Australia

Commonwealth of Australia
Flag
Location  Oceania
Capital  Canberra
Area  7,741,220 sq km
Population  23,470,145

"There's one law for the rich and another law for the poor"
(Proverb/Quote of the Week)

Daily Positive (D+) is a non-profit media initiative and it heavily relies on the generous support from everyone. Please consider a donation today. For more information send us email at info@dailypositive.org

January

January 1 Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard appointed to Order of Merit by Queen Elizabeth on 1 January 2012. Established in 1902 by King Edward VII, the Order of Merit is a special honor awarded to limited number of individuals of great achievement in the fields of the arts, learning, literature and science. Australia became an independent nation on 1 January 1901. The British Parliament passed legislation allowing the six Australian colonies, now states, to govern in their own right as part of the Commonwealth of Australia. January 2 Australia's first electric plane, the Pipistrel Alpha Electro two-seater, successfully completed its maiden flight in Perth, after taking off from Jandakot Airport and conducting a series of mid-air tests, on 2 January 2018. January 3 Australian researchers have developed the world’s most efficient lithium-sulphur battery, capable of powering a smartphone for five continuous days. The study was published in Science Advances on 3 January 2020. The world's first hybrid sharks were discovered by Australian researchers in substantial numbers off the coast of Australia. Revealed on 3 January 2012, scientists said it may be an indication the creatures are adapting to climate change. January 4 January 5 Australia's flag carrier Qantas Airways named world's safest airline for the fourth year running according to the annual ranking published by AirlineRatings.com on 5 January 2017. Australia’s Qantas named the world's safest airline for the third year running on 5 January 2016 by AirlineRatings.com. Australian Cricket team on 5 January 2014 completed a 5-0 Ashes series whitewash against England. It was only the third Ashes whitewash triumph for Australia in 131 years of competition between the two countries after winning the final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground by 281 runs. The first ever One Day International (ODI) Cricket was played on the 5th January 1971 between Australia and England at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Melbourne, Australia. It was a 40 six-ball overs match. England was all out for 190 in 39.4 overs and Austarlia won the match by 5 wickets with 42 balls to spare. January 6 Australia and Japan on 6 January 2022 signed a new agreement to cooperate closely on defence in a latest step to bolster security ties between the two countries. Australian flag carrier airline Qantas was named the world`s safest airline in a report published by AirlineRatings.com on 6 January 2015. World's thinnest silicon wire – 10,000 times thinner than a human hair - unveiled by experts at the University of NSW (UNSW) on 6 January 2012 with the same capacity to conduct electricity as a traditional copper wire. Scientists at UNSW, University of Melbourne and Purdue University, Indiana, US, all contributed to the project. January 7 Researchers in Australia have discovered an immaculately preserved fossil of a mygalomorph spider (Mygalomorphae). The 4-centimetre-long spider lived some 11 million to 16 million years ago in New South Wales, Australia as revealed in the journal Science Advance on 7 January 2022. January 8 Australian and Chinese scientists have identified a gene that could enable soybean increase its tolerance of soil salinity, as revealed on 8 January 2015. January 9 A team of Australian and international researchers has created new open-source software which determines the accuracy of computer predictions of genetic variation within tumour samples, as published in Nature Biotechnology on 9 January 2020. Researchers from Australia and Vietnam discovered a new species of "flying frog" in a lowland forest in Vietnam less than 100 kilometres from Ho Chi Minh City. Despite being commonly referred to as a "flying" frog, it doesn't really fly. Rather it uses its feet as parachutes to help it glide through the canopy. January 10 The fossilised remains of a giant burrowing bat that lived in New Zealand millions of years ago have been found by a team of Australian and international scientists. The bat – which was about three times the size of an average bat today – was detailed in the Scientific Reports journal on 10 January 2018. January 11 A partial skeleton of a new species of turkey-sized dinosaur, named Diluvicursor pickeringi, has been discovered in 113 million year old rocks in southeastern Australia, as reported in open access journal PeerJ on 11 January 2018. An Airbus A319 arrived in Antarctica on the historic first passenger flight linking the Australian Antarctic Territory with Australia on January 11, 2008. Landing of the Airbus at the newly built Wilkins runway signifies a great landmark for Australia's scientific research capabilities in Antarctica as it opens up simpler access to Australia's Antarctic research stations. January 12 January 13 Australian and Indonesian archaeologists have discovered the world's oldest known animal cave painting in Indonesia - a wild pig - believed to be drawn 45,500 years ago. The painting was found in the Leang Tedongnge cave in a remote valley on the island of Sulawesi, as published in Science Advances journal on 13 January 2021. A team of Australian and international researchers has discovered a meteorite containing the oldest material ever found on Earth, stardust that predated the formation of our solar system by billions of years. The stardust found to be as old as 7 billion years, as detailed in PNAS on 13 January 2020. Australian and American researchers captured first ever glimpse of ruby seadragons, Phyllopteryx dewysea, in the wild off the south coast of Western Australia. Their findings were reported in the journal Marine Biodiversity Records on 13 January 2017. January 14 January 15 January 16 A team of astronomers from Australia, England and the USA has found the planet 2MASS J2126-8140, until now thought to be a free floating or lonely planet, in the largest solar system ever discovered. The planet, detailed in the journal Royal Astronomical Society on 16 January 2016, has an orbit around its host star that takes nearly a million Earth years and is more than 140 times wider than Pluto's. January 17 January 18 January 19 Australian marathon runner Pat Farmer successfully completed the world's longest ultra-marathon on January 19, 2012 - running from the North Pole all the way to the South Pole in approximately nine months Pat raised funds for Red Cross International. January 20 January 21 Australian scientists have discovered Earth’s oldest asteroid strike occurred at Yarrabubba, in outback Western Australia. The 2.2 billion-years-old asteroid was detailed in the journal Nature Communications on 21 January 2020. Australian scientists have discovered four new species of sharks in waters off northern Australia and New Guinea that use their fins to walk, as published in Marine and Freshwater Research on 21 January 2020. January 22 Professor Lisa Kewley at the Australian National University was awarded the 133-year-old James Craig Watson Medal, presented by the US National Academy of Sciences on 22 January 2020, for her outstanding contributions to astronomy. January 23 January 24 January 25 Australia's Sophie Hyde won the prestigious best Directing Award at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah for her debut feature, 52 Tuesdays. January 26 First blue-eyed boy was a Stone Age man, according to a study published by Australian and a team of international researchers on 26 January 2014. The man who lived about 7,000 years ago and whose buried bones were discovered in 2006 in a cave near León, Spain has turned out to be the earliest known person with blue eyes, a physical trait that evolved relatively recently in human history, the study suggests. Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. This day marks the arrival of 11 ships from Great Britain in 1788 to establish the first European colony in Australia. January 27 An international team of researchers, including scientists from Australia, have identified fossilized remains of four ancient snakes between 140 and 167 million years old, rolling back the clock on snake evolution by nearly 70 million years. They have described these oldest snake fossils on 27 January 2015 in the journal Nature Communications. January 28 Jason Kubler and Rinky Hijikata of Australia won the Australian Open 2023 men's double tennis Grand Slam, after defeating Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski 6-4 7-6(4) in the final. Australian John Peers and Finnish Henri Kontinen were crowned men's doubles' champions at the Australian Open tennis beating American pair Bob and Mike Bryan 7-5 7-5 on 28 January 2017. January 29 Ashleigh Barty became the first home Australian Open tennis champion since 1978 after beating grand slam final debutante Danielle Collins 6-3 7-6 in the women's final on 29 January 2022. A Qantas Airways, the flag carrier of Australia, Boeing 787 travelling on 29 January 2018 from the USA to Australia became the world's first flight to be powered by mustard seed-based biofuel. The historic trans-Pacific 15 hour flight had approximately 24,000kg of blended biofuel, saving 18,000kg in carbon emissions. January 30 January 31 Australia won their first ever Asian Cup football title after beating South Korea 2-1 in a thrilling final in Sydney on 31 January 2015.

