History of Australia

According to historians, the best estimate available indicates that the Tudors had 53 ships in their navy. The total tonnage equaled approximately 11,000 tonnes.

Edward Gough Whitlam became the 21st Prime Minister of Australia on 2 December 1972 in the first ALP electoral victory since 1946. The Whitlam government embarked on a massive legislative social reform program which was forward-thinking and progressive in many ways. Whilst initially popular, the fast pace of Whitlam's reforms engendered caution amongst the electorate, and the economy was beset by high inflation combined with economic stagnation. The opposition Liberal-National Country Party coalition held a majority in the Senate, the upper house of Parliament. In an unprecedented move, the Senate deferred voting on bills that appropriated funds for government expenditure, attempting to force the Prime Minister to dissolve the House of Representatives and call an election. The Whitlam government ignored the warnings and sought alternative means of appropriating the funds it needed to repay huge debts. With Whitlam unable to secure the necessary funds, Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismissed Whitlam as Prime Minister on 11 November 1975, and appointed Liberal opposition leader Malcolm Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister. Source: today.wmit.net - 7 July

Ned Kelly was not born in a hospital.

Back in the mid 1800s, when he was born, most people were not born in hospitals.

Communism is an economic potitical system developed by two Germans. The main aim of communism was to eliminate the class struggle- so society would be classless. People would work according to their ablilties and in return would receive enough to survive. The first communist change was in RUSSIA in 1917. After WW2 the USSR encouraged communist parties to seize power, especially in Eastern Europe, including China in 1949. Although the principles of communism were good, it was unlikely for a communist takeover as our standard of living was so high, were politically happy and we were already happy. Australia and other countries were so scared of communism as it was the complete opposite to democracy and they strongly believed that their way was the best and only way.

In 1951 the menzies government passed a law baning the communist party of Australia. The party challenged the law in the high court, which ruled it was consitutionally invalid. Following this defete, the government made a referendum in an attempt to overcome this constitutional obsticle. In 1951 the referendum was not passed as there was not a majority of people in a majority of states voting 'yes'.

ALSO THE PETROV AFFAIR IN 1954 (when he defected)

If you are referring to the Canberra Bush fires of 2003, there were over 500 homes destroyed.

The Man From Snowy River, in the bush ballad of the same name by Banjo Paterson, did not die at the end of the poem. He and his hardy mountain horse returned safely and triumphant, having rounded up the wild horses, and the colt from Old Regret that escaped and started the chase in the first place.

However, the man on whom Banjo Paterson's poem was based, horseman Jack Riley, died of combined old age and illness in July 1914.

The rabbit proof fence was originally constructed between 1901 and 1907.

The Australian movie entitled "Rabbit-Prrof Fence" was made in 2002.

the first day of the 20th century is important because it was the date that australia gained federation (independence)

Sources vary, but the following is a close estimate.

There were either thirteen or fourteen children of convicts on the First Fleet. It is not known how many officers' children were aboard, but nine more we born along the way. In addition, there were seventeen convict children.

John Smith Murdoch was the chief architect of Commonwealth Australia in 1919. He was accountable for designing many early Canberra buildings the most well known being the Provisional Parliament House.

Matthew Flinders was born on 16 March 1774 in Lincolnshire, England. He became a sea explorer, and arrived in Australia in the 1790s. Together with George Bass, Flinders completed much sea exploration around Australia, adding to the knowledge of the coastline, and producing accurate maps. Flinders, together with Bass, was the first to prove that Van Diemen's Land, or Tasmania, was an island and not connected to the mainland. Flinders was also the first to circumnavigate the continent, and between December 1801 and June 1803, he charted most of the coastline of Australia. The western half of Australia was previously known as New Holland, whilst the eastern half was known as New South Wales. Flinders first proposed the name "Terra Australis", which became "Australia", the name adopted in 1824.

Flinders was captured by the French on the island of Mauritius in 1803. He was kept prisoner until 1810 on the grounds that he was a spy. He was finally released to return to England, but due to the ravages of his time as a prisoner, his health suffered and he died at the age of 40, on 19 July 1814. Before his death he completed a book on his travels called 'A Voyage to Terra Australis', and died on the day that his book was published.

Flinders was also well known for his cat, "Trim", who accompanied Flinders between 1799 and 1804, when Trim died whilst Flinders was incarcerated. Trim was a great favourite with Flinders' sailors, and a little known manuscript from Flinders' writings emerged in the latter half of the twentieth century, and was later published under the name of "Trim". It was Flinders' personal account of his beloved cat.

No he is not going bald. His hair is like every other person's.

He had 1 daughter.

Numerous explorers were sent to try to cross the Blue Mountains in an attempt to find new land for the growing colony in New South Wales. The first successful explorers were William Charles Wentworth, William Lawson and Gregory Blaxland.

Others who attempted the crossing before these three were George Caley, George Bass, Francis Barrallier, William Dawes and Watkin Tench, just to name a few.

The Great Dividing Range is found along the eastern coastline of Australia. It extends from Cape York peninsula in Queensland's far north, right along the coast to Victoria, and remnants of the range can be found in the Grampians in western Victoria.

Western Australia initially did not wish to federate. It was guided by Premier and former explorer John Forrest, who held back on the agreement because he wanted to ensure the economic security of the state, given its distance from the more highly populated eastern states. Forrest believed that Western Australia's very distance from the rest of Australia's states would mean it would miss out on many of the trade benefits the eastern states would enjoy.

Western Australia itself was divided over whether or not it should federate, as the people of Albany wanted to be included as part of South Australia, rather than aligning themselves with Perth and Fremantle. Despite this, Forrest's 31 July 1900 referendum on whether the Western Australians wished to join the rest of the commonwealth was resoundly accepted throughout the state.

