| Term | Definition |
| 40,000 years ago | Aborigines came to Australia |
| 1642 | Abel Tasman found Tasmania (called it Van Dieman's Land) |
| 1788 | James Cook founded a penel colony at Botany Bay |
| 1802 | Flinders circumnavigated Australia (discovered it was an island) |
| 1851-61 | Gold Rush in New South Wales |
| 1856-1972 | White Australia Policy |
| 1901 | Australian Commenwealth forms |
| 1902 | women vote in Australia (NZ=1893 USA=1920) |
| 1927 | Canberra became the capital (Walter Burley Geilfin) |
| 1942 | Darwin was bombed (during WW2) |
| 1962 | Aborigines vote |
| 1973 | Sydney Opera House built (cost $163 million) |
| 1974 | Cyclone Tracy hit (north) |
| 1988 | bicentennial |
| 2000 | Sydney Olympics |
| 1928 | Flying Doctor Service |