australian history timelines

The last hanging in South Australia takes place
The population of Australia reaches 1.2 million

1991 December – Paul Keating becomes Labor prime minister.
1950 – Australia commits troops to the UN forces in the Korean war.

Mountains in Australia
Brief Overview of the History of Australia

Colonial governments sought to free up more land for all these people. The 14-year leases granted to the squatters had ended by 1861, and colonial governments passed new laws to free up land and raise revenues. Between 1858 and 1872, all the colonies passed Selection Acts. In New South Wales the Acts were called the Robertson Land Acts. People could select a plot of land which they could then buy cheaply at auction. They then had to live on the land for a year and make improvements such as constructing huts, sheds, dams and fences. To cheat selectors out of land, squatters used friends and employees to put ‘dummy’ claims on the best land with water.
Another impact of this large influx of migrants was that ideas of the rights of the individual, democracy and egalitarianism were imported from Europe and the United States. Up until the 1850s, only landowners and squatters had the right to vote. People began to demand one vote for one man. Soon women demanded the right to vote.

The first settlers are thought to have arrived around 50,000 years ago. This would have most likely been at a time when the sea levels were low, the land was more humid and animals larger.
Mathew Flinders completes the first voyage around Australia in the ‘Investigator’.

References:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-15675556
http://www.ducksters.com/geography/country/australia_history_timeline.php
http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/objectsthroughtime-history/1840-1900/index.html
http://www.australianexplorer.com/australian_history.htm
http://www.thoughtco.com/art-history-timeline-183476