Modern History

Timeline of Events

1901 – Australian Federation: On 1 January 1901 Tasmania becomes a state in the new Commonwealth of Australia.

1912 – Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen telegraphs from Hobart to the world news that he has successfully become the first person to reach the South Pole.

1914-1918 – The Great War (World War I): Tasmania sends 14,000 men to fight for the British Empire in Europe.

Depression-era: 6 January 1932-7 April 1939 – Joseph Lyons becomes Tasmania’s first and only (to-date) Prime Minister of Australia.

1930s – Hydroelectric industrialisation comes to Tasmania’s Central Highlands when the Australia’s first hydroelectric schemes are built.

1936 September – Last Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacine) held in captivity dies at Hobart’s Beaumaris Zoo.

1939-1945 – World War II: Over 30,000 Tasmanian men and women serve the Empire and Allies in Europe, North Africa, Asia and the Pacific.

1940s – Further growth of industry in the state including hydro-industrialisation, mining and forestry. Tasmania benefits from the post-war immigration boom and migrants take up positions within these flourishing industries.

1960s – Conservation groups emerge in response to the growing encroachment of industry on the Tasmanian wilderness.

1975, January 5 – Hobart’s Tasman Bridge collapses after being hit by the bulk-ore carrier, Lake Illawarra. Seven crew and five motorists die.

Late 1970s – The struggle between industry and conservation climaxes with the Tasmanian Government’s proposal to build a dam for hydroelectricity purposes near the junction of the Gordon and Franklin Rivers in Tasmania’s south-west wilderness.

1983, July 1 – The Franklin Dam Case: the High Court of Australia rules in favour of the Federal Government (and conservationists) in a landmark case of constitutional sovereignty. The decision brings to an end the Tasmanian Government’s proposed Franklin River Dam.

2003 – Relationships Act 2003 (Tas) proclaimed by State Parliament: providing legal recognition to de facto and same-sex relationships by allowing couples to register their ‘significant’ relationship with the Tasmanian Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages.