#1975 australian constitutional crisis

[srijellyfishtempura]

I know I'm 47 years too late but fuck it WE STILL WANT GOUGH

[lilithism1848]

Atrocities US committed against ASIA

Between 1996-2006, The US has given money and weapons to royalist forces against the nepalese communists in the Nepalese civil war. ~18,000 people have died in the conflict. In 2002, after another civil war erupted, President George W. Bush pushed a bill through Congress authorizing $20 million in military aid to the Nepalese government.

In 1996, after receiving incredibly low approval ratings, the US helped elect Boris Yeltsin, an incompetent pro-capitalist independent, by giving him a $10 Billion dollar loan to finance a winning election. Rather than creating new enterprises, Yeltsin’s democratization led to international monopolies hijacking the former Soviet markets, arbitraging the huge difference between old domestic prices for Russian commodities and the prices prevailing on the world market. Much of the Yeltsin era was marked by widespread corruption, and as a result of persistent low oil and commodity prices during the 1990s, Russia suffered inflation, economic collapse and enormous political and social problems that affected Russia and the other former states of the USSR. Under Yeltsin, Between 1990 and 1994, life expectancy for Russian men and women fell from 64 and 74 years respectively to 58 and 71 years. The surge in mortality was “beyond the peacetime experience of industrialised countries”. While it was boom time for the new oligarchs, poverty and unemployment surged; prices were hiked dramatically; communities were devastated by deindustrialisation; and social protections were stripped away.

In the 1970s-80s, wikileaks cables revealed that the US covertly supported the Khmer Rouge in their fight against the Vietnamese communists. Annual support included an end total of ~$215M USD, food aid to 20-40k Khmer Rouge fighters, CIA advisors in several camps, and ammunition.

In December 1975, The US supplied the weaponry for the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. This incursion was launched the day after U.S. President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had left Indonesia where they had given President Suharto permission to use American arms, which under U.S. law, could not be used for aggression. Daniel Moynihan, U.S. ambassador to the UN. said that the U.S. wanted “things to turn out as they did.” The result was an estimated 200,000 dead out of a population of 700,000. Sixteen years later, on November 12, 1991, two hundred and seventeen East Timorese protesters in Dili, many of them children, marching from a memorial service, were gunned down by Indonesian Kopassus shock troops who were headed by U.S.- trained commanders Prabowo Subianto (son in law of General Suharto) and Kiki Syahnakri. Trucks were seen dumping bodies into the sea.

In 1975 Australian Constitutional Crisis, the CIA helped topple the democratically elected, left-leaning government of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, by telling Governor-General, John Kerr, a longtime CIA collaborator, to dissolve the Whitlam government.

In 2018 after the release of a suppressed ISC (International Scientific Commission) report, and the release of declassified CIA communications daily reports in 2020, it was revealed that the US used germ warfare in the Korean war, 2. Many of these attacks involved the dropping of insects or small mammals infected with viruses such as anthrax, plague, cholera, and encephalitis. After discovering evidence of germ warfare, China invited the ISC headed by famed British scientist Joseph Needham, to investigate, but the report was suppressed for over 70 years.

Between 1963 and 1973, The US dropped ~388,000 tons of napalm bombs in vietnam, compared to 32,357 tons used over three years in the Korean War, and 16,500 tons dropped on Japan in 1945. US also sprayed over 5 million acres with herbicide, in Operation Ranch Hand, in a 10 year campaign to deprive the vietnamese of food and vegetation cover.

In 1971 in Pakistan, an authoritarian state supported by the U.S., brutally invaded East Pakistan in the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971. The war ended after India, whose economy was staggering after admitting about 10 million refugees, invaded East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and defeated the West Pakistani forces. The US gave W. pakistan 411 million provided to establish its armed forces which spent 80% of its budget on its military. 15 million in arms flowed into W. Pakistan during the war. Between 300,000 to 3 million civilians were killed, with 8-10 million refugees fleeing to India.

In 1970, In Cambodia, The CIA overthrows Prince Sihanouk, who is highly popular among Cambodians for keeping them out of the Vietnam War. He is replaced by CIA puppet Lon Nol, whose forces suppressed the large-scale popular demonstrations in favour of Sihanouk, resulting in several hundred deaths. This unpopular move strengthens once minor opposition parties like the Khmer Rouge (another CIA supported group), who achieve power in 1975 and massacres ~2.5 million people. The Khmer Rouge, under Pol Pot, carried out the Cambodian Genocide, which killed 1.5-2M people from 1975-1979.

In 1969, The US initiated a secret carpet bombing campaign in eastern Cambodia, called, Operation Menu, and Operation Freedom Deal in 1970. An estimated 40,000 - 150,000 civilians were killed. Nixon lied about this campaign, but was later exposed, and one of the things that lead to his impeachment.

US dropped large amounts of Agent Orange, an herbicide developed by monsanto and dow chemical for the department of defense, in vietnam. Its use, in particular the contaminant dioxin, causes multiple health problems, including cleft palate, mental disabilities, hernias, still births, poisoned breast milk, and extra fingers and toes, as well as destroying local species of plants and animals. The Red Cross of Vietnam estimates that up to 1 million people are disabled or have health problems due to Agent Orange.

