Title
stringclasses 334
values | Paragraph
stringlengths 1
12.2k
|
|---|---|
Advance Australia Fair | History
Origin
"Advance Australia Fair" was published in early December 1878 by Scottish-born Australian composer Peter Dodds McCormick (1833–1916) under the pen-name "Amicus" (which means "friend" in Latin). It was first sung by Andrew Fairfax, accompanied by a concert band conducted by McCormick, at a function of the Highland Society of New South Wales in Sydney on 30 November 1878 (Saint Andrew's Day). The song gained in popularity and an amended version was sung by a choir of around 10,000 at the inauguration of the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901. In 1907 the Australian Government awarded McCormick £100 for his composition.
In a letter to R.B. Fuller dated 1 August 1913, McCormick described the circumstances that inspired him to write "Advance Australia Fair" to be sung by a large choir with band accompaniment. McCormick had attended a concert at Sydney's Exhibition Building where various national anthems were played. |
Advance Australia Fair | This was very nicely done, but I felt very aggravated that there was not one note for Australia. On the way home in a bus, I concocted the first verse of my song & when I got home I set it to music. I first wrote it in the Tonic Sol-fa notation, then transcribed it into the Old Notation, & I tried it over on an instrument next morning, & found it correct. Strange to say there has not been a note of it altered since. Some alteration has been made in the wording, but the sense is the same. It seemed to me to be like an inspiration, & I wrote the words & music with the greatest ease.
The earliest known sound recording of "Advance Australia Fair" appears in The Landing of the Australian Troops in Egypt (c. 1916), a short commercial recording dramatizing the arrival of Australian troops in Egypt en route to Gallipoli.
Before its adoption as Australia's national anthem, "Advance Australia Fair" had considerable use elsewhere. For example, Australia's national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Commission, used it to announce its radio news bulletins from 1942 to 1952. It was also frequently played at the start or end of official functions. Towards the end of World War II it was one of three songs played in certain picture theatres, along with "God Save the King" and the US national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner. |
Advance Australia Fair | Influence
Other songs and marches have been influenced by "Advance Australia Fair", such as the Australian vice-regal salute. |
Advance Australia Fair | Competitions, plebiscite and adoption
In 1973, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and his government, desiring to forge a new nationalism separate from the United Kingdom, decided that Australia needed a national anthem that could represent the country with "distinction", and they held a competition to find one to replace the existing anthem, "God Save the Queen". In January of that year, Whitlam dedicated an entire Australia Day speech to the search for a new anthem, referring to it as a "symbolic expression of our national pride and dignity". The Australia Council for the Arts organised the contest, which was dubbed the "Australian National Anthem Quest". The contest was held in two stages, the first seeking lyrics and the second music, each having a large prize of A$5,000 for the winning entry. Despite around the 2500 entries received for lyrics and 1300 for music, the Council for the Arts could only produce a shortlist of 6 lyrics and no music, reduced from the 12 originally requested. The lyrics selected were "We'll Keep the Faith", "Advance, Australia", "Song of Australia" and three untitled verses. The songs were not well received, with judge David Williamson stating "if you think these are bad, you should have seen the rest of the 2500 or so we rejected". Ultimately, the government did not include any of the new entries in the final vote, with the poll only including "Advance Australia Fair", "Waltzing Matilda" and "The Song of Australia".
In 1974 the Whitlam government performed a nationwide opinion survey to determine the song to be sung on occasions of national significance. Conducted through the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the survey polled 60,000 people (0.05% of Australians at the time) nationally. "Advance Australia Fair" was chosen by 51.4% of respondents and, on 9 April 1974, Whitlam announced in parliament that it was the national anthem. It was to be used on all occasions excepting those of a specifically regal nature. A spokesman for Whitlam later stated that the Government regarded the tune, primarily, as the national anthem. The choice came under attack almost immediately, with an editorial noting that "For Australians, the only consolation is that there will be very few occasions when the words are sung," and the Anglican Dean of Sydney commenting "This second-rate secular song is completely inappropriate for use in churches." Officials in four states said that Advance Australia Fair would not be played at official functions and that "God Save the Queen" would not be replaced, with Sir Harry Budd of New South Wales saying that the lyrics "are foolish and banal and their sentiments ridiculous."
During the 1975 election campaign following the dismissal of Whitlam by Sir John Kerr, David Combe proposed that the song be played at the start of the Labor Party's official campaign launch on 24 November 1975 at Festival Hall, Melbourne. Whitlam's speechwriter Graham Freudenberg rejected this idea because, among other reasons, the status of the anthem at that point was still tentative.
On 22 January 1976 the Fraser government reinstated "God Save the Queen" as the national anthem for use at royal, vice-regal, defence and loyal toast occasions. Fraser stated that "Advance Australia Fair", "Song of Australia" or "Waltzing Matilda" could be used for non-regal occasions. This choice was also mocked, with The Age declaring the new anthem as "God Save Australia's Fair Matilda". His government made plans to conduct a national poll to find a song for use on ceremonial occasions when it was desired to mark a separate Australian identity. This was conducted as a plebiscite to choose the National Song, held as an optional additional question in the 1977 referendum on various issues. On 23 May the government announced the results, "Advance Australia Fair" received 43.29% of the vote, defeating the three alternatives, "Waltzing Matilda" (28.28%), "The Song of Australia" (9.65%) and the existing national anthem, "God Save the Queen" (18.78%).
"Advance Australia Fair", with modified lyrics and reduced to two verses (see development of lyrics), was adopted as the Australian national anthem by the Labor government of Bob Hawke, coming into effect on 19 April 1984. At the same time, "God Save the King/Queen" became known as the royal anthem, and continues to be played alongside the Australian national anthem at public engagements in Australia that are attended by the King or any other members of the Royal Family.
Even though any personal copyright of Peter Dodds McCormick's original lyrics has expired, as he died in 1916, the Commonwealth of Australia claims copyright on the official lyrics and particular arrangements of music. Non-commercial use of the anthem is permitted without case-by-case permission, but the Commonwealth government requires permission for commercial use.
The orchestral arrangement of "Advance Australia Fair" that is now regularly played for Australian victories at international sporting medal ceremonies, and at the openings of major domestic sporting, cultural and community events, is by Tommy Tycho, an immigrant from Hungary. It was commissioned by ABC Music in 1984 and then televised by Channel 10 in 1986 in their Australia Day broadcast, featuring Julie Anthony as the soloist. |
Advance Australia Fair | Legislative basis
The national anthem was changed on 1 January 2021 by proclamation of the Governor-General on the advice of the Federal Executive Council. The change prior to that was on 19 April 1984. |
Advance Australia Fair | Lyrics
The lyrics of "Advance Australia Fair", as modified by the National Australia Day Council, were officially adopted in April 1984. The lyrics were updated on 1 January 2021 in an attempt to recognise the legacy of Indigenous Australians, with the word "one" in the second line replacing the previous "young". The lyrics are now as follows: |
Advance Australia Fair | Development of lyrics
Since the original lyrics were written in 1878, there have been several changes, in some cases with the intent of altering the anthem's political focus especially in regard to gender neutrality and Indigenous Australians. Some of these have been minor while others have significantly altered the song. The original song was four verses long. For its 1984 adoption as the national anthem, the song was cut from the four verses to two. The first verse was kept largely as the 1878 original, except for the change in the first line from "Australia's sons let us rejoice" to "Australians all let us rejoice". The second, third and fourth verses of the original were dropped, in favour of a modified version of the new third verse which was sung at Federation in 1901.
The lyrics published in the second edition (1879) were as follows: |
Advance Australia Fair | The 1901 Federation version of the third verse was originally sung as: |
Advance Australia Fair | The lyrics of "Advance Australia Fair", as modified by the National Australia Day Council and officially adopted on 19 April 1984, were as follows: |
Advance Australia Fair | These lyrics were updated on 1 January 2021 to the current version, in which "young" in the second line is replaced with "one" to reflect the pre-colonial presence of Indigenous Australians, who have lived in Australia much longer than Europeans. |
Advance Australia Fair | Criticism
General criticism
In May 1976, after reinstating "God Save the Queen", Fraser advised the Australian Olympic Federation to use "Waltzing Matilda" as the national anthem for the forthcoming Montreal Olympic Games. Fraser responded to criticism of "Waltzing Matilda" compared with "Advance Australia Fair", and countered, "in the second verse... we find these words, 'Britannia rules the waves'." Despite the outcome of the 1977 plebiscite to choose the National Song favouring "Advance Australia Fair", successive Fraser Ministries did not implement the change.
The fourth line of the anthem, "our home is girt by sea", has been criticised for using the so-called archaic word "girt". Additionally, the lyrics and melody of the Australian national anthem have been criticised in some quarters as being dull and unendearing to the Australian people. National Party senator Sandy Macdonald said in 2001 that "'Advance Australia Fair' is so boring that the nation risks singing itself to sleep, with boring music and words impossible to understand".
Political sentiment is divided. Craig Emerson of the Australian Labor Party has critiqued the anthem, former MP Peter Slipper has said that Australia should consider another anthem, in 2011 former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett suggested "I Am Australian", while former Australian Labor Party leader Kim Beazley defended it. |
Advance Australia Fair | Recognition of Indigenous Australians
The song has been criticised for failing to represent or acknowledge Australia's Indigenous peoples and aspects of the country's colonial past, leading to modification. The lyrics have been accused of celebrating British colonisation and perpetuating the concept of terra nullius; the now-changed second line of the anthem ("for we are young and free") was criticised in particular for ignoring the long history of Indigenous Australians. It has also been suggested that the word "fair" celebrates the "civilising" mission of British colonists.
Since about 2015, public debate about the anthem has increased. Boxer Anthony Mundine stated in 2013, 2017 and 2018 that he would not stand for the anthem, prompting organisers not to play it before his fights. In September 2018 a 9-year-old Brisbane girl was disciplined by her school after refusing to stand for the national anthem; her actions were applauded by some public commenters, and criticised by others. In 2019, several National Rugby League football players decided not to sing the anthem before the first match of the State of Origin series and before the Indigenous All-Stars series with New Zealand; NRL coach and celebrated former player Mal Meninga supported the protesting players and called for a referendum on the subject.
Several alternative versions of "Advance Australia Fair" have been proposed to address the alleged exclusion of Indigenous Australians. Judith Durham of The Seekers and Mutti Mutti musician Kutcha Edwards released their alternative lyrics in 2009, replacing "for we are young and free" with the opening lines "Australians let us stand as one, upon this sacred land". In 2015, Aboriginal Australian soprano Deborah Cheetham declined an invitation to sing the anthem at the 2015 AFL grand final after the AFL turned down her request to replace the words "for we are young and free" with "in peace and harmony". She has advocated for the lyrics being rewritten and endorsed Durham and Edwards' alternative version.
In 2017 the Recognition in Anthem Project was established and began work on a new version, with lyrics written by poet and former Victorian Supreme Court judge Peter Vickery following consultation with Indigenous communities and others. Vickery's proposed lyrics replaced "we are young and free" with "we are one and free" in the first verse, deleted the second and added two new ones; the second verse acknowledging Indigenous history, immigration and calls for unity and respect, and the third adapting lines from the official second verse. It was debuted at the Desert Song Festival in Alice Springs by an Aboriginal choir. Former prime minister Bob Hawke endorsed Vickery's alternative lyrics in 2018. In 2017, the federal government under then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull granted permission for Vickery's lyrics to be sung at certain occasions as a "patriotic song", but said that before making any official change to the anthem, "The Government would need to be convinced of a sufficient groundswell of support in the wider community".
In November 2020, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian proposed changing one word in the opening couplet, from "we are young and free" to "we are one and free", to acknowledge Australia's Indigenous history. The proposal was supported by the federal Minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt, and in December 2020 Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that this change would be adopted from 1 January 2021, having received approval from Governor-General David Hurley. The new wording was highlighted in the No case of the official referendum pamphlet of the Voice to Parliament referendum to support arguments against purported "divisive" constitutional changes. |
Advance Australia Fair | Dharawal lyrics
Lyrics for the anthem have been written twice in the Dharug language, an Australian Aboriginal language spoken around Sydney by the Dharawal people.
A first version was first performed in July 2010, at a Rugby League State of Origin match in Sydney, though there was some opposition:
In December 2020, another setting, in Dharug, followed by the anthem in English, was sung before a Rugby Union international between Australia and Argentina: |
Advance Australia Fair | Other unofficial variants
In 2011, about fifty different Christian schools from different denominations came under criticism for singing an unofficial version of the song written by the Sri Lankan immigrant Ruth Ponniah in 1988. The song replaced the official second verse of "Advance Australia Fair" with lyrics that were Christian in nature. |
Advance Australia Fair | With Christ our head and cornerstone, we'll build our nation's might;
Whose way and truth and light alone, can guide our path aright;
Our lives a sacrifice of love, reflect our master's care;
With faces turned to heav'n above, Advance Australia Fair; |
Advance Australia Fair | In joyful strains then let us sing, Advance Australia Fair.
Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth Peter Garrett and chief executive of the National Australia Day Council Warren Pearson admonished the schools for modifying the lyrics of the anthem, and the Australian Parents Council and the Federation of Parents and Citizens' Association of NSW called for a ban on the modified song. Stephen O'Doherty, chief executive of Christian Schools Australia, defended the use of the lyrics in response. |
Advance Australia Fair | References
Notes
External links |
Advance Australia Fair | Lyrics on official government website
Streaming audio of Advance Australia Fair with links and information (archive link)
Australian Government websites:
Official published lyrics, music with band parts and sound recordings
Four-part musical score & lyrics PDF 169 KB Archived 21 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine
Australian National Anthem Audio for download (MP3 2.04 MB) Archived 21 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine
Department of Foreign Affair and Trade's webpage on Advance Australia Fair
Online scores held by Australian government libraries (The MusicAustralia collaboration)
Advance Australia Fair (Original Lyrics) – Australian singer Peter Dawson (c. 1930) |
History of Australia (1945–present) | The history of Australia since 1945 has seen long periods of economic prosperity and the introduction of an expanded and multi-ethnic immigration program, which has coincided with moves away from Britain in political, social and cultural terms and towards increasing engagement with the United States and Asia. |
History of Australia (1945–present) | End of the 1940s
In 1944, the Liberal Party of Australia was formed, with Robert Menzies as its founding leader. The party would come to dominate the early decades of the post-war period. Outlining his vision for a new political movement in 1944, Menzies said: |
History of Australia (1945–present) | "…[W]hat we must look for, and it is a matter of desperate importance to our society, is a true revival of liberal thought which will work for social justice and security, for national power and national progress, and for the full development of the individual citizen, though not through the dull and deadening process of socialism. |
History of Australia (1945–present) | In April 1945, Prime Minister John Curtin despatched an Australian delegation which included attorney-general and minister for external affairs H. V. Evatt to discuss formation of the United Nations. Australia played a significant mediatory role in these early years of the United Nations, successfully lobbying for an increased role for smaller and middle-ranking nations and a stronger commitment to employment rights into the U.N. Charter. Evatt was elected president of the third session of the United Nations General Assembly (September 1948 to May 1949).
When Labor Prime Minister John Curtin passed away in July 1945. Frank Forde served as Prime Minister from 6–13 July, before the party elected Ben Chifley as Curtin's successor. Chifley, a former railway engine driver, won the 1946 election. His government introduced national projects, including the Snowy Mountains Scheme and an assisted immigration program and pursued centralist economic policies – making the Commonwealth the collector of income tax, and seeking to nationalise the private banks. At the conference of the New South Wales Labor Party in June 1949, Chifely sought to define the labour movement as having: |
History of Australia (1945–present) | [A] great objective – the light on the hill – which we aim to reach by working for the betterment of mankind... [Labor would] bring something better to the people, better standards of living, greater happiness to the mass of the people’. |
History of Australia (1945–present) | With an increasingly uncertain economic outlook, after his attempt to nationalise the banks and the coal strike by the Communist-dominated Miners Federation, Chifley lost office at the 1949 federal election to Menzies' newly established Liberal Party, in coalition with the Country Party. |
History of Australia (1945–present) | Immigration and the post-war boom
After World War II, Australia launched a massive immigration program, believing that having narrowly avoided a Japanese invasion, Australia must "populate or perish." As Prime Minister Ben Chifley would later declare, "a powerful enemy looked hungrily toward Australia. In tomorrow's gun flash that threat could come again. We must populate Australia as rapidly as we can before someone else decides to populate it for us." Hundreds of thousands of displaced Europeans, including for the first time large numbers of Jews, migrated to Australia. More than two million people immigrated to Australia from Europe during the 20 years after the end of the war.
From the outset, it was intended that the bulk of these immigrants should be mainly from the British Isles, and that the post-war immigration scheme would preserve the British character of Australian society. Although Great Britain remained the predominant source of immigrants, the pool of source countries was expanded to include Continental European countries in order to meet Australia's ambitious immigration targets. From the late 1940s onwards, Australia received significant waves of people from countries such as Greece, Italy, Malta, Germany, Yugoslavia and the Netherlands. Australia actively sought these immigrants, with the government assisting many of them and they found work due to an expanding economy and major infrastructure projects.
The Australian economy stood in sharp contrast to war-ravaged Europe, and newly arrived migrants found employment in a booming manufacturing industry and government assisted programs such as the Snowy Mountains Scheme. This hydroelectricity and irrigation complex in south-east Australia consisted of sixteen major dams and seven power stations constructed between 1949 and 1974. It remains the largest engineering project undertaken in Australia. Necessitating the employment of 100,000 people from over 30 countries, to many it denotes the birth of multicultural Australia.
In 1949 the 1941–1949 Labor government (led by Ben Chifley after John Curtin's death in 1945) was defeated by a Liberal–National Party Coalition government headed by Menzies. Politically, the Menzies government and the Liberal Party of Australia dominated much of the immediate post-war era, defeating the Chifley government in 1949, in part over a Labor proposal to nationalise banks and following a crippling coal strike influenced by the Australian Communist Party. Menzies became the country's longest-serving Prime Minister and the Liberal party, in coalition with the rural based Country Party, won every federal election until 1972.
As in the United States in the early 1950s, allegations of communist influence in society saw tensions emerge in politics. Refugees from Soviet dominated Eastern Europe immigrated to Australia, while to Australia's north, Mao Zedong won the Chinese Civil War in 1949 and in June 1950, Communist North Korea invaded South Korea. The Menzies government responded to a United States led United Nations Security Council request for military aid for South Korea and diverted forces from occupied Japan to begin Australia's involvement in the Korean War. After fighting to a bitter standstill, the UN and North Korea signed a ceasefire agreement in July 1953. Australian forces had participated in such major battles as Kapyong and Maryang San. Seventeen thousand Australians had served and casualties amounted to more than 1,500, of whom 339 were killed. |
History of Australia (1945–present) | During the course of the Korean War, the Menzies government attempted to ban the Communist Party of Australia, first by legislation in 1950 and later by referendum, in 1951. While both attempts were unsuccessful, further international events such as the defection of minor Soviet Embassy official Vladimir Petrov, added to a sense of impending threat that politically favoured Menzies’ Liberal-CP government, as the Labor Party pushed centralist economics and split over concerns about the influence of the Communist Party over the Trade Union movement, resulting in a bitter split in 1955 and the emergence of the breakaway Democratic Labor Party (DLP). The DLP remained an influential political force, often holding the balance of power in the Senate, until 1974; its preferences supported the Liberal and Country Party. The Labor party was led by H. V. Evatt after Chifley's death in 1951. Evatt retired in 1960, and Arthur Calwell succeeded him as leader, with a young Gough Whitlam as his deputy.
Menzies presided over a period of sustained economic boom and the beginnings of sweeping social change – with the arrivals of rock and roll music and television in the 1950s. In 1956, television in Australia began broadcasting, Melbourne hosted the Olympics and, for the first time, performing artist Barry Humphries performed the character of Edna Everage as a parody of a house-proud housewife of staid 1950s Melbourne suburbia (the character only later morphed into a critique of self-obsessed celebrity culture). It was the first of many of his satirical stage and screen creations based around quirky Australian characters.
In 1958, Australian country music singer Slim Dusty, who would become the musical embodiment of rural Australia, had Australia's first international music chart hit with his bush ballad "A Pub with No Beer", while rock and roller Johnny O'Keefe's Wild One became the first local recording to reach the national charts, peaking at #20. Before sleeping through the 1960s Australian cinema produced little of its own content in the 1950s, but British and Hollywood studios produced a string of successful epics from Australian literature, featuring home grown stars Chips Rafferty and Peter Finch.
Menzies remained a staunch supporter of links to the monarchy and British Commonwealth and formalised an alliance with the United States, but also launched post-war trade with Japan, beginning a growth of Australian exports of coal, iron ore and mineral resources that would steadily climb until Japan became Australia's largest trading partner.
In the early 1950s, the Menzies government saw Australia as part of a "triple alliance", in concert with both the US and traditional ally Britain. At first, "the Australian leadership opted for a consistently pro-British line in diplomacy", while at the same time looking for opportunities to involve the US in South East Asia. Thus, other than the Korean War, the government also committed military forces to the Malayan Emergency and hosted British nuclear tests after 1952. Australia was also the only Commonwealth country to offer support to the British during the Suez Crisis.
Menzies oversaw an effusive welcome to Queen Elizabeth II on the first visit to Australia by a reigning monarch, in 1954. However, as British influence declined in South East Asia, the US alliance came to have greater significance for Australian leaders and the Australian economy. British investment in Australia remained significant until the late 1970s, but trade with Britain declined through the 1950s and 1960s. In the late 1950s the Australian Army began to re-equip using US military equipment. In 1962, the US established a naval communications station at North West Cape, the first of several built over the next decade. Most significantly, in 1962, Australian Army advisors were sent to help train South Vietnamese forces, in a developing conflict the British had no part in.
The ANZUS security treaty, which had been signed in 1951, had its origins in Australia's and New Zealand's fears of a rearmed Japan, but found new impetus through anti-communism. Its obligations on the US, Australia and New Zealand are vague, but its influence on Australian foreign policy thinking, at times significant. The SEATO treaty, signed only three years later, clearly demonstrated Australia's position as a US ally in the emerging cold war. On 26 November 1967, Australia became the seventh nation to put a satellite into Earth orbit, launching WRESAT from Woomera.
When Menzies retired in January 1966, he was replaced as Liberal leader and Prime Minister by Harold Holt. The Holt government increased Australian commitment to the growing War in Vietnam; oversaw conversion to decimal currency and faced Britain's withdrawal from Asia by visiting and hosting many Asian leaders and by expanding ties to the United States, hosting the first visit to Australia by an American president, his friend Lyndon B. Johnson. Significantly, Holt's government introduced the Migration Act 1966, which effectively dismantled the vestigial mechanisms of the White Australia policy and increased access to non-European migrants, including refugees fleeing the Vietnam War. Holt also called the 1967 Referendum which removed the discriminatory clause in the Constitution of Australia which excluded Aboriginal Australians from being counted in the census – the referendum was one of the few to be overwhelmingly endorsed by the Australian electorate (over 90% voted 'yes').
Holt won the 1967 election with the largest parliamentary majority in 65 years, but Holt drowned while swimming at a surf beach in December 1967 and was replaced by John Gorton (1968–1971). The Gorton government began winding down Australia's commitment to Vietnam, increased funding for the arts, standardised rates of pay between the men and women and continued moving Australian trade closer to Asia. The Liberals suffered a decline in voter support at the 1969 election and internal party division saw Gorton replaced by William McMahon (1971–1972) and, facing a reinvigorated Australian Labor Party led by Gough Whitlam, the Liberals entered their final stretch in office of a record 23 straight years period. |
History of Australia (1945–present) | 1960s and 1970s: The "Australian New Wave"
From the mid-1960s, evidence of a new and more independent sense of national pride and identity began to emerge in Australia. In the early 1960s, the National Trust of Australia began to be active in preserving Australia's natural, cultural and historic heritage. Australian TV, while always dependent on US and British imports, saw locally made dramas and comedies appear, and programs such as Homicide developed strong local loyalty while Skippy the Bush Kangaroo became a global phenomenon. Liberal Prime Minister John Gorton, a battle scarred former fighter pilot, described himself as "Australian to the bootheels" and the Gorton government established the Australian Council for the Arts, the Australian Film Development Corporation and the National Film and Television Training School.
The late 1960s and early 1970s are often associated with a flowering of Australian culture. Indigenous Australians achieved greater rights, immigration restrictions and censorship laws were swept aside, theatre and opera companies were established across the country, and Australian rock music blossomed. The 1971 Springbok tour was influential in raising awareness of Aboriginal injustice in Australia and also led Australia to become the first Western nation to cut sporting ties with South Africa. In a significant move against South Africa's apartheid regime, many Australians (including Wallabies) demonstrated against tours by the racially selected South African team. The Australian media tycoon Kerry Packer altered the traditionalist ethos of the game of cricket in the 1970s, inventing World Series Cricket from which have evolved many aspects of the various modern international forms of the game.
The iconic Sydney Opera House finally opened in 1973 after numerous delays. In the same year, Patrick White became the first Australian to win a Nobel Prize for Literature. Australian History had begun to appear on school curriculums by the 1970s and from the early 1970s, the Australian cinema began to produce the Australian New Wave of feature films based on uniquely Australian themes. Film funding began under the Gorton government, but it was the South Australian Film Corporation that took the lead in supporting filmmaking and among their great successes were quintessential Australian films Sunday Too Far Away (1974) Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Breaker Morant (1980) and Gallipoli (1981). The national funding body, the Australian Film Commission, was established in 1975.