February

February 1 AC/DC, an Australian rock band, won their first ever Grammy Award on February 1, 2010. The band won the best hard rock performance statuette for the song War Machine. February 2 An international team of scientists, including researchers from Australia, has discovered the greatest absence of evolution ever reported — a type of deep-sea microorganism or sulfur bacteria that appears not to have evolved over more than 2 billion years. Their findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on 2 February 2015. February 3 Gold prospectors may one day ditch their pans and metal detectors for petri dishes and microscopes according to research on a bacterium by Australian researchers. In 2013, they released their findings that a bacterium, Cupriavidus metallidurans, which lives on the biofilms surrounding gold nuggets, could be used to precipitate gold from mine waste water. The bacterium is found to remove soluble gold from its cells, producing nanoparticle ‘halos’ of gold on the outside of their structures. February 4 An international team of researchers, that also includes scientist from Australia, found Neanderthals may have vanished from southern Spain thousands of years earlier than previously thought, according to a carbon-dating study published on 4 February 2013 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. February 5 February 6 The Koongarra area of Australia's Northern Territory, was in 2013 added to the Kakadu National Park, protecting it from uranium mining forever. February 7 Australian racing driver Oscar Piastri won the Autosport Rookie of the Year 2022 at the Autosport Awards held at Grosvenor House in the United Kingdom. Australia's biggest ever export contract as of 2010, a $70 billion deal to supply Chinese power stations with coal, was signed. Mining magnate Clive Palmer secured and unveiled the contract on February 7, 2010. February 8 A team of international archaeologists, including researchers from Australia, have revealed that Germanic runes were the oldest script ever used by the ancient Slavs based on their discovery of an inscribed animal rib dating back to the seventh century. Their findings were published in Journal of Archaeological on 8 February 2021. Australian cyclist Rohan Dennis set a new hour world record of 52.491km on the track in Grenchen, Switzerland on 8 February 2015. Rohan broke the previous mark of 51.852km set by Austrian Matthias Brandle. February 9 Australia’s Minister for the Environment Greg Hunt was named the Best Minister in the World at the 2016 edition of the World Government Summit in Dubai. Australian researchers and their international colleagues have unveiled 883 galaxies, hidden from view behind the Milky Way, in unprecedented detail for the first time. The discovery, reported in the Astronomical Journal on 9 February 2016, has provided astronomers with new information about a mysterious gravitational anomaly in intergalactic space known as the Great Attractor. February 10 Australian astronomers from the Australian National University on 10 February 2014 reported they had found a star 13.6 billion years old, making it the most ancient star ever seen to date. Australian artist Gotye won Record Of The Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance awards at the 2013 Grammy Awards for his single Somebody That I Used to Know. February 11 For the first time, scientists from Australia and their international colleagues have observed ripples in the fabric of spacetime called gravitational waves, arriving at the earth from a cataclysmic event in the distant universe, as published on 11 February 2016. This confirms a major prediction of Albert Einstein’s 1915 general theory of relativity and opens an unprecedented new window onto the cosmos. February 12 February 13 A new species of whistling owl with a unique voice believed to exist nowhere else in the world has been identified on the island of Lombok in Indonesia, Australian researcher along with an international team reported on 13 February 2013 in the journal PLoS One. February 14 A 250 million-year-old fossil unearthed in China has revealed a pregnant long-necked marine reptile belonging to the animal group Archosauromorpha with its developing embryo, indicating this creature gave birth to live babies rather than laying eggs. The discovery was made by an international team of scientists, including researchers from Australia, and was detailed in the journal Nature Communications on 14 February 2017. Today Archosauromorpha is represented by birds and crocodiles — which both lay eggs. February 15 Mary MacKillop, Australia's first saint, born on the 15 of January 1842. MacKillop, a Roman Catholic Nun, co founded with Father Julian Tenison Woods, the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart and several schools and welfare institutions that focused on educating the poor, particularly in country areas. She and her co-workers also ran an orphanaged that focused on neglected children, girls in danger, the aged poor and the incurably ill. The nuns followed miners, railway workers and farmers into remote areas, lived as they lived and shared their hardships. February 16 Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been the first foreign leader to address New Zealand Parliament. Ms Gillard delivered her historic first speech on February 16, 2011. February 17 Australia won the 2013 Women’s Cricket World Cup beating West Indies by 114 runs. It was their sixth women’s world cup title. February 18 Australian researchers have discovered immune cells that can fight all known flu viruses – creating the potential for the development of a world-first universal, one-shot flu vaccine, as revealed in Nature Immunology on 18 February 2019. Australian photographer Warren Richardson won the prestigious World Press Photo of the Year award on 18 February 2016 for a shot of an asylum seeker passing a baby through a barbed wire fence on the Hungary-Serbia border. A new species of bright red Ruby Seadragon (Phyllopteryx dewysea) has been discovered off the coast of Western Australia by the Australian and American researchers. It is only the third species of seadragon ever recorded in the world and reported on 18 February 2015 in the journal Royal Society Open Science. February 19 Scientists from the Queensland Museum have discovered two new species of goblin spiders in a remote North Queensland rainforest. The discovery was announced on 19 February 2014. Torah Bright won Australia's first gold medal of the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games with a stunning performance in the second round of the women's snowboard halfpipe finals in 2010. February 20 An international team of astronomers, that also includes researchers from Australia, discovered a planet outside our solar system that is slightly larger than earth's moon, the smallest planet discovered to date orbiting our sun. Their findings were published on 20 February 2013 in the journal Nature. February 21 February 22 February 23 Australian scientists have discovered the country's oldest known rock art - a 17,300-year-old painting of a kangaroo in Western Australia's Kimberley region. The findings were published on 23 February 2021 in the journal Nature Human Behaviour. Australia and South Korea on 23 February 2014 signed a bilateral local currency swap agreement to promote trade for the economic development of the two countries. This agreement allows for the exchange of local currencies between the two countries of up to A$5 billion or KRW 5 trillion. Scientists from Australia, the USA and Canada using age-determining techniques have shown that a tiny zircon crystal found on a sheep ranch in Western Australia is the oldest known piece of our planet, dating to 4.4 billion years ago. Their study was reported on 23 February 2014 in the journal Nature Geoscience. February 24 Australian rock band Tame Impala won the best International Group award at the 2016 BRIT Awards in London. Scientists from Australia, Japan and Sweden, with the help of elephant seals wearing head sensors, have discovered how the ocean's coldest, deepest waters are formed, providing vital clues to understanding its role in the world's climate, according to a research published on 24 February 2013 in the journal Nature Geoscience. The tagged seals, along with sophisticated satellite data and moorings in ocean canyons, all played a role in providing data from the extreme Antarctic environment, where observations are very rare and ships could not go. February 25 Four Australian veterans, Ronald Cleaver, James (Jim) Coulter, Denis Kelly and Donald McDonald, were honored with France's highest military honor Legion d'honneur on 25 February 2015 for their role in WWII. Lydia Lassila won the gold medal in the women's freestyle aerials at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010. February 26 Australia won the Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup for the sixth time as they defeated South Africa by 19 runs in the final at Newlands, Cape Town on 26 February 2023. February 27 Australian researchers have unveiled the world's first 3D-printed jet engine, a manufacturing breakthrough that could lead to cheaper, lighter and more fuel-efficient jets, as announced on 27 February 2015. February 28 Australia’s Alexei Popyrin stormed back from a set down to beat Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan 4-6 6-0 6-2 and claim his maiden ATP Tour title at the Singapore Open on 28 February 2021. Australian scientists at the Curtin University studying a distant galaxy cluster have discovered the biggest explosion seen in the Universe since the Big Bang, as revealed on 28 February 2020. February 29 Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser won the gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle swimming competition at the 1964 Summer Olympic on February 29, 1964. She won the gold with then world record of 58.9 seconds in the 100-meter freestyle swimming.

