The chronology

Sixty-five thousand years,
moment by moment.

Every moment below is true. Together they are neither the whole story nor the end of it — but they are where any honest telling starts.

c. 65,000 BP

c. 30,000 BP

c. 18,000 BP

c. 10,000 BP

c. 6,600 BP

1606

1770

1788

1789

1790–1802

1824–1829

1838

1851

1854

1901

1915

1928

1938

1965

1966–1975

1967

1972

1992

2000

2008

2017

2023

Sixty-five thousand years,
moment by moment.

First footprints at Madjedbebe

Among the world's oldest art traditions begin

Ice Age: Tasmania joins the mainland

The seas rise; Bass Strait forms

Budj Bim: an aquaculture older than the pyramids

The Duyfken reaches Cape York

Cook claims the east coast

The First Fleet raises a flag without a treaty

Smallpox sweeps the harbour

Pemulwuy wages a war for the Cumberland Plain

Windradyne and the Bathurst Wars

Myall Creek: the law finally reaches the frontier

Gold transforms the colonies

Eureka Stockade

Federation — with First Nations written out

ANZACs land at Gallipoli

The Coniston massacres

The Day of Mourning

The Freedom Rides

Wave Hill walk-off: from wages to land

The 1967 Referendum: 90.77% vote yes

The Aboriginal Tent Embassy

Mabo: terra nullius falls

A million people walk for reconciliation

The National Apology

The Uluru Statement from the Heart

The Voice referendum