Significant changes also occurred to Australia's censorship laws after the new Liberal Minister for Customs and Excise, Don Chipp, was appointed in 1969. In 1968, Barry Humphries and Nicholas Garland's cartoon book featuring the larrikin character Barry McKenzie was banned. Yet only a few years later, the book had been made as a film, partly with the support of government funding. Anne Pender suggests that the Barry Mckenzie character both celebrated and parodied Australian nationalism. Historian Richard White also argues that "while many of the plays, novels and films produced in the 1970s were intensely critical of aspects of Australian life, they were absorbed by the ‘new nationalism’ and applauded for their Australianness." |
History of Australia (1945–present) | Australia and the Vietnam War
The Menzies government despatched the first small contingent of Australian military training personnel to aid South Vietnam in 1962, so beginning Australia's decade long involvement in the Vietnam War. Ngo Dinh Diem, the leader of the government in South Vietnam, had requested security assistance from the US and its allies. The Australian government supported the commitment as part of global effort to stem the spread of communism in Europe and Asia. |
History of Australia (1945–present) | Initially popular, Australia's participation in Vietnam, and particularly the use of conscription, later became politically contentious and saw massive protests, though they were for the most part peaceful. The United States launched a major escalation of the war in 1965 and the Holt government which succeeded Menzies, increased Australia's military commitment to the conflict. Holt won a massive majority in the 1967 Election. By 1969 however, anti-war protests were gathering momentum and opposition to conscription was growing, with more people believing the war could not be won. The Gorton government (returned with a reduced majority at the 1969 Election) ceased to replace Australian personnel from 1970. There were large Moratorium marches in 1970 and 1971 and Australia's troop commitment continued to wind down through 1971 with the last battalion leaving Nui Dat in November. The election of the Whitlam government in 1972 brought Australia's small remaining involvement in the war to an official close in June 1973 with the withdrawal of the last platoon guarding the Australian Embassy in Saigon. Australian forces were largely based at Nui Dat, Phước Tuy province, and participated in such notable battles as the Battle of Long Tan against the Viet Cong in 1966 and defending against the 1968 Tet Offensive. Almost 60,000 Australians had served in Vietnam and 521 had died as a result of the war. As the war became unpopular, protestors and conscienscious objectors became prominent and soldiers often met a hostile reception on their return home in the later stages of the conflict.
In early 1975 the communists launched a major offensive resulting in the fall of Saigon on 30 April. The Royal Australian Air Force assisted in final humanitarian evacuations. In the aftermath of the communist victory, Australia assisted in re-settlement of Vietnamese refugees, with thousands making their way to Australia through the 1970s and 1980s. |
History of Australia (1945–present) | Papua New Guinea and Nauru independence
Australia had administered Papua New Guinea and Nauru for much of the 20th century. British New Guinea (Papua) had passed to Australia in 1906. German New Guinea was captured by Australia during the First World War, becoming a League of Nations mandate after the war. Following the bitter New Guinea campaign of World War II which saw occupation of half the island by the Empire of Japan, the Territory of Papua and New Guinea was established by an administrative union between the Australian-administered Territory of Papua and Territory of New Guinea in 1949. Under Liberal Minister for External Territories Andrew Peacock, Papua and New Guinea adopted self-government in 1972 and on 15 September 1975, during the term of the Whitlam government in Australia, the Territory became the independent nation of Papua New Guinea.
Australia had captured the island of Nauru from the German Empire in 1914. After Japanese occupation during World War II, it became a UN Trust Territory under Australia and remained so until achieving independence in 1968. In 1989 Nauru sued Australia in the International Court of Justice in The Hague for damages caused by mining. Australia settled the case out of court agreeing to a lump sum settlement of A$107 million and an annual stipend of the equivalent of A$2.5 million toward environmental rehabilitation. |
History of Australia (1945–present) | Whitlam, Fraser and the dismissal
Elected in December 1972 after 23 years in opposition, Labor won office under Gough Whitlam and introduced a significant program of social change and reform. Whitlam said before the election: "our program has three great aims. They are – to promote equality; to involve the people of Australia in … decision making…; and to liberate the talents and uplift the horizons of the Australian people."
Whitlam's actions were immediate and dramatic. Within a few weeks the last milichlentary advisors in Vietnam were recalled, and national service ended. The People's Republic of China was recognised (Whitlam had visited China while Opposition Leader in 1971) and the embassy in Taiwan closed. Over the next few years, university fees were abolished and a national health care scheme established. Significant changes were made to school funding, something Whitlam regarded as "the most enduring single achievement" of his government. Divorce and family law was liberalised.
Whitlam's radical and imperious style eventually alienated many voters, and some of the state governments were openly hostile to his government. As it did not control the senate, much of its legislation was rejected or amended. The Queensland Country Party government of Joh Bjelke-Petersen had particularly bad relations with the Federal government. Even after it was re-elected at elections in May 1974, the Senate remained an obstacle to its political agenda. At the only joint sitting of parliament, in August 1974, six keys pieces of legislation wering passed. |
History of Australia (1945–present) | In 1974, Whitlam selected John Kerr, a former member of the Labor Party and presiding Chief Justice of New South Wales to serve as Governor-General. The Whitlam government was re-elected with a decreased majority in the lower house in the 1974 Election. In 1974–75 the government thought about borrowing US$4 billion in foreign loans. Minister Rex Connor conducted secret discussions with a loan broker from Pakistan, and the Treasurer, Jim Cairns, misled parliament over the issue. Arguing the government was incompetent following the Loans affair, the opposition Liberal-Country Party Coalition delayed passage of the government's money bills in the Senate, until the government would promise a new election. Whitlam refused, Malcolm Fraser, leader of the Opposition insisted. The deadlock came to an end when the Whitlam government was dismissed by the Governor-General, John Kerr on 11 November 1975 and Fraser was installed as caretaker Prime Minister, pending an election. The "reserve powers" granted to the Governor General by the Constitution of Australia, had allowed an elected government to be dismissed without warning by a representative of the Monarch.
At elections held in late 1975, Malcolm Fraser and the Coalition were elected in a landslide victory. |
History of Australia (1945–present) | The Fraser government won two subsequent elections. Fraser maintained some of the social reforms of the Whitlam era, while seeking increased fiscal restraint. His government included the first Aboriginal federal parliamentarian, Neville Bonner, and in 1976, Parliament passed the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976, which, while limited to the Northern Territory, affirmed "inalienable" freehold title to some traditional lands. Fraser established the multicultural broadcaster SBS, welcomed Vietnamese boat people refugees, opposed minority white rule in Apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia and opposed Soviet expansionism. A significant program of economic reform however was not pursued and, by 1983, the Australian economy was in recession, amidst the effects of a severe drought. Fraser had promoted "states’ rights" and his government refused to use Commonwealth powers to stop the construction of the Franklin Dam in Tasmania in 1982. A Liberal minister, Don Chipp had split off from the party to form a new social liberal party, the Australian Democrats in 1977 and the Franklin Dam proposal contributed to the emergence of an influential Environmental movement in Australia, with branches including the Australian Greens, a political party which later emerged from Tasmania to pursue environmentalism as well as left-wing social and economic policies. |
History of Australia (1945–present) | 1980s and 1990s
Bob Hawke, a less polarising Labor leader than Whitlam, defeated Fraser at the 1983 Election. The new government stopped the Franklin Dam project via the High Court of Australia. The 1980s saw severe concerns about Australia's future economic health take hold, with severe current account deficits and high unemployment at times. Hawke, together with treasurer Paul Keating undertook micro-economic and industrial relations reform designed to increase efficiency and competitiveness. After the initial failure of the Whitlam model and partial dismantling under Fraser, Hawke re-established a new, universal system of health insurance called Medicare. Hawke and Keating abandoned traditional Labor support for tariffs to protect industry and jobs. They moved to deregulate Australia's financial system and ‘floated’ the Australian dollar. An agreement was reached with trade unions to moderate wage demands and accept more flexible working condition arrangements by accepting tax cuts in return. Ultimately, many of the reforms, continued by successive governments, appear to have been successful in pushing the economy along.
The Australian Bicentenary was celebrated in 1988 along with the opening of a new Parliament House in Canberra. The following year the Australian Capital Territory achieved self-government and Jervis Bay became a separate territory administered by the Minister for Territories.
A supporter of the US alliance, Hawke committed Australian naval forces to the Gulf War, following the 1990 invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. After four successful elections, but amid a deteriorating Australian economy and rising unemployment, the intense rivalry between Hawke and Keating led the Labor Party to replace Hawke as leader and Paul Keating became Prime Minister in 1991.
Unemployment reached 11.4% in 1992 – the highest since the Great Depression. The Liberal-National Opposition had proposed an ambitious plan of economic reform to take to the 1993 Election, including the introduction of a goods and services tax. Keating shuffled treasurers and campaigned strongly against the tax and won the 1993 Election. During his time in office, Keating emphasised links to the Asia Pacific region, co-operating closely with the President of Indonesia, Suharto, and campaigned to increase the role of APEC as a major forum for economic co-operation. Keating was active in indigenous affairs and the High Court of Australia's historic Mabo decision in 1992 required a legislative response to recognition of Indigenous title to land, culminating in the Native Title Act 1993 and the Land Fund Act 1994. In 1993, Keating established a Republic Advisory Committee, to examine options for Australia becoming a republic. With foreign debt, interest rates and unemployment still high, and after a series of ministerial resignations, Keating lost the 1996 Election to the Liberals' John Howard. |
History of Australia (1945–present) | Full sovereignty from the United Kingdom
The Australia Act 1986 led to the severing of nearly all constitutional ties between Australia and the UK. This was achieved by the passing of the which removed the right of the British Parliament to make laws for Australia and ended any British role in the government of the Australian States. It also removed the right of appeal from Australian courts to the British Privy Council in London. Most important, the Act transferred into Australian hands full control of all Australia's constitutional documents. |
History of Australia (1945–present) | Indigenous Australia
Campaigns for indigenous rights in Australia have a long history. In the modern era, 1938 was an important year. With the participation of leading indigenous activists like Douglas Nicholls, the Australian Aborigines Advancement League organised a protest "Day of Mourning" to mark the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet of British in Australia and launched its campaign for full citizenship rights for all Aborigines. In the 1940s, the conditions of life for Aborigines could be very poor. A permit system restricted movement and work opportunities for many Aboriginal people. In the 1950s, the government pursued a policy of "assimilation" which sought to achieve full citizenship rights for Aborigines but also wanted them to adopt the mode of life of other Australians (which very often was assumed to require suppression of cultural identity). |
History of Australia (1945–present) | From the 1950s onwards, Australians began to rethink their attitudes towards racial issues. An Aboriginal rights movement was founded and supported by many liberal white Australians and a campaign against the White Australia policy was also launched. The 1967 referendum was held and overwhelmingly approved to amend the Constitution, removing discriminatory references and giving the national parliament the power to legislate specifically for Indigenous Australians. Contrary to frequently repeated mythology, this referendum did not cover citizenship on Aboriginal people, nor did it give them the vote: they already had both. However, transferring this power away from the State parliaments did bring an end to the system of Aboriginal reserve which existed in each state, which allowed Indigenous people to move more freely, and exercise many of their citizenship rights for the first time. From the late 1960s a movement for Indigenous land rights also developed.
Various groups and individuals were active in the pursuit of equality and social justice from the 1960s. In the mid-1960s, one of the earliest Aboriginal graduates from the University of Sydney, Charles Perkins, helped organise freedom rides into parts of Australia to expose discrimination and inequality. In 1966, the Gurindji people of Wave Hill station (owned by the Vestey Group) commenced strike action led by Vincent Lingiari in a quest for equal pay and recognition of land rights.
Indigenous Australians began to take up representation in Australian parliaments during the 1970s. In 1971 Neville Bonner of the Liberal Party was appointed by the Queensland Parliament to replace a retiring senator, becoming the first Aborigine in Federal Parliament. Bonner was returned as a Senator at the 1972 election and remained until 1983. Hyacinth Tungutalum of the Country Liberal Party in the Northern Territory and Eric Deeral of the National Party of Queensland, became the first Indigenous people elected to territory and state legislatures in 1974. In 1976, Sir Douglas Nicholls was appointed Governor of South Australia, becoming the first Aborigine to hold vice-regal office in Australia. Aiden Ridgway of the Australian Democrats served as a senator during the 1990s, but No indigenous person was elected to the House of Representatives, until West Australian Liberal Ken Wyatt, in August 2010.
In 1984, a group of Pintupi people who were living a traditional hunter-gatherer desert-dwelling life were tracked down in the Gibson Desert in Western Australia and brought in to a settlement. They are believed to be the last uncontacted tribe in Australia. In 1985, the Hawke government returned ownership of Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock) to the local Pitjantjatjara Aboriginal people.
In 1992, the High Court of Australia handed down its decision in the Mabo Case, declaring the previous legal concept of terra nullius to be invalid. That same year, Prime Minister Paul Keating said in his Redfern Park Speech that European settlers were responsible for the difficulties Australian Aboriginal communities continued to face: ‘We committed the murders. We took the children from their mothers. We practiced discrimination and exclusion. It was our ignorance and our prejudice’. In 1999 Parliament passed a Motion of Reconciliation drafted by Prime Minister John Howard and Aboriginal Senator Aden Ridgeway naming mistreatment of Indigenous Australians as the most "blemished chapter in our national history".