March

March 1 Scientists from Australia and their international colleagues have discovered the remains of microorganisms in Quebec, Canada that are at least 3.77 billion years old, providing direct evidence of one of the oldest life forms on Earth. Their findings were published in the journal Nature on 1 March 2017. March 2 A study by Australian and English researchers on how climate change has affected emperor penguins over the last 30,000 years found that only three populations may have survived during the last ice age, as reported on 2 March 2015. Australian actress Cate Blanchett won the Best Actress award at the 86th Oscars on 2 March 2014 for her performance in Blue Jasmine. March 3 March 4 An ancient fossil of the bilby, Australia’s answer to the Easter rabbit, has been discovered at the Riversleigh World Heritage site in North West Queensland. Unlike their present-day descendants, the bilby from 15 million years ago had short teeth for eating soft fruits, according to an Australian study published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology on 4 March 2014. March 5 March 6 Australian National University (ANU) Professor Kurt Lambeck on 6 March 2013 was awarded the Legion of Honour, the highest decoration in France, in recognition of his contribution to help set up the French program in space geodesy – particularly in the area of geophysics. March 7 March 8 Scientists from Australia, Maldives and the USA have discovered a new species of fish, multicolored new-to-science Rose-Veiled Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus finifenmaa), living in the twilight zone off the coast of the Maldives, as described on 8 March 2022 in the journal ZooKeys. Australia clinched their fifth women's Twenty20 Cricket World Cup beating India by 85 runs at the MCG in Melbourne on 8 March 2020. Ancient DNA found in the dental plaque of Neandertals – our nearest extinct relative – has provided remarkable new insights into their behaviour, diet and evolutionary history, including their use of plant-based medicine to treat pain and illness nearly 50,000 years before the invention of penicillin. Australian scientists and their international colleagues published the finding in the journal Nature on 8 March 2017. March 9 March 10 The world's tropical forests are less likely to lose biomass, or plant material, this century due to the effects of global warming than previously thought, a team of international scientists including researchers from Australia reported in their study in the journal Nature Geoscience on 10 March 2013. This adds to growing evidence that rainforests might be more resilient to the effects of climate change than feared. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard addressed the Congress of the United States in Washington on March 10, 2011. Ms. Gillard was the fourth Australian Prime Minster to deliver a speech to a joint sitting of the US Congress. March 11 A screening tool developed by Australian researchers has been found to be the world's most effective tool for diagnosing children who are on the autism spectrum, as revealed in JAMA Open on 11 March 2022. Australian researchers have discovered five 125 million-year-old fossilised jaws from a previously unknown dinosaur in Australia that was about the size of a modern-day wallaby. The dinosaur was named Galleonosaurus dorisae in the Journal of Paleontology on 11 March 2019. A team of researchers from Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom has found evidence that the steam and heat from volcanoes and heated rocks allowed many species of plants and animals to survive past ice ages, helping scientists understand how species respond to climate change. Their study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA on 11 March 2014. March 12 Australian former finance minister Mathias Cormann was elected as the new head of the influential Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on 12 March 2021. A team of Australian scientists has bred salt tolerance into a variety of durum wheat that shows improved grain yield by 25% on salty soils. The research was published on 12 March 2012 in the journal Nature Biotechnology. March 13 March 14 March 15 Australian researchers have discovered unique platypus milk protein that is capable of fighting antimicrobial resistant bacteria, commonly known as superbugs. Their findings were published in Structural Biology Communications on 15 March 2018. A team of Australian and Chinese researchers discovered fossils of a previously unknown group of prehistoric humans in south-west China and named them as “Red Deer Cave people”. The research describing the Red Deer Cave people was published in the journal PLoS One on 15 March 2012. March 16 March 17 Aussie Pair skater Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya and Harley Windsor made history on 17 March 2017 by claiming the first ISU Pairs Free Skating title for Australia. March 18 Australian researchers have successfully impregnated 34 ewes using Ram sperm frozen for 50 years, the world's oldest known viable semen, as revealed on 18 March 2019. March 19 March 20 Australia was ranked as the ninth happiest country on Earth, according to a United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network report published on 20 March 2017. In a world first, scientists have studied the DNA of giant squid from across the globe to discover that they all belong to the same species. The genetic diversity of giant squid (Architeuthis) is surprisingly low and indeed far lower than that of other marine species studied to date. The findings were published on 20 March 2013 in the British journal the Proceedings of the Royal Society B by an international team including researchers from Australia. A team of astronomers from Australia, Germany, Switzerland and Finland discovered a highly unusual galaxy in the shape of an emerald-cut diamond roughly 70 million light years away. The discovery was published on 20 March 2012 in The Astrophysical Journal. March 21 Australian environmental researchers Professor Hugh Possingham, Professor Kerrie Wilson and Dr Erik Meijaard at the University of Queensland were announced as the winners of Malaysia’s Mahathir Science Award on 21 March 2017. The researchers’ works prompted government policy changes in Malaysia, Indonesia and around the world. Australia's new high-tech research ship RV Investigator on 21 March 2015 sailed from Hobart on its maiden scientific voyage into the Southern Ocean, hoping to help discover more basic forces driving climate change. Australia and Papua New Guinea on 21 March 2014 signed a new economic co-operation treaty during Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's first formal visit to Port Moresby. The new agreement is expected to be the cornerstone of business and trade relations between the two countries. March 22 A 65-year-old Victorian man has become the first recipient of a hand transplant in Australia after a nine-hour operation. It is a genuine milestone for Australian medical history led by Prof Wayne Morrison at Melbourne's St Vincent's Hospital. March 23 A team of Australian and American researchers has discovered the first ancestor on the family tree, a worm-like creature about the size of a grain of rice, that contains most familiar animals today, including humans. Their research was published on 23 March 2020 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Scientists in Australia have discovered a 400 kilometer-wide impact zone from a huge meteorite in Central Australia, thought to have occurred at least 300 million years ago. This world's largest asteroid impact was reported on 23 March 2015 in the geology journal Tectonophysics. Australia won the 2003 fifty-overs Cricket World Cup by an impressive 125 runs. Australia played India in the final and won the world cup for the second time in a row. March 24 Australian scientists have discovered the world's biggest dinosaur footprints in Western Australia, measuring at nearly 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 meters), as published in the journal Vertebrate Paleontology on 24 March 2017. Talented actor Geoffrey Rush won an Oscar with his first nomination for Best Actor for the film "Shine" on March 24, 1997. He was the first Australian born winner in an acting category. March 25 March 26 Australia signed a free trade agreement and an investment agreement with Hong Kong on 26 March 2019. March 27 An Australian-led group of scientists has for the first time tracked down and tagged Antarctic blue whales, the largest animal on the planet, by using acoustic technology to follow their songs, according to an official announcement on 27 March 2013. March 28 March 29 Australia won its fifth One Day International (ODI) Cricket World Cup on 29 March 2015 beating New Zealand by 7 wickets in the final in Melbourne. Professor Ingrid scheffer from the University of Melbourne was recognized for identifying genes involved in some forms of epilepsy at the 14th Annual L’ORÉAL-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science on 29 March 2012. March 30 Scientists form Australia and China have discovered that volcanic activity beneath the surface of Mars could be responsible for triggering repetitive Marsquakes, which are similar to earthquakes, as revealed in the journal Nature Communications on 30 March 2022. An international research team, including scientists from Australia, has identified a specific gene fault which causes a hereditary form of melanoma. Their study, could lead to improved prevention, detection and treatment, was published in the journal Nature Genetics on 30 March 2014. March 31 Australia's favourite cartoon Bluey was announced as the winner of the Kids: Preschool Award at the 8th International Emmy Kids ceremony in New York on 31 March 2020. Earth Hour, a worldwide event when individuals and businesses turn their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change, started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia. The concept of Earth Hour is conceptualized by World Wide Fund (WWF) Australia. The inaugural Earth Hour is held in Sydney, Australia between 7.30pm - 8.30pm on March 31, 2007. Black Caviar, an Australian Thoroughbred racehorse, was rated the world's best racehorse, for the first quarter of 2011, in World Thoroughbred Rankings on March 31, 2011. The unbeaten sprint queen who has captured the imagination of sports fans became Australia's first racehorse to top the rankings.