US Troops killed between 347 and 504 unarmed civilians, including women, children, and infants, in South Vietnam on March, 1968, in the My Lai Massacre. Some of the women were gang-raped and their bodies mutilated. Soldiers set fire to huts, waiting for civilians to come out so they could shoot them. For 30 years, the three US servicemen who tried to halt the massacre and rescue the hiding civilians were shunned and denounced as traitors, even by congressmen.

In 1967, the CIA helped South Vietnamese agents identify and then murder alleged Viet Cong leaders operating in villages, in the Phoenix Program. By 1972, Phoenix operatives had executed between 26,000 and 41,000 suspected NLF operatives, informants and supporters.

In 1965, The CIA overthrew the democratically elected Indonesian leader Sukarno with a military coup. The CIA had been trying to eliminate Sukarno since 1957, using everything from attempted assassination to sexual intrigue, for nothing more than his declaring neutrality in the Cold War. His successor, General Suharto, aided by the CIA, massacred between 500,000 to 1 million civilians accused of being communist, in the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-66. The US continued to support Suharto throughout the 70s, supplying weapons and planes.

Between 1964 and 1973, American pilots flew 580,000 attack sorties over Laos, an average of one planeload of bombs every eight minutes for almost a decade. By the time the last US bombs fell in April 1973, a total of 2,093,100 tonnes of ordnance had rained down on this neutral country. To this day, Laos, a country of just 7 million people, retains the dubious accolade of being the most heavily bombed country in the world per capita.

From the 1960s onward, the US supported Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The US provided hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, which was crucial in buttressing Marcos’s rule over the years. The estimated number of persons that were executed and disappeared under President Fernando Marcos was over 100,000. After fleeing to hawaii, marco was suceeded by the widow of an opponent he assasinated, Corazon aquino.

Starting in 1957, in the wake of the US-backed First Indochina War, The CIA carries out approximately one coup per year trying to nullify Laos’ democratic elections, specifically targeting the Pathet Lao, a leftist group with enough popular support to be a member of any coalition government, and perpetuating the 20 year Laotian civil war. In the late 50s, the CIA even creates an “Armee Clandestine” of Asian mercenaries to attack the Pathet Lao. After the CIA’s army suffers numerous defeats, the U.S. drops more bombs on Laos than all the U.S. bombs dropped in World War II. A quarter of all Laotians will eventually become refugees, many living in caves. This was later called a “secret war,” since it occurred at the same time as the Vietnam War, but got little press. Hundreds of thousands were killed.

In 1955, the CIA provided explosives, and aided KMT agents in an assassination attempt against the Chinese Premier, Zhou Enlai. KMT agents placed a time-bomb on the Air India aircraft, Kashmir Princess, which Zhou was supposed to take on his way to the Bandung Conference, an anti-imperialist meeting of Asian and African states, but he changed his travel plans at the last minute. Henry Kissinger denied US involvement, even though remains of a US detonator were found. 16 people were killed.

From 1955-1975, the US supported French colonialist interests in Vietnam, set up a puppet regime in Saigon to serve US interests, and later took part as a belligerent against North Vietnam in the Vietnam War. U.S. involvement escalated further following the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident, which was later found to be staged by Lyndon Johnson. The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities (see Vietnam War casualties). Estimates of the number of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed vary from 966,000 source to 3.8 million.source Some 240,000–300,000 Cambodians,source23 20,000–62,000 Laotians,4 and 58,220 U.S. service members also died in the conflict, with a further 1,626 missing in action. Unexploded bomb continue to kill civilians for years afterward.

In the summer of 1950 in South Korea, anticommunists aided by the US executed at least 100,000 people suspected of supporting communism, in the Bodo League Massacre. For four decades the South Korean government concealed this massacre. Survivors were forbidden by the government from revealing it, under suspicion of being communist sympathizers. Public revelation carried with it the threat of torture and death. During the 1990s and onwards, several corpses were excavated from mass graves, resulting in public awareness of the massacre.

In 1984, documents were released showing that Eisenhower authorized the use of atomic weapons on North Korea, should the communists renew the war in 1953. The 2,000 pages released show the high level of planning and the detail of discussion on possible use of these weapons, and Mr. Eisenhower’s interest in overcoming reluctance to use them.

In the beginning of the Korean war, US Troops killed ~300 South Korean civilians in the No Gun Ri massacre, revealing a theater-wide policy of firing on approaching refugee groups. Trapped refugees began piling up bodies as barricades and tried to dig into the ground to hide. Some managed to escape the first night, while U.S. troops turned searchlights on the tunnels and continued firing, said Chung Koo-ho, whose mother died shielding him and his sister. No apology has yet been issued.