Poppies made into wreaths or even just a simple poppy. People put rosemary on their clothes, because that is what grew on the hills in Gallipoli.

LEST WE FORGET!

The Kelly gang had murdered police informer Aaron Sherritt on 27 June 1880, and as a result, they expected a large number of police to travel to Glenrowan by train. When the Kelly gang arrived at Glenrowan, they tried to coerce some of the townsfolk into helping lift the rail tracks, hoping to cause the train to crash and kill a large number of the expected police. Not many of the townsfolk were willing to assist, so the people were rounded up and held in the Glenrowan Inn so that they could not warn the train.

After entertaining the hostages for hours with games and dancing, the Kelly gang allowed the more trusted hostages to go home at nightfall, as the train was running late. Thomas Curnow, the local schoolteacher, was one of those released, and when he heard the approaching train in the early hours of June 28th, he ran quickly to warn of the danger ahead. This gave the police time to prepare. Wearing their famous armour, the Kelly brothers held a shootout with police. Several hostages were injured in the gun battle and two later died from gunshot wounds.

Ben hall was a bush ranger he did armed robbery, holding up gold escort stages, stealing racehorses, held up lots of hotels and did kidnappings.

Sir Henry Parkes's famous Tenterfield Oration, delivered on 24 October 1889 at the Tenterfield School of Arts, was a significant step in the movement towards Federation of the Australian colonies. In this speech, Parkes campaigned heavily for Federation of the six Australian colonies. Tenterfield was selected as the place to make his stand as it was part of New South Wales but a long distance away from Sydney. This meant that the town was disadvantaged by the steep tariffs imposed on the transportation of goods across the border to Queensland, where the closer trade centre of Brisbane was located. His promotion of Federation was based on the fact that it would enable free trade across the borders. Parkes made a significant contribution to the Federation movement in Australia

Mary Reibey (1777-1855) (also spelled 'Reiby', 'Raby', and 'Raiby'[1]) was born Mary Haydock in England. At the age of fourteen, she was arrested and convicted of horse stealing. She was transported to the Colony of New South Wales as a Convict to serve out her sentence in 1791. Landing in Sydney in 1792 she was assigned to a Major and given the duties of nursemaid in his household. In 1794, she married Thomas Reiby, formerly of the East India Company. Thomas soon branched out on his own as Entally House. At the beginning of 1803, Thomas owned three boats and traded coals and wheat up the Hawkesbury and Hunter rivers. By 1807, Thomas had bought a schooner for trading with the Pacific Islands. He fell ill after a voyage to India in 1809; his health never completely recovered. After his death in 1811, Mary was left with seven children and control of Entally House which by then included rural properties, sealing operations in Bass Strait, as well as overseas trading. Thanks to enterprise and hard work, Mary Reibey became one of the most successful businesswomen in the Colony. With her new affluence came the hard-earned reward of respectability: Mary was now part of Governor Macquarie's social set. Mary opened a new warehouse in 1812, enlarging her fleet with the purchase of two more ships by 1817. In 1820, Mary returned to England with her daughters. On returning to Sydney she began buying property, starting several building projects in the center of town. Mary was quickly able to retire and live on her investments. In 1825, in recognition of her interest in church, education and charity, Mary was appointed one of the governors of the Free Grammar School. Her later years were spent in Newtown, where she lived the remainder of her life until her death in 1855. Mary Reibey on the $20 note. Enlarge Mary Reibey on the $20 note. In recognition of her philanthropy Mary Reibey is put on the front of Australian 20 dollar banknote.

Mathew Brady is one of the best-known US photographers, both in his time and in ours. He was a highly successful portrait photographer who essentially invented documentary photography and photojournalism, and he contributed significantly to our understanding of the U.S. Civil War. Nevertheless, he ultimately sacrificed his wealth, his livelihood and his health for his art and died impoverished and underappreciated. Mathew Brady learned the new art of photography as a teen from inventor Samuel Morse. He quickly perfected the daguerreotype process and opened a portrait studio to much acclaim on Broadway in New York City in 1844. He convinced many of the most powerful and famous people of the day to sit for his portraits, including presidents, political leaders, businessmen, writers, military generals and more. In 1862 Mathew Brady presented his photographs from the Battle of Antietam to the public in New York City, entitling the exhibition "The Dead of Antietam." For the first time, average citizens saw the carnage of war. Since the photos required long exposures, the photos captured the moments before and after most of the action. The public saw the vibrancy of life in the faces of those prior to battle, juxtaposed with the gruesome images of contorted corpses on the battlefield. The New York Times commented, "If he [Brady] has not brought bodies and laid them in our door-yards and along our streets, he has done something very like it." While traditional journalists were sending tales filled with half-truths romanticizing the war, Brady's photographs spoke an undeniable and never before witnessed truth about how destructive and grotesque war is. After the war Mathew Brady found that people preferred to forget the war, and his expectation that his war photographs would be treasured and reap him financial reward proved elusive during his lifetime. Within a few years, he was forced to file bankruptcy. He eventually sold his glass negatives of the war to the United States government and received a grant from Congress for the rights to his photographs. His total take of just over $25,000 wasn't enough to cover his debts. By the time of his death in 1896, his contributions to photography and the documentation of U.S. history were recognized, but certainly underappreciated. His glass negatives in the hands of the government had been allowed to severely degrade, and a majority of the collection had been split up and sold off. He died poor and in relative obscurity.

John Howard defeated the Keating Government and continued in power until 2007.