Connecting you with Australian culture online
Gp Capt Eaton Charles, CO RAAF Station Darwin. Image courtesy of the Charles Eaton Photographic Collection and Peter Dunn's Australia @ War. Eaton entered Australian aviation legend when commanding the air searches for two lost aircraft, the Kookaburra ...
Unknown, Portrait of Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith, between 1919 and 1927. Sir Charles Kingsford Smith's love of excitement led to career as a pilot. Charles Kingsford Smith was born in Hamilton (a suburb of Brisbane), Queensland, in 1897. ...
Until the Second World War, Australia was one of the world's leaders in aviation in terms of both air mileage and prominent aviation pioneers. Since the early development of powered flight in Australia in 1910, various air services have been established:...
Today, the term refers to a number of artists, including Frederick McCubbin, Arthur Streeton and Tom Roberts, who painted scenes 'en plein air' (in the open air) of Australia, particularly in Melbourne and its surrounds. Over the years they were joined b...
The Australian Flying Corps (AFC) was as influential on Australian civil aviation as it was on early Australian aviation. Two former AFC officers, Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness, established what later became known as Qantas, with Fysh also supporting th...
Originally called Armistice Day, this day commemorated the end of the hostilities for the Great War (World War I), the signing of the armistice, which occurred on 11 November 1918 - the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. After the end of World ...
Building materials varied from locally quarried stone, as well as concrete, in addition to pre-fabricated iron and timber structures where local materials were unsuitable. The management, preservation and restoration of lighthouses is now shared variously...
Three Sisters, Blue Mountains, New South Wales. In March 1812 the Colonial Surveyor George William Evans was sent to explore Jervis Bay, to determine a possible inland route back to Port Jackson. Other explorers, such as Hume and Hovell, Major Mitchell ...
Sculpture is part of many everyday Australian places including streets, public squares, buildings, parks and gardens. The influence of sculpture is obvious in the overall design of some notable Australian buildings such as Federation Square and The Austr...
Unknown photographer, Freda Thompson (1906-1980), Pictured here in 1934 just before take off at Lympne Airport when she became the first Australian woman to fly solo from England to Australia, 1934. Courtesy of National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame. Avia...
Aviation has been very significant in Australia. As a country with large distances to cross and a sparse population, aviation was an ideal way to provide services such as mail, transport, medical support and goods supply. All around Australia, a large n...
Cable Beach, Broome, north-west Kimberley Coast, Western Australia. Most of Australia's population lives close to the coastline and the beach has long occupied a special place in the Australian identity. Based on this definition, the Coastal Studies Uni...
As elsewhere in Australia, European settlement disrupted Aboriginal patterns of land use and movement across the country, and many Aborigines died from European-brought diseases like influenza, smallpox and tuberculosis. The Griffins, Walter Burley and Ma...
In 1788, the eleven ships of the First Fleet landed their 'cargo' of around 780 British convicts at Botany Bay in New South Wales. From 1788 to 1823, the Colony of New South Wales was officially a penal colony comprised mainly of convicts, marines and th...
J. C. Armytage, Return of Burke and Wills to Coopers Creek, engraving, in Australia by Edwin Carton Booth, opp. Image courtesy of the National Library of Australia. Explorers set out to discover rivers and land suitable for agriculture as well as to surv...
The Australian film industry got off to a flying start, producing what was probably the world's first full length feature film in 1906. South Australia banned the screening of bushranger films in 1911, Victoria followed in 1912. Colour production came t...
Indigenous film either portrays Indigenous people, issues and stories or is film made by Indigenous Australians. The portrayal of Indigenous issues and people in film provides a unique insight into Australia's relationship with its Indigenous peoples and...
With mounting evidence and stories circulating about their seemingly miraculous ability to find people, Aboriginal trackers' abilities became legendary in the minds of white Australians. Paul Raffaele, Aboriginal tracker Teddy Egan and son. The Australi...
Every year since 1901 the Nobel Prize has been awarded for achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and for peace. The Nobel Prize is an international award administered by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden. Austral...
Like other art forms, Australian theatre has built on previous traditions and developed over time, shaped by local and international artistic movements, events and trends. Australian theatre history incorporates the stories of many actors, entrepreneurs,...
If you can see this message, you are probably not seeing this site in the way it was designed. This site uses cascading style sheets (CSS2) to control the way in which elements are displayed on the page.
You will still be able to access everything in this site, but we do recommend you upgrade your browser to a more recent, standards compliant, browser.