A great many indigenous Australians have been prominent in sport and the arts. Several styles of Aboriginal art have developed in modern times, including the watercolour paintings of Albert Namatjira's Hermannsburg School, and the acrylic Papunya Tula "dot art" movement. The Western Desert Art Movement became a globally renowned 20th-century art movement. Oodgeroo Noonuccal (1920–1995) was a famous Aboriginal poet, writer and rights activist credited with publishing the first Aboriginal book of verse: We Are Going (1964). Sally Morgan's novel My Place was considered a breakthrough memoir in terms of bringing indigenous stories to wider notice. Leading Aboriginal intellectuals Marcia Langton (First Australians, 2008) and Noel Pearson ("Up From the Mission", 2009) are active contemporary contributors to Australian literature. 1955's Jedda, was the first Australian feature film to star Aboriginal actors in lead roles and the first to be entered at the Cannes Film Festival. 1976's The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith directed by Fred Schepisi was an award-winning historical drama from a book by Thomas Keneally about the tragic story of an Aboriginal Bushranger. The canon of films related to Indigenous Australians also increased over the period of the 1990s and early 21st century. In 2006, Rolf de Heer's Ten Canoes became the first major feature film to be shot in an indigenous language and the film was recognised at Cannes and elsewhere. In sport Evonne Goolagong Cawley became the world number-one ranked tennis player in 1971 and won 14 Grand Slam titles during her career. In 1973 Arthur Beetson became the first Indigenous Australian to captain his country in any sport when he first led the Australian National rugby league team, the Kangaroos. In 1982, Mark Ella became captain of the Australia national rugby union team. Olympic gold medalist Cathy Freeman lit the Olympic flame at the 2000 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Sydney.
In the early 21st century, much of indigenous Australia continued to suffer lower standards of health and education than non-indigenous Australia. In 2007, the Close the Gap campaign was launched by Olympic champions Cathy Freeman and Ian Thorpe with the aim of achieving Indigenous health equality within 25 years. In 2007, Prime Minister John Howard and Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough launched the Northern Territory National Emergency Response. In response to the Little Children are Sacred Report into allegations of child abuse among indigenous communities in the Territory, the government banned alcohol in prescribed communities in the Northern Territory; quarantined a percentage of welfare payments for essential goods purchasing; despatched additional police and medical personnel to the region; and suspended the permit system for access to indigenous communities.
During much of the twentieth century, Australian governments had removed many aboriginal children from their families. This practice did great damage to the Aboriginal people, culturally and emotionally, giving rise to the term stolen generations to describe these families. Since the publication in 1997 of a federal government report, Bringing Them Home all state governments have followed the recommendation of the report in issuing formal apologies for their past practices to the Aboriginal people, as have many local governments. The Howard government refused to make such an apology on behalf of the federal government, despite pleas from the Aboriginal people and from many sections of the wider community, saying that it implied intergenerational guilt on modern non-indigenous Australia. However, the new government under Kevin Rudd led a formal bi-partisan apology on 13 February 2008. |
History of Australia (1945–present) | Republicanism
In the early 21st century, Australia remains a constitutional monarchy under the Constitution of Australia adopted in 1901, with the duties of the monarch performed by a Governor-General selected by the Australian Government. Australian republicanism which had been a feature of the 1890s faded away during the First World War. Support for the Monarchy of Australia peaked during the Menzies years with the wildly successful 1954 tour by Queen Elizabeth II. Prince Charles attended school in Australia during the 1960s. The issue of a republic did not arise again until the 1970s. In the 1990s it was brought to the forefront of national debate by Prime Minister Paul Keating, who promised in 1993 to introduce an "Australian federal republic" by the centenary of Federation in 2001.
The Howard government called a Constitutional Convention to examine the issue in 1998. Delegates included appointees and elected representatives representing republicans, monarchists and neutral parties. The Convention proposed a republican model and a referendum was called for the approval of the Australian electorate. The referendum held on 6 November 1999 failed to achieve the support of either a majority of voters or a majority of states. The national vote of the electors in favour of Australia becoming a republic was 45.13%, with 54.87% against.
The Australian Labor Party advocated for the republic, while the Liberals permitted members to campaign for either side. Notable campaigners for the republic included all the living former Labor Prime Ministers and former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser and incumbent Treasurer Peter Costello. Notable Monarchists included Prime Minister John Howard, Justice Michael Kirby of the High Court of Australia, former Labor opposition leader Bill Hayden and Liberal Aboriginal elder Neville Bonner. Future leaders of the Liberal Party Malcolm Turnbull who led the Australian Republic Movement and Tony Abbott who supported Australians for Constitutional Monarchy took opposing views.
Justice Michael Kirby (a monarchist and leading figure in progressive Australian jurisprudence) ascribed the failure of the republic referendum to ten factors: lack of bi-partisanship; undue haste; a perception that the republic was supported by big city elites; a "denigration" of monarchists as "unpatriotic" by republicans; the adoption of an inflexible republican model by the convention; concerns about the specific model proposed (chiefly the ease with which a Prime Minister could dismiss a president); a republican strategy of using big "names" attached to the Whitlam era to promote their cause; strong opposition to the proposal in the smaller states; a counter-productive pro-republican bias in the media; and an instinctive caution among the Australian electorate regarding Constitutional change.
Some republicans blamed the conservative and monarchist Prime Minister John Howard (elected in 1996), whose leadership certainly did not aid the republican cause. But there were other significant factors, including a split between "minimalist" republicans who wanted an Australian president to be chosen by the federal Parliament (as happens in, for example, Germany), and more "radical" republicans who wanted a directly elected president, as in the Irish Republic. Public opinion suggested that a republic would only be acceptable if a president was directly elected. Since the referendum proposal was for an indirectly elected president, many radicals opposed it.
The Gillard government which took power in a hung parliament following the 2010 Australian Election has indicated an intention not to revisit the issue of a vote for an Australian republic during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, while the Opposition Liberal-National Coalition is led by Tony Abbott, a supporter of the constitutional monarchy. Cultural interest in the Royal Family endures, with 7 million Australians (one third of the population) tuning in to watch the Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in April 2011.
In 2011, Australian public support for a republic fell to its lowest level since March 1994. Support for a republic outright was 41%, with support rising to 48% of respondents in a scenario with Charles on the throne and his wife, Camilla, as princess consort. |
History of Australia (1945–present) | Military engagements in the late 20th century
Following the Vietnam War, Australian military forces were largely kept at home through the rest of the 1970s and 1980s, other than service in United Nations peacekeeping missions. RAAF helicopters operated in the Sinai; and Australian forces assisted in a British Commonwealth operation when Zimbabwe won its independence; as well as a similar operation in Namibia.
Bob Hawke was Prime Minister at the time of the Fall of the Berlin Wall and end of the Cold War which ushered in a new era of international relations. Royal Australian Navy warships were deployed to the Gulf War by the Hawke government in 1991 and remained in the region to enforce UN-imposed sanctions against Iraq. |
History of Australia (1945–present) | Peacekeeping
Australian forces were very active in UN peacekeeping through the 1990s. In 1993, Foreign Minister Gareth Evans was active in the search for a settlement to ongoing troubles in Cambodia in the aftermath of the genocidal 1970s Pol Pot regime. Australia contributed the force commander and the operation's communications component to the UN operation. In the ultimately unsuccessful Somalia intervention, a battalion-level Australian contingent was employed to aid in the delivery of humanitarian aid in the Baidoa area. In 1994, Australia deployed medical staff to the UN force in Rwanda sent to deal with the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide. A UN Peacekeeping engagement in Bougainville began in 1997, to aid in resolving the long-running conflict between the Papua New Guinea government Bougainville separatists.
There have been a number of other peacekeeping and stabilisation operations: notably in Bougainville, including Operation Bel Isi (1998–2003); as well as Operation Helpem Fren and the Australian led Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) in the early 2000s; and the 2006 East Timorese crisis |
History of Australia (1945–present) | East Timor
Australia led an important international military mission to East Timor in 1999. Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and annexed the former Portuguese colony. Successive Australian governments, concerned to maintain good relations with Indonesia, had accepted Indonesia control of the territory, however the fall of Indonesian President Suharto and a shift in Australian policy by the Howard government in 1998 precipitated a proposal for a referendum on the question of independence. New Indonesian President B. J. Habibie was prepared to consider a change of status for East Timor. In late 1998, Australian Prime Minister John Howard with Foreign Minister Alexander Downer drafted a letter Indonesia setting out a major change in Australian policy, suggesting that the East Timor be given a chance to vote on independence within a decade. The letter upset President Habibie, who saw it as implying Indonesia was a "colonial power" and he decided in response to announce a snap referendum. A UN sponsored referendum held in August 1999 showed overwhelming approval for independence. After the result was announced, violent clashes, instigated by a suspected anti-independence militia, sparked a humanitarian and security crisis in the region.
John Howard consulted UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and lobbied U. S. President Bill Clinton to support an Australian led peace keeper force to end the violence. Australia, who contributed 5,500 personnel and the force commander, Major General Peter Cosgrove, to the UN-backed International Force East Timor and began deploying on 20 September 1999 and successfully restored order. The operation had been politically and militarily tense. Australia re-deployed frontline combat aircraft northward and detected an Indonesian submarine within the vicinity of Dili Harbour as INTERFET forces approached. While the intervention was ultimately successful, Australian-Indonesian relations would take several years to recover. |
History of Australia (1945–present) | Al-Qaeda
In 1998, a wealthy dissident Saudi Islamist, Osama bin Laden, declared a fatwa calling for the killing of "Americans and their allies -- civilians and military... in any country in which it is possible to do it" in order to bring to an end the ongoing enforcement of the sanctions against Iraq and presence of US troops in the Arabian Peninsula, thus bringing Australians into the line of fire in what would latterly grow to be defined as the War on Terror. Following the 11 September terrorist attacks by Al-Qaeda in 2001, On 14 September 2001, the Australian Government cited the terrorist attacks against the US as sufficient basis for invoking the mutual-defence clauses of the ANZUS Treaty. This was the first time the Treaty's clauses on acting to meet a common danger had been invoked since it was enacted in 1952.
The Howard government committed troops to the Afghanistan War (with bi-partisan support) and the Iraq War (meeting with the disapproval of other political parties). SAS troops formed the most high-profile part of Operation Slipper, Australia's contribution to the invading force in the 2001 United States war in Afghanistan. A small number of Australians, including David Hicks, were captured in and around the Afghan Theatre having spent time training or fighting with Al-Qaeda aligned Islamist paramilitaries. Islamists following the Al-Qaeda modus operandi bombed a nightclub in Bali in 2002 and killed 88 Australian civilians. The following year, the Iraq War was launched by a U.S.-British led coalition to overthrow the Saddam Hussein government of Iraq for its non-compliance with the 1991 Gulf War Peace Treaty. Australian contribution to the 2003 invasion of Iraq lasted until 2009 and was highly controversial. Following the death of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden at the hands of US forces in May 2011, Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced that Australian forces would remain in Afghanistan and said that Bin Laden's death offered a "small measure of justice" to the families of the 105 Australians who been killed in Al-Qaeda attacks in New York, Bali, London and Mumbai since the commencement of the conflict. As of May 2011, a further 24 Australian military personnel had been killed while serving in the Afghanistan conflict (including one with the British Armed Forces). |
History of Australia (1945–present) | Australia in the 21st century
John Howard served as Prime Minister from 1996 until 2007, the second-longest prime ministerial term after Robert Menzies. One of the first programs instigated by the Howard government was a nationwide gun control scheme, following a mass shooting at Port Arthur. The government sought to reduce Australia's government deficit and introduced industrial relations reforms, particularly as regards efficiency on the waterfront. After the 1996 election, Howard and treasurer Peter Costello proposed a goods and services tax (GST) which they successfully took to the electorate in 1998. In 1999, Australia led a United Nations force into East Timor to help establish democracy and independence for that nation, following political violence.
The government also accelerated the pace of privatisation, beginning with the government-owned telecommunications corporation, Telstra. Howard's government continued some elements of the foreign policy of its predecessors, based on relations with four key countries: the United States, Japan, China, and Indonesia. The Howard administration strongly supported US engagement in the Asia-Pacific region.
Australia hosted the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney to great international acclaim. The Opening Ceremony featured a host of iconic Australian imagery and history and the flame ceremony honoured women athletes, including swimmer Dawn Fraser, with Aboriginal runner Cathy Freeman lit the Olympic flame. At the Closing Ceremony, President of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch, declared: |
History of Australia (1945–present) | "I am proud and happy to proclaim that you have presented to the world the best Olympic Games ever." |
History of Australia (1945–present) | Few international tourists came to Melbourne in 1956 for the Olympics that year, but Sydney gained global attention for a well-attended, efficiently organised world-class event. Prince Philip, representing Queen Elizabeth II opened the 1956 games but neither was invited in 2000, as the spirit of republicanism was too strong. In the long run, as Toohey (2008) reports, many of the hoped-for benefits failed to materialize. Nationwide levels of participation in physical activity and sport did not rise, although passive spectatorship (such as TV watching) did increase. Many of the costly facilities built for the games remained underutilized in their wake. |
History of Australia (1945–present) | Sydney played host to other important world events over the decade including the 2003 Rugby World Cup, the APEC Leaders conference of 2007 and Catholic World Youth Day 2008. Melbourne hosted the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
In 2001, Australia celebrated its Centenary of Federation, with a program of events, including the creation of the Centenary Medal to honour people who have made a contribution to Australian society or government.