April

April 1 A new type of memory process has been discovered by scientists at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia that influences decision-making. The findings, published on 1 April 2020 in the journal Neuron, are based on analysis of the neural processes in rats. Changes in the biochemical balance of the ocean were a crucial factor in the end-Triassic mass extinction, during which half of all plant, animal and marine life on Earth perished, according to new research published on 1 April 2015 by Australian researchers and their international colleagues. April 2 Australia and India formally signed a new trade deal, the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement, on 2 April 2022 as the two nations signalled an intention to forge closer trade ties. Australian scientists and a team of international researchers have discovered two mating flies trapped in amber 40 Million Years Ago, according to their study published in the journal Scientific Reports on 2 April 2020. The origin and history of modern lions have been revealed by a team of international scientists, including researchers from Australia. A genetic analysis of living lions and museum specimens confirms modern lions' most recent common ancestor lived around 124,000 years ago, according to their study published on 2 April 2014 in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology. A team of astronomers led by the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) in Western Australia has revealed the most detailed images yet of the death of a giant star - images of the death throes of Supernova 1987A, whose demise was first spotted more than 25 years ago. Their findings were published in the Astrophysical Journal on 2 April 2013. April 3 Australia won the 2022 Women’s One Day Internationals Cricket World Cup beating defending champion England by 71 runs in the final to lift the trophy. April 4 The 2018 Commonwealth Games, an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth, was inaugurated on 4 April 2018 in the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. April 5 Australian Ellyse Perry was named the Leading Women’s Cricketer in the World in the 2017 edition of the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. April 6 A team of International researchers and Australian scientists have used data from atomic bomb tests conducted during the Cold War in order to accurately age the world's biggest fish, the Whale Sharks. The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science on 6 April 2020. A new study by Australian and English researchers has isolated a gene controlling shape and size of spikelets in wheat in a breakthrough which could help breeders deliver yield increases in one of the world’s most important crops. Their study was published in the journal The Plant Cell on 6 April 2018. Australian women cricket team beat England by six wickets to win a third successive Women's World Twenty20 title on 6 April 2014. April 7 Australian researchers have discovered ancient human fossils in a cave in northern Laos, as reported in the scientific journal PLOS One on 7 April 2015. The discovery revealed that early modern humans were quite physically diverse, and they revealed an earlier migration timeline in Southeast Asia than previously thought. Australia and Japan agreed on a historic Free Trade Deal on 7 April 2014 to cut import tariffs. April 8 Westpac, the first bank established in Australia, began trading on 8 April 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales with a single office in Macquarie Place, Sydney. In 1982, with the merger of the Commercial Bank of Australia, it changed its name to Westpac Banking Corporation. April 9 Australian scientists at the Electro Optic Systems Pty Ltd (EOS) have developed a laser technology to blast space junk out of orbit to avoid catastrophic collisions, as revealed on 9 April 2021. Researchers have discovered a 150-foot siphonophore— seemingly the longest animal ever recorded - during a month-long scientific expedition in the waters off the coast of Western Australia, as revealed on 9 April 2020. Australia's Meg Lanning was named as the Wisden's inaugural Leading Woman Cricketer in the World on 9 April 2015. Australia and China formally announced a currency pact on 9 April 2013 in Beijing, followed by months of negotiations. Under the deal, the currencies from both the countries will for the first time be directly convertible, without going through the US dollar as it used to happen. April 10 An international team of scientists, including researcher from Australia, has excavated 190-million-year-old dinosaur embryos in China. The fossils unearthed in China belonged to Lufengosaurus, a long-necked, plant-eating dinosaur known for its gigantic size, with adults growing up to 9m (30ft) long. Their findings were published on 10 April 2013 in the journal Nature. April 11 April 12 Scientists in Australia have developed a step-by-step blueprint to create advanced human lung models in the lab, which they say will accelerate the discovery and development of new drugs and reduce reliance on animal testing, as revealed on 12 April 2023. April 13 Scientists at the University of Adelaide in Australia and Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China have discovered two proteins, OsDAF1 and OsINP1, in rice involved in pollen aperture formation which are essential in the successful pollination of flowering plants. Their study was published in the Journal Nature Plants on 13 April 2020. April 14 Scientists at the University of Sydney in Australia have successfully found a way to use two types of mold commonly found in plants and soil – Aspergillus terreus and Engyodontium album — to break down stubborn plastics, showing potential for improving the low recycling rate for some plastics, as revealed on 14 April 2023. Researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia have designed a novel tarantula spider venom mini-protein that can potentially relieve severe pain without side-effects, as revealed on 14 April 2020. Australian researchers have identified two key proteins MOZ and BMI1 that act as genetic architects, creating the blueprint needed by embryos during the earliest stages of their development. The research was published on 14 April 2015 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Australian Adam Scott won the 77th Masters Golf tournament on 14 April 2013, beating Angel Cabrera of Argentina on the second hole of a playoff at the Augusta National Golf Club. Adam became the first Australian to win the Masters. April 15 Australian F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo was named as the winner of the 2015 Laureus Breakthrough of the Year award in recognition of his spectacular 2014 campaign with Red Bull. Researchers from Australia and Japan successfully teleported wave packets of light, potentially revolutionizing quantum communications and computing, according to a research publication appeared on 15 April 2011 in the journal Science. This is the first-ever teleportation, or transfer, of a particular complex set of quantum information from one point to another. April 16 April 17 Australian engineers along with their international colleagues have demonstrated a quantum bit based on the nucleus of a single atom in silicon, promising dramatic improvements for data processing in ultra-powerful quantum computers of the future. Their findings were published on 17 April 2013 in the journal Nature. April 18 Australian engineer Usman Iftikhar was named Commonwealth Young Person of the Year on 18 April 2018 for helping migrants and refugees in Australia to start their own businesses and create a sustainable future for themselves and their communities. Nellie Melba, a legendary Australian opera soprano, was the first Australian to appear on the cover of Time magazine, dates back to April 18, 1927. April 19 A University of Adelaide-built satellite CubeSat was successfully launched on 19 April 2017 by NASA from Cape Canaveral in Florida. CubeSat is the first Australian-built satellites launched in 15 years. April 20 April 21 Australian scientists have discovered that Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) was similar to those canids which evolved to hunt small animals, according to a new study published in BMC Ecology & Evolution on 21 April 2021. Australian photojournalist Daniel Berehulak won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in the Feature Photography category for his gripping, courageous photographs of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa taken while working for The New York Times. April 22 April 23 Scientists from Australia, the USA and Germany discovered that Antarctic minke whales are responsible for the bizarre quacking sound - nicknamed "the bio-duck" - appears in the winter and spring in the Southern Ocean. Their study was published on 23 April 2014 in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters. Professor Michelle Yvonne Simmons, a quantum computing expert with the University of New South Wales, on 23 April 2014 was elected as a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for her contributions in Physics. By sequencing the DNA of nearly 40 ancient skeletons found in the Mitelelbe Saale region of Germany, Australian scientists along with their international colleagues have suggested that the foundations of the modern European gene pool were laid down in the Neolithic era, between 4,000 and 2,000 BC. Their findings were published on 23 April 2013 in the journal Nature Communications. April 24 April 25 April 26 Researchers at the University of Adelaide have found that Blue Lake, one of the largest lakes on North Stradbroke Island, off the coast of Queensland, Australia has been relatively untouched by changes in climate for the past 7000 years, and has so far also resisted the impact of humans. Their findings, published on 26 April 2013 in the journal Freshwater Biology, show that the crystal-clear waters of the lake seem to be in the same chemical state for millennia. April 27 Researchers at Monash University Australia have developed a new ultra-thin skinpatch with nanotechnology able to monitor 11 human health signals. Published on 27 April 2023 in Nature Nanotechnology, the research could change how we deliver remote healthcare. Australian researchers and their international colleagues have discovered a new type of immune cell, named ductal macrophages, that helps to keep breast tissue healthy by regulating a vital process within mammary ducts. Their study was published in the journal Nature Cell Biology on 27 April 2020. April 28 Australian researchers have discovered a giant exoplanet orbiting a star 500 light years away from Earth. Their findings were published in the Astronomical Journal on 28 April 2015. Australia won the 2007 fifty-overs Cricket World Cup by defeating Sri Lanka by 53 runs in the final. It is the third consecutive world cup win for Australia. April 29 Australian astronomers and their international colleagues have discovered a black hole, known as V404 Cygni - nearly 8000 light-years from Earth, that keeps rapidly swinging out jets of plasma clouds into space. The study was published on 29 April 2019 in the journal Nature. April 30 Researchers at the University of Sydney Australia have discovered an antidote to the deadly sting delivered by the most venomous creature on earth – the Australian box jellyfish. The discovery was published in the journal Nature Communications on 30 April 2019. Australian Professor Scott Sloan was elected to the prestigious Royal Society, a fellowship of the world's most eminent scientific minds, on 30 April 2015. Australian and French scientists have manufactured a lightweight and reusable material that can absorb up to 33 times its weight in certain chemicals—a possible new tool against water pollution. According to their study, published on 30 April 2013, the team made nanosheets of boron nitride that were able to soak up a wide range of spilt oils, chemical solvents and dyes such as those discharged by the textile, paper and tannery industries.

