The Corowa Conference (the 'people's convention') calls on the colonial parliaments to pass enabling acts, allowing the election of delegates to a new constitutional convention aimed at drafting a proposal and putting it to a referendum in each colony.

South Australia becomes the first Australian colony, and the second place in the world, to grant women the right to vote, as well the first Parliament in the world to allow women to stand for office.

The premiers, except for those of Queensland and Western Australia, agree to implement the Corowa proposals.

The Bathurst Conference (the second 'people's convention') meets to discuss the 1891 draft constitution

In two sessions, the Second National Australasian Convention meets (with representatives from all colonies except Queensland present). They agree to adopt a constitution based on the 1891 draft, and then revise and amend it later that year.

The Convention agrees on a final draft to be put to the people.

The decision is made to site the national capital in New South Wales, but not within 100 miles of Sydney.

Several delegates visit London to resist proposed changes to the agreed-upon constitution.

(01 Jan) Australia becomes a federation on 1 January. Edmund Barton becomes Prime Minister; the 7th Earl of Hopetoun becomes Governor-General

The Franchise Act guarantees women the right to vote in federal elections (by this stage, most states had already done this). However, it excludes most non-European ethnic groups, including Aboriginal people, unless already registered to vote on State roles.

The High Court of Australia is established with Samuel Griffith as the first Chief Justice.

A site at Dalgety, New South Wales chosen for the new national capital

Australia takes control of south-eastern New Guinea

Dorothea Mackellar publishes My Country

The first powered aeroplane flight in Australia is made.

Andrew Fisher forms the first federal majority Labor government.

The Royal Australian Navy is founded

Australia sends women to the Olympic Games for the first time

Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth cross the Blue Mountains.

The foundation stone for the city of Canberra is put in place

Australian soldiers are sent to the First World War. This was first time Australians had fought under the Australian flag, as opposed to that of Britain's.

(25 APRIL)Australian soldiers land at Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey on 25 April.

Regimental number 595 Religion Presbyterian Occupation Farmer Address Undera North, Mooroopna, Victoria, Australia Marital status Single Age at embarkation 23 Next of kin Father, D Madill, Mooroopna, Victoria, Australia Enlistment date 7 February 1916 Rank on enlistment Lance Corporal Unit name 38th Battalion, B Company AWM Embarkation Roll number 23/55/1 Embarkation details Unit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on board HMAT A54 Runic on 20 June 1916 Rank from Nominal Roll Sergeant Unit from Nominal Roll 38th Battalion Fate Returned to Australia 25 November 1917

Injured in action at Battle of Messines 7 June 1917 The 38th Battalion fought in the trenches in France and Belgium. Their first action came in late February 1917, when the battalion contributed a 400-man detachment to a short raid on German-held trenches. After this, the battalion undertook its first significant battle around Messines in Belgium in early June. An action that was fought to secure the Wytschaete–Messines Ridge, which was located south of the salient that had formed in the line around Ypres, the battle proved to be a successful, but costly introduction to the European battlefield for the 3rd Division. Later in the year, the 38th took part in the Battles of Broodseinde and Passchendaele, during which they suffered heavily, losing almost 30 percent casualties in the first battle and then over 60 in the second. It remained in Belgium through the winter before being moved to France in early 1918. Fine weather was forecast for 4 June, with perhaps a morning haze (between 15 May – 9 June the weather was "fair" or "fine" except for 16, 17 and 29 May, when it was "very bad"). Zero Day was fixed for 7 June, with zero hour at 3:10 a.m., when it was expected that a man could be seen at 100 yards (91 m). There was a thunderstorm in the evening of 6 June but by midnight the sky had cleared and at 2:00 a.m. British aircraft cruised over the German lines, to camouflage the sound of tanks as they drove to their starting points. By 3:00 a.m. the attacking troops had reached their jumping-off positions unnoticed, except for some in the II Anzac Corps area. Routine British artillery night-firing stopped around half an hour before dawn and birdsong could be heard. At 3:10 a.m. the mines began to detonate. After the explosions the British artillery began to fire at maximum rate. A creeping barrage in three belts 700 yards (640 m) deep began and counter-battery groups bombarded all known German artillery positions with gas shell. The nine attacking divisions and the three in reserve began their advance, as the German artillery reply came scattered and late, falling on British assembly trenches after they had been vacated

Albert Ernest ‪Madill‬ enlisted in the ‪Australian‬ Imperial Force. Albert was 22 years old when he joined the 38th Battalion. He was promoted to Lance Corporal on March 13, 1916 and Corporal on December 22, 1916 at which time he proceeded overseas to fight in France. Albert was promoted to Sergeant on June 3, 1917 and was wounded in action on the 7th of that same month. He was moved between a variety of Hospitals until January 1918 when he finally disembarked for ‪#Melbourne‬. On July 11, 1918 Albert was discharged from the A.I.F. at Melbourne, ‪#Victoria‬. Albert had taken a shrapnel blow to the head that had fractured his skull. In May 1918 the doctor reported that Albert has frequent fits that were epileptic in character. When Albert returned the family understood that a doctor had told him never to marry as he “wouldn’t live long”. Albert passed away in Berrigan, Victoria July 12, 1983 having never married – he was 90 years old!

