The Rat Pit - Pitt Street Near King Street, Sydney

THE RAT PIT - 
Pitt Street, Western Side, Near King Street 

A Place Where Dog, Rat And Rooster Fighting Took Place In Sydney 1830's

   I Can Imagine A Group Of Wild Men Meeting In Someone's Cellar Or Somewhere Secret Holding The Dog Fights, And Rat Fights. I Imagime The Cock Fights Didn't Start Till Later When The Colony Of Sydney's Food Shortage Was Over. 

I Also Imagine There was Only Ever Going To Be One a Winner In These Fights To The Death. I Guess Rum Would've Been Wagered In The Beginning Until Governor Macquarie Started The Currency. 

Dog, Cock & Rat Fighting Were Popular "Sports" In Sydney's Early Days. 

In The Sydney Mail Of 31st July 1907, Mr Morris Asher, Describing His Arrival At Sydney Cove in 1838 Says

"I Saw A Dog Kill 60 Rats In One Minute. Horse Racing, Dog Fighting, Cock Fighting, Rat Fighting And Prize Fighting Were All The Rage. Scarcely Anything Else   Was Thought Of, And It a Was Hard For A Young Fellow To Settle Down."

Clancy Of The Overflow - Banjo Patterson

Clancy Of The Overflow - By Banjo Paterson...

This Was One Of The Banjo Patterson Poems That My Grandmother used to make me Recite Word For Word. 

I Went To Waverly Cemetary Oneday last year Looking for his Grave Site, but I had no Luck, and as No one is interested In the History Of This Country or It's People, there Obviously Wasn't Any Signage, or actually anyone there that could help me on my Quest That Day..... Disappointing. Absolutely Noone Seemed to know. 

I'm Going to Go To The Auction Next Saturday Of Another Piece Of Heritage Given To Developers.... The Old Psychiatric Hospital Next To Darlinghurst Courthouse was Recently Pulled Down and All That Is Left Is The Old Residence Of The  Director General (If That Is The Right Title....)  Of St Vincents Hospital Back In it's Hey Day When It Was 2 - 3 Times The Size Of What It Is Now. So This 2 Storey Colonial Residence Which Is The Gardens Of The Psychiatric Part Has A Block Of Units Towering Over It. I Don't Know If I'd Want To live There now. 

The Reason I Mention this Is, Is Because Banjo Patterson Was A Regular Guest.....

Clancy Of The Overflow........

I had written him a letter which I had,
for want of better Knowledge,

sent to where I met him 

down the Lachlan, years ago,

He was shearing when I knew him, 

so I sent the letter to him,

Just `on spec', 

addressed as follows, 

`Clancy, of The Overflow'.

& an answer came directed in a writing unexpected,

(& I think the same was written with a thumb-nail dipped in tar)

'Twas his shearing mate who wrote it,

& verbatim I will quote it:

`Clancy's gone to Queensland droving,

& we don't know where he are.'

In my wild erratic fancy visions come to me of ClancyGone a-droving 

`down the Cooper' where the Western drovers go;

As the stock are slowly stringing, 

Clancy rides behind them singing,

For the drover's life has pleasures that the townsfolk never know.

& the bush hath friends to meet him, 

& their kindly voices greet him

In the murmur of the breezes & the river on its bars,

& he sees the vision splendid 

of the sunlit plains extended,

& at night the wond'rous glory of the everlasting stars.

I am sitting in my dingy little office,

where a stingyRay of sunlight struggles feebly down between the houses tall,

& the foetid air and gritty of the dusty, dirty city

Through the open window floating, 

spreads its foulness over all

& in place of lowing cattle,

I can hear the fiendish rattle of the tramways & the 'buses making hurry down the street,

& the language uninviting of the gutter children fighting,

Comes fitfully & faintly through the ceaseless tramp of feet.

& the hurrying people daunt me, 

& their pallid faces haunt me

As they shoulder one another in their rush & nervous haste,

With their eager eyes & greedy,

& their stunted forms & weedy,

For townsfolk have no time to grow,

they have no time to waste.

