When I first heard about the relic World War II tank traps hidden away in the forests of south-east New South Wales, I thought someone was pulling my leg. It was only after I discovered my informant was a rural firefighter who’d seen the timber obstacles marked on an old map, that I took the claims seriously.
On the night of 19 November 1863, three bushrangers – Ben Hall, John Gilbert and John O’Meally – approached Goimbla Homestead, near Eugowra in central western New South Wales.
Today, all traces of where inhabitants once lived now lie beneath the waves.
About 130km west of Hobart are the remote remnants of the osmiridium mining settlement of Adamsfield, established in 1925.
It’s been 100 years since compulsory voting was introduced for Australian federal elections.
Louisa Atkinson and her mother, Charlotte, were among Australia’s earliest authors, and pioneers in women’s rights.
Australia’s thousands of kilometres of rocky coastline and shallow reefs harbour the rusting relics of more than 8000 ships.
In 1953 Beaconsfield, Tasmania, becomes the first Australian town to have its water supply treated with fluoride to combat tooth decay.
The first Australian ascent of Mt Everest in 1984 is one of the great feats of mountaineering. Climbed by a small team semi-alpine style, with no bottled oxygen, via the Great (Norton) Couloir, it remains unrepeated 40 years later.
1954: The Flags Act 1953 becomes law, defining the official Australian flag.