Timeline of Australian history

A timeline of Australian history shows the important changes and events that shaped the country over many years. It includes legal changes, territorial shifts, and political developments that happened in Australia and the areas that came before it. To learn more about the background of these events, you can read about the history of Australia.

This timeline is always growing and changing, which means it may never be completely finished. Anyone can help by adding missing information to the page, using reliable sources for support. You can edit the page and add references from reliable sources to make it better.

Pre-written history

This section provides a timeline of important events in Australia's past, showing key changes and moments that shaped the country. It includes legal changes, territorial developments, and political milestones from early times through today.

Year	Date	Event
c. 48,000–63,000 BC	–	The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south-east Asia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, during the last glacial period. Arriving by sea, they settled the continent and had formed approximately 250 distinct language groups by the time of European settlement, maintaining some of the longest known continuing artistic and religious traditions in the world.
c. 2000 BC	–	The Torres Strait Islander people first settled Torres Strait Islands around 4000 years ago. Culturally and linguistically distinct from mainland Aboriginal peoples, they were seafarers and obtained their livelihood from seasonal horticulture and the resources of their reefs and seas.
–	–	In 1944, nine coins were found on Marchinbar Island, the largest island in the Wessel Islands of the Northern Territory of Australia. While four coins were identified as Dutch duits dating from 1690 to the 1780s, five with Arabic inscriptions were identified as being from the Kilwa Sultanate. The coins are now held by the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia. In 2018 another coin, also thought to be from Kilwa, was found on a beach on Elcho Island, another of the Wessel Islands.

16th century

Year	Event
1521	Several writers have argued that Portuguese expeditions visited Australia at this time. However, historians generally disagree and the evidence remains contentious. (to 1522)

17th century

Year	Date	Event
1606	February/March	The Dutch East India Company (VOC) ship Duyfken, under Captain Willem Janszoon, explored the western coast of Cape York Peninsula, near what is now Weipa. This was the first recorded landfall by a European on Australian soil.
1606	August	Spanish seaman Luís Vaz de Torres sailed through the Torres Strait, between Australia and New Guinea, along the latter's southern coast. Torres reported 'shoals', some of which may have been the northernmost atolls of the Great Barrier Reef.
1616	25 October	Dutch captain Dirk Hartog in the Eendracht made the second recorded landfall by a European, at Dirk Hartog Island on the western coast of Australia. He left a commemorative plate, the Hartog Plate.
1618	July	VOC ship Mauritius under command of Supercargo Willem Janszoon, landed near North West Cape, near the modern town of Exmouth, and named Willem's River, later renamed Ashburton River.
1622	1 May	The English ship Tryall sighted Point Cloates on the west coast of Australia.
1622	25 May	The Tryall was wrecked on Tryal Rocks, northwest of the Montebello Islands, crew spent seven days ashore before sailing a longboat to Bantam in Java – this was the first recorded shipwreck in Australian waters and first extended stay in Australia by Europeans.
1623		Dutch captain Jan Carstensz navigated the Gulf of Carpentaria aboard the Pera and Arnhem. The Arnhem crossed the Gulf to reach and name Groote Eylandt.
1623		First white child in Australia was Born. Seebaer van Nieuwelant (born 27 July 1623), son of Willemtgen and Willem Janszoon, was born south of Dirk Hartog Island, in present-day Western Australia.
1629	4 June	VOC ship Batavia wrecked on Houtman Abrolhos, off Geraldton. Mutiny ensued and at least 110 men, women and children were murdered. First European structure in Australia – Wiebbe Hayes Stone Fort on West Wallabi Island.
1642		Dutch explorer Abel Tasman explored the west coast of Tasmania, landed on its east coast and named the island Anthoonij van Diemenslandt.
1656	28 April	In 1656 the Vergulde Draeck struck a submerged coral reef midway between what are now the coastal towns of Seabird and Ledge Point, Western Australia. On board were 193 crew, eight boxes of silver coins worth 78,600 guilders and trade goods to the value of 106,400 guilders. Of the 193 crew, 118 are believed to have perished. The initial 75 survivors, including the ship's captain Pieter Albertszoon, and the under steersman, made it to shore. They had with them the ship's boat, a schuyt, along with a small amount of provisions and stores washed on shore. A number of rescue attempts was conducted by the Dutch East India Company once the loss was reported.
1681		English navigator John Daniel on the New London charted the west coast of Australia, including Rottnest Island and the Wallabi Group of the Houtman Abrolhos.
1688		English explorer William Dampier explored the west coast of Australia.
1696		Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh charted the southwestern coast of Australia, making a landfall at Rottnest Island and the site of the present-day city of Perth.

