| 1788 |
European Colonisation of Australia |
| 1793 |
First free immigrants arrive in NSW |
| 1815 |
First free immigrants arrive in Van Diemans Land (Tasmania) |
| 1828 |
First Census: Non-indigenous population numbers 36,595 |
| 1829 |
Perth settlement founded |
| 1832 |
First shipload of assisted migrants leave Britain for Australia |
| 1835 |
Melbourne founded |
| 1836 |
Formation of the colony of South Australia |
| 1840 |
Transportation of convicts to eastern Australia ends |
| 1842 |
Caroline Chisholm establishes a migrant hostel and employment
agency for female immigrants in NSW |
| 1850 |
Transportation of convicts to Western Australia commences |
| 1851 |
Gold rushes in Victoria and NSW |
| 1853 |
Arrival of the last convict ship to Van Diemans Land |
| 1858 |
Australia's non-indigenous population reaches one million |
| 1859 |
The separate colony of Queensland is established |
| 1860 |
Ursula Frayne establishes a migrant hostel and employment
agency for female immigrants in Melbourne |
| 1863 |
Pacific Islander labour introduced into Queensland |
| 1901 |
The Australian Government introduces an Act of Parliament
ending the employment of Pacific Islanders - the 'White Australia'
policy requiring a dictation test |
| 1919 |
Migration scheme for British ex-servicemen and their families
is introduced |
| 1945 |
World War II ends. Australia's population of 7,391,00 are
90% Australian born |
| 1946 |
Free assisted passage for British ex-servicemen and their
descendants is introduced |
| 1947 |
Beginning of major immigration program. Free and assisted
passage for British Empire and United States ex-servicemen
introduced - later extended to other countries.
Pact signed with International Refugees Organisation to resettle
Europeans displaced by World War II. Relaxation of Immigration
Restriction Act 1901 enables non-Europeans who had been living
in Australia to 15 years to achieve resident status
|
| 1949 |
Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948 comes into force |
| 1955 |
Australia's one millionth post war migrant arrives |
| 1956 |
"Operation Reunion" introduced to reunite USSR and
East European settlers with relatives still overseas |
| 1957 |
"Bring out a Briton" campaign |
| 1958 |
Migration Act amplifies entry permits and abolishes the dictation
test |
| 1973 |
Changes introduced in conditions for Australian citizenship.
All migrants, regardless of origin, become eligible to obtain
citizenship after three years' residence |
| 1980 |
Australia's 300,000th refugee from Europe since World War
II arrives |
| 1982 |
The 1,500,000th migrant to receive citizenship becomes an
Australian citizen |
| 1999 |
Australia's population reaches 19 million. Census figures
show that almost one in four Australian were born overseas in
one of over 200 countries |