The US intervened in the 1950-53 Korean Civil War, on the side of the south Koreans, in a proxy war between the US and china for supremacy in East Asia. South Korea reported some 373,599 civilian and 137,899 military deaths, the US with 34,000 killed, and China with 114,000 killed. Overall, the U.S. dropped 635,000 tons of bombs—including 32,557 tons of napalm—on Korea, more than they did during the whole Pacific campaign of World War II. The US killed an estimated 1/3rd of the north Korean people during the war. The Joint Chiefs of staff issued orders for the retaliatory bombing of the People’s republic of China, should south Korea be attacked. Deadly clashes have continued up to the present day.

From 1948-1949, the Jeju uprising was an insurgency taking place in the Korean province of Jeju island, followed by severe anticommunist suppression of the South Korean Labor Party in which 14-30,000 people were killed, or ~10% of the island’s population. Though atrocities were committed by both sides, the methods used by the South Korean government to suppress the rebels were especially cruel. On one occasion, American soldiers discovered the bodies of 97 people including children, killed by government forces. On another, American soldiers caught government police forces carrying out an execution of 76 villagers, including women and children. The US later entered the Korean civil war on the side of the South Koreans.

In 1949 during the resumed Chinese Civil War, the US supported the corrupt Kuomintang dictatorship of Chiang Kaishek to fight against the Chinese Communists, who had won the support of the vast majority of peasant-farmers and helped defeat the Japanese invasion. The US strongly supported the Kuomintang forces. Over 50,000 US Marines were sent to guard strategic sites, and 100,000 US troops were sent to Shandong. The US equipped and trained over 500,000 KMT troops, and transported KMT forces to occupy newly liberated zones as well as to contain Communist-controlled areas. American aid included substantial amounts of both new and surplus military supplies; additionally, loans worth hundreds of millions of dollars were made to the KMT. Within less than two years after the Sino-Japanese War, the KMT had received $4.43 billion from the US—most of which was military aid.

The U.S. installed Syngman Rhee,a conservative Korean exile, as President of South Korea in 1948. Rhee became a dictator on an anti-communist crusade, arresting and torturing suspected communists, brutally putting down rebellions, killing 100,000 people and vowing to take over North Korea. Rhee precipitated the outbreak of the Korean War and for the allied decision to invade North Korea once South Korea had been recaptured. He was finally forced to resign by mass student protests in 1960.

Between 1946 and 1958, the US tested 23 nuclear devices at Bikini Atoll, using the native islanders and their land as guinea pigs for the effects of nuclear fallout. Significant fallout caused widespread radiological contamination in the area, and killed many islanders. A survivor stated, “What the Americans did was no accident. They came here and destroyed our land. They came to test the effects of a nuclear bomb on us. It was no accident.” Many of the islanders exposed were brought to the US Argonne National laboratory, to study the effects. Afterwards the islands proved unsuitable to sustaining life, resulting in starvation and requiring the residents to receive ongoing aid. Virtually all of the inhabitants showed acute symptoms of radiation syndrome, many developing thyroid cancers, Leukimia, miscarriages, stillborn and “jellyfish babies” (highly deformed) along with symptoms like hair falling out, and diahrrea. A handful were brought to the US for medical research and later returned, while others were evacuated to neighboring Islands. The US under LBJ prematurely returned the majority returned 3 years later, to further test how human beings absorb radiation from their food and environment. The islanders pleaded with the US to move them away from the islands, as it became clear that their children were developing deformities and radiation sickness. Radion levels were still unacceptable. The United States later paid the islanders and their descendants 25 million in compensation for damage caused by the nuclear testing program. A 2016 investigation found radiation levels on Bikini Atoll as high as 639 mrem yr−1, well above the established safety standard threshold for habitation of 100 mrem yr−1. Similar tests occurred elsewhere in the Marshall Islands during this time period. Due to the destruction of natural wealth, Kwajalein Atoll’s military installation and dislocation, the majority of natives currently live in extreme poverty, making less than 1$ a day. Those that have jobs, mostly work at the US military installation and resorts. Much of this is detailed in the documentary, The Coming War on China (2016). 

After the Japanese surrender in 1945, Douglas MacArthur pardoned Unit 731, a Japanese biological experimentation center which performed human testing of biological agents against Chinese citizens. While a series of war tribunals and trials was organized, many of the high-ranking officials and doctors who devised and respectively performed the experiments were pardoned and never brought to justice. As many as 12,000 people, most of them Chinese, died in Unit 731 alone and many more died in other facilities, such as Unit 100 and in field experiments throughout Manchuria. One of the experimenters who killed many, microbiologist Shiro Ishii, later traveled to the US to advise on its bioweapons programs. In the final days of the Pacific War and in the face of imminent defeat, Japanese troops blew up the headquarters of Unit 731 in order to destroy evidence of the research done there. As part of the cover-up, Ishii ordered 150 remaining subjects killed.

In 1945 during the month-long Battle of Manila, the US in deciding whether to attack Manila (then under Japanese occupation) with ground troops, decided instead to use indiscriminate carpet-bombing, howitzers, and naval bombardment, killing an estimated 100,000 people. The casualty figures show the US’s regard for filipino civilian life: 1,010 Americans, 16,665 Japanese and 100,000 to 240,000 civilians were killed. Manila became, alongside Berlin, and Warsaw, one of the most devastated cities of WW2.

