Detail of an antique map of Australia from 1878

Australian History Timeline

From the pre-1770s to the 2000s

A collection of clips covering Australian history from hundreds of thousands of years ago to the beginning of the 21st Century.

WARNING: this collection may contain names, images or voices of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Naracoorte Fossil Mammal Site

The extraordinary build-up of fossils in South Australia’s World and National Heritage-listed Naracoorte Caves spans at least 350,000 years and provides rare evidence of Australia’s distinctive fau

Orange night sky with the silhouettes of people against it

First Australians: They Have Come to Stay - Life before contact, Episode 1

Narrator Rachel Perkins re-tells stories from the Dreamtime and historian Professor Marcia Langton of the Yiman-Bidjara Nation, historian Professor Janet McCalman and writer Bruce Pascoe of Boonwur

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following program may contain images and/or audio of deceased persons

Endeavour Journal

What is Australia’s greatest book? In the National Library of Australia there is a 743-page volume that could lay claim to the title.

A painting of one of the tall ships 'Sirius' in the Harbour

First Australians: They Have Come to Stay - 'Can you imagine?', Episode 1

On 25 January 1788 the First Fleet enters Sydney Harbour.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following program may contain images and/or audio of deceased persons

Eureka Flag

Since it fluttered above a group of rebellious gold miners at the 1854 Eureka Stockade, the flag of the Southern Cross has become a symbol of democracy and defiance.

A man on horseback racing through the countryside

Constructing Australia: Stuart Crosses the Continent

There was enormous public and media speculation about which group would be first to cross the continent's interior: the Victorian-backed Burke and Wills party or South Australia's Stuart expedition

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following program may contain images and/or audio of deceased persons

An actor dressed in Ned Kelly's armour lying against a tree trunk.

Ned Kelly Armour

From violent cop killer to a champion of the working class, bushranger Ned Kelly is a solid gold Australian icon and folk hero.

Dr Clare Wright seated in one of the red benches in Parliament House

Utopia Girls: Women Get the Vote in SA

In the documentary Utopia Girls, historian Dr Clare Wright guides us through the fascinating story of how Australian women became the first in the world to gain full political rights.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following program may contain images and/or audio of deceased persons

A man in a suit and tie speaks at a podium with a stained glass window behind him

Constructing Australia: The West and Federation

Some sort of federation of the Australian colonies had been suggested as early as 1846.

Ferocious political struggles over the shape of the new nation continued to the eleventh hour.

Black and white still image of monument at the naming of Canberra

Canberra 1913: Naming the Federal Capital of Australia

In 1908 the site of the nation’s capital was chosen as a compromise between rival cities, Sydney (NSW) and Melbourne (Vic).

Gallipoli Boat

How did a lifeboat, left to rot on the shores of Gallipoli, come to have pride of place at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra?

The Sydney Harbour Bridge taken from the air. The blue of Sydney Harbour and the sky look beautiful.

The Bridge: construction

Construction began in 1923 and the Sydney Harbour Bridge was completed in January 1932.

A sign saying 'Are women taking men's jobs'

For Love or Money: Equal pay paradox

This clip examines the situation for women in the 1930s Depression when many were forced to work as the men in their families were unemployed.

Racehorse Phar Lap's head in close-up. His stuffed hide is kept at the Melbourne Museum.

Phar Lap's Hide

How did a New Zealand-born horse become one of Australia’s most loved and enduring icons?

HMAS Sydney's Carley Float

One of the most poignant objects in the Australian War Memorial is the battered survivor of our worst-ever naval disaster. What happened to this liferaft and why is it so special?

Thanks Girls and Goodbye: Volunteers

Various media from 1942 – posters, newsreels and promotional films – show the recruiting campaign for the Women’s Land Army. In interview, Tige Hunter explains why she joined up.

Man sitting on the doorstep of a dormitory housing barracks.

Bonegilla Migrant Camp

More than 300,000 migrants had their first taste of Australian life at the Bonegilla Migrant Camp in Victoria before moving out to transform Australia socially and culturally.

Close up of Warren Brown wearing gloves and looking through the lens of an older style movie camera.

Robert Menzies’ Camera

When Britain declared war on Germany in 1939 Prime Minister Robert Menzies declared Australia was also at war.

Albert Namatjira

Northern Territory Art Gallery Curator Franchesca Cubillo talks about the life of acclaimed Arrente artist Albert Namatjira (1902–59) and his citizenship granted in 1957.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following program may contain images and/or audio of deceased persons

Warren Brown holding a brown leather briefcase.

Harold Holt’s Briefcase

The disappearance of our seventeenth Prime Minister at Cheviot Beach sparked countless conspiracy theories and ultimately overshadowed his political accomplishments.

Image of a poster with an Aboriginal child on it which reads 'Right wrongs write YES for Aborigines'

First Australians: A Fair Deal for a Dark Race - Vote YES for Aborigines, Episode 6

The Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI) has fought for the rights of Aboriginal people to be recognised in line with other civil rights movements

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following program may contain images and/or audio of deceased persons