The Howard government expanded immigration overall but instituted often controversial tough immigration laws to discourage unauthorised arrivals of boat people. While Howard was a strong supporter of traditional links to the Commonwealth and to the United States alliance, trade with Asia, particularly China, continued to increase dramatically, and Australia endured an extended period of prosperity. Howard's term in office coincided with the 2001 11 September attacks. In the aftermath of this event, the government committed troops to the Afghanistan War (with bi-partisan support) and the Iraq War (meeting with the disapproval of other political parties).
Southern Australia was affected by a very severe drought, through much of the first decade of the 21st century. By late 2006 water storage throughout southern Australia were at record low levels. Severe restrictions on urban water usage were put in place in every state capital city (except Hobart and Darwin) in 2005–06, and irrigation in the Murray–Darling basin was heavily curtailed. Consequently, issues relating to fresh water supply became an important topic for political discussion, though the economic impact of the drought was felt most keenly only in Australia's sparsely populated agricultural areas.
Howard lost his substantial majority at the 1998 Federal election, improved on it at the 2001 Federal election and at the 2004 election against Labor's Mark Latham. The government however resoundingly lost the 2007 Federal election to the Labor Party led by Kevin Rudd with a wave of support for change and a slogan for "new leadership" for the country.
Kevin Rudd held the office until June 2010, when he was replaced following internal Labor Party coup by his colleague and deputy Julia Gillard. Rudd used his term in office to symbolically ratify the Kyoto Protocol and lead an historic parliamentary apology to the Stolen Generation (those Indigenous Australians who had been removed from their parents by the state during the early 20th century to the 1960s). The mandarin Chinese speaking former diplomat also pursued energetic foreign policy and initially sought to instigate a price on carbon in the Australian economy to combat global warming. His prime ministership coincided with the initial phases of the Financial crisis of 2007–2010, to which his government responded through a large package of economic stimulus – the management of which later proved to be controversial.
The Black Saturday bushfires struck Victoria on and around Saturday 7 February 2009. The fires occurred during extreme bushfire-weather conditions, and resulted in Australia's highest ever loss of life from a bushfire; 173 people died and 414 were injured as a result of the fires.
Amidst increasing controversy on management of stimulus spending over policy directions on taxation, immigration and climate change, the Labor Party replaced Rudd with Julia Gillard, who became the first woman Prime Minister of Australia and narrowly retained office against the Liberal-National Coalition led by Tony Abbott, at the 2010 Federal election by securing the support of independent members of the first hung parliament in Australia since the 1940 election. |
History of Australia (1945–present) | The drought was broken definitively by severe flooding associated with the La Niña weather effect in the summer of 2010–2011. Queensland in particular suffered dramatic flooding which swept through parts of the capital city of Brisbane and caused some deaths and serious financial loss. Soon after tropical cyclone Yasi struck the already beleaguered coast.
Following two and half decades of economic reform and amidst booming trade with Asia, Australia—in stark contrast to most other Western nations—avoided recession following the 2008 collapse of financial markets. Following the 2010 election, the Gillard government entered an alliance with the Australian Greens and was destabilized by breaking an election promise not to introduce a carbon tax, by leadership rivalry and by lacking the numbers to push some controversial legislation through the Parliament. Nevertheless, the cross-bench alliance continued to operate and though facing declining poll support and firm opposition from the Liberal-National Coalition, in October the government successfully passed its Clean Energy Bill 2011 aimed to restructure the Australian economy in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with global warming by increasing costs to industry for carbon emissions. A carbon tax was introduced in Australia on 1 July 2012. Kevin Rudd was reinstated as prime minister in a Labor leadership spill on 27 June 2013. After the 2013 Australian General Election, Rudd lost the role of Prime Minister to Tony Abbott, the Liberal Leader. On 15 December 2013, 95% of the Australian military had withdrawn from Afghanistan with the remaining 5% presently training locals in Kabul. The Clean Energy Bill 2011 was repealed by the Abbott government on 17 July 2014, backdated to 1 July 2014. Malcolm Turnbull of the Liberal Party of Australia was elected as Tony Abbott's successor and served as Prime Minister from 2015 until 2018 where he resigned and was replaced by Scott Morrison.
The last months of 2019 and into early 2020 were marked by intense bushfires on the east coast that became known as the "Black Summer". The fires directly killed 34 people. Approximately 9,352 buildings were destroyed. The fires are very likely Australia's costliest natural disaster at about A$100 billion. They were also notable for the smoke that enveloped areas within Australia well away from the fires for months, and even places 12,000 km (7,500 mi) overseas, reaching as far as South America. Air quality dropped to hazardous levels in all southern and eastern states. Health researcher's modelling indicated that 80 per cent of Australians were affected by bushfire smoke at some point over the fire season. 445 people may have died indirectly from smoke inhalation.
Late January 2020 was also notable for the first local infections of a new virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This led into the world-wide COVID-19 pandemic, and the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia that by the end of 2020 had killed 909 in Australia, but as of 5 February 2021, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) had caused more than 2.29 million deaths world-wide.
In the early morning hours of 9 September 2022 Australia Eastern Standard Time, Queen Elizabeth II died. The Queen was succeeded by her eldest son, King Charles III, who now reigns as the King of Australia. |
History of Australia (1945–present) | See also
History of broadcasting in Australia |
History of Australia (1945–present) | References
Further reading
References
Bambrick, Susan ed. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Australia (1994)
Basset, Jan. The Oxford Illustrated Dictionary of Australian History (1998)
Davison, Graeme, John Hirst, and Stuart Macintyre, eds. The Oxford Companion to Australian History (2001) online at many academic libraries; also excerpt and text search
Day, David. Claiming a Continent: A New History of Australia (2001);
Dennis, Peter, Jeffrey Grey, Ewan Morris, and Robin Prior. The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History. 1996
Jupp, James, ed. The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, its People and their Origins (2nd ed. 2002) 960pp excerpt and text search
Macintyre, Stuart. A Concise History of Australia. (2009) excerpt and text search
O'Shane, Pat et al. Australia: The Complete Encyclopedia (2001)
Robinson GM, Loughran RJ, and Tranter PJ. Australia and New Zealand: economy, society and environment.(2000)
Shaw, John, ed. Collins Australian Encyclopedia (1984)
Welsh, Frank. Australia: A New History of the Great Southern Land (2008) |
History of Australia (1945–present) | History
Bennett, Bruce et al. The Oxford Literary History of Australia (1999)
Bennett, Tony, and David Carter. Culture in Australia: Policies, Publics and Programs (2001) excerpt and text search
Bolton, Geoffrey. The Oxford History of Australia: Volume 5: 1942–1995. The Middle Way (2005)
Bramble, Tom. Trade Unionism in Australia: A History from Flood to Ebb Tide (2008) excerpt and text search
Bridge, Carl ed., Munich to Vietnam: Australia's Relations with Britain and the United States since the 1930s, Melbourne University Press 1991
Carey, Hilary. Believing in Australia: A Cultural History of Religions (1996)
Edwards, John. Curtin's Gift: Reinterpreting Australia's Greatest Prime Minister, (2005) online edition Archived 23 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine
Firth, Stewart. Australia in International Politics: An Introduction to Australian Foreign Policy (2005) online edition
Grant, Ian. A Dictionary of Australian Military History – from Colonial Times to the Gulf War (1992)
Hearn, Mark, Harry Knowles, and Ian Cambridge. One Big Union: A History of the Australian Workers Union 1886–1994 (1998)
Hutton, Drew, and Libby Connors. History of the Australian Environment Movement (1999) excerpt and text search
Kelly, Paul. The End of Certainty: Power, Politics and Business in Australia, (1994), history of the 1980s
Kleinert, Sylvia. and Margo Neale. The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture (2001)
Lee, David. Search for Security: The Political Economy of Australia's Postwar Foreign and Defence Policy (1995)
Lowe, David. Menzies and the 'Great World Struggle': Australia's Cold War 1948–54 (1999) online edition
Martin, A. W. Robert Menzies: A Life (2 vol 1993–99), online at ACLS e-books
McIntyre, Stuart. The History Wars (2nd ed. 2004), historiography
McLachlan, Noel. Waiting for the Revolution: A History of Australian Nationalism (1989)
McLean, David. "Australia in the Cold War: a Historiographical Review." International History Review (2001) 23(2): 299–321. ISSN 0707-5332
McLean, David. "From British Colony to American Satellite? Australia and the USA during the Cold War", Australian Journal of Politics & History (2006) 52 (1), 64–79. Rejects satellite model. online at Blackwell-Synergy
Megalogenis, George. The Longest Decade (2nd ed. 2009), politics 1990–2008
Moran, Albert. Historical Dictionary of Australian Radio and Television (2007)
Moran, Anthony. Australia: Nation, Belonging, and Globalization Routledge, 2004 online edition
Murphy, John. Harvest of Fear: A History of Australia's Vietnam War (1993)
Watt, Alan. The Evolution of Australian Foreign Policy 1938–1965, Cambridge University Press, 1967
Webby, Elizabeth, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Australian Literature (2006) |
Australia national cricket team | The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in men's international cricket. As the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing in the first ever Test match in 1877, the team also plays One-Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket, participating in both the first ODI, against England in the 1970–71 season and the first T20I, against New Zealand in the 2004–05 season, winning both games. The team draws its players from teams playing in the Australian domestic competitions – the Sheffield Shield, the Australian domestic limited-overs cricket tournament and the Big Bash League. Australia are the current ICC World Test Championship and ICC Cricket World Cup champions. They are regarded as most successful cricket teams in the history of Cricket.
The national team has played 866 Test matches, winning 414, losing 232, 218 draw and 2 Tie. As of May 2022, Australia is ranked first in the ICC Test Championship on 128 rating points. Australia is the most successful team in Test cricket history, in terms of overall wins, win–loss ratio and wins percentage. Australia have won the ICC World Test Championship once, defeating India in 2023.
Test rivalries include The Ashes (with England), the Border–Gavaskar Trophy (with India), the Frank Worrell Trophy (with the West Indies), the Trans-Tasman Trophy (with New Zealand), and with South Africa.
The team has played 1,000 ODI matches, winning 609, losing 348, tying 9 and with 34 ending in a no-result. As of May 2022, Australia is ranked third in the ICC ODI Championship on 107 rating points, though have been ranked first for 141 of 185 months since its introduction in 2002. Australia is one of the most successful team in ODI cricket history, winning more than 60 per cent of their matches, with a record eight World Cup final appearances (1975, 1987, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2015 and 2023) and have won the World Cup a record six times: 1987, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2015 and 2023. Australia is the first (and only) team to appear in four consecutive World Cup finals (1996, 1999, 2003 and 2007), surpassing the old record of three consecutive World Cup appearances by the West Indies (1975, 1979 and 1983) and the first and only team to win 3 consecutive World Cups (1999, 2003 and 2007). The team was undefeated in 34 consecutive World Cup matches until the 2011 Cricket World Cup where Pakistan beat them by 4 wickets in the Group stage. It is also the second team to win a World Cup (2015) on home soil, after India (2011). Australia have also won the ICC Champions Trophy twice (2006 and 2009) making them the first and the only team to become back to back winners in the Champions Trophy tournaments.
The national team has played 195 Twenty20 International matches, winning 105, losing 83, tying 3 and with 4 ending in a no-result. As of May 2022, Australia is ranked fifth in the ICC T20I Championship on 251 rating points. Australia have won the ICC Men's T20 World Cup once, defeating New Zealand in the 2021 Final.
On 12 January 2019, Australia won the first ODI against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground by 34 runs, to record their 1,000th win in international cricket.
Australia are the reigning World Test Champions and World Cup Champions, winning both titles in 2023, the former against India at The Oval in London and the latter at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, also against India. |
Australia national cricket team | History
Early history
The Australian cricket team participated in the first Test match at the MCG in 1877, when defeating an English team by 45 runs, allowed Charles Bannerman to make the first Test century, a score of 165, allowing the team to win. retired hurt. Test cricket, which only occurred between Australia and England at the time, was limited by the long distance between the two countries, which would take several months by sea. Despite Australia's much smaller population, the team was very competitive in early games, producing stars such as Jack Blackham, Billy Murdoch, Fred "The Demon" Spofforth, George Bonnor, Percy McDonnell, George Giffen and Charles "The Terror" Turner. Most cricketers at the time were either from New South Wales or Victoria, with the notable exception of George Giffen, the star South Australian all-rounder.
One of the highlights of Australia's early history was the 1882 Test match against England, which began at The Oval. In this match, Fred Spofforth took 7/44 in the game's fourth innings, saving the match by preventing England from making their 85-run target.
After this match, The Sporting Times, a major newspaper in London at the time, printed a mock obituary in which the death of English cricket was proclaimed and the announcement made that "the body was cremated and the ashes taken to Australia."
The major newspaper was also the start of the famous Ashes series in which Australia and England play a series of Test matches to decide the holder of the Ashes. To this day, the contest is one of the fiercest rivalries in sport. |
Australia national cricket team | Golden age
The 'Golden Age' of Australian Test cricket occurred around the end of the 19th century, concluding to the beginning of the 20th century with the team under the captaincy of Joe Darling, Monty Noble and Clem Hill, winning eight of ten tours. It is considered to have lasted from the 1897–98 English tour of Australia and the 1910–11 South African tour of Australia.