US Troops committed a number of rapes during the battle of Okinawa, and the subsequent occupation of Japan. There were 1,336 reported rapes during the first 10 days of the occupation of Kanagawa prefecture alone.1 American Occupation authorities imposed wide-ranging censorship on the Japanese media, including bans on covering many sensitive social issues and serious crimes such as rape committed by members of the Occupation forces.

From 1942 to 1945, the US military carried out a fire-bombing campaign of Japanese cities, killing between 200,000 and 900,000 civilians. One nighttime fire-bombing of Tokyo took 80,000 lives. During early August 1945, the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing ~130,000 civilians, and causing radiation damage which included birth defects and a variety of genetic diseases for decades to come. The justification for the civilian bombings has largely been debunked, as the entrance of Russia into the war had already started the surrender negotiations earlier in 1945. The US was aware of this, since it had broken the Japanese code and had been intercepting messages during for most of the year. The US ended up accepting a conditional surrender from Hirohito, against which was one of the stated aims of the civilian bombings. The dropping of the atomic bomb is therefore seen as a demonstration of US military supremacy, and the first major operation of the Cold War with Russia.

In 1918, the US took part in the allied intervention in the Russian civil war, sending 11,000 troops to the in the Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok regions to support the anti-bolshevik, monarchist, and largely anti-semitic White Forces. 

In 1900 in China, the US was part of an Eight-Nation Alliance that brought 20,000 armed troops to China, to defeat the Imperial Chinese Army, in the the Boxer Rebellion, an anti-imperialist uprising. 

In 1899, after a popular revolution in the Philippines to oust the Spanish imperialists, the US invaded and began the Phillipine-American war. The US military committed countless atrocities, leaving 200,000 Filipinos dead. Jacob H Smith killed between 2,500 to 50,000 civilians, His orders included, “kill everyone over the age of ten” and make the island “a howling wilderness.”

Throughout the 1800s, US settlers engaged in a genocide of native Hawaiians. The native population decreased from ~ 400k in 1789, to 40k by 1900, due to colonization and disease. In 1883, the US engineered the overthrow of Hawaii’s native monarch, Queen Lili’uokalani, by landing two companies of US marines in Honolulu. Due to the Queen’s desire “to avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps the loss of life” for her subjects and after some deliberation, at the urging of advisers and friends, the Queen ordered her forces to surrender. Hawaii was initially reconstituted as an independent republic, but the ultimate goal of the US was the annexation of the islands to the United States, which was finally accomplished in 1898. After this, the Hawaiian language was banned, English replaced it as the official language in all institutions and schools. The US finally apologized in 1993, but no land has been returned.

[luthienebonyx]

What a truly progressive government looks like

The man in this photo is Gough (pronounced Goff) Whitlam, the 21st prime minister of Australia. Fifty years ago, on 2 December 1972, Gough Whitlam’s Australian Labor Party won the federal election, and ushered in easily the most progressive government Australia has ever had. It was a government that truly changed Australia, and set it on the path towards being the country it is today.

Gough (he was one of those rare politicians who was widely known simply by his first name. There was truly only one Gough) was tall and imposing, with silver hair and dark eyebrows, and a booming voice that delivered his razor sharp wit. When he led the ALP to victory in 1972, the party had been out of government for 23 long years, and were determined to make a difference when at last they were back in power. As you’ve probably worked out from the glorious 1970s t-shirts in the picture, the election campaign slogan was It’s Time. It featured in a famous election ad jingle, performed by Alison McCallum and accompanied by many famous faces of the time.

After winning the 1972 election, Gough wasted no time in implementing his election promises. Not willing to wait until the final results of the election were confirmed and the full ministry could be appointed, he and his deputy, Lance Barnard, were sworn in as prime minister and deputy prime minister on 5 December. Between the two of them, they held all 27 government portfolios for two weeks until the rest of the ministry was sworn in. The duumvirate, as it was known:

ordered negotiations to establish full relations with China

ended conscription in the Vietnam War

freed the conscientious objectors who had been jailed for refusing conscription

ordered home all remaining Australian troops in Vietnam

re-opened the equal pay case (for women, who were at that time by law paid less than men for doing the same job) and appointed a woman, Elizabeth Evatt, to the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, the body that made the decision

abolished sales tax on the contraceptive pill

announced major grants for the arts

appointed an interim schools commission

barred racially discriminatory sport teams from Australia, and instructed the Australian delegation at the United Nations to vote in favour of sanctions on apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia

And that was just the first two weeks.

In the three years that followed, the Whitlam government:

introduced a national universal health scheme

abolished university fees

abolished the death penalty for federal crimes

established Legal Aid

replaced God Save the Queen with Advance Australia Fair as the national anthem

replaced the British honours system with the Order of Australia

created the family court and introduced no fault divorce, the first country in the world to do so

ended the White Australia policy

introduced the racial discrimination act

advocated for Indigenous rights, including creating the Aboriginal Land Fund and the Aboriginal Loans Commission, and returned some of their traditional lands to the Gurunji people in the Northern Territory. This was the first time that any Australian government had returned land to its original custodians. Here’s a famous photograph by Mervyn Bishop of Gough pouring a handful of red earth into the hands of Gurunji leader Vincent Lingiari, ‘as a sign that this land will be in the possession of you and your children forever‘:

I’m sure there are more achievements of the Whitlam government that I’m forgetting. There were a lot.

