Matthew Dannoun

In 1769, Lieutenant James Cook in command of HMS Endeavour, travelled to Tahiti to observe and record the transit of Venus. Cook also carried secret Admiralty instructions to locate the supposed Southern Continent. Unable to find this continent, Cook decided to survey the east coast of New Holland, the only major part of that continent that had not been charted by Dutch navigators. On 19 April 1770, Endeavour reached the east coast of New Holland and ten days later anchored at Botany Bay. Cook charted the coast to its northern extent and formally took possession of the east coast of New Holland on 21/22 August 1770 when on Possession Island off the west coast of Cape York Peninsula. He noted in his journal that he could land no more upon this Eastern coast of New Holland, and on the Western side I can make no new discovery the honour of which belongs to the Dutch Navigators and as such they may lay Claim to it as their property but the Eastern Coast from the Latitude of 38 South down t...

On the first day of Parliament after the 2007 federal election, former prime minister kevin rudd delivered the Apology to the Stolen Generations.  It marked the beginning of a new chapter in the road to reconciliation with the First Australians.

On 11 November 1975, after a series of dramatic events including a 1974 double dissolution and a budgetary supply crisis, the Gough Whitlam-led federal Labor government became the first (and only) government in Australian history to be dismissed by the Governor-General. While this constitutional crisis has overshadowed the Whitlam years, the administration left a lasting legacy of social and political reform. Gough Whitlam, 11 November 1975: Ladies and gentlemen, well may we say ‘God save the Queen’, because nothing will save the Governor-General. Election Under Whitlam’s leadership, the Australian Labor Party (ALP) contested and won the December 1972 election campaign. After 23 years of Liberal–Country Party Coalition rule, the party’s slogan ‘It’s Time’ reflected the ALP’s hope for a change of government, and for sweeping reforms in the way Australia was governed. The party campaigned on a platform of significant change. Whitlam’s election campaign priorities included introducing nat...