Outstanding batsmen such as Joe Darling, Clem Hill, and Reggie Duff, all helped Australia to become the dominant cricketing nation for most of this period.
Victor Trumper became one of Australia's first sporting heroes, who was widely considered Australia's greatest batsman before Bradman became one of the most popular players. He played a record (at the time) of a number of Tests at 49, and scored 3163 runs at a high for the time average of 39.04. He died in 1915 at the age of 37 from kidney disease, causing national mourning. The Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, in its obituary for him, called him Australia's greatest batsman: "Of all the great Australian batsmen Victor Trumper was by general consent the best and most brilliant."
The years leading up to the start of World War was marred by conflict between the players, led by Clem Hill, Victor Trumper and Frank Laver, the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket, led by Peter McAlister, who was attempting to gain more control of tours from the players.
This led to six leading players (the so-called "Big Six") walking out on the 1912 Triangular Tournament in England, with Australia fielding what was generally considered a second-rate side. This was the last series before the war, and no more cricket was played by Australia for eight years; Tibby Cotter was killed in Palestine during the war. |
Australia national cricket team | Inter-war period
Test cricket resumed in the 1920/21 season in Australia with a touring English team captained by Johnny Douglas losing all five Tests to Australia, captained by the "Big Ship" Warwick Armstrong. Several players from before the war, including Warwick Armstrong, Charlie Macartney, Charles Kelleway, Warren Bardsley and the wicket-keeper Sammy Carter, were instrumental in the team's success, as well as new players Herbie Collins, Jack Ryder, Bert Oldfield, the spinner Arthur Mailey and the so-called "twin destroyers" Jack Gregory and Ted McDonald. The team continued its success on the 1921 tour of England, winning three out of the five Tests in Warwick Armstrong's last series. The side was, on the whole, inconsistent in the latter half of the 1920s, losing its first home Ashes series since the 1911–12 season in 1928–29. |
Australia national cricket team | Bradman era
The 1930 tour of England heralded a new age of success for the Australian team. The team, led by Bill Woodfull – the "Great Un-bowlable" – featured legends of the game including Bill Ponsford, Stan McCabe, Clarrie Grimmett and the young pair of Archie Jackson and Don Bradman. Bradman was the outstanding batsman of the series, scoring a record 974 runs, including one century, two double centuries and one triple century, a massive score of 334 at Leeds which including 309 runs in a day. Jackson died of tuberculosis at the age of 23 three years later, after playing eight Tests. The team was widely considered unstoppable, winning nine of its next ten Tests.
The 1932–33 England tour of Australia is considered one of the most infamous episodes of cricket, due to the England team's use of bodyline, where captain Douglas Jardine instructed his bowlers Bill Voce and Harold Larwood to bowl fast, short-pitched deliveries aimed at the bodies of the Australian batsmen. The tactic, although effective, was widely considered by Australian crowds as vicious and unsporting. Injuries to Bill Woodfull, who was struck over the heart, and Bert Oldfield, who received a fractured skull (although from a non-bodyline ball), exacerbated the situation, almost causing a full-scale riot from the 50 000 fans at the Adelaide Oval for the third Test. The conflict almost escalated into a diplomatic incident between the two countries, as leading Australian political figures, including the Governor of South Australia, Alexander Hore-Ruthven, protested to their English counterparts. The series ended in a 4–1 win for England but the bodyline tactics used were banned the year after.
The Australian team put the result of this series behind them, winning their next tour of England in 1934. The team was led by Bill Woodfull on his final tour and was notably dominated by Ponsford and Bradman, who twice put on partnerships of over 380 runs, with Bradman once again scoring a triple century at Leeds. The bowling was dominated by the spin pair of Bill O'Reilly and Clarrie Grimmett, who took 53 wickets between them, with O'Reilly twice taking seven-wicket hauls.
Sir Donald Bradman is widely considered the greatest batsman of all time. He dominated the sport from 1930 until his retirement in 1948, setting new records for the highest score in a Test innings (334 vs England at Headingley in 1930), the most runs (6996), the most centuries (29), the most double centuries and the highest Test and first-class batting averages. His record for the highest Test batting average – 99.94 – has never been beaten. It is almost 40 runs per innings above the next highest average. He would have finished with an average of over 100 runs per innings if he had not been dismissed for a duck in his last Test. He was knighted in 1949 for services to cricket. He is generally considered one of Australia's all-time greatest sporting heroes, if not the greatest.
Test cricket was again interrupted by war, with the last Test series in 1938 made notable by Len Hutton scoring a world record 364 for England, and with Chuck Fleetwood-Smith conceding 298 runs in England's world record total of 7/903. Ross Gregory, a notable young batsman who played two Tests before the war, was killed in the war. |
Australia national cricket team | Post-war era
The team continued its success after the end of the Second World War with the first Test (also Australia's first against New Zealand) being played in the 1945–46 season against New Zealand. Australia was by far the most successful team of the 1940s, being undefeated throughout the decade, winning two Ashes series against England and its first Test series against India. The team capitalised on its ageing stars Bradman, Sid Barnes, Bill Brown and Lindsay Hassett while new talent, including Ian Johnson, Don Tallon, Arthur Morris, Neil Harvey, Bill Johnston and the fast bowling pair of Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller, who all made their debut in the latter half of the 1940s, and were to form the basis of the team for a good part of the next decade. The team that Don Bradman led to England in 1948 gained the moniker The Invincibles, after going through the tour without losing a single game. Of 31 first-class games played during the tour, they won 23 and drew 8, including winning the five-match Test series 4–0 with one draw. The tour was particularly notable for the fourth Test of the series, in which Australia won by seven wickets chasing a target of 404, setting a new record for the highest run chase in Test cricket, with Arthur Morris and Bradman both scoring centuries, as well as for the final Test in the series, Bradman's last, where he finished with a duck in his last innings after needing only four runs to secure a career average of 100.
Australia was less successful in the 1950s, losing three consecutive Ashes series to England, including a horrendous 1956 Tour of England, where the 'spin twins' Laker and Lock destroyed Australia, taking 61 wickets between them, including Laker taking 19 wickets in the game (a first-class record) at Headingley, a game dubbed Laker's Match.
However, the team rebounded to win five consecutive series in the latter half of the 1950s, first under the leadership of Ian Johnson, then Ian Craig and Richie Benaud. The series against the West Indies in the 1960–61 season was notable for the Tied Test in the first game at the Gabba, which was the first in Test cricket. Australia ended up winning the series 2–1 after a hard-fought series that was praised for its excellent standards and sense of fair play. Stand-out players in that series as well as through the early part of the 1960s were Richie Benaud, who took a then-record number of wickets as a leg-spinner and who also captained Australia in 28 Tests, including 24 without defeat; Alan Davidson, who was a notable fast-bowler and also became the first player to take 10 wickets and make 100 runs in the same game in the first Test; Bob Simpson, who also later captained Australia for two different periods of time; Colin McDonald, the first-choice opening batsman for most of the 1950s and early '60s; Norm O'Neill, who made 181 in the Tied Test; Neil Harvey, towards the end of his long career; and Wally Grout, an excellent wicket-keeper who died at the age of 41. |
Australia national cricket team | World Series Cricket and Restructuring
The Centenary Test was played in March 1977 at the MCG to celebrate 100 years since the first Test was played. Australia won the match by 45 runs, an identical result to the first Test match.
In May 1977, Kerry Packer announced he was organising a breakaway competition – World Series Cricket (WSC) – after the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) refused to accept Channel Nine's bid to gain exclusive television rights to Australia's Test matches in 1976. Packer secretly signed leading international cricketers to his competition, including 28 Australians. Almost all of the Australian Test team at the time were signed to WSC – notable exceptions including Gary Cosier, Geoff Dymock, Kim Hughes and Craig Serjeant – and the Australian selectors were forced to pick what was generally considered a third-rate team from players in the Sheffield Shield. Former player Bob Simpson, who had retired 10 years previously after a conflict with the board, was recalled at the age of 41 to captain Australia against India. Jeff Thomson was named deputy in a team that included seven debutants. Australia managed to win the series 3–2, mainly thanks to the batting of Simpson, who scored 539 runs, including two centuries; and the bowling of Wayne Clark, who took 28 wickets. Australia lost the next series 3–1 against the West Indies, which was fielding a full strength team; and also lost the 1978–79 Ashes series 5–1, the team's worst Ashes result in Australia. Graham Yallop was named as captain for the Ashes, with Kim Hughes taking over for the 1979–80 tour of India. Rodney Hogg took 41 wickets in his debut series, an Australian record. WSC players returned to the team for the 1979–80 season after a settlement between the ACB and Kerry Packer. Greg Chappell was reinstated as captain.
The underarm bowling incident of 1981 occurred when, in an ODI against New Zealand, Greg Chappell instructed his brother Trevor to bowl an underarm delivery to New Zealand batsman Brian McKechnie with New Zealand needing a six to tie off the last ball. The aftermath of the incident soured political relations between Australia and New Zealand, with several leading political and cricketing figures calling it "unsportsmanlike" and "not in the spirit of cricket".
Australia continued its success up until the early 1980s, built around the Chappell brothers, Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson and Rod Marsh. The 1980s was a period of relative mediocrity after the turmoil caused by the Rebel Tours of South Africa and the subsequent retirement of several key players. The rebel tours were funded by the South African Cricket Board to compete against its national side, which had been banned—along with many other sports, including Olympic athletes—from competing internationally, due to the South African government's racist apartheid policies. Some of Australia's best players were poached: Graham Yallop, Carl Rackemann, Terry Alderman, Rodney Hogg, Kim Hughes, John Dyson, Greg Shipperd, Steve Rixon and Steve Smith amongst others. These players were handed three-year suspensions by the Australian Cricket Board which greatly weakened the player pool for the national sides, as most were either current representative players or on the verge of gaining honours. |
Australia national cricket team | Golden era
The so-called 'Golden Era' of Australian cricket occurred around the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. This was a period in which Australian cricket recovered from the disruption caused by World Series Cricket to create arguably the strongest Test team in history.
Under the captaincy of Allan Border and the new fielding standards put in place by new coach Bob Simpson, the team was restructured and gradually rebuilt their cricketing stocks. Some of the rebel players returned to the national side after serving their suspensions, including Trevor Hohns, Carl Rackemann and Terry Alderman. During these lean years, it was the batsmen Border, David Boon, Dean Jones, the young Steve Waugh and the bowling feats of Alderman, Bruce Reid, Craig McDermott, Merv Hughes and to a lesser extent, Geoff Lawson who kept the Australian side afloat.
With the emergence of players such as Ian Healy, Mark Taylor, Geoff Marsh, Mark Waugh, and Greg Matthews in the late 1980s, Australia was on the way back from the doldrums. Winning the Ashes in 1989, the Australians got a roll on beating Pakistan, Sri Lanka and then followed it up with another Ashes win on home soil in 1991. The Australians went on to the West Indies and had their chances but ended up losing the series. However, they bounced back and beat the Indians in their next Test series; with the retirement of the champion but defensive Allan Border, a new era of attacking cricket had begun under the leadership of firstly Mark Taylor and then Steve Waugh.
The 1990s and early 21st century were arguably Australia's most successful periods, unbeaten in all Ashes series played bar the famous 2005 series and achieving a hat-trick of World Cups. This success has been attributed to the restructuring of the team and system by Border, successive aggressive captains, and the effectiveness of several key players, most notably Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, Michael Hussey and Ricky Ponting. |
Australia national cricket team | 21st century
Following the 2006–07 Ashes series which Australia won 5 nil, Australia slipped in the rankings after the retirements of key players. In the 2013/14 Ashes series, Australia again defeated England 5 nil and climbed back to third in the ICC International Test rankings. In February/March 2014, Australia beat South Africa, the number 1 team in the world, 2–1 and overtook them to return to the top of the rankings. In 2015, Australia won the World Cup, losing just one game for the tournament.
As of December 2020, Australia are ranked first in the ICC Test Championship, fourth in the ICC ODI Championship and second in the ICC T20I Championship. |
Australia national cricket team | 2018 ball-tampering incident
On 25 March 2018, during the third Test match against hosts South Africa; players Cameron Bancroft, Steve Smith, David Warner and the leadership group of the team were implicated in a ball tampering scandal. Smith and Bancroft admitted to conspiring to alter the condition of the ball by rubbing it with a piece of adhesive tape containing abrasive granules picked up from the ground (it was later revealed that sandpaper was used). Smith stated that the purpose was to gain an advantage by unlawfully changing the ball's surface in order to generate reverse swing. Bancroft had been filmed tampering with the ball and, after being informed he had been caught, he was seen to transfer a yellow object from a pocket to the inside front of his trousers to hide the evidence. Steve Smith and David Warner were stood down as captain and vice-captain during the third Test while head coach, Darren Lehmann was suspected to have assisted Cameron Bancroft to tamper the ball. The ICC imposed a one-match ban and 100%-match-fee fine on Smith, while Bancroft was fined 75 percent of his match fee and received 3 demerit points.