Of course, the Whitlam government will always be seen through the lens of the way it ended, but I’m not going to talk about the constitutional crisis of 1975 - plenty of books have been written about that, including one by Gough himself - or about the various dysfunctions of the Whitlam government, particularly once the international oil crisis hit in 1973.

I just really want to point out that truly progressive governments can change their countries profoundly, and for the lasting betterment of their people. Not everything that the Whitlam government achieved withstood the assaults of the conservative government that followed it, but some did and are still with us, half a century later, while other aspects, like universal healthcare, were resurrected by the Hawke Labor government a decade later, and endure to this day.

Gough died in 2014 at the age of 98, not quite making his personal century. Tonight I’m raising a glass to his memory. Thanks, Gough, for all the things you did to make this country a better, fairer, more inclusive place.

[msexcelfractal]

I think you missed Australia in the coup list. America convinced the governor general to remove the democratically elected PM from power . Certainly less bad than how they went about coup-ing other countries but ye

Whaaat? What year was this?

ed:

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.27 (after 1960)

1960 – In Turkey, a military coup removes President Celâl Bayar and the rest of the democratic government from office. 1962 – The Centralia mine fire is ignited in the town's landfill above a coal mine. 1965 – Vietnam War: American warships begin the first bombardment of National Liberation Front targets within South Vietnam. 1967 – Australians vote in favor of a constitutional referendum granting the Australian government the power to make laws to benefit Indigenous Australians and to count them in the national census. 1967 – The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy is launched by Jacqueline Kennedy and her daughter Caroline. 1971 – The Dahlerau train disaster, the worst railway accident in West Germany, kills 46 people and injures 25 near Wuppertal. 1971 – Pakistani forces massacre over 200 civilians, mostly Bengali Hindus, in the Bagbati massacre. 1975 – Dibbles Bridge coach crash near Grassington, in North Yorkshire, England, kills 33 – the highest ever death toll in a road accident in the United Kingdom. 1977 – A plane crash at José Martí International Airport in Havana, Cuba, kills 67. 1980 – The Gwangju Massacre: Airborne and army troops of South Korea retake the city of Gwangju from civil militias, killing at least 207 and possibly many more. 1984 – The Danube–Black Sea Canal is opened, in a ceremony attended by the Ceaușescus. It had been under construction since the 1950s. 1988 – Somaliland War of Independence: The Somali National Movement launches a major offensive against Somali government forces in Hargeisa and Burao, then the second- and third-largest cities of Somalia. 1996 – First Chechen War: Russian President Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechnyan rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire. 1997 – The 1997 Central Texas tornado outbreak occurs, spawning multiple tornadoes in Central Texas, including the F5 that killed 27 in Jarrell. 1998 – Oklahoma City bombing: Michael Fortier is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorist plot. 1999 – Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-96, the first shuttle mission to dock with the International Space Station. 2001 – Members of Abu Sayyaf, an Islamist separatist group, seize twenty hostages from an affluent island resort on Palawan in the Philippines; the hostage crisis would not be resolved until June 2002. 2006 – The 6.4 Mw  Yogyakarta earthquake shakes central Java with an MSK intensity of VIII (Damaging), leaving more than 5,700 dead and 37,000 injured. 2016 – Barack Obama is the first president of United States to visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and meet Hibakusha. 2017 – Andrew Scheer takes over after Rona Ambrose as the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. 2018 – Maryland Flood Event: A flood occurs throughout the Patapsco Valley, causing one death, destroying the entire first floors of buildings on Main Street in Ellicott City, and causing cars to overturn.

[dan6085]

Here's a detailed history timeline of Australia:

Pre-1770: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have lived on the Australian continent for tens of thousands of years, with diverse cultures, languages, and societies.

1606: The first recorded European sighting of Australia was by Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon, who saw the western coast of Cape York Peninsula.

1688-1690: English explorer William Dampier explored parts of the Australian coastline.

1770: British explorer James Cook landed at Botany Bay in New South Wales, claiming the eastern coast of Australia for Britain.

1788: The First Fleet, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, arrived in Botany Bay, carrying British convicts and settlers. The colony of New South Wales was established at Sydney Cove.

1803: The British established the second settlement in Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania).

1824: The British established the third settlement in Western Australia at Swan River (now Perth).

1836: The state of South Australia was founded as a free settlement, distinct from a penal colony.

1851: Gold was discovered in New South Wales and Victoria, leading to significant gold rushes and rapid population growth.

1856: The colony of Victoria achieved self-government.

1901: The Commonwealth of Australia was formed on January 1, bringing together six self-governing colonies: New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania. Edmund Barton became the first Prime Minister.

1914-1918: Australia participated in World War I, making significant contributions to the Allied forces.

1939-1945: Australia joined the Allies in World War II, facing attacks by Japanese forces in the Pacific.