Hotels are forced to close at 6 p.m., leading to the beginning of the 'six o'clock swill'

Second referendum on conscription is rejected. Transcontinental railway linking Adelaide to Perth is completed.

(08 AUG) Battle of Amiens

Prime Minister Billy Hughes signs Treaty of Versailles: the first signing of an international treaty by Australia. Australia obtains League of Nations mandate over German New Guinea.

The airline Qantas is founded

Edith Cowan becomes the first woman elected to an Australian parliament

The Smith Family charity is founded in Sydney

Vegemite is first produced

The first Miss Australia contest is held

The tenth parliament is formally opened in Canberra, finalising the move to the new capital

Bert Hinkler makes the first successful flight from Britain to Australia, and Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first flight from the United States to Australia. The Shrine of Remembrance is built.

Western Australia celebrates its centenary

Batsman Don Bradman scores a record 452 not out in one cricket innings

Sir Douglas Mawson charts 4,000 miles of Antarctic coastline and claims 42% of the icy mass for Australia

The Sydney Harbour Bridge opens

Western Australia votes at a rerefendum to secede from the Commonwealth, but the vote is ignored by both the Commonwealth and British governments

The last Thylacine dies

The radio series Dad and Dave begins

Sydney hosts the Empire Games, the forerunner to the Commonwealth Games

(April) Prime Minister Lyons dies in office and is replaced by Robert Menzies and the first Menzies Government

A team of scientists, under Howard Florey, develops penicillin

3 Divisions of the 2nd Australian Imperial Force join operations in the Mediterranean. After initial successes against Italy, 2nd AIF suffered defeat against the Germans in Greece, Crete, and North Africa.

Feb, Fall of Singapore. 15,000 Australians become Prisoners of War of the Japanese

Australia wins its first Oscar, with cinematographer Damien Parer honoured for Kokoda Front Line! documentary.

Cowra breakout, mass escape of Japanese prisoners of war occurs in NSW.

the Liberal Party of Australia is established with Robert Menzies as its first leader.

Minister for Immigration Arthur Calwell introduces the major post-war immigration scheme

Minister for External Affairs, Dr. H.V. Evatt is elected President of the United Nations General Assembly.

Construction of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme begins

1950-53 - Australian troops are sent to the Korean War to assist South Korea.

Australia signs the ANZUS treaty with the United States and New Zealand

First nuclear test conducted in Australian territory by the United Kingdom off the coast of Western Australia.

Elizabeth II and Prince Philip make a royal visit; the Soviet diplomat Vladimir Petrov defects, leading to the Petrov Affair and another split in the Labor Party

Democratic Labor Party splits from Australian Labor Party over concerns of Communist influence in the labour movement

Television in Australia is launched.

The song 'Wild One' makes Johnny O'Keefe the first Australian rock'n'roller to reach the national charts.

Robert Menzies' Commonwealth Electoral Act provided that all Indigenous Australians should have the right to enrol and vote at federal elections, removing remaining restrictions applying in QLD, WA and NT.

The Beatles tour Australia;

Indigenous Australians gain right to vote in state of Queensland

The ban on the employment of married women in the Commonwealth Public Service is lifted;

Decimalisation; on 14 February the Australian currency is changed to dollars and cents, with the Australian Dollar replacing the Australian pound.

Large areas of Hobart and south-eastern Tasmania are devastated by bushfires on 7 February that kill 62 people;

Australia signs the nuclear non-proliferation treaty; Aboriginal boxing champion Lionel Rose defeats Masahiko 'Fighting' Harada in Japan to become the world bantamweight champion; Australia's first liver transplant operation is performed in Sydney;

French conceptual artist Christo 'wraps' Little Bay in Sydney;

More than 200,000 people participate in the largest demonstrations in Australian history, against the Vietnam War

Neville Bonner becomes the first Aborigine to become an Australian Member of Parliament;

The Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission rules that women doing the same job as men have the right to be paid the same wage.

The Sydney Opera House is opened

Darwin is devastated by Cyclone Tracy

(November) A constitutional crisis occurs when Malcolm Fraser blocks supply, bringing the nation to a standstill until Governor-General John Kerr dismisses Prime Minister Gough Whitlam on the 11.11.75. Fraser wins elections and becomes Prime Minister

The Australian Capital Territory legalises homosexuality between consenting adults in private.

Advance Australia Fair becomes Australia's official national anthem

The First Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras kicks off in Sydney

Australian women win the right to maternity leave

Baby Azaria Chamberlain disappears from a campsite at Uluru (Ayers Rock), reportedly taken by a dingo. The Coalition wins the 1980 Australian federal election.

A referendum is held in Tasmania to vote for whether or not the Franklin Dam should be built.

Commonwealth Games held in Brisbane. The National Gallery of Australia is opened.

Australia wins the America's Cup;