18th century

Year	Date	Event
Since middle of 18th century	–	Makassar people from the region of Sulawesi in Indonesia began visiting the coast of Northern Australia sometime around the middle of the 18th century, first in the Kimberley region, and some decades later in Arnhem Land.
1770		English Lieutenant James Cook's expedition in HMS Endeavour charted the eastern coast, and claimed it for the British Crown. Australia was dubbed "terra nullius" i.e., according to the European legal precepts of the era, it was unclaimed by any sovereign nation.
1787	13 May	The First Fleet of 11 ships, led by Governor Arthur Phillip, departed from Great Britain for Australia to begin European colonisation.
1788	3 January	Captain Arthur Phillip of the (First Fleet), having decided to sail ahead of the rest of the fleet to prepare for the new settlement, sighted the coast of Van Diemen's Land.
	18 January	At 2:15 pm, the brig HMS Supply anchored on the northern side of Botany Bay. He began exploring the surrounding countryside and made contact with the Aboriginal Australians.
	19 January	In the morning, the transports Alexander, Friendship and Scarborough arrived at Botany Bay, watched by a large number of Indigenous Australians who gathered on Point Solander.
	20 January	The remaining seven ships of the First Fleet, led by HMS Sirius, anchored in Botany Bay.
	21 January	Deciding that Botany Bay was unsuitable for settlement, Captain Arthur Phillip set out with a party in three open boats to seek out another site. He later reported to Lord Sydney, British Secretary of State; "We got into Port Jackson early in the Afternoon, and had the satisfaction of finding the finest harbour in the world, in which a thousand Sail of the line may ride in the most perfect security." He selected a cove with a stream and named it Sydney Cove.
	24 January	The French ships Boussole and Astrolabe commanded by Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse appeared off Botany Bay.
	25 January	Captain Phillip sailed out of Botany Bay aboard the Supply and reached Sydney Cove in the evening.
	26 January	Early in the morning, Captain Phillip took a party ashore at Sydney Cove, raised the British colours and formally proclaimed British sovereignty over New South Wales. This day is now celebrated as Australia Day. In a ceremony at sunset Phillip and the officers drank to the health of the king and the royal family, and success to the new colony. In the meantime, La Perouse entered Botany Bay as the remaining British ships prepared to leave.
	27 January	Convicts disembarked at Sydney Cove and helped clear the ground.
	28 January	17 Wives of marines and 14 children disembarked from Prince of Wales. They were the first women and children to land. The first of the livestock was brought ashore.
	3 February	Rev. Richard Johnson held the colony's first religious service ‘on the grass’.
	6 February	The women convicts came ashore. There was a violent thunderstorm.
	7 February	The whole party assembled on the west side of Sydney Cove, where the deputy judge-advocate David Collins read the King's commission establishing Phillip's governorship over the colony and the letters patent establishing civil and criminal courts. Phillip addressed the convicts, wishing them ‘reformation, happiness, and prosperity, in this new country'.
	11 February	At the first criminal court, Samuel Barnsley was sentenced to 150 lashes for assault and Thomas Hill to confinement in irons on a small rocky island at the head of the cove for stealing bread.
	14 February	Lt. Philip Gidley King sailed with a party of 23 including 15 convicts, in Supply to found a settlement on Norfolk Island, where native flax was to be harvested and others grown.
	17 February	Rev. Johnson celebrated Holy Communion for the first time in the colony, according to the rites of the Church of England (see Book of Common Prayer (1662)). The Communion took place in the tent of Lt. Ralph Clark. Lt. Henry Ball, commander of the Supply on its way to Norfolk Island, discovered an island that he named after Admiral Lord Howe.