1942: The Battle of Coral Sea was a significant naval battle in which the Allies successfully defended Australia from Japanese invasion.

1945: The end of World War II brought an influx of immigrants to Australia, fostering a culturally diverse population.

1951: The Australia-New Zealand-United States (ANZUS) security treaty was signed, cementing Australia's military alliance with the United States and New Zealand.

1967: A constitutional referendum was held, resulting in the inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the national census and giving the federal government authority to legislate for them.

1975: The Whitlam government was controversially dismissed by the Governor-General, leading to a constitutional crisis.

1986: Australia Act 1986 granted full legislative independence to Australia, ending the remaining ties with the United Kingdom.

2000: Sydney hosted the Summer Olympics, showcasing Australia on the world stage.

2008: The government of Kevin Rudd issued a formal apology to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples for past policies of forced assimilation and mistreatment.

2020: Australia faced devastating bushfires, causing widespread destruction and loss of wildlife.

2021: Australia continues to face various challenges, including managing its economy, addressing climate change, and handling geopolitical relations in the Asia-Pacific region.

This timeline provides an overview of Australia's history, highlighting key events that have shaped the nation from its ancient indigenous roots to its modern multicultural society. Please note that this is a general overview, and there are many more significant events and details that could be explored in Australia's rich history.

Here are some additional key events and developments in Australia's history:

Late 18th Century:

- The establishment of various penal colonies, including Norfolk Island, Moreton Bay, and Port Arthur, to house British convicts sent to Australia.

19th Century:

- Transportation of convicts to Australia continued until the 1860s, contributing to the growth of the colonial population.

- The Eureka Stockade in 1854 was a significant rebellion by gold miners against British colonial authority in Ballarat, Victoria.

- The granting of women's suffrage in South Australia in 1894, making it the first Australian colony to allow women to vote in parliamentary elections.

Early 20th Century:

- Australia became a founding member of the League of Nations in 1919, demonstrating its increasing involvement in international affairs.

- The Great Depression of the 1930s had a profound impact on the Australian economy, leading to high unemployment rates and social upheaval.

- During World War II, Australia actively contributed to the Allied war effort, sending troops to Europe, the Middle East, and the Pacific theater.

Late 20th Century:

- The post-war period saw a significant influx of immigrants, particularly from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, contributing to Australia's multicultural society.

- The 1967 referendum resulted in an overwhelming majority voting to grant the federal government power to legislate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and to include them in the national census.

- The landmark Mabo decision in 1992 recognized native title for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, acknowledging their ongoing connection to the land.

- In 1999, Australia held a referendum on whether to become a republic, but the proposal to replace the monarchy with a republic was rejected by the voters.

21st Century:

- In 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd issued a formal apology to the Stolen Generations, acknowledging the historical mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were forcibly removed from their families.

- Australia has faced ongoing debates and challenges related to climate change and environmental conservation, particularly in relation to its reliance on fossil fuels and efforts to transition to renewable energy sources.

- The government has worked to strengthen Australia's economic ties with countries in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond, seeking to enhance trade and diplomatic relations.

Australia continues to evolve as a nation, confronting various social, economic, and environmental issues. Its history is marked by resilience, diversity, and a growing recognition of the significance of its indigenous heritage and cultures. As a country with a rich tapestry of history, Australia's ongoing journey involves addressing past injustices while striving for a more inclusive and sustainable future.

[qqueenofhades]

Hey,

I just had a discussion with my dad about king Charles, where he said he associated him with the environmental left (on the political spectrum). I saw several media reports trying to portray him like that, and I know as a member of the royal family you cannot say too much political stuff, but I'm pretty sure he expressed some rather conservative opinions in the past?

Charles is not a left-winger by any stretch of the imagination. Aside from being, y'know, the heir to the whole imperialist mess (and indeed, now the king), he was also deeply involved in the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, which saw Prime Minister Gough Whitlam dismissed and forced out of office for being too left-wing, allegedly with the active connivance of the Queen and Charles. (The Palace, to absolutely nobody's surprise, has always steadfastly denied this.) Indeed, just to prove how innocent they were, the Queen embargoed their private letters in the affair (rather than having them released to the National Archives after 30 years) and an Australian academic, Professor Jenny Hocking, had to sue (in 2016) to get her hands on them. They were then ordered released by an Australian federal court (see "Palace letters," which refer to the documentation from that time period as exchanged between Charles and Governor-General John Kerr). Ever since, the Palace has changed its tune to "the Queen wasn't involved, it was only Charles!" Sounds familiar. Huh.

Anyway, yes, Charles has done some high-profile campaigning for environmental causes, but that -- again -- does not make him a political liberal or a left-winger in any way. He has expressed a desire for a "slimmed down" and "more modern" monarchy, wherein only a few senior royals receive taxpayer money to carry out public events, but again, this is just rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. He's also generally disregarded the dictum about expressing political opinions, which is why we know more about his personal beliefs than we've ever known about the Queen's, and which some people have expressed concerns about, since Charles has been willfully functioning as a political actor during his long, long waiting period as Prince of Wales. Technically, that's a no-no now that he's king, but obviously he still has many avenues available to lobby for his preferred state of things. Including those duffel bags of Qatari black cash, no doubt, but hey! Who's counting?

