Our Common Bond
Australian history and Federation: the dates and the reasons
Ten questions on early history and Federation. Under the summary, the timeline tool places any year between the milestones the booklet mentions.
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Practice questions adapted by Radif Partners from Our Common Bond. Not the official test questions.
Questions adapted from Australian Citizenship: Our Common Bond, © Commonwealth of Australia, CC BY 4.0, by Radif Partners.
The history in Our Common Bond is brief and built around a handful of dates. European settlement began when the 11 convict ships of the First Fleet arrived from Great Britain on 26 January 1788, because British jails could no longer hold all the people convicted under harsh laws; Captain Arthur Phillip became the first Governor of New South Wales. Free settlers from Britain and Ireland followed, shaping culture and politics. A gold rush began in 1851 in New South Wales and Victoria, Chinese miners became the first large non-European group, and the population more than doubled within 10 years. On 1 January 1901 the six self-governing colonies united as the Commonwealth of Australia under a Constitution passed in 1900. After World War II a wave of European migrants arrived, and later programs brought people from across the world. Our bank has 10 questions on this topic.
Where a year sits in the booklet's history
Last milestone
1900: Constitution passed within a British Act of Parliament
| Next milestone | 1901: Federation: the Commonwealth of Australia |
| Indigenous presence | 40,000 to 65,000 years, by the archaeological record |
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The timeline the booklet gives
| When | What happened | Why it matters for the test |
|---|---|---|
| 40,000 to 65,000 years ago | Aboriginal peoples arrive, according to archaeology | oldest continuous cultures |
| 26 January 1788 | First Fleet of 11 ships lands; colony of New South Wales | start of European settlement; Australia Day |
| 1851 | gold found in New South Wales and Victoria | population doubles; first large non-European migration |
| 1900 | Constitution passed within a British Act of Parliament | legal basis of the nation |
| 1 January 1901 | six colonies federate as the Commonwealth of Australia | parliament, government and High Court created |
| 25 April 1915 | Anzac landing at Gallipoli, World War I | Anzac Day |
| after World War II | large wave of European migrants | first big non-British wave |
| 1967 | Referendum: Indigenous peoples counted in the Census | constitutional change by the people |
Convicts, then settlers
The booklet explains the convict colony as a British answer to a British problem: harsh laws filled the jails, so the government shipped prisoners to the other side of the world. The colony of New South Wales survived under its first Governor, Captain Arthur Phillip, and grew as more convicts and free settlers arrived. Other colonies followed elsewhere on the continent. Early free settlers came from Great Britain and Ireland, and that shared heritage strongly shaped Australia's culture, politics and recent history.
Gold and the first non-European migrants
The gold rush that began in 1851 drew people from all over the world to New South Wales and Victoria. Chinese arrivals of this period were the first large group of migrants from outside Europe, and within 10 years the population had more than doubled. Victoria still shows the wealth of those years in many fine buildings from the 1850s, which is how the gold rush also turns up on the states page.
Federation in 1901
Federation is told twice in the booklet. Part 1 gives the result: the colonies became a federation of states, and national democratic institutions, the national parliament, government and High Court, were set up under the new Constitution. Part 3 gives the reasons and the legal mechanism: six self-governing colonies with separate laws found trade, transport, law enforcement and defence difficult; a sense of national identity was growing; and the Constitution, passed in 1900 as part of a British Act, took effect on 1 January 1901. The Constitution page covers what that document contains.
The twentieth century and today
At Federation the population was about four million, not counting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. In the first half of the century migration rose and fell, with programs encouraging British settlers. After World War II millions of Europeans had to leave their homelands and many came to Australia. In recent decades migration and refugee programs have brought people from all over the world, and the population has grown steadily more diverse, while the aim remains a cohesive, unified nation.
How to remember it
Learn four anchor years (1788, 1851, 1901, 1967) and attach one sentence to each. Most history questions ask for a date, a name or a reason, and each anchor carries all three. Then try the timeline tool below with years that fall between them, and finish with the practice set above. The Home Affairs history of Australian citizenship is interesting background, but the test only uses the booklet.