May

May 1 May 2 Academy Award winning Australian actress Cate Blanchett was appointed as a global Goodwill Ambassador of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on 2 May 2016 to help raise awareness about the plight of refugees around the world. May 3 Australia's Neil Robertson won the World Snooker Championship title in Sheffield, England in 2010. Robertson defeated Scotland’s Graeme Dott 18-13 in the best-of-35 frames final at The Crucible Theatre. He is the first Australian to win the world title since Horace Lindrum in 1952. May 4 May 5 Australian and Chinese researchers have discovered the fossilized remains of oldest known relative of modern birds with intact plumage dating to 130 million years ago in north-eastern China. The new bird was named Archaeornithura meemannae and was reported on 5 May 2015 in the journal Nature Communications. May 6 Australian scientists at the Swinburne university have unearthed an unusual toothless dinosaur, known as an elaphrosaur, that roamed Australia 110 million years ago. Their research was published in Gondwana Research on 6 May 2020. Australian photographer David Griffen was crowned the 2015 Food Photographer of the Year at the Pink Lady Awards for his image ‘Smoked Wings’. Most of about 90 species of gigantic animals that once roamed Australia had disappeared by the time people arrived, according to a new study published by Australian researchers on 6 May 2013 which suggests climate change played the key role in their demise. Australian professional motorcycle racer Casey Stoner won the Portuguese MotoGP on 6 May 2012 finishing the race in 45 minutes, 37.513 seconds. May 7 May 8 May 9 Researchers from the University of New South Wales in Australia demonstrated that Earth’s radiant infrared heat can be used to generate electricity, even after the sun has set. The results of the research was published in ACS Photonics on 9 May 2022. Melbourne in Australia was named as the world's third best student city, according to the fifth edition of the QS Best Student Cities Ranking published on 9 May 2018. Australian archaeologists have discovered a piece of the world's oldest axe in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia. The axe fragment is about the size of a thumbnail and dates back to a Stone Age period of 45,000 to 49,000 years ago, as revealed in the journal Australian Archaeology on 9 May 2016. May 10 Australian writer Fiona McFarlane won the 2017 International Dylan Thomas Prize for her short story collection, The High Places. The £30,000 prize was presented to Fiona at a gala ceremony in Swansea University’s Great Hall on its new Bay Campus. A team of international scientists from Australia, China, Japan and the U.S. has sequenced and annotated the genome of the "sacred lotus," which is believed to have a powerful genetic system that repairs genetic defects, and may hold secrets about aging successfully. The scientists sequenced more than 86 percent of the nearly 27,000 genes of the plant, Nelumbo nucifera, which is revered in China and elsewhere as a symbol of spiritual purity and longevity. The research was published on 10 May 2013 in the journal Genome Biology. May 11 May 12 On May 12, 1997, Australian swimmer Susie Maroney became the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida. She was 22 years old and accomplished the feat in 24.5 hours. May 13 Team Australia claimed the first prize at the inaugural AI Song Contest, which was hosted by Dutch radio station VPRO, for their song Beautiful the World on 13 May 2020. May 14 The world's oldest and best-preserved sperm from tiny shrimps, dating back 17 million years, has been discovered at the Riversleigh World Heritage Fossil Site in Australia. The study was reported on 14 May 2014 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Australia and Greece on 14 May 2014 signed a reciprocal work and holiday visa arrangement, when brought into effect, will enable the youth of Greece and Australia visit and work in each others' countries. May 15 Australian scientists have discovered the fastest growing black hole known in the universe, describing it as a monster that devours a mass equivalent to our sun every two days, as revealed on 15 May 2018. Australian sailor, Jessica Watson, completed her around the world journey on 15th May, 2010. She unofficially became the youngest person to sail non-stop and unassisted. It took her 210 days to complete the amazing journey. On 15 May 1928 an air ambulance service named Royal Flying Doctor Service was established in Australia. It is arguably the first formal and full time air ambulance service in the world. May 16 Researchers from Australia and New Zealand have reported the oldest known case of conserved gene order, as reported in the journal BioEssays on 16 May 2021. May 17 May 18 Scientists in Australia have discovered that humans coexisted with three-ton marsupials and car-sized lizards in ancient Australia 40,000 years ago, according to a study published on 18 May 2020 in Nature Communications. Steven Carroll, an Australian novelist, won the prestigious Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2008 in South East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best Book, 2008 category for his book "The Time We Have Taken". The novel sheds light on the development of a Melbourne suburb. Karen Foxlee, an Australian writer, won the prestigious Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2008 in South East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best First Book, 2008 category for her book "The Anatomy of Wings". The story of the book is based on a young girl’s heartache after the death of her older sister. May 19 Australian short film All These Creatures won Palme d'Or for Short Films at the 71st Cannes Film Festival on 19 May 2018. Twenty-one-year-old mountaineer Alyssa Azar from Queensland, Australia made history on 19 May 2018 as the youngest woman – and the youngest Australian – to ever make it to the world’s highest summit Mount Everest twice in two years. May 20 A team scientists from Australia and Papua New Guinea has discovered a new tree frog, named Chocolate Frog, in the lowland rainforests of New Guinea, according to their paper published in the journal the Australian Journal of Zoology on 20 May 2021. May 21 Australian scientists have for the first time produced a new generation of experimental solar energy cells that pass strict International Electrotechnical Commission testing standards for heat and humidity. The research findings, an important step towards commercial viability of perovskite solar cells, are published on 21 May 2020 in the journal Science. Mountaineer Alyssa Azar became the youngest Australian to reach the peak of Mount Everest at the age of 19 on 21 May 2016. An Australian garden won Best in Show, the top prize at the Chelsea Flower Show, on 21 May 2013 for the first time in the 100-year history of the Royal Horticultural Society’s annual show in the United Kingdom. Australian writer Cory Taylor was announced as the regional winner for Pacific of the Commonwealth Book Prize on 21 May 2012 for her novel Me and Mr Booker. May 22 May 23 Australian scientists have discovered gold-coated fungi near Boddington in Western Australia, as published in the journal Nature Communications on 23 May 2019. May 24 May 25 Scientists at the University of South Australia have made a critical breakthrough, discovering how an obscure protein called Creld2 causes breast cancer to develop and grow more quickly. Their findings were published in Nature Cell Biology on 25 May 2020. Australia is to co-host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), a global science and engineering project to build the world’s largest radio telescope, that will give mankind its farthest peek into the Universe. The Members of the SKA Organization announced the decision on 25 May 2012. May 26 May 27 Sydney chef Josh Niland became the first Australian ever to win the internationally prestigious James Beard book of the year award on 27 May 2020. Australian Formula One driver Mark Webber won his second Monaco Grand Prix in three years on 27 May 2012 representing Red Bull racing team. May 28 A team of international and Australian researchers has discovered that sea snakes have been adapting to see underwater for 15 million years, according to their study published in Current Biology on 28 May 2020. Australian actress Nicole Kidman was awarded a specially-created 70th Anniversary Prize at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. Australian researchers along with a team of international scientists have discovered fossilized remains of 380-million-year-old sharks in the Kimberley region in Western Australia. Their study, published in the journal PLOS one on 28 May 2015, shows modern sharks may have evolved from a more bony ancestor. May 29 May 30 Researchers at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia have created an automation system for processing blood packs, saving workers from this time intensive and often risky task, as revealed on 30 May 2022. May 31

