history of australia Archives

Ned Kelly: Hero or hell raiser?

Although Ned Kelly was laid to rest with his family in 2014, the nation is still divided on whether he was a hero or hellraiser.

On This Day

On this day: first crossing of Australia by hot air balloon

On a cold night on 18 June 1993 entrepreneur Dick Smith floated into the history books – making the first non-stop flight across Australia in a hot air balloon.

History & Culture

Gallery: painting the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Painting the Sydney Harbour Bridge is literally a never-ending job

History & Culture

Gallery: Sydney Harbour Bridge opens, 1932

On Saturday, March 19, 1932, the Sydney Harbour Bridge officially opened.

History & Culture

Gallery: Dick Smith’s record breaking balloon flight

Australian Geographic’s founder Dick Smith and fellow balloonist John Wallington went down in history on 18 June 1993 – beating odds that seven other attempts failed to overcome – and became the first people to fly a hot air balloon across the Australian continent. The Australian crossing had been tried by many with no luck. In the end, however, their epic adventure was a little over 40 hours.

History & Culture

Gallery: Australia in the sixties

Aussies mixed protests with mini-skirts during this swirling melting-pot of an era. Whether you remember it or not most people declare that the sixties began in the US and Britain in 1963 and died in 1974. It was an era characterised by huge changes to daily life as technology penetrated homes and our the social fabric was torn apart and sewn back together as a mini-skirt. Ron and Elizabeth Morrison where some of the first ’60s freelance news photographers in Australia, and here are some images from their book Those Were the Days: Australia in the sixties.