Smith and Warner were both stripped of their captaincy roles by Cricket Australia and sent home from the tour (along with Bancroft). Tim Paine was appointed as captain for the fourth Test. Cricket Australia then suspended Smith and Warner from playing for 12 months and Bancroft for 9 months. Smith and Bancroft could not be considered for leadership roles for 12 months after the suspension, while Warner is banned from leadership of any Cricket Australia team for life. In the aftermath of these events, Darren Lehmann announced his resignation as head coach at the end of the series, with Justin Langer replacing him. On 8 May 2018, Tim Paine was also named as the ODI captain while Aaron Finch was reinstated as T20I captain hours later, although Finch replaced Paine as the ODI captain after the 5–0 ODI series whitewash in England in June 2018. |
Australia national cricket team | October 2018–present
On 7 October 2018, Australia played their first Test match under new coach Justin Langer and a new leadership group, which included Tim Paine as Australia's 46th Test captain. After a 1–0 loss to Pakistan in a two match Test series against Pakistan in the UAE and a 2–1 defeat against India in a four match Test series, they found success against Sri Lanka, winning the two Test match series 2–0.
In 2019, Australia played in the Cricket World Cup, where they finished second in the group stage before being knocked out by England at Edgbaston in the semi-final. Australia later went on to retain the Ashes during the 2019 Ashes series, the first time on English soil since 2001, by winning the fourth Test at Old Trafford.
In 2020–21, Australia hosted India for 3 ODIs, 3 T20Is, and 4 Tests. They won the ODI series 2–1, but lost the T20I series 2–1. Then, the two teams competed for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy which saw one of the greatest overseas Test triumphs by India in the 4th Test to win the series 2–1, with the 3rd Test being drawn.
In 2021, Australia named a 15-member squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup with regular limited overs captain Aaron Finch leading the side. In finals, they would face their trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand and win the match to claim their maiden T20 World Cup Trophy.
On 19 November 2021, Tim Paine resigned from the captaincy due to off-the-field misconduct, and was replaced by Pat Cummins, who became Australia's 47th Test captain, with Steve Smith named as his deputy. Under Pat Cummins, Australia retained 2021-22 Ashes at home by winning the series 4-0.
Australia then toured Pakistan in March 2022 for the first time since 1998 to play 3 test matches and 3 ODIs and one-off T20. Australia won all the series. Australia failed to advance to knockouts in 2022 T20 World Cup. Australia's white ball captain Finch retired from international cricket. Afterwards, Pat Cummins was made ODI captain.
2023 was a memorable year for Australia where they won their maiden ICC World Test Championship title (which made them the first team in history to win all major ICC Trophies across all formats), and retained the Ashes. In November, they won the World Cup for the 6th time, defeating the host India in the final. |
Australia national cricket team | International grounds
Australia currently plays International cricket at each of the following grounds: |
Australia national cricket team | Team colours
For Test matches, the team wears cricket whites, with an optional sweater or sweater-vest, with a green and gold V-neck for use in cold weather. The sponsor's (currently Toyota for home matches and Qantas for away matches) logo is displayed on the right side of the chest while the Cricket Australia emblem is displayed on the left. If the sweater is being worn the Cricket Australia emblem is displayed under the V-neck and the sponsor's logo is again displayed on the right side of the chest. The baggy green, the Australian Test cricket cap, is considered an essential part of the cricketing uniform and as a symbol of the national team, with new players being presented with one upon their selection in the team. The cap and the helmet both prominently display the Australian cricketing coat-of-arms instead of the Cricket Australia emblem. At the end of 2011, ASICS was named the manufacturer of the whites and limited over uniforms from Adidas, with the ASICS logo being displayed on the shirt and pants. Players may choose any manufacturer for their other gear (bat, pads, shoes, gloves, etc.).
In One Day International (ODI) cricket and Twenty20 International cricket, the team wears uniforms usually coloured green and gold, the national colours of Australia. There has been a variety of different styles and layouts used in both forms of the limited-overs game, with coloured clothing (sometimes known as "pyjamas") being introduced for World Series Cricket in the late 1970s. The Toyota or Qantas logo is prominently displayed on the shirts and other gears. The current T20I kit consists of green as the primary colour and gold as the secondary colour. The ODI is the opposite of the T20I kit, with gold as the primary colour and green as the secondary colour. However, since Australia beat New Zealand at the MCG in the 2015 Cricket World Cup wearing the gold uniform, it has also become their primary colour, with the hats used being called 'floppy gold', formerly known as 'baggy gold', a limited-overs equivalent to a baggy green. Until the early 2000s and briefly in early 2020, in ODIs, Australia wore yellow helmets, before using green helmets as in test matches.
Former suppliers were Asics (1999), ISC (2000–2001), Fila (2002–2003) and Adidas (2004–2010) among others. Before Travelex (and 3 in test matches), some of the former sponsors were XXXX (1990–1992), Coca-Cola (1993–1998), Fly Emirates (1999) and Carlton & United Breweries (2000–2001). |
Australia national cricket team | Squad
Cricket Australia released the list of their 2024–2025 national contracts on 28 March 2024. Players can still be upgraded to national contracts throughout the year by receiving 12 upgrade points. A Test is worth five points, while each ODI and T20 international is worth two.
This is a list of every active player who is contracted to Cricket Australia, has played for Australia since June 2023 or was named in the recent Test, ODI or T20I squads. Uncapped players are listed in italics. |
Australia national cricket team | David Warner appeared in all formats during this period however has retired from international cricket.
Last updated: 24th June 2024 |
Australia national cricket team | Forms – This refers to the forms they've played for Australia in the past year, not over their whole Australia career
S/N – Shirt number
C – Contracted to Cricket Australia (Y = Holds contract) |
Australia national cricket team | Coaching staff
National selection panel
Coaching history
1986–1996: Bob Simpson
1996–1999: Geoff Marsh
1999–2007: John Buchanan
2007–2011: Tim Nielsen
2010–2013: Mickey Arthur
2013–2018: Darren Lehmann
2018–2022: Justin Langer
2022–present: Andrew McDonald |
Australia national cricket team | Test match records
Team
Australia is the most successful Test team in cricketing history. It has won more than 350 Test matches at a rate of almost 47%. The next best performance is by South Africa at 37%.
Australia have been involved in the only two Tied Tests played. The first occurred in December 1960, against the West Indies in Brisbane. The second occurred in September 1986, against India in Madras (Chennai).
Australia's largest victory in a Test match came on 24 February 2002. Australia defeated South Africa by an innings and 360 runs in Johannesburg.
Australia holds the record for the most consecutive wins, with 16. This has been achieved twice; from October 1999 to February 2001 and from December 2005 to January 2008.
Australia shares the record for the most consecutive series victories winning 9 series from October 2005 to June 2008. This record is shared, with England.
Australia's highest total in a Test match innings was recorded in Kingston, Jamaica against the West Indies in June 1955. Australia posted 758/8 in their first innings, with five players scoring a century.
Australia's lowest total in a Test match innings was recorded in Birmingham against England in May 1902. Australia were bowled all out for 36.
Australia are one of only two teams to have lost a Test match after enforcing the follow-on, having been the losing side in the first three of four such matches, with England becoming the second team to follow a similar fate with their loss to New Zealand in 2023:
The first Test of the 1894–95 Ashes.
The third Test of the 1981 Ashes.
The second Test of the 2000–01 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against India.
The second Test of the 2023 English Tour of New Zealand
Against India in March 2013, Australia became the first team in Test history to declare in their first innings and then lose by an innings.
In the 2013–14 Ashes series, Australia took all 100 wickets on offer in the 5–0 sweep over England. |
Australia national cricket team | Appearances
Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh have played in the most Test matches for Australia, both playing in 168 matches. |
Australia national cricket team | Batting
Charles Bannerman faced the first ball in Test cricket, scored the first runs in Test cricket and also scored the first Test century.
Charles Bannerman also scored 67.34% of the Australian first innings total in match 1. This record remains to this day as the highest percentage of a completed innings total that has been scored by a single batsman.
Ricky Ponting has scored the most runs for Australia in Test cricket, with 13,378 runs. Allan Border is second, with 11,174 runs in 265 innings, a record which was broken by Brian Lara during his innings of 226 against Australia, while Steve Waugh has 10,927 from 260 innings.
Allan Border was the first Australian batsman to pass 10,000 and the first ever batsman to pass 11,000 Test runs.
Ricky Ponting was the first Australian batsman to pass 12,000 and 13,000 Test runs.
Matthew Hayden holds the record for the most runs in a single innings by an Australian, with 380 in the first Test against Zimbabwe in Perth in October 2003.
Donald Bradman holds the record for the highest average by an Australian (or any other) cricketer of 99.94 runs per dismissal. Bradman played 52 Tests, scoring 29 centuries and a further 13 fifties.
Ricky Ponting holds the record for the most centuries by an Australian cricketer, with 41. Former Australian captain Steve Waugh is in second position, with 32 centuries from 260 innings.
Allan Border holds the record for the most fifties by an Australian cricketer, with 63 in 265 innings.
Adam Gilchrist holds the record for the fastest century by an Australian.
Glenn McGrath holds the record for the most ducks by an Australian cricketer, with 35 in 138 innings. |
Australia national cricket team | Bowling
Billy Midwinter picked up the first five-wicket haul in a Test innings in match 1.
Fred Spofforth performed Test cricket's first hat-trick by dismissing Vernon Royle, Francis McKinnon and Tom Emmett in successive balls.
Fred Spofforth also took the first 10-wicket match haul in Test cricket.
Shane Warne holds the record for the most wickets by an Australian cricketer, with 708 wickets in 145 Test matches.
Arthur Mailey holds the record for the best bowling figures in an innings by an Australian cricketer, with 9/121 against England in February 1921.
Bob Massie holds the record for the best bowling figures in a match by an Australian cricketer, with 16/137 against England in June 1972. That was also his first Test match for Australia.
J. J. Ferris holds the record for the best bowling average by an Australian bowler, taking 61 wickets at 12.70 in his career.
Clarrie Grimmett holds the record for the most wickets in a Test series, with 44 against South Africa in 1935–36. |
Australia national cricket team | Fielding and wicketkeeping
Ricky Ponting holds the record for the most catches in a career by an Australian fielder, with 196 in 168 matches.
Jack Blackham performed the first stumping in Test cricket in match 1.
Adam Gilchrist holds the record for the most dismissals in a career by an Australian wicketkeeper, with 416 in 96 matches. |
Australia national cricket team | One-Day International records
Team
Australia's highest total in a One-Day International innings is 434/4, scored off 50 overs against South Africa in Johannesburg on 12 March 2006. This was a world record score before the South Africans later surpassed it in the same match.
Australia's lowest total in a One-Day International innings is 70. This score has occurred twice; once against England in 1977 and once against New Zealand in 1986.
Australia's largest victory in One-Day International cricket is 309 runs. This occurred against The Netherlands at the 2023 World Cup in India.
Australia are the only team in the history of the World Cup to win 3 consecutive tournaments; 1999, 2003 and 2007.
Australia went undefeated at the World Cup for a record 34 consecutive matches. After being defeated by Pakistan in 1999, Australia would remain unbeaten until they were again defeated by Pakistan in 2011.
Australia have won the most ODI World Cups – 6. |
Australia national cricket team | Appearances
Ricky Ponting has played in the most One-Day International matches for Australia, playing 375 matches. |
Australia national cricket team | Batting
Ricky Ponting has the most One-Day International runs by an Australian batsman, with 13,291.
Ricky Ponting has the most One-Day International centuries by an Australian batsman, with 30.
Ricky Ponting has the most One-Day International fifties by an Australian batsman, with 82.
Ricky Ponting is the first Australian batsman to pass 10,000 One-Day International runs.
Glenn Maxwell has the highest individual not out score in an innings by an Australian batsman, with 201*.
Shane Watson has hit the most sixes in a single innings by an Australian player, with 15.
Phillip Hughes was the only Australian player to score a century on debut in One-Day International cricket. |
Australia national cricket team | Bowling
Glenn McGrath has the most One-Day International wickets by an Australian bowler, with 381.
Glenn McGrath has the best bowling figures by an Australian bowler, with 7/15.
Brett Lee has the most five-wicket hauls by an Australian bowler, with 9. |
Australia national cricket team | Fielding and wicketkeeping
Ricky Ponting has the most catches taken by an Australian fielder, with 154.
Adam Gilchrist has the most dismissals by an Australian wicketkeeper, with 470.
Adam Gilchrist has the most catches taken by an Australian wicketkeeper, with 416.
Adam Gilchrist has the most stumpings made by an Australian wicketkeeper, with 54. |
Australia national cricket team | Twenty20 International records
Tournament history
A red box around the year indicates tournaments played within Australia |
Australia national cricket team | ICC World Test Championship
ICC World Cup
ICC T20 World Cup
ICC Champions Trophy
Commonwealth Games
Honours
ICC
World Test Championship:
Champions (1): 2021–2023
World Cup:
Champions (6): 1987, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2015, 2023
Runners-up (2): 1975, 1996
T20 World Cup:
Champions (1): 2021
Runners-up (1): 2010
Champions Trophy:
Champions (2): 2006, 2009 |
Australia national cricket team | Others
Commonwealth Games:
Silver medal (1): 1998 |
Australia national cricket team | Under the Southern Cross I Stand
The team song is "Under the Southern Cross I Stand", which is sung by the players after every victory and "treated with reverential consideration and respect" within the team. The official lyrics are as follows, though when it is sung by the players, the word "little" in the last line is instead replaced by "bloody" or the expletive "fucking". |
Australia national cricket team | Under the Southern Cross I Stand
A sprig of wattle in my hand,
A native of my native land,
Australia you little beauty.