June

June 1 Australian Researchers from the University of Western Australia and Flinders University have located what is believed to be the largest plant in the world – an ancient and incredibly resilient seagrass stretching across 180km that is estimated to be at least 4,500 years old, detailed in a new study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B on 1 June 2022. June 2 Australian researchers have produced the world's most sensitive thermometer - three times more precise than the best thermometers in existence. The thermometer which uses light to measure temperature was reported on 2 June 2014. June 3 Archaeologists in Australia have unearthed a unique 2000-year-old pearl in the north Kimberley coast of Western Australia, as revealed on 3 June 2015. June 4 June 5 June 6 June 7 Scientists in Australia have discovered ancient organisms, known as the ‘Protosterol Biota’, that lived in Earth’s waterways at least 1.6 billion years ago could change our understanding of our earliest ancestors. The discovery of the Protosterol Biota was published in Nature on 7 June 2023. Australian and Russian scientists have identified a new species of dinosaur, named the Australotitan cooperensis or the southern titan, as the largest ever found in Australia. The dinosaur, discovered in 2007 in south-west Queensland, was detailed in PeerJ — the Journal of Life and Environmental Sciences on 7 June 2021. Australian photographer Jasmine Carey won the grand prize of USD$ 120,000 at the Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award (HIPA) 2020 for her images showing how whales sleep underwater. Australian football team Socceroos topped the FIFA ranking from Asia on 7 June 2018 by securing the 36th position on the overall list just before the grand opening of the FIFA World Cup 2018. June 8 Ashleigh Barty ended Australia's 46-year wait for a French Open women’s singles tennis title on 8 June 2019 by beating Czech teenager Marketa Vondrousova 6-1, 6-3 in the final. Researchers from Australia, Indonesia and Japan have uncovered the fossilised remains of the 700,000-year-old ancestor of the tiny primitive human, affectionately dubbed the ‘Hobbit’. The discovery was made at a site named Mata Menge on the Indonesian island of Flores and detailed in the journal Nature on 8 June 2016. Australian racing driver Daniel Ricciardo won his first ever Formula One race with a victory in the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal on 8 June 2014. June 9 An international team led by astronomers at the Australian National University (ANU) has discovered the fastest-growing black hole of the last nine billion years. The black hole consumes the equivalent of one Earth every second and shines 7,000 times brighter than all the light from our own galaxy, as revealed on 9 June 2022. Adelaide in Australia was named the world's second most liveable city by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on 9 June 2021. June 10 June 11 An international research team, including Australian scientists, has discovered that some species of ancient crocodiles walked on their two hind legs like dinosaurs and measured over three metres in length. Their findings were published in Scientific Reports on 11 June 2020. Australian immunologist Professor Ian Frazer and late Chinese cancer researcher Jian Zhou were awarded the prestigious Popular Prize at the 2015 European Inventor Award for their invention of the world's first vaccine against cervical cancer. The genetic blueprint of the Eucalyptus grandis (flooded gum) has almost been sequenced by a team of international researchers, including scientists from Australia. The five-year effort to analyze the 640 million base-pair genome was reported on 11 June 2014 in the journal Nature. June 12 Archaeologists from Australia and their international colleagues have discovered the oldest known evidence of bow and arrow use, used 48,000 years ago in Sri Lanka. This represents the earliest evidence of bow and arrow technology outside of Africa to date, as published on 12 June 2020 in the journal Science Advances. Australian woman Penny Palfrey set a record for an unassisted solo ocean swim with a 108 km marathon between two of the Cayman islands in the Caribbean. The 48-year-old completed her marathon swim on 12 June 2011 after her 40 hours and 41 minutes in the water. June 13 Australia’s Kaylee McKeown smashed the women's 100m backstroke swimming world record on 13 June 2021, touching in 57.45 seconds at the Australian Olympic trials in Adelaide, beating the previous world record of 57.57 set by American Regan Smith in 2019. Lucy Treloar of Australia won the the prestigious Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2014 in the regional category from the Pacific for her story The Dog and the Sea. Australian and Swedish researchers have made the surprising evolutionary discovery that ancient Australian fish may have had abdominal muscles, previously thought to have only developed in land animals. The reserachers published the miraculously preserved musculature of 380 million year old fossil fishes from Western Australia on 13 June 2013. The finds will help scientists to understand how neck muscles and abdominal muscles – “abs” – evolved. Australian scientists have discovered a way to control the cane toad – by using its own poison against itself – in a breakthrough that could end the creature's 77-year devastation of the country's native species. The research was published on 13 June 2012 in the UK Journal, Proceedings of Royal Society B. June 14 A team of Australian and Vietnamese archaeologists discovered a 3500-year-old Vietnamese toilet in Southern Vietnam that could yield important clues about early South-East Asian society, according to an official announcement on 14 June 2012. June 15 Australian cartoon Bluey won the prestigious 2022 Prix Jeunesse International Award in the Up to 6 Fiction category for its Sleepytime episode. A free trade deal between Australia and the UK was signed on 15 June 2021 in London in presence of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Australia retained the men's hockey World Cup title by outplaying the Netherlands 6-1 in the final at the Kyocera Stadium on 15 June 2014. June 16 June 17 Australian researchers and an international team of scientists have revealed that climate change and human impact played a crucial role in the extinction of South America’s ancient giant beasts such as sloths the size of elephants, one-tonne bears and sabre-toothed cats around 12,000 years ago. Their findings were published on 17 June 2016 in the journal Science Advances. Australian and New Zealand scientists have discovered 16-million-year-old fossilized remains of a new bat species in New Zealand, which walked on four limbs and was three times larger than today’s average bat. The new species, Mystacina miocenalis, was described on 17 June 2015 in the journal PLOS One. Australia ranked as the ninth most peaceful country in the world at the 2015 Global Peace Index published by Institute for Economics & Peace. June 18 Australian tennis player Ashleigh Barty was honoured with the Fed Cup Heart Award on 18 June 2019, becoming the first Australian winner of the International Tennis Federation's (ITF) award, voted for in a public ballot. An archaeologist from the University of Southern Queensland discovered the oldest piece of rock art in Australia and one of the oldest in the world, as announced on 18 June 2012: an Aboriginal work created 28,000 years ago in an Outback cave. June 19 June 20 Scientists in Australia have discovered a remarkable ancient fish fossil with platypus-like snout at a fossil reef ecosystem bordering Lake Burrinjuck in New South Wales. The fossil, named Brindabellaspis, was detailed in Royal Society Open Science on 20 June 2018. Australia won the 1999 fifty-overs Cricket World Cup by defeating Pakistan by 8 wickets in the final. It was a dominant performance by Australia as they reached their target of 133 runs with 8 wickets in hand in 20.1 overs. June 21 Scientists in Queensland, Australia on 21 June 2012 unveiled the biggest-ever graveyard of an ancient rhino-sized mega-wombat called diprotodon, with the site potentially holding valuable clues on the species' extinction. June 22 June 23 June 24 The Ningaloo Coast, on the remote western coast of Australia, was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011. It is Australia's one of the spectacular coral reefs, closely running 260km along the shoreline, is the seasonal feeding ground to the Whale Shark and home to many sea turtles. Julia Gillard became Australia's first female Prime Minister on 24th June, 2010. June 25 Australia and New Zealand were jointly selected as the hosts of FIFA Women’s Football World Cup 2023 following a vote taken by the FIFA Council on 25 June 2020. Australian and English researchers have discovered morpheme gene in poppies, paving the way for more effective painkillers. The morpheme gene that the researchers discovered in poppies was called STORR and was detailed in the journal Science on 25 June 2015. June 26 Australian driver Jack Miller won his first MotoGP race at the 2016 Assen MotoGP in the Netherlands. June 27 Australia on 27 June 2020 announced the creation of a new national park, named Narriearra Station, to protect threatened species in the state of New South Wales (NSW) which covers an area of 1,534 sq km (592 sq miles). In a world first, an Australian-led international team of astronomers has determined the precise location of a powerful one-off burst of cosmic radio waves – and the results were published online by the journal Science on 27 June 2019. June 28 June 29 June 30 Writer Nat Newman of Australia was announced as the Pacific Region winner of the 2017 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for her short story The Death of Margaret Roe. Australian Casey Stoner won the 2012 Dutch MotoGP in Assen to draw equal with Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo in the world championship.

