history of australia Archives

The man buried three times

By definition, a final resting place is final, isn’t it? Well, not always, it seems.

Our early weathermen

Survival on the roof of mainland Australia was an unenviable but necessary challenge that tested the endurance skills of 19th-century weather forecasters.

History & Culture

Looking back at Loveday: Australia’s largest WWII internment camp

During World War II, civilians in Australia deemed “enemy aliens” – mostly those of German, Italian and Japanese descent – were housed in internment camps. The largest of the camps was Loveday Internment Camp in South Australia’s Riverland region, about 6km south of Barmera.

History & Culture

Discovering what it means to be the oldest living culture in the world

We often hear that Aboriginal peoples have been in Australia for 65,000 years, “the oldest living cultures in the world”. But what does this mean, given all living peoples on Earth have an ancestry that goes back into the mists of time?

Tim the Yowie Man

A tale of mistaken identity and whalebone picnics

For more than 20 years, the jawbone of a whale lay on the grass just behind the golden sands of Long Beach, near Batemans Bay on the South Coast of New South Wales.

History & Culture

Looking back at Australia’s largest political demonstration

In an unprecedented, and largely spontaneous, sign of national solidarity for reconciliation and support for First Nations people, more than 250,000 people walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on 28 May 2000.

History & Culture

Defining Moments in Australian History: Assisted migration

1832: Aid to encourage migrants to Australia begins.

History & Culture

Defining Moments in Australian History: Australia’s first Olympian

1896: Edwin Flack races into history.

History & Culture

The whaling captain, a secret plan and one of Australia’s boldest prison escapes

On 19 April 1876, a group of Irish Fenian prisoners who became known as the ‘Fremantle Six’ escaped from Australian authorities. However, the plan to secure their freedom began more than a year earlier and thousands of kilometres away.