& I somehow rather fancy that I'd like to change with Clancy,

Like to take a turn at droving where the seasons come & go,

While he faced the round eternal of the cash-book and the journal

--But I doubt he'd suit the office, 

Clancy, of `The Overflow'

Advance Australia Fair - National Anthem - Including Original Version

Advance Australia Fair

Australians All Let Us Rejoice, 
For We Are Young & Free
We've Golden Soil & Wealth For Toil
Our Home Is Girt By Sea
Our Land Abounds In Nature's Gifts
Of Beauty Rich & Rare;
In History's Page, Let Every Stage
Advance Australia Fair
In Joyful Strains Then Let Us Sing....
 Advance Australia Fair
Beneath Our Radiant Southern Cross,
We'll Toil With Hearts & Hands;
To Make This Commonwealth Of Ours 
Renowned Of All The Lands;
For Those Who've Come Across The Sea
We've Boundless Plains To Share;
With Courage Let Us All Combine
To Advance Australia Fair......
In Joyful Strains Then Let Us Sing..... Advance Australia Fair...

The Original 1879 Of Advance Australia Fair
 Verse 1
Australia's Sons Let Us Rejoice, 
For We Are Young & Free;
We've Golden Soil & Wealth For Toil, 
Our Home Is Girt By Sea;
Our Land Abounds In Nature's Gifts Of Beauty Rich & Rare;
In History's Page, Let Every Stage, Advance Australia Fair.....
In Joyful Strains Then Let Us Sing.......... Advance Australia Fair

Verse 2
When Gallant Cook From Albion Sailed,
To Trace Wide Ocean's O'er,
True British Courage Bore Him On, 
Till He Landed On Our Shore. 
Then Here He Raised Old England's Flag, The Standard Of The Brave;
"With All Her Faults We Love Her Still"
"Britannia Rules The Wave"
In Joyful Strains Then Let Us Sing...... Advance Australia Fair
Verse 3 
While Other Nations Of The Globe Behold Us From Afar, 
We'll Rise To High Renown & Shine Like Our Glorious Southern Star;
From England Soil & Fatherland, Scotia & Erin Fair
Let All Combine With Heart & Hand To Advance Australia Fair
In Joyful Strains Then Let Us Sing...... Advance Australia Fair
Verse 4 
Should Foreign Foe E'er Sight Our Coast Or Dare a Foot To Land
We'll Rouse To Arms Like Sires Of Yore, To Guard Our Native Strand;
Britannia Then Shall Surely Know, Though Ocean's Roll Between, 
Her Son's In Fair Australia's Land Still Keep Their Courage Green
In Joyful Strains Then Let us Sing...... 
Advance Australia Fair.........

The Queen Victoria Building - George Street - Sydney - New South Wales -

April 4

On this day in 1820 the foundation stone was laid for the building that would eventually became the Queen Victoria Building (QVB) on George, Market, York and Druitt Streets in Sydney. The site has a long history as a fresh produce market and was also at one time the Central Police Court. The Romanesque architecture of the QVB as we now know it was designed by George McRae and completed in 1898.

Photo ( Old Police Court (now site of the Queen Victoria Building), George Street, Sydney (NSW)

The Queen Victoria Building ..

The Queen  Victoria Building Designed by City Architect George McRae, WasSydney's  Central Markets, Was Constructed between 1893 & 1898,. 

 At the Height Of the Reign Of Queen Victoria It Was Named in Her Honour & In Celebration of Her Golden Jubilee In 1887 & her Diamond Jubilee In 1897


The Plan Of the Buildings Is Direct & Simple; A Long Rectangle To Which Entry Was Provioded At Each End & At The Centre Of Each Long Side. The Markets Occupied The Basement & Were Serviuced by Stairs & Four Hydraulic Lifts. There Were Apartments & Shops on the Ground 7 First Floors, Warehouses, showrooms & An Art Gallery On The 2nd Floor, & Further Apartments & A Photographic Gallery On The Thirds.

At The Northern End Of the Building, Extending through Several Storeys, Was A Large Hall Used For Concerts & Balls.

in 1910 The City Markets Were Transferred Southwards to The Area Still Referred to As Haymarket & the Queen Victoria Building Was Subject to An Unfortunate Succession of Alterations Which Drastically Changed Its Architectural Chracter.


