History (Australia)

Where can I find information about Australian history?

(Years 7-10)

Colour photo of Uluru, a massive rock formation in southwestern Northern Territory, central Australia. — Image: Uluru at sunrise June 2016 by BradfullerOz on Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0. Image Cropped.

Entry last updated: 25/05/26

Introduction

Australia is a country in the Pacific region. It was first settled by Aboriginal people thousands of years ago, and then in the late 1700s it was used by Britain as a prison colony for convicts. The discovery of gold in the 1850s and the formation of the Commonwealth in 1901 are other important milestones in Australian history.

General websites

Here are some government and state library websites that have information on Australian history, that includes Aboriginal history.

AIATSIS

AIATSIS (Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies) is a government website that covers aboriginal history in Australia.

Select Explore at the top of the site.
Look down the page and choose a story.
For example, My voice for my country is about the history of voting rights for Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander people.
Check out the links on the pages to learn more.

Tips: Many web pages have links to further information or to other recommended sites. Following these links is a great way to find out more.

National Museum of Australia

The National Museum of Australia has an excellent timeline of Australian history that starts 65,000 years ago and travels up to the 2000s.

Hover over Explore and choose Defining Moments.
Select Browse all defining moments.
Select a moment, like Evidence of first peoples.
Or go to Explore the Timeline and select the picture tiles for more information.

Australian Museum

The Australian Museum has been around since 1827 and is Australia's first museum. It focuses on science and culture in Australia and the Pacific.

Go to the Menu and choose Learn & Connect.
Then choose First Nations cultures and history.
Go to the heading First Nations Knowledge.
Choose an article about a First Nations topic like Land Rights or Genocide in Australia.

State Library Victoria

This website has lots of information on Australian topics, including Australian history.

Hover over Search & Discover.
Look under Our collections.
Choose Collections by theme.
Then go to Australian history, a historical collection about people, places and events

Tips: Some websites have .au, .nz, .uk or other codes in their web address. This tells you which country the site is from. For example .au is from Australia or .nz is from New Zealand. You can check the ‘About Us’ link on the website for more information.

State Library New South Wales

This website has some Australian history topics on its Stories pages.

Go to the Menu button at the top of the page.
Select Stories.
Choose from the tags Indigenous, History or Exploration.
Read stories about Bushrangers, Burke and Wills, Governor Arthur's Proclamation to the Aborigines
and more.

Tips: We like websites like these because they are from government organisations, so the information should be reliable. You can tell these sites by their web address – they have .gov in their address.

EPIC resources

EPIC is a collection of reliable databases covering lots of different topics. It’s put together especially for New Zealand school students and helps to answer questions like this.

Britannica School Middle

You can find articles, images, videos and more on this online encyclopedia which also has three different reading levels.

Search for 'Australia' and choose Australia (island continent and country).
Scroll down and select History.
Or look at other articles like Australian Aboriginal peoples.

Tips: Select the small '3' at the top of the navigator pane to get more detailed information.

World History (Gale In Context)

This website is an excellent resource for history topics as it covers world history from earliest times until the present day.

Go to Browse Topics.
Look down the page for Australia.
Choose Australia, 1788–1914 for early colonial history.
Choose Australia since 1914 for later history.

Tips: To use the EPIC resources you will need a password from your school librarian. Or you can chat with one of our AnyQuestions librarians. Your public library may have some EPIC databases too.

New Zealand connection

These sites look at the relationship between Australia and New Zealand.

Dictionary of Sydney

This website is about the history of Sydney. It is looked after by the State Library of New South Wales. It has information about the relationship between Māori and Sydney, and Australia and New Zealand.

Search for 'Māori' to find the entry about Māori.
Or try 'New Zealand' to find New Zealanders.

Tips: This website was archived in 2021, so information will not be added or updated.

Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Te Ara is an excellent starting point for all questions about Aotearoa New Zealand. If we look down to the bottom of the page, we can see that the website belongs to the Ministry for Culture & Heritage, so the information is well-researched and reliable.

Search for 'Australia'.
Look down the results for the story about Australia and New Zealand.
This page is a summary of the story. Look at other pages in the contents for more detailed information.
Or, from your earlier results, choose Emigration to Australia.
This is part of a story about Māori overseas. Look at other parts of the contents to find out about Settling in Australia and Retaining Māori culture in Australia.

The Aotearoa History Show

The Aotearoa History Show is a video series made by Radio New Zealand (RNZ). It tells the story of Aotearoa New Zealand from when the land was formed to today.