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.

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

Service Record Name BAYLY, BRUCE Service Australian Army Service Number QX13998 Date of Birth 13 Jul 1912 Place of Birth GUNNEDAH, NSW Date of Enlistment 4 Jul 1940 Locality on Enlistment TOOWONG, QLD Place of Enlistment KELVIN GROVE, QLD Next of Kin BAYLY, FLORENCE Date of Discharge 1 Nov 1945 Rank Corporal Posting at Discharge 2/32 Battalion WW2 Honours and Gallantry None for display Prisoner of War No

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.