Major Transformation of The Interior of the Building Resulted From Alterations Made in 1917 a 1930. Heavy concrete Floors & Bridging The entire Space to provide For Council Offices & The city Library Completely Destroyed the Origianl Gallery Concerpt & robbed The Building Of Its Splendid open Interior.

The Glass Roof No Longer Used For Lighting Purposes, Was Replaced by galvonized iron. The Building Being Expensive To maintain Fell into A State Of Depression & Neglect. in The 1950's The City Council, Seeing no Viable Commercial Future Contemplated Its Destruction... & There Was Little Evidence Of Public opposition.

In 1980 The council Decided to Invite International proposals for the restoration & Use of the Building, & in 1981 Accepted That Advanced byu A Malaysian Based Company, Ipoh Garden Berhad. The Comopany Undertook To Restore The Structure & Fabvric of The Building To Its Original Form And DevelopIt  As A Retail Centre With restaurants, Exhibition & Entertainment Areas. There Would Also Be Underground Pedestrian Accessways To The Town Hall Railway Station & Several Adjacent Commercial Centres. The Council Would in Return Grant To The Company A 99 Yearlease 

The Queen Victoria Building Was So Named To Celebrate Her Majesty's Golden Jubilee in 1887, & Her Diamond Jubilee in 1897.

American Romanesque -   It Is A Real Shame A Building Of Such Standing & Granduer Is Surrounded By Buildings Of No Consequences Of Glass & Concrete. It Was Designed George McRae. The Original Ceiling Was Made Of Glass.


Can You Imagine How Beautiful It Would've Been To Enter The Heads Of Sydney Harbour.... Past Pinchgut Island.... ( Fort Denison)

In The Early Days They Used To Hang The Dead Bodies Up To Warn & Convicts Coming To The Penal Colonty Of New South Wales....  To Sydney Town.... That Is You Played Up... You Would End Up There....


Sydney Town Would've Been Amazing As You Alighted From The Ship At Circular Quay... Dolphin... Fish..... Sharks And One Of The Most Perfect Quays In The World....  Although They Do Say That You Could Smell Sydney Town Three Miles Away From The Stench.

All Those Makeshift Shanties, Inns And Hotels Of The Notorious "Rocks" - A Place Not To Go After Dark.



The Site Is Bounded By York And George Street And Druitt Street. The Plan Of The Building Is Direct & Simple, A Long Rectangle And Entry At Each End. At The Northern End Of The Building, extending Through Several Storeys, There Was A Large Hall Which Was Used For Concerts And Balls.


in 1910 The City Markets Were Transferred Southward To The Area Still Known As Haymarket, And The Queen Victoria Building Underwent  An Unfortunate Succession Of Alterations, Which Has Drasticaly Changed Its Architectural Character. Major Interior Alterations Were Made Between 1917 & 1930.

The Glass Roof Was Replaced With Glavanised Iron...  Imagine Being In There In The Daytime With The Market Atmosphere, and A Glass Roof So There Was Streams Of Sunight Shining Throughout The Buidling... Wow. What A Difference That Would've Been To How It Is Now.

The Buidking, Being Expensive To Maintain Fell Into A State Of Depression. In The 1950's The City Council Contemplated Its Destruction, &There Was Little Public Opposition.




The Architectural Style Chosen by George McRae For His Makrets Buiklding Gas Become Known As AMERICAN ROMANESQUE.  One Other Buidkling Still Stabnds In Hay Street


The Design & erection of The Queen victoria Building Was A Major Architectural Achievement, The more So When Considered in Relation To The Depressed State of the Australian Economy At the Tmie.

Its Regrettable That A Building of Such granduer Should Be Almost Submerged Within A Forest Of Characterless Modern Piles Of Concrete And Glass.

By Good Fortune The Queen Victoria Buiklding Is Happily Groups With Its Victorian Fellows - The Sydney Town Hall & St Andrews Cathedral,. Romanesque, Neo-Classic & Gothic Styles merge Harmoniously Under the Mellow influence Of Decorative Sandstone,.

Had Sydney Been Designed in the Grand Spanish Or Italian manner, With The Generous Open Places &Linking Boulevards, The Queen Victoria Buiklding Would Have Fitted Aptly.

