Australia's Democratic Story

1837

Queen Victoria crowned

William Light and Boyle Travers Finniss survey Adelaide

Governor Bourke names Melbourne

Church Act in Van Diemen's Land

1838

British naval base established at Port Essington, Cobourg Peninsula

Molesworth Select Committee recommends abolition of convict transportation to New South Wales

German settlers fleeing religious persecution arrive in South Australia and in Brisbane

1839

John Lort Stokes of HMS Beagle charts and names Port Darwin

Governor La Trobe's Instructions 11 September 1839 (NSW)
Enter La Trobe

First immigrants from Scotland arrive at Port Phillip

First Supreme Court sitting in South Australia

In New South Wales, military juries for criminal trials abolished

1840

In New Zealand, Maori chiefs cede lands to Queen Victoria in Treaty of Waitangi

In Van Diemen's Land, military juries for criminal trials abolished

Order-in-Council ending transportation of convicts 22 May 1840 (UK)
The hated convict system given its notice

1842

New South Wales Constitution Act 1842 (UK)
The seeds of democracy sown in the colonies

Sydney and Melbourne incorporated as towns

South Australia Act 1842 (UK)
Back to basics: a Legislative Council for South Australia

Robert Towns establishes company to trade in the Pacific Islands

1843

First elections for two-thirds elected legislature in New South Wales

1845

Port Phillip members of New South Wales Legislative Council petition for establishment of separate Colony

1846

Aboriginal people on Flinders Island in Bass Strait petition Queen Victoria

1847

Anti-transportation movement begins in Van Diemen's Land

1849

Ordinance enabling transportation of convicts to Western Australia 29 December 1849 (WA)
Western Australia prepares for the first convict ship

British occupation of north coast ends when Port Essington base abandoned

1850

Convict transportation to Western Australia begins

Australian Constitutions Act 1850 (UK)
Constituting colonies

Port Phillip District separated from New South Wales and renamed Victoria

South Australia, Van Diemen's Land and Victoria gain two-thirds elected legislatures

University of Sydney Act 1850 (NSW)
An opportunity to become great and useful to your country

1851

Gold rushes begin in New South Wales and Victoria

Victoria separates from New South Wales

1853

Last convicts transported to Van Diemen's Land

1854

Miners rebellion – Eureka stockade at Ballarat, Victoria

1855

New South Wales Constitution Act 1855 (UK)
The first self-governing Parliament is created by Britain, on the initiative of the Australians

Victoria Constitution Act 1855 (UK)
The spirit of Eureka

Responsible government in New South Wales and Victoria

Chinese Immigration Act 1855 (Vic)
Charging for 'certain immigrants'

Constitution Act 1855 (Tas)
Parliamentary self-government

Order-in-Council changing name to Tasmania 21 July 1855 (UK)
A new identity

1856

Constitution Act 1856 (SA)
A Constitution for South Australia

Responsible government in South Australia and Tasmania

Pitcairn Islanders moved to Norfolk Island, under control of New South Wales Governor

Electoral Act 1856 (Vic)
The Australian ballot

Voting by secret ballot introduced in Victoria and South Australia

1858

Real Property or 'Torrens Title' Act 1858 (SA)
Real property in South Australia

1859

Queensland separates from New South Wales

Letters Patent erecting Colony of Queensland 6 June 1859 (UK)
A Queen's land … still searching

Order- in-Council establishing Representative Government in Queensland 6 June 1859 (UK)
A Queensland first: two Houses

1861

Crown Lands Acts 1861 (NSW)
On our Selection? The Robertson Land Acts

Telegraph lines link Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane

1862

Letters Patent altering the western boundary of Queensland 1862 (UK)
Queensland goes West … still searching

John McDouall Stuart's final expedition reached the north coast of the continent, mapping a route from Adelaide

1863

Letters Patent annexing the Northern Territory to South Australia 1863
Stuart's sixth journey starts a successful land grab

The Northern Territory Act of 1863 (SA)
Acting in the dark

1867

Constitution Act 1867 (Qld)
Getting it together, constitutionally

1868

Convict transportation to Western Australia ceases

1869

Aboriginal Protection Act 1869 (Vic)
Democracy in reverse

Tasmania and Victoria connected by telegraph

South Australian Surveyor-General George Goyder begins Northern Territory survey at Port Darwin

1870

British troops withdrawn from the Australian colonies; each established own forces

Western Australia becomes the sixth colony to have a part-elected legislature

Payment of Members Act 1870 (Vic)
The cost of representation

1872

Education Act 1872 (Vic)
Schools for citizens

South Australian government completes construction of Overland Telegraph from Port Augusta to Port Darwin

1876

South Australia becomes the first Colony to allow registration of trade unions

1877

Completion of telegraph link from Adelaide to Perth

1879

Queensland Coast Islands Act 1879 (Qld)
Queensland goes North

1881

First census of all Australian colonies gives non-Indigenous population as 2.3 million people

1883

Queensland Government of Sir Thomas McIlwraith annexes southern New Guinea, but the British Government overrules this

1884

Pacific Island Labourers Act Amendment Act 1884 (Qld)
A model of shame

British Protectorate declared over south-eastern New Guinea; Germany then annexes north-eastern New Guinea

Henrietta Dugdale, Annie Lowe and Vida Goldstein form Victorian Women's Suffrage Society, soon followed by active societies in all the Australian colonies

1885

Gold discoveries in Western Australia

1886

Federal Council of Australasia formed

1887

Queen Victoria's 50-year Jubilee

Palmerston (Darwin) to Pine Creek (NT) railway completed

1888

Five premiers agree to a common policy restricting Chinese immigration

Britain annexes south-eastern New Guinea

1889

Bridge over the Hawkesbury River, New South Wales, completes railway network linking Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, though with different railway gauges

Sir Henry Parkes' 'Tenterfield oration' advocating Federation

1890

Constitution Act 1890 (UK)
Western Australia's Constitution becomes law

Letters Patent re Constitution 25 August 1890 (UK)
Creating a Western Australian Governor under the Constitution

Western Australia's Foundation Day – the Constitution proclaimed on 21 October

Australasian Federal Conference: colonies decide to hold a Convention on Federation

1891

National Australasian Convention, held in Sydney, agrees to adopt the name 'Commonwealth of Australia' and adopts a draft Constitution

Jessie Ackermann organises colonial branches of the international Woman's Christian Temperance Union, established here since 1882, into a national organisation, lobbying for the suffrage, 'the symbol of freedom'

1892

Queensland Elections Act introduces 'preferential' voting system

1893

Corowa Federation Conference

1895

Constitution (Female Suffrage) Act 1895 (SA)
First in the world – voting rights for South Australian women

South Australia and New South Wales pass Federation Enabling Acts

1896

Tasmania and Victoria pass Federation Enabling Acts

Bathurst 'People's Convention' discusses the 1891 draft Constitution

1897

Delegates from five colonies at National Australasian Convention sessions in Adelaide and Sydney

Queen Victoria's Diamond (60-year) Jubilee

Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897 (Qld)
Drugs and discrimination

1898

National Australasian Convention session agrees on amended draft Constitution

People in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia vote 'yes' in referendum for Federation

1899

Constitution Acts Amendment Act 1899 (WA)
First votes for women in Western Australia

Second referendums on the Australian Constitution succeed in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and South Australia

Secret Premiers conference in Melbourne

30 000 supporters of Federation on the Western Australian goldfields send a petition to Queen Victoria

Boer War begins in South Africa, colonial troops embark to support British forces