial Conference. | |
| 1908 | First Fisher Government. |
| Revocation of choice of Dalgety. Canberra finally selected as site of federal capital. | |
| 1909 | Third Deakin Government. |
| Imperial Defence Conference. | |
| Compulsory military service instituted in Australia. | |
| Lord Kitchener’s report. | |
| 1910 | University of Brisbane founded. |
| Second Fisher Government. | |
| 1911 | Referendum for amendment of constitution. |
| Admiral Henderson’s naval report. | |
| Imperial Conference. | |
| 1912 | University of Perth founded. |
| 1913 | Cook Government. |
| Referendum for amendment of constitution. | |
| The AUSTRALIA completed. | |
| 1914 | Third Fisher Government. |
| Great European War. | |
| Fight between the SYDNEY and EMDEN at Cocos (November). | |
| 1915 | Hughes Government. |
| Anzac. | |
| 1916 | First Conscription Referendum. |
| 1917 | Second Conscription Referendum. |
| Transcontinental Railway opened. | |
| 1918 | Great battle on the Somme (August 8); capture of Mont St. Quentin by Australian forces. |
| Defeat and surrender of Germany. | |
| 1919 | Ross and Keith Smith fly from England to Australia by aeroplane. |
| 1920 | Visit of the Prince of Wales to Australia. |
| 1923 | End of Hughes Government. |
| Stanley Bruce Prime Minister. | |
| 1924 | Visit of Special Service squadron of the Royal Navy to Australia. |
| 1927 | Federal Parliament opened by Duke of York at the Commonwealth capital, Canberra. |
| 1928 | Flight by Bert Hinkler from England to Australia, and by Kingsford |
| Smith and Ulm from America to Australia and from Australia to New Zealand. | |
| 1929 | J. Scullin Prime Minister. |
| 1930 | First Australian-born Governor-General appointed: Sir Isaac Isaacs. |
| 1931 | Statute of Westminster. |
| 1932 | Opening of Sydney Harbour Bridge. |
| J. A. Lyons Prime Minister. | |
| Imperial Conference at Ottawa. | |
| 1934 | Victorian Centenary celebrations attended by the Duke of Gloucester. |
| 1935 | Italy attacks Abyssinia. |
| Jubilee of King George V. | |
| 1936 | Death of King George V |
| accession and later abdication of King Edward VIII | |
| accession of the Duke of York as King George VI. | |
| 1938 | The ‘Munich Crisis.’ |
| 1939 | Death of J. A. Lyons; R. G. Menzies becomes Prime Minister. |
| Second World War begins. | |
| 1940 | Australian forces share in North African campaigns. |
| 1941 | Tobruk. |
| A. W. Fadden Prime Minister, August-October. | |
| John Curtin Prime Minister. | |
| 1942 | Darwin bombed and Rabaul captured by Japanese |
| Battle of El Alamein. | |
| 1943 | Italy defeated and Mussolini overthrown. |
| 1944 | Invasion of Europe and Battle of Normandy. |
| Defeat of Referendum on increased powers for Commonwealth. | |
| General MacArthur lands in the Philippines. | |
| 1945 | Defeat of Germany (May). |
| United Nations’ Charter signed. |
Remarkable, Incredible and Amazing nerdiness