Dutch, Portuguese, French and û decisively û British incursions throughout the 17th and 18th centuries signaled the end of 40,000 years of Aboriginal occupancy. Governor Arthur Phillip raised the Union Jack at Sydney Cove on January 26, 1788.
* 1901 Inauguration of the Commonwealth of Australia.
* 1915 At the outbreak of World War I, Australian government calls for volunteers for Australian Imperial Force (AIF).
* 1915 Australian troops suffer heavy casualties at Gallipoli.
* 1929 Industrial upheaval and financial collapse: "The Great Depression."
* 1939 Prime Minister Menzies announces Australia will follow Britain into war with Germany.
* 1941 John Curtin becomes prime minister.
* 1942 Fall of Singapore to Japanese army. Japanese invasion of Australia seems imminent. Curtin turns to USA for help.
* 1950 Australian troops committed to UN╨US Korean War against North Korean communists.
* 1962 Menzies government commits Australian aid to war in Vietnam.
* 1966 Australia adopts decimal currency.
* 1972 Election of Gough Whitlam government. Aid to South Vietnam ceases.
* 1975 Whitlam government dismissed by Governor-General Sir John Kerr. Malcolm Fraser forms LiberalûNational Party coalition government.
* 1983 Fraser government defeated. Bob Hawke, having become leader of the Labor Party on the eve of the election, becomes prime minister.
* 1985 Corporate boom followed by deepening recession, termed "the recession we had to have" by Treasurer Paul Keating.
* 1992 Paul Keating defeats Hawke in vote to become prime minister. He announces "Turning toward Asia" policy and places republican debate at top of political agenda. Australian High Court's "Mabo Judgment" on Aboriginal land title rescinds concept of "terra nullius."
* 1993 March: against most predictions, Keating ALP government reelected. Prime Minister Keating visits UK and outlines republican timetable to Queen Elizabeth II.