It's Very Sad.... the High Rises/.... The Skyscrapers... Those Characterless buildings Of Conrete & Glass.I Will Never Know & Neither Will Any Other Sydneysider, Apart From the Old Pictures, How Beautiful thecity   Was, Now Its Just A cold clinical, Symetrical mindfuck It's Not Progressive, Sophisticated or Advanced. We're A City of Strangers. I Wouldn't Even Know Who My Neighbours Are. I Don't Know What's Right &^ What's Real Anynore. It's All Cars & Plasic &Cursing Each other. We're now just Weapons Of Mass Consumoption. It's How I've Been Programmed to function

The Architectural Style Chosen  By George McRae For His and Sydney Markets Buiklding Has Become Known As American Romanesque. Only One Other Building Remains That Was Designed By McRae And That Is In Hay Street, Across From The State Theatre, There Is Strangely Designed Building. Well Worth Looking At And When Noticed It's Hard To Miss.


The Queen Victoria Buidling Is Notable For The Employment Of Expansive Barrel Form Roof Engineering Which Weere Very Advanced At The Time It Was Constructed. The Lightweight Steel Trusses Supporting The Roof And Those Forming The Structure Of The Huge Central Dome Weeew Anything  But Conventional. The Indicate That George McRae Was Aware Of The Revolutionary Engineering Methods Being Applied At This Time For Covering Railway Stations And For A Large  Public Covered Areas Through America And Europe.

The Design And The Erection Of The Queen Victoria Building Was A Major Architectural Achievement, And Even More So When Considered In Realtion To The Depression In The Australian Economy.


It's Such A Tragedy That A Buidling Of Such Granduer Is Now Submerged Within A Forest Of  Chracterless Modeern Piles Of Concrete And Glass.




By Good Fortune, The Queen Victoria Buiding Is Grouped With The Sydney Town Hall And St Andrews Cathedral, Romanesque, Neo Classic And Gothic Styles.... Had Sydney Been Designed In The Grand SPanish Or Italian Manner, With Generous Open Places And Boulevards, The QVB Would've Fitted Int.o A Position Of Dominance.


It's Very Sad. The High Rises, The Syscrapers, The Glass And Concrete. I Will Never Know, Apart From Old Picutres, How Beautiful The City Of Sydney Was. It's Now A Cold City, Clinical, A Symetrical MindFuck. It's Not Progressive, Sophisticated, Advanced. We Are A City Of Strangers. I Don't Know What's Right And What's Real Anymore. It's All Fast Cars & Plastic. We're Now Like Weapons Of Mass Consumption. It's How We've Been Programmed To Fucntion In This Day And Age.

First General Hospital - George Street North, In Front Of Police Station - The Rocks

There Is A Small Plaque On The Wall Of The Police Station.... Which Reads.....

"The Site Of The First General Hospital In Australia - 1788 - 1816"

"The Marines , Their Wives and Children, Together With All The Convicts Were Landed. The Laboratory And Sick Tents Were Erected, And I Am Sorry To Say, Were Soon Filled with Sick Patients Afflicted With The True Camp Dysentery And The Scurvy"

Chronology of Important Dates Since White Settlement

NOTE: A Short History of Australia by Ernest Scott, from which this chronology was taken, was published before 1950. It contains no references to Aboriginal history and no references to the relationship between new settlers and the Aboriginal people. Since the preparation of this chronology there have been significant developments in the relationship between Aborigines and non-aboriginal people. A chronology published this century would acknowledge the fact that Aborigines have occupied Australia for over 40,000 years, as evidenced by the human remains found at Lake Mungo in south-western New South Wales.