The authorship of this "Under the Southern Cross I Stand" is credited to former wicketkeeper Rod Marsh, who was apparently inspired by Henry Lawson's 1887 poem, "Flag of the Southern Cross". Marsh initially had the role of leading the team in singing it and, on his retirement, passed it on to Allan Border. The other players to have taken on the role are David Boon (when Border took over the captaincy), Ian Healy (on Boon's retirement), Ricky Ponting (on Healy's retirement), Justin Langer (when Ponting took over the captaincy). The role was then passed on to Michael Hussey, who took it on when Langer retired in January 2007. Following Hussey's retirement on 6 January 2013, he announced that he would be handing the duties over to Nathan Lyon. With Nathan Lyon's departure from the team due to injury after the Second Ashes Test at Lord's in 2023 , custody of the song has passed to wicketkeeper Alex Carey. |
Australia national cricket team | See also
Allan Border Medal
Australia A cricket team
Australia national women's cricket team
Australian Cricket Hall of Fame
List of Australia national cricket captains
List of Australia ODI cricketers
List of Australia Test cricketers
List of Australia Test wicket-keepers
List of Australia Twenty20 International cricketers |
Australia national cricket team | References
Further reading
Townsend, Stephen; Osmond, Gary; Phillips, Murray G. "Wicked Wikipedia? Communities of Practice, the Production of Knowledge and Australian Sports History." International Journal of the History of Sport (2013) 30#5 pp 545–559. How Wikipedia covers Australian cricket. |
Australia national cricket team | External links |
Australia national cricket team | Official website |
Australian Council of Social Service | The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) is an Australian organisation that advocates for action to reduce poverty and inequality, and is the peak body for the community services sector in Australia. It was formed in 1956.
ACOSS is active in areas of social policy, including community sector policy, climate and energy, economics and tax, income support and employment, health, housing and homelessness, and poverty and inequality.
Cassandra Goldie became CEO of ACOSS in 10 July 2010. She was previously the Director of the Sex Discrimination Unit at the Australian Human Rights Commission (HREOC).
The CEO of ACOSS is often interviewed by Australian media for comment and analysis on social matters and policies of the Australian Government. |
Australian Council of Social Service | Governance
ACOSS has a 9-person volunteer Board of Governors, elected according to the constitution [1] adopted in August 2019. |
Australian Council of Social Service | Controversies
In 1991 Federal Opposition leader John Hewson accused
ACOSS of seeking to acquire more money than for welfare and making bureaucracies bigger than in helping those in poverty.[[2]] |
Australian Council of Social Service | Presidents
March 2023 - present: Hang Vo
June 2020 - December 2022: Peter McNamara
January 2016 - June 2020: Tony Reidy
January 2015 - December 2016: Micaela Cronin
December 2013 - January 2015: Francis Lynch
November 2009 – November 2013: Simon Schrapel
May–November 2009: David Thompson (interim)
2005-May 2009: Lin Hatfield Dodds
2001-2005: Andrew McCallum
1997-2000: Michael Raper
1993-1997: Robert Fitzgerald
1989-1993: Merle Mitchell
1985-1989: Julian Disney |
Australian Council of Social Service | Members
Source: |
Australian Council of Social Service | State and Territory Councils of Social Service
ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS)
NSW Council of Social Service (NCOSS)
South Australian Council of Social Service (SACOSS)
Northern Territory Council of Social Service (NTCOSS)
Queensland Council of Social Service (QCOSS)
Tasmanian Council of Social Service (TasCOSS)
Victorian Council of Social Service (VCOSS)
Western Australia Council of Social Service (WACOSS) |
Australian Council of Social Service | National constituency organization members
Anti-Poverty Network SA
Australian Unemployed Workers' Union
Children and Young People with Disability Australia
National Council of Single Mothers and their Children
Women With Disabilities Australia
YOUNG Campaigns
People with Disability Australia
Women With Disabilities Australia |
Australian Council of Social Service | National organization members
Adult Learning Australia
Anglicare Australia
Anti-poverty Week
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre
Australian Alcohol and other Drugs Council
Australian Association of Social Workers
Australian Baha’i Community
Australian Communications Consumer Action Network
Australian Community Workers Association
Australian Council of State School Organisations
Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations
Australian Federation of Disability Organisations
Australian Health Promotion Association
Australian Insulation Foundation
Australian Men’s Health Forum
Australian Pensioners & Superannuants Federation
Australian Red Cross
Australian Youth Affairs Coalition
Baptist Care Australia
Better Renting
Brotherhood of St Laurence
Carers Australia
Catholic Social Services Australia
Centre for Social Impact
CHOICE
Christians Against Poverty
cohealth
Community Colleges Australia
Community Housing Industry Association
Community Legal Centres Australia
Community Mental Health Australia
Community Transport Organisation
Consumer Action Law Centre
Consumers Health Forum of Australia
COTA Australia
DCSS Australia
Disability Advocacy Network Australia
Down Syndrome Australia
Economic Justice Australia
Edmund Rice Centre
Family Relationship Services Australia
Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia
Financial Counselling Australia
Foodbank Australia
Foundation for Young Australians
Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand
Good Things Foundation Australia
Goodstart Early Learning
Health Justice Australia
Homelessness Australia
Homes for Homes
HOST International
Indian (Sub-Cont) Crisis & Support Agency
InfoXchange
Jobs Australia
Justice Connect
LGBTIQ+ Health Australia
Life Without Barriers
Lojic Institute
MacKillop Family Services
Mind Australia
Mission Australia
MS Australia
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service
National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation
National Association of People with HIV Australia
National Association of Tenant Organisations
National Ethnic Disability Alliance
National Family Violence Prevention Legal Services Forum
National Shelter
Office for Social Justice, Australian Catholic Bishops Conference
Oxfam Australia
Playgroup Australia
Public Health Association of Australia
Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia
Reconciliation Australia
Relationships Australia
Save the Children
Secretariat of National Aboriginal & Islander Child Care
Settlement Council of Australia
Settlement Services International
Social Ventures Australia
Society of St Vincent de Paul National Council
Syndromes Without a Name (SWAN) Australia
The Benevolent Society
The Salvation Army Australia
The Smith Family
UnitingCare Australia
Volunteering Australia
WESNET
YMCA Australia
YWCA Australia |
Australian Council of Social Service | Associate Members
Accordwest
ADRA Australia Limited
Anglicare Community Services
Anglicare Victoria
Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies Ltd. (ACWA)
Australian Education Union (AEU)
Australian Refugee and Migrant Care Services Ltd
Australian Services Union (ASU)
AWARE Community
Berry Street
BeyondHousing
Blue Sky Community Services
Caboolture Community Care Inc
Cairns Alliance of Social Services
Canberra Community Law
Catholic Social Services Victoria
CentaCare New England North West
Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare
Centre for Women’s Economic Safety
Churches Housing Incorporated
Community Housing Industry Association NSW
Community Industry Group
Community Information and Support Victoria
Community Resources Limited
Container of Dreams
CORE Community Services
Cowra Information & Neighbourhood Centre
Energetic Communities
Family Support Newcastle
Family Violence Legal Service Aboriginal Corporation
Financial Counsellors’ Association of WA
Financial Rights Legal Centre
Glebe Youth Service
Homelessness NSW
Illawarra Legal Centre
Institute of Child Protection Studies
Jannawi Family Centre
Lifetime Renewable Energy Pty Ltd
Lutheran Community Care
Melbourne’s Leading Nanny Agency
Mountains Community Resource Network (MCRN)
Muru Mittigar Limited
Nepean Community and Neighbourhood Services (NCNS)
One Future
Orphans and Widows West Africa Inc.
PeakCare Queensland Inc
Peninsula Community Legal Centre Inc.
Penrith City Council
Queensland Youth Housing Coalition
Rainbow Families Inc
Samaritans Foundation
Sector Connect
Single Mothers Lobby Alliance
Social Futures (Northern Rivers Social Development Council)
South East Community Links
South Port Community Housing Group Inc
Southern Youth and Family Services
St John’s Youth Services
Sydney Community Forum
Tangentyere Council Inc.
Tenants Queensland
Think+DO Tank Foundation
United Workers Union
Uniting Communities
Uniting Country SA
Welfare Rights Centre
Westgate Community Initiatives Group
WESTIR Ltd |
Australian Council of Social Service | References
External links
Official website |
European land exploration of Australia | European land exploration of Australia deals with the opening up of the interior of Australia to European settlement which occurred gradually throughout the colonial period, 1788–1900. A number of these explorers are very well known, such as Burke and Wills who are well known for their failed attempt to cross the interior of Australia, as well as Hamilton Hume and Charles Sturt. |
European land exploration of Australia | Crossing the Blue Mountains
For many years, plans of westward expansion from Sydney were thwarted by the Great Dividing Range, a large range of mountains which shadows the east coast from the Queensland-New South Wales border to the south coast. The part of the range near Sydney is called the Blue Mountains. After numerous attempts
William Paterson led an expedition northward along the coast to the Hunter Region in 1801 and up the Paterson River (later named in his honour by Governor King) and in 1804 Paterson led an expedition to Port Dalrymple, in what is now Tasmania, exploring the Tamar River and going up the North Esk River farther than any European had previously gone.
Despite King's pronouncement, some settlers continued to try crossing the mountains. Gregory Blaxland was the first to successfully lead an expedition to cross them in 1813, accompanied by William Lawson, William Wentworth and four servants. This trip paved the way for numerous small expeditions which were undertaken in the following few years.
On 13 November 1813 Governor Lachlan Macquarie sent Government Surveyor, George Evans, across the Blue Mountains to confirm the findings of Blaxland's exploration party. Evans generally followed Blaxland's route, reaching the end of their route on 26 November 1813 at a point Evans named Mount Blaxland. Evans's party then moved on and discovered the Fish River area and further west near the junction of the now named Fish and Campbell Rivers and described two plains in his view, the O'Connell Plains and the Macquarie Plains. On 9 December he reached the site of present-day Bathurst. After the explorations that took seven weeks Governor Macquarie awarded Evans £100 and 1000 acres of land near Richmond in Van Diemens Land (Tasmania). Evans departed for Tasmania in 1814.
In 1814, Governor Lachlan Macquarie approved an offer by William Cox to build a road crossing the Blue Mountains, from Emu Plains, the existing road terminus west of Sydney, to the Bathurst Plains. The first road to cross the Blue Mountains was 12 feet (3.7 m) wide by 101+1⁄2 miles (163.3 km) long, built between 18 July 1814 to 14 January 1815 using 5 freemen, 30 convict labourers and 8 soldiers as guards. Governor Macquarie surveyed the finished road in April 1815, and as a reward Cox was awarded 2,000 acres (810 ha) of land near what is now Bathurst.
On 7 May 1815, Governor Macquarie proclaimed the name of the future town of Bathurst, the first inland town in Australia and intended to be the administrative centre of the western plains of New South Wales. |
European land exploration of Australia | Inland exploration
Evans was back in New South Wales by 1815 to continue inland explorations. In 1815, Evans was the first colonial explorer to enter the Lachlan Valley, naming the area the Oxley Plains after his superior the Surveyor-General, John Oxley. He also discovered the Abercrombie and Belubula River Valleys. He was the first explorer through the areas that now include the towns of Boorowa and Cowra.
On 1 June 1815 in Eugowra, a town in the Central West region of New South Wales, George William Evans and his group marked a tree at the junction of Lachlan river and a creek which they named Byrnes Creek. This was the furthest west any Europeans had travelled into the country. On 1 June 1815 he was running short of provisions and returned to Bathurst where he arrived on 12 June. This journey opened the way for later explorations, mainly by John Oxley. Evans took part in some of Oxley's expeditions.
Evans returned to Tasmania in 1817 but was again to return to New South Wales to journey with his superior John Oxley on travels into the Lachlan River areas, along the path of the Macquarie River to the Macquarie Marshes and eastwards to the coast to Port Macquarie.
In March 1817, Oxley was instructed to take charge of an expedition to explore and survey the course of the Lachlan River. He left Sydney on 6 April with Evans, as second-in-command, and Allan Cunningham as botanist. Oxley's party reached Bathurst after a week, where they were briefly detained by bad weather. They reached the Lachlan River on 25 April 1817 and commenced to follow its course, with part of the stores being conveyed in boats. As the exploring party travelled westward the country surrounding the rising river was found to be increasingly inundated. On 12 May, west of the present township of Forbes, they found their progress impeded by an extensive marsh. After retracing their route for a short distance they then proceeded in a south-westerly direction, intending to travel overland to the southern Australian coastline. By the end of May the party found themselves in a dry scrubby country. Shortage of water and the death of two horses forced Oxley's return to the Lachlan River. On 23 June the Lachlan River was reached: |
European land exploration of Australia | "we suddenly came upon the banks of the river… which we had quitted nearly five weeks before".
They followed the course of the Lachlan River for a fortnight. The party encountered much flooded country, and on 7 July Oxley recorded that: |
Subsets and Splits