[srijellyfishtempura-archive]

So angry about the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis

OK basically Gough Whitlam (Labor party) was prime minister with a big majority in the house of representatives (67-58) but he couldn’t get anything done because the senate was mostly Liberal and the balance of power was with a conservative party. So this girlboss Gough Whitlam now can’t get any budget through to passing, which is very bad and very annoying for the Labor party. He calls an election where literally everyone in parliament is up for election (double dissolution) but Labor still doesn’t get a majority in the senate to pass things. As a result, Labor can’t get anything done, despite getting a majority of votes in both houses, and generally having a clear mandate from the people. 

What Whitlam decides to do now is to do something completely unprecedented, and hold a joint session of parliament, where the senators and representatives all sit together and vote on shit, which HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE OR AFTER THIS ONE TIME. They get some shit done, but it makes the Liberal party really angry.

Simultaneous to all this, Whitlam appointed a new governor-general, John Kerr, who the Liberal party is suspiciously positive about.

Skipping over a bunch of politics, the opposition leader Malcolm Fraser does some scheming with John Kerr, and so John Kerr fucking just says “oh well okay Gough Whitlam can’t do the job of the Prime Minister well enough anymore let’s just get rid of him and now Malcolm Fraser is the Prime Minister” LIKE WHAT THE FUCK?

The fucking thing that made his happen was that the government couldn’t get a budget passed, because the Liberal party (who had the same number of seats as Labor in the senate (29)) just didn’t vote for it to pass and so Labor couldn’t get anything done. It’s basically the same thing as what happens in the US with a government shutdown BUT THEY FIRED THE FUCKING PRIME MINISTER

imagine that the republicans win this year’s midterms, and then if they don’t pass a budget that Biden will sign, they can just fucking get rid of the president and pick anyone else to be president. This was not a fucking democratic process it was corrupt as fuck

I am very angry over this despite it being 47 years ago

[mariacallous]

what was left out (or covered poorly) in The Crown that you would have loved to see get the proper treatment (personally, for me? it's the Queen Mother in Iran in 1975, not being scared to go into the crowds while the Shah didn't dare)

I mean, a good chunk of season 3 and most of season 4, since they (season 4 in particular) were so just not great.

I think the patriation of the Canadian constitution would have been something that could have provided an interesting opportunity to show Thatcher and the Queen working together, and addressing issues of colonialism and republicanism, and showing how the Queen works with the prime ministers from other Commonwealth countries. 

Another one that would have been especially fascinating is the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis and the conversations that Prince Charles and the Governor-General had and the reaction and response and involvement of the Queen (such as it is and was).

I think the skipping of Callaghan as Prime Minister and the Winter of Discontent was a poor choice, as it would have continued the theme of decline and conflict which the series introduced by involving Heath and the miners strike, and which led to Thatcher��s premiership, and it would have helped with the pacing.

[dscgshauntingground]

The Australian national archives final released a cache of letters between the Queen and the governor General John Kerr during the 1975 constitutional crisis (the dismissal of the Whitlam government) and I'm so excited to read through them. The second hand consensus I'm getting is that they show that the Queen played a far more active role in the dismissal than the UK and the Liberal party would like us to think

[srijellyfishtempura]

Men love me for my ability to dance terribly to any song

[anonymoushouseplantfan]

Submitted: Commonwealth realms

It’s obvious that there are mostly Americans posting here. With respect, none of you have any idea as to the Constitutional Monarchy as a system of government. You clearly understand the celebrity side of it, but that’s it. Harry and Meghan cannot just go anywhere they please, even where the monarch is head of state. Australia is a sovereign nation as are the other realms! The Queen’s direct powers were removed in Australia by statute decades ago.

Constitutionally, yes, the monarch is still head of state, but when the governor-general tried to use her reserve powers, by restricting supply, it turned into the darkest day in Australian political history, causing a constitutional crisis. That was in 1975 and it won’t be repeated. Our journalist Andrew Bolt made this clear in his widely-read column - they don’t rule ANYTHING. Can you please understand what a constitutional monarchy actually means? Slowly, but steadily, by law, including the fiction of “terra nullius”. we are shedding the controversial remnants of British colonialism and white settlement. 

Harry and Meghan will never be allowed to live in Australia, not in their wildest dreams. And let us not forget that he’s 6th in line, not the future King. 

Finally, Australia is officially the ‘Commonwealth of Australia’ and we can keep that title even if we remove the monarchy from the constitution. 

It is of no interest to me whether or not you or your posters understand Australia’s history. But it rankles when people post that Harry and Meghan can just settle where they want because the Queen “rules” in that realm or some other nonsense. 

I think you’d be shocked if you understood just how little the monarchy figures in Australia. I’m surprised that the aforementioned Andrew Bolt bothered. 

_______________________________________________________________________

Thanks for the explanation, but the palace sources said that Australia and Canada had been ruled out (likely or the reasons you describe) back in March, so we haven't been considering it as a potential relocation. 