	1486	Diaz rounds Cape of Good Hope.
	1497	Vasco da Gama sails to India via the Cape.
	1512	Portuguese discover the Moluccas.
	1520	Magellan enters the Pacific.
	1567	Alvarez discovers the Solomon Islands.
	1595	Cornelius Houtman pilots Dutch ships to the East Indies.
	1598	Dutch established at Java.
	1606	Quiros discovers the New Hebrides.
		Discovery of Torres Strait.
		The DUYFKEN in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
	1611	Brouwer's new route to the East.
	1616	Dirk Hartog on the Western Australian coast.
	1622	English ship TRIAL wrecked off the west coast.
	1627	Nuytsland discovered.
	1636	Van Diemen Governor of Dutch East Indies.
	1642	Tasman discovers Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand.
	1644	Tasman in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
	1688	Dampier in the CYGNET in Australian waters.
	1699	Dampier in the ROEBUCK in Shark's Bay.
	1768	Cook's ENDEAVOUR voyage.
	1770	Cook's discovery of New South Wales.
	1772	Cook's RESOLUTION voyage.
	1779	Banks suggests founding a convict settlement at Botany Bay.
	1782	End of the American War of Independence.
	1783	Matra's plan of colonization in New South Wales.
	1785	Sir George Young's plan.
	1786	Determination to found a settlement at Botany Bay.
	1788	Foundation of Sydney.
		Laperouse in Botany Bay.
	1789	Establishment of New South Wales Corps.
		Settlement of Norfolk Island.
	1792	End of Phillip's governorship.
	1792-5	Administration of Grose and Paterson.
	1795	Hunter Governor of New South Wales.
	1795-6	Bass and Flinders make voyages in the TOM THUMB.
	1797	John Macarthur buys merino sheep.
		Discovery of coal.
	1798	Bass discovers Bass Strait and Westernport.
		Bass and Flinders circumnavigate Tasmania in the Norfolk.
	1800	King Governor of New South Wales.
		Voyage of the LADY NELSON from England.
		Flinders's voyage in the INVESTIGATOR.
	1802	Murray discovers Port Phillip.
		Flinders meets Baudin in Encounter Bay.
	1803	Flinders circumnavigates Australia.
		Wreck of the PORPOISE.
		Flinders imprisoned in Mauritius.
		Collins's Port Phillip Settlement.
	1804	Foundation of Hobart.
		Settlement at Port Dalrymple.
	1806	Bligh Governor of New South Wales.
	1807	Arrest of John Macarthur.
	1808	Mutiny in New South Wales; deposition of Bligh.
	1809	Macquarie Governor of New South Wales.
	1810	Extinction of New South Wales Corps.
		Liberation of Flinders.
	1813	BlaxIand discovers a way across the Blue Mountains.
		Evans discovers the Bathurst plains.
		Davey Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land.
	1814	Death of Flinders.
		Establishment of Civil Court in New South Wales.
	1816	Bank of New South Wales founded.
	1817	Oxley explores the Lachlan.
	1818	Oxley explores the Macquarie.
	1819	Commissioner Bigge in New South Wales.
	1821	Brisbane Governor of New South Wales.
	1823	New South Wales Judicature Act passed.
		Oxley in Moreton Bay.
	1824	Wentworth's AUSTRALIAN.
		Foundation of Brisbane.
	1824	Annexation of Bathurst and Melville Islands.
		Hume and Hovell's expedition to Port Phillip.
	1825	Alteration of western boundary of New South Wales.
		Lockyer explores the Brisbane River.
		Arthur Governor of Van Diemen's Land.
	1826	The ASTROLABE at Westernport.
		Settlement at Westernport.
		Darling Governor of New South Wales.
	1827	Lockyer's Settlement at King George's Sound.
		Darling's law to regulate the press.
		Alan Cunningham explores the Liverpool Range and the Darling Downs.
		Stirling examines the Swan River.
	1828	Enlargement of the Legislative Council of New South W ales.
		Westernport Settlement abandoned.
		Sturt discovers the Darling.
	1829	Annexation of the Swan River.
		Whole of Australia claimed as British territory.
		The PARMELIA conveys first immigrants to Swan River.
		Publication of Wakefield's LETTER FROM SYDNEY.
	1830	Accession of William IV.
		Act establishing trial by jury in New South Wales.
		Sturt explores the Murray to the sea.
		Perth founded.
		Governor Arthur's 'Black Drive.'
	1834	Act to establish Colony of South Australia.
		The Hentys settle at Portland.
		The Dorsetshire labourers transported.