July

July 1 The first underwater Aboriginal archaeological sites have been discovered off northwest Australia dating back thousands of years when the current seabed was dry land. The findings were published on 1 July 2020 in PLOS ONE. July 2 A team of Australian and international scientists has made a significant break-through by successfully sequencing the full koala genome for the first time. The findings were published on 2 July 2018 in Nature Genetics. July 3 Researchers from the Griffith University have photographed the shadow of a single atom for the first time, a breakthrough potentially will benefit quantum computing. The research was published in the scientific journal Nature on 3 July 2012. July 4 July 5 July 6 Budj Bim Cultural Landscape in the southwest of Australia was designated as the UNESCO World Heritage Site on 6 July 2019. Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder radio telescopes have detected 5-billion-year-old signals from a galaxy named PKS B1740-517, as reported on 6 July 2015. July 7 July 8 Australian Formula One driver Mark Webber claimed victory at the 2012 British Grand Prix representing Red Bull racing team. July 9 July 10 Australia's Ash Barty beat Czech Republic's Karolina Pliskova 6-3 6-7(4) 6-3 in the final to win her first Wimbledon title on 10 July 2021. July 11 July 12 July 13 Australian scientists at the University of Newcastle have developed a world-first, pain-free blood sugar testing for diabetics, a non-invasive strip that checks glucose levels via saliva, as reported on 13 July 2021. Australian researchers have discovered 50-million-year-old extinct volcanoes about 250 kilometers off the coast of Sydney in 4,900 meters of water, as revealed on 13 July 2015. The discovery will help scientists target future exploration of the sea floor to unlock the secrets of the Earth's crust. July 14 Scientists at the Monash University in Australia have made a unique kit containing 3D-printed body parts for medical schools to use in anatomy classes, as revealed on 14 July 2014. The ‘3D Printed Anatomy Series’ is thought to be the first commercially available resource of its kind. Scientists from Australia and an international team have successfully sequenced the genomes of 201 microbes to find out more about the role these tiny, single-celled organisms play in our environment. This insight into the genetic code has also helped the team to draw up a more detailed version of the microbial family tree. Their findings were published on 14 July 2013 in the journal Nature. July 15 July 16 July 17 July 18 Australian footballer Samantha Kerr was named as the Best International Women’s Soccer Player at the 2018 ESPY Awards held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California. Edith Cowan University (ECU) Australia researchers have developed the world’s first blood test capable of detecting melanoma in its early stages, a breakthrough that will save thousands of lives, as well as millions of dollars for the health system, as revealed on 18 July 2018. A group of scientists from Australia, Canada, the United States and China has discovered a 99-million year old snake preserved in a piece of amber from the Hukawng Valley, in north Myanmar's Kachin State. The snake, lived during the age of dinosaurs, was described in Science Advances on 18 July 2018. July 19 Australia ranked second at the 2018 United Nations (UN) E-Government Survey, which measures countries’ use of information and communications technologies to deliver public services. Australian archaeologists have confirmed that Aboriginal people have been in Australia for at least 65,000 years – much longer than the 47,000 years thought previously. Their findings were published in the journal Nature on 19 July 2017. July 20 July 21 Australian footballer Sam Kerr was named the best international athlete in women's football at the ESPY in the United States on 21 July 2022. July 22 University of New South Wales, Australia and their robots defended their RoboCup World Football Championship title in China, defeating the German team 3-1 in the final on 22 July 2015. July 23 July 24 Surgeons have performed Australian-first surgery on a baby diagnosed with spina bifida while it was still in the womb at Mater Mothers' Hospital, as announced on 24 July 2016. Australian Cadel Evans won the 2011 Tour de France, an annual bicycle race held in France, on July 24, 2011 at the age of 34. Cadel became the first Australian to win the race. July 25 Aussie sailor Lisa Blair returned home on 25 July 2017 as the first woman to circumnavigate Antarctica solo. July 26 Australian golfer Jason Day won the 2015 Canadian Open with a one-shot victory over American Bubba Watson. July 27 Jess Fox of Australia won the canoe slalom gold at the Tokyo Olympic, completed the course in a time of 105.04, which was 3.64 seconds ahead of second place, on 27 July 2021. July 28 July 29 A team of Australian and British scientists has discovered an important method of how carbon is drawn down from the surface of the Southern Ocean to the deep waters beneath and locked away from the atmosphere. The findings mean that eddies must be taken into account in future climate models. The research is published in the journal Nature Geoscience on 29 July 2012. Kerry Anne Wells earned Australia's first Miss Universe crown in 1972. Miss Universe 1972 was held on July 29, 1972 at the Cerromar Beach Hotel in Dorado, Puerto Rico. July 30 In 2002 The HyShot Flight Program of the University of Queensland conducted the first ever successful test flight of a Supersonic Combustion Ramjet (scramjet) in collaboration with international partners. July 31 Australia's most powerful computer to date was unveiled on 31 July 2013 at the Australian National University, in a boost for climate scientists who need to crunch vast amounts of data to make forecasts and pinpoint extreme weather. The supercomputer, Raijin, named after the Japanese god of thunder, lightning and storms, is capable to perform the same number of calculations in one hour that would take seven billion people armed with calculators 20 years. Capable of running at 1.2 petaflops (a measure of speed) when performing at its peak, Raijin can complete 170,000 calculations for every human on the face of the Earth, every second. For the first time the complex interplay between bacterial investment strategies and their outcomes has been recreated and analysed by Australian and English researchers. The study is published on 31 July 2013 in the journal Ecology Letters. The breakthrough was in using synthetic biology to create identical bacteria but with fixed investment strategies, some investing in growth, some in stress resistance and others in both to various degrees.