[isadora-greenhall]

so.

i’m ridiculously excited.

the palace letters have been released, which pertain to the whitlam dismissal on rememberance day 1975. the dismissal/constitutional crisis has always been my favourite part of australian history, almost entirely i’ll admit because of whitlam’s badass fucking speech on the steps of old parliament house lmfao. “well may we say god save the queen...because nothing will save the governor-general” and “kerr’s cur” are probably the only quotes from any australian politician i actually know lol.

i’m gonna waste some time today reading the letters lol. this is my goddamn shit

[ayeforscotland]

Did you really think the Queen would stop it. The old cow loves fucking over democracy. Look up the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis... Short version Governor General uses the Queen's powers without her permission to end a democratically elected government. When she finds out instead of doing the right thing and undoing it the **** decides doing nothing and fucking over the country is more 'neutral'. Bitch has always been evil.

I never thought the queen would stop it, she’s a right-wing enabling parasite.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 11.11 (after 1920)

1921 – The Tomb of the Unknowns is dedicated by US President Warren G. Harding at Arlington National Cemetery. 1923 – Adolf Hitler is arrested in Munich for high treason for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch. 1926 – The United States Numbered Highway System is established. 1930 – Patent number US1781541 is awarded to Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd for their invention, the Einstein refrigerator. 1934 – The Shrine of Remembrance is opened in Melbourne, Australia. 1940 – World War II: In the Battle of Taranto, the Royal Navy launches the first all-aircraft ship-to-ship naval attack in history. 1940 – World War II: The German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis captures top secret British mail from the Automedon, and sends it to Japan. 1942 – World War II: France's zone libre is occupied by German forces in Case Anton. 1942 – The Turkish parliament passes the Varlık Vergisi, a capital tax mostly levied on non-Muslim citizens with the unofficial aim to inflict financial ruin on them and end their prominence in the country's economy. 1960 – A military coup against President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam is crushed. 1961 – Thirteen Italian Air Force servicemen, deployed to the Congo as a part of the UN peacekeeping force, are massacred by a mob in Kindu. 1962 – Kuwait's National Assembly ratifies the Constitution of Kuwait. 1965 – Southern Rhodesia's Prime Minister Ian Smith unilaterally declares the colony independent as the unrecognised state of Rhodesia. 1965 – United Air Lines Flight 227 crashes at Salt Lake City International Airport, killing 43. 1966 – NASA launches Gemini 12. 1967 – Vietnam War: In a propaganda ceremony in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, three American prisoners of war are released by the Viet Cong and turned over to "new left" antiwar activist Tom Hayden. 1968 – Vietnam War: Operation Commando Hunt initiated. The goal is to interdict men and supplies on the Ho Chi Minh trail, through Laos into South Vietnam. 1972 – Vietnam War: Vietnamization: The United States Army turns over the massive Long Binh military base to South Vietnam. 1975 – Australian constitutional crisis of 1975: Australian Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismisses the government of Gough Whitlam, appoints Malcolm Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister and announces a general election to be held in early December. 1975 – Independence of Angola. 1977 – A munitions explosion at a train station in Iri, South Korea kills at least 56 people. 1981 – Antigua and Barbuda joins the United Nations. 1992 – The General Synod of the Church of England votes to allow women to become priests. 1993 – A sculpture honoring women who served in the Vietnam War is dedicated at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. 1999 – The House of Lords Act is given Royal Assent, restricting membership of the British House of Lords by virtue of a hereditary peerage. 2000 – Kaprun disaster: One hundred fifty-five skiers and snowboarders die when a cable car catches fire in an alpine tunnel in Kaprun, Austria. 2001 – Journalists Pierre Billaud, Johanne Sutton and Volker Handloik are killed in Afghanistan during an attack on the convoy they are traveling in. 2002 – A Fokker F27 Friendship operating as Laoag International Airlines Flight 585 crashes into Manila Bay shortly after takeoff from Ninoy Aquino International Airport, killing 19 people. 2004 – New Zealand Tomb of the Unknown Warrior is dedicated at the National War Memorial, Wellington. 2006 – Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II unveils the New Zealand War Memorial in London, United Kingdom, commemorating the loss of soldiers from the New Zealand Army and the British Army. 2012 – A strong earthquake with the magnitude 6.8 hits northern Burma, killing at least 26 people. 2014 – Fifty-eight people are killed in a bus crash in the Sukkur District in southern Pakistan's Sindh province. 2022 – Russo-Ukrainian War: Ukrainian armed forces enter the city of Kherson following a successful two-month southern counteroffensive.

[cool-magazineznews]

Australian court rules queen's letters can be made public - Times of India

Australian court rules queen’s letters can be made public – Times of India

CANBERRA: Australia’s highest court ruled on Friday to make public letters between Queen Elizabeth II and her representative that would reveal what knowledge she had, if any, of the dismissal of an Australian government in 1975. The High Court’s 6-1 majority decision in historian Jenny Hocking’s appeal overturned lower court rulings that more than 200 letters between the now 94-year-old monarch…