	1835	John Batman in Port Phillip.
	1836	Mitchell explores Australia Felix.
		Adelaide founded.
		Lonsdale takes charge of the Port Phillip Settlement.
		Bourke's grazing licences policy.
	1837	Accession of Queen Victoria.
		Melbourne named.
		House of Commons Committee on Transportation.
	1837-40	George Grey's explorations in Western Australia.
	1838	Gawler Governor of South Australia.
		Military settlement at Port Essington.
	1839	Latrobe appointed superintendent of Port Phillip.
		Strzeleeki finds traces of gold.
	1839	Death of John Batman.
		Lord Durham's report on the state of Canada.
		McMillan's first expedition to Gippsland.
		Abandonment of Moreton Bay Settlement.
	1840	Order in Council discontinuing transportation to Australia.
		Eyre starts for the centre of the continent.
		Strzelecki's journey through Gippsland.
	1841	Grey appointed Governor of South Australia.
	1842	Robert Lowe in New South Wales.
		Act for the Government of N.S.W. and Van Diemen's Land passed.
	1843	Ridley invents the stripper.
	1844	Convicts shipped to Port Phillip.
		Sturt's journey to the interior.
		Leichhardt's first exploring expedition.
	1845	Grey appointed Governor of New Zealand.
		Burra copper mine discovered.
	1846	Fitzroy 'Governor-General' of Australia.
		Lieutenant Yule hoists British flag in New Guinea.
	1847	Gold found in Port Phillip.
		The Gladstone Colony at Port Curtis.
	1848	Melbourne elects Lord Grey to the Legislative Council.
		Leichhardt's last expedition.
	1849	The RANDOLPH in Hobson's Bay: resistance to convict immigration.
		Port Essington abandoned.
	1850	Western Australia becomes a penal colony.
		University of Sydney founded.
		Australian Colonies Government Act passed.
		Railway from Sydney to Goulburn built.
	1851	Separation of Victoria from New South Wales.
		Hargreaves digs for gold on Summerhill Creek.
		Gold found at Ballarat.
		The diggings commence.
	1852	University of Melbourne founded.
	1853	Tasmania named.
		Town of Gladstone founded.
		French annexation of New Caledonia.
	1854	The Eureka Stockade.
		Hobson's Bay railway built.
	1855	Transportation to Norfolk Island ceased
	1855	New constitutions come into effect in New South Wales, Victoria,
		South Australia, and Tasmania.
		Ballot Act passed in Victoria.
		First anti-Chinese legislation passed.
	1858	Torrens Real Property Act passed.
	1859	Colony of Queensland proclaimed.
		Kingsley's GEOFFREY HAMLYN published.
	1860	McDouall Stuart reaches the centre of the continent.
	1861	Burke and Wills expedition.
		Cowper's quarrel with the New South Wales Legislative Council.
	1862	McDouall Stuart crosses the continent to Port Darwin
		Duffy's Land Act.
	1863	South Australia undertakes to administer the Northern Territory.
		New Caledonia a convict colony.
	1865	McCuIloch proposes protection in Victoria.
	1867	End of transportation to Western Australia.
		Gold discovered at Gympie.
		The Darling grant controversy.
	1868	First Queensland Act to regulate Kanaka labour
	1869	John Forrest's journey in search of Leichhardt.
	1870	British troops withdrawn from Australia.
		Adam Lindsay Gordon died.
	1872	Overland telegraph line from Adelaide to Port Darwin constructed.
	1873	John Forrest explores the interior.
		Moresby's discoveries in New Guinea.
		Stephens's 'free, compulsory, and secular' Education Act.
	1874	University of Adelaide founded.
		John Forrest's journey from Perth to Adelaide.
		Fiji annexed by Great Britain.
		Clarke's FOR THE TERM OF HIS NATURAL LIFE published.
	1875	Ernest Giles's inland journey.
	1877	Dispute as to payment of members in Victoria.
		High Commissionership of the Pacific established.
		Brunton Stephens's poem, THE DOMINION OF AUSTRALIA, published.
	1878	Black Wednesday' (January 8).
	1879	First Australian Trade Union Congress.
	1880	Capture of the Kelly Gang.
	1880	Payment of members carried in Victoria.
	1881	Reform of the Victorian Legislative Council.
	1882	Discovery of Mount Morgan.
		The Kimberley gold rush.
		Henry Clarence Kendall died.
	1883	Silver discovered at Broken Hill.
		McIlwraith annexes New Guinea.