	27 February	Thomas Barratt was hanged for stealing in stores, the first execution.
	29 February	James Freeman was pardoned for stealing flour, on the condition that he become public executioner.
	2 March	Phillip set out to explore Broken Bay. On this trip he visited and named Pittwater.
	6 March	Lt. King took possession of Norfolk Island. British settlement founded.
	10 March	The two French ships left Botany Bay, and were later wrecked near Santa Cruz (Solomon Islands).
	March	Phillip issued the first government conservation order: that no trees should be cut down within 50 feet (15 metres) of the stream that ran into Sydney Cove.
	26 April	An exploring party led by Phillip sighted and named the Blue Mountains.
	6 May	Following an outbreak of scurvy, HMS Supply sailed for Lord Howe Island to catch turtles to supplement the settlement's meat supply. Having failed to catch any, it returned on 25 May.
	21 May	Aboriginal peoples killed a convict and seriously injured another.
	30 May	The bodies of two rushcutters, William Okey and Samuel Davis, were found pierced with spears and beaten, evidently on reprisal for stealing a canoe belonging to Aboriginals. The next day Phillip led a party to apprehend the murderers, but he was unable to identify them.
	June	Owing to the neglect of the convict who was supposed to look after them, two bulls and four cows strayed from the settlement and were lost.
	5 July	In a despatch to the under-secretary of state, Evan Nepean, Phillip recorded the rations for marines and male convicts. For seven days each received 7 pounds of bread or in lieu thereof 7 pounds of flour, 7 pounds of beef or in lieu thereof pork, 3 pints of pease, 6 ounces of butter, 1 pound of flour or in lieu thereof 12 pounds of rice. The women received two-thirds of this amount and the children generally had one-third although some received as much as the women.
	20 August	Lt. William Bligh in HMS Bounty, en route to Tahiti, anchored at Adventure Bay, Van Diemen's Land. The party planted apple trees, fruit stones and various vegetables before departing on 4 September.
	28 September	Phillip decided to send HMS Sirius to Cape Town for urgently needed food supplies.
	September	The last remaining cow was killed.
	2 November	A party of marines from the New South Wales Marine Corps and 10 convicts left to establish a farming settlement at Rose Hill (Later called Parramatta).
	19 November	The last two ships of the First Fleet, Golden Grove and Fishburn, sailed for England with despatches and reports.
	11 December	Phillip set out to explore Botany Bay, where he examined the Cook's, George's and Woronora Rivers.
	31 December	Because the Aboriginal Australians could not be coaxed into the settlement, one named Arabanoo was captured and held in confinement. Phillip hoped to learn his language and so to promote good relations between Aboriginal Australians and Europeans.
1790	3–28 June	5 of 6 ships of the beleaguered Second Fleet arrived. The colony was gripped by a food crisis.
1791	9 July	The first ship of the Third Fleet arrived at Sydney Cove.
1792	–	Two French ships, Recherche and Espérance, anchor at Recherche Bay, near the southernmost point of Tasmania.
1792	–	Governor Philip returned to England, accompanied by Bennelong, who became the first Australian-born person to sail to Europe.
1797	–	Sydney Cove was wrecked and some survivors travelled from Bass Strait to Port Jackson, enabling the rescue of others. This also furthered knowledge of the geography of Australia.
1798	–	George Bass and Matthew Flinders sailed from Sydney and circumnavigated Tasmania, thus proving it to be an island. (to 1799)

Pre-written history

16th century

17th century

18th century

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