August

August 1 Professor Akshay Venkatesh became the second Australian to be awarded the most prestigious prize in the mathematics world, the Fields Medal on 1 August 2018. Australian team was announced the overall winner of the 2014 Microsoft Imagine Cup with eye-scanning health app Eyenaemia, a simple, non-invasive and easily accessible screening tool for anaemia made for use by everyday people. Sally Pearson won gold for Australia in the women's 100m hurdles race at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. August 2 Sunshine Coast Environment Council of Australia was announced as one of the recipients of the 2012 United Nations World Environment Day Challenge prize for their initiatives to raise awareness of environmental issues and the unique flora and fauna of the region, as well as promote the adoption of sustainable lifestyles and technologies. August 3 Australian women’s football team The Matildas won the inaugural Tournament of Nations defeating Brazil 6-1 in stunning style on 3 August 2017. August 4 The Sydney Park Water Re-Use Project in Australia won the Jury Award in the Architecture + Water category at the 2020 Architizer A+ Awards. August 5 August 6 August 7 Researchers from the University of Sydney in Australia have shown that oil molecules retain their ‘liquid-like’ features when they are chemically bonded as an incredibly thin layer to solid surfaces, creating new opportunities for developing sustainable materials with non-stick characteristics. The findings were published in the leading chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie on 7 August 2023. Australian and New Zealand palaeontologists have discovered the world’s largest parrot, standing up to 1m tall, more than half the average height of a human, that roamed New Zealand about 19 million years ago. Their finding was revealed in the journal Biology Letters on 7 August 2019. Australia won two golds at the London Olympics - Sally Pearson won Women's 100m Hurdles gold with a new Olympic record of 12.35 seconds and Anna Meares won Women's Sprint gold after stunning Britain's track cyclist Victoria Pendleton 2-0 - on 7 August 2012. August 8 Australian cancer researchers have developed a highly promising technology to deliver gene-silencing drugs to treat pancreatic cancer – the most chemo-resistant and deadly cancer in Australia. When tested in mice, the new nanomedicine resulted in a 50 per cent reduction in the growth of tumours and reduced the spread of pancreatic cancer, as revealed on 8 August 2016. August 9 Australian swimmer Bronte Campbell won gold in the 50m freestyle race at the 2015 FINA World Championships. On 9 August 1981 the inaugural phone call was made on Australia’s first public mobile network built by Telstra - an Australian telecommunications and media company. This call was made on a car phone system weighing 14kg with a 45cm handset and costing nearly $5000. Phone coverage was limited to Melbourne and the 1981 model device could store just 16 numbers, was installed in the car, and alerted owners of an incoming call with a honking horn or flashing headlights. August 10 A new study by Australian researchers on a 400 million year old fish fossil has found a jaw structure that is part of the evolutionary lineage linked to humans. Their findings were detailed in Scientific Reports on 10 August 2017. August 11 Australian physicists have created a tractor beam on water, providing a radical new technique that could confine oil spills, manipulate floating objects or explain rips at the beach, as revealed on 11 August 2014. August 12 Australian students from the University of Wollongong and TAFE Illawarra won the first prize at the Solar Decathlon China 2013, an international competition to build energy efficient house, for their design of a zero-emissions solar house by refitting a humble Australian fibro cottage. It was the first time an Australia team had made it to the finals of the Solar Decathlon. August 13 August 14 Researchers from Australia and an international team have set out the first comprehensive map of mutational processes behind the development of tumors - work that should in future lead to better ways to treat and prevent a wide range of cancers. Their study, published on 14 August 2013 in the journal Nature, discovered the genetic imprints and signatures left by DNA-damaging processes that lead to cancer. August 15 Georgina Steytler from Australia won the Best Portfolio Award at the Bird Photographer of the Year 2020 with this amazing set of images demonstrating consistency of skill and talent. In a major breakthrough, an international team of scientists from the University of Adelaide and University of Colorado has proven that addiction to morphine and heroin can be blocked, while at the same time increasing pain relief. The team discovered the key mechanism in the body's immune system that amplifies addiction to opioid drugs and found that the immune-addiction response can be blocked by a drug known as plus-naloxone. The research was published on 15 August 2012 in the Journal of Neuroscience. August 16 Australian scientists have found a way to wipe a cell's memory to reprogram it as a stem cell. In the groundbreaking study published on 16 August 2023 in Nature, Australian scientists have resolved a long-standing problem in regenerative medicine. Australia won its third-straight Netball World Cup with a 58-55 win over New Zealand in an adrenaline-charged final at Allphones Arena. August 17 August 18 August 19 Australian researchers at the James Cook University have discovered a 400-year-old coral on the Great Barrier Reef, as described in the journal Scientific Reports on 19 August 2021. Virtual healthcare platform CleverTar from Australia won the prestigious Talent Unleashed Award 2016 in the Tech Innovation category. August 20 Australian scientists have discovered fossil leaves from the remains of a 23 million-year-old forest suggest some plants may adapt to grow more quickly as CO2 levels rise. The results were published in the journal Climate of the Past on 20 August 2020. Australia became the first-ever FIBA Asia Cup basketball champions after beating Iran 79-56 in the final in Beirut on 20 August 2017. Cyril Baldock, a 70-year-old Australian man, has set the record for the world's oldest person to swim the English Channel. Mr Baldock completed the swim between England and France in 12 hours and 45 minutes on 20 August 2014. Australia became second biggest aid donor to Asian Development Bank. In 2012, the Australian Government pledged up to $629 million for the tenth replenishment of the Asian Development Fund, as reported on 20 August 2013. August 21 The world’s first combined solar and diesel power station was officially unveiled on 20 August 2010 at Marble Bar, Western Australia, an area renowned for its scorching temperatures. August 22 Australian tennis star Ashleigh Barty clinched the 2021 Western & Southern Open women’s singles title with her 6-3, 6-1 victory over Jil Teichmann. Barty is the first Australian player to win the title in Cincinnati since Evonne Goolagong in 1973. August 23 August 24 Australian researchers have unearthed the fossil remains of a new species of tiny marsupial lion that prowled the lush rainforests of northern Australia about 18 million years ago. The discovery team named the new species Microleo attenboroughi, as announced on 24 August 2016. August 25 August 26 Australian scientists at the Southern Cross University have developed a new technique which sprays droplets of ocean water into the sky to form clouds to protect the corals of the Great Barrier Reef, as revealed on 26 August 2021. August 27 Australian national rugby team, nicknamed Wallabies, won the 2011 Tri-Nations Series played between New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. Australia won the Tri-Nations for the first time in 10 years when they beat New Zealand 25-20 in Brisbane on August 27, 2011. August 28 Australian scientists from the University of Newcastle and Hunter Medical Research Institute have created a smartphone-linked bionic pancreas that uses a highly sophisticated algorithm to calculate and deliver precise insulin dosages. This bionic pancreas, revealed on 28 August 2014, is expected to free those with type 1 diabetes from the daily ordeal of managing their disease. August 29 Australian Sam Campbell won the top prize for his comedy show at the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the prestigious competition that celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, and scooped £10,000 prize money. An international team of scientists, including researchers from Australia, has discovered a species of monkey fossil dated to be more than 1 million years old. The fossil belonging to the species of extinct monkey Antillothrix bernensis was discovered in an underwater cave in Altagracia Province, Dominican Republic, as detailed in the Journal of Human Evolution on 29 August 2015. August 30 Australian researchers have analyzed organic molecules preserved within 306-million-year-old fossilized animal feces (coprolite) and have discovered important biomolecular information that, despite being millions of years old, remained intact. Their study was published in Biology on 30 August 2022. Australian researchers have implanted an early prototype bionic eye, helping a woman with profound vision loss to experience flashes of vision, as reported on 30 August 2012. The Australian prototype - the first in the world to be implanted behind rather than in front of the retina - will be tested over the next 18 months by scientists. August 31 In an extraordinary find, a team of Australian researchers have uncovered the world’s oldest fossils in a remote area of Greenland. The 3.7 billion year old fossils will provide a greater understanding of early diversity of life on Earth, as revealed in the journal Nature on 31 August 2016.

September

September 1 Researchers from Australia and their international colleagues have discovered archaeological sites in the Nefud Desert of Saudi Arabia associated with the remains of ancient lakes formed when periods of increased rainfall transformed the region into grassland, as reported in the journal Nature on 1 September 2021. Australian scientists have discovered that the venom from honeybees - and a compound in it called melittin - destroy two types of aggressive breast cancer cells, triple-negative and HER2-enriched, in a lab setting. Their discovery was published in Nature Precision Oncology on 1 September 2020. Australian boxer Daniel Geale won the WBA and IBF middleweight world championship fight on 1 September 2012 beating Germany's Felix Sturm. Geale became the first Australian-born boxer to unify two globally recognized titles in the same division. September 2 The National Archives of Australia was awarded the 2011 UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize on 2 September 2011 for its work, which includes publications, and innovative initiatives in the preservation of digital records. September 3 Australian doctors and scientists have achieved a world first, helping a woman to become pregnant seven years after her ovaries were removed during cancer treatment, by grafting frozen tissue on to her abdominal wall, as reported on 3 September 2013. September 4 September 5 Australia ranked as the sixth most generous nation in the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) 2017 World Giving Index. The index measures the average percentage of people in each country who donate money, volunteer or help a stranger. Australia and India signed an agreement allowing the export of Australian uranium to New Delhi for use in power generation. The deal was signed on 5 September 2014 during a state visit by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to India. Ms Quentin Bryce, a lawyer and former Governor of Queensland state, assumed office as the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia on September 5, 2008. She became the first female and 25th Governor-General of Australia. September 6 The elusive Australian Central Rock Rat, not seen since 1960, is rediscovered in Central Australia, as reported on 6 September 2013. September 7 September 8 Australian scientists and their international colleagues have revealed a secret world of animals and plants -- including unknown species -- that may live in warm caves under Antarctica's glaciers. The caves, hollowed out by steam from active volcanoes, are light and could