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| | | Australia has been inhabited for at least 50,000 years. It was first inhabited by the remote Asian ancestors of the current Australian Aboriginal people. Australia was not discovered by Europeans until the 17th century | |
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| | 1768 | Captain James Cook voyage of discovery in the Endeavour | |
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| | 1769 | Captain James Cook reached Tahiti on 3 June | |
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| | 1770 | Captain James Cook discovers New South Wales and takes possession of the Australian land in the name of Great Britain | |
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| | 1771 | Captain James Cook returns to England | |
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| | 1772 | 13 July: Captain James Cook embarks on the voyage of discovery in the Resolution | |
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| | 1776 | 12 July: Captain James Cook with the ships HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery look for the Northwest passage but bad weather drives him back to Hawaii | |
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| | 1779 | 14 February: Captain Cook is killed by natives | |
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| | 1779 | Banks suggests founding a convict settlement at Botany Bay. | |
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| | 1783 | Plans for the colonization in New South Wales are made in the UK | |
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| | 1788 | Foundation of Sydney. | |
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| | 1795 | 1795-1796: George Bass and Matthew Flinders make voyages in the Tom Thumb | |
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| | 1798 | George Bass discovers the Bass Strait and Westernport. | |
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| | 1803 | Matthew Flinders circumnavigates Australia. | |
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| | 1804 | Foundation of Hobart | |
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| | 1806 | Bligh made Governor of New South Wales | |
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| | 1808 | Mutiny in New South Wales leading to the deposition of Bligh. | |
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| | 1824 | Foundation of Brisbane | |
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| | 1829 | Australia claimed as British territory | |
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| | 1836 | Foundation of Adelaide | |
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| | 1837 | Accession of Queen Victoria | |
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| | 1837 | 1837-1840: George Grey explores Western Australia | |
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| | 1841 | George Grey appointed Governor of South Australia | |
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| | 1847 | Gold found in Port Phillip | |
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| | 1850 | Western Australia becomes a penal colony | |
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| | 1867 | End of transportation to Western Australia | |
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| | 1870 | British troops withdrawn from Australia | |
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| | 1880 | Capture of the Ned Kelly Gang | |
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| | 1882 | The Kimberley gold rush and Silver discovered at Broken Hill | |
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| | 1892 | Coolgardie gold-field discovered | |
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| | 1899 | Australian troops sent to fight in South African War | |
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| | 1902 | Immigration Restriction Act passed | |
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| | 1914 | 1914 - 1918 World War I | |
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| | 1915 | Anzac | |
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| | 1918 | August 8: Battle on the Somme the capture of Mont St. Quentin by Australian forces. | |
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| | 1918 | End of WW1 | |
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| | 1919 | Ross and Keith Smith fly from England to Australia by aeroplane | |
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| | 1939 | 1939 - 1945 1939-1945 World War 2 | |
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| | 1941 | Tobruk | |
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| | 1942 | Darwin bombed | |
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| | 1945 | The United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki | |
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