Choose a date range
60,000 BC to 18361837 to 1899
1900 to 1926
1927 to 1951
1952 to 2001
2002 onwards
Timeline 1927–1951
| 1927 | First Commonwealth Parliament House opened in Canberra Australian Loan Council established to coordinate borrowing by State and Commonwealth governments |
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| 1928 | Murder of Aboriginal people at Coniston prompts Commonwealth report on conditions in the Northern Territory Referendum to add Section 105A to the Australian Constitution successful |
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| 1929 | Commonwealth constructs railway from Oodnadatta to Alice Springs and from Darwin to Birdum | |
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| 1931 | Sir Isaac Isaacs becomes the first Australia-born Governor-General | |
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| 1932 | New South Wales Governor dismisses Premier Jack Lang for defying Commonwealth ruling on repayment of overseas loans | |
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| 1933 | Western Australians vote to secede from the Commonwealth Commonwealth Grants Commission established to consider applications from States for grants under Section 96 of the Constitution Australian Antarctic Territory declared by Britain ACT Supreme Court Act 1933 (Cth) Creating a court |
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| 1934 | Commonwealth government refuses entry to Czechoslovakian Communist, Egon Kisch, on the basis of the Dictation Test, given in Scottish Gaelic Secession Act passed in Western Australia, subsequently rejected by British Parliament Constitution Act 1934 (Tas) Guarantee of religious and civil liberty for Tasmanians |
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| 1937 | Commonwealth Government refused to forward to the King a petition requesting an Aboriginal representative in the House of Representatives | |
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| 1938 | Sesquicentenary celebrations of British settlement of New South Wales – 'day of mourning' organised by Aboriginal people The Federal Capital Territory is renamed the Australian Capital Territory |
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| 1939 | Australia joins Britain in declaration of war on Germany | |
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| 1940 | Australia declares war on Italy Communist Party of Australia outlawed Australia's first diplomatic posts set up in Washington, Tokyo and Ottawa |
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| 1941 | After Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, Australia declares war on Japan | |
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| 1942 | Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942 (Cth) Australian law comes of age Japanese air raids on Darwin, Katherine, Townsville, Broome and Wyndham and submarine attacks in Newcastle and Sydney harbours and on shipping along eastern coastline Commonwealth takes over income tax as wartime measure |
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| 1943 | Dame Dorothy Tangney (Senate) and Dame Edith Lyons (House of Representatives) first women elected to Federal Parliament | |
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| 1945 | War ends; United Nations established at conference in San Francisco – feminist activist Jessie Street and eighteen men comprise Australian delegation led by Herbert Vere ('Doc') Evatt | |
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| 1946 | Referendum to add Section 15.xxiiiA to the Australian Constitution successful | |
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| 1947 | Northern Territory Legislative Council established | |
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| 1948 | Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948 (Cth) Announcing the birth of the Australian citizen Representation Act 1948 (Cth) increases House of Representatives from 75 to 122 seats (and the Senate from 36 to 60 seats). The ACT has a Member in the House of Representatives for the first time, but without full voting rights until 1966 |
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| 1950 | Australian troops sent to Korean War | |
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| 1951 | Assisted migration arrangements with Italy, then Germany, Greece and Austria | |
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60,000 BC to 1836 | 1837 to 1899 | 1900 to 1926 | 1927 to 1951 | 1952 to 2001 | 2002 onwards