	1884	German annexation of Kaiser Wilhelm's Land, the Bismarck
		Archipelago, and Samoa.
	1885	Federal Council established.
		Soudan contingent from New South Wales.
	1887	Anglo-French Condominium in the New Hebrides.
		First Colonial Conference.
	1888	Intercolonial Conference on Chinese immigration.
		ROBBERY UNDER ARMS published.
	1890	Great maritime strike.
		University of Tasmania founded.
	1891	First Federal Convention.
	1892	Coolgardie gold-field discovered.
	1893	Corowa Conference on Federation.
	1894	Women's enfranchisement in South Australia.
	1895	Victorian Wages Board system established.
		Paterson's THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER published.
	1896	Henry Lawson's IN THE DAYS WHEN THE WORLD WAS WIDE published.
	1897	The second Colonial Conference.
	1897-8	The Federal Convention.
	1898	First Federal Referendum.
	1899	Second Federal Referendum.
		First Labour Government (Queensland).
		Australian contingents sent to South African War.
	1900	The Commonwealth Constitution before the Imperial Parliament.
	1901	(May 9) First Commonwealth Parliament opened.
	1902	Immigration Restriction Act passed.
		Third Colonial Conference.
	1903	First Deakin Government.
		Amended Naval Agreement.
	1904	The Watson Government.
		Reid-McLean Government.
		Dalgety selected as site for federal capital.
	1905	Second Deakin Government.
	1906	Amended Anglo-French agreement as to New Hebrides.
	1907	Act for construction of Kalgoorlie to Port Augusta railway passed.
		Imperial Conference.
	1908	First Fisher Government.
		Revocation of choice of Dalgety. Canberra finally selected as site of federal capital.
	1909	Third Deakin Government.
		Imperial Defence Conference.
		Compulsory military service instituted in Australia.
		Lord Kitchener's report.
	1910	University of Brisbane founded.
		Second Fisher Government.
	1911	Referendum for amendment of constitution.
		Admiral Henderson's naval report.
		Imperial Conference.
	1912	University of Perth founded.
	1913	Cook Government.
		Referendum for amendment of constitution.
		The AUSTRALIA completed.
	1914	Third Fisher Government.
		Great European War.
		Fight between the SYDNEY and EMDEN at Cocos (November).
	1915	Hughes Government.
		Anzac.
	1916	First Conscription Referendum.
	1917	Second Conscription Referendum.
		Transcontinental Railway opened.
	1918	Great battle on the Somme (August 8); capture of Mont St. Quentin by Australian forces.
		Defeat and surrender of Germany.
	1919	Ross and Keith Smith fly from England to Australia by aeroplane.
	1920	Visit of the Prince of Wales to Australia.
	1923	End of Hughes Government.
		Stanley Bruce Prime Minister.
	1924	Visit of Special Service squadron of the Royal Navy to Australia.
	1927	Federal Parliament opened by Duke of York at the Commonwealth capital, Canberra.
	1928	Flight by Bert Hinkler from England to Australia, and by Kingsford
		Smith and Ulm from America to Australia and from Australia to New Zealand.
	1929	J. Scullin Prime Minister.
	1930	First Australian-born Governor-General appointed: Sir Isaac Isaacs.
	1931	Statute of Westminster.
	1932	Opening of Sydney Harbour Bridge.
		J. A. Lyons Prime Minister.
		Imperial Conference at Ottawa.
	1934	Victorian Centenary celebrations attended by the Duke of Gloucester.
	1935	Italy attacks Abyssinia.
		Jubilee of King George V.
	1936	Death of King George V
		accession and later abdication of King Edward VIII
		accession of the Duke of York as King George VI.
	1938	The 'Munich Crisis.'
	1939	Death of J. A. Lyons; R. G. Menzies becomes Prime Minister.
		Second World War begins.
	1940	Australian forces share in North African campaigns.
	1941	Tobruk.
		A. W. Fadden Prime Minister, August-October.
		John Curtin Prime Minister.
	1942	Darwin bombed and Rabaul captured by Japanese
		Battle of El Alamein.
	1943	Italy defeated and Mussolini overthrown.
	1944	Invasion of Europe and Battle of Normandy.
		Defeat of Referendum on increased powers for Commonwealth.
		General MacArthur lands in the Philippines.
	1945	Defeat of Germany (May).
		United Nations' Charter signed.
		26th January 1988 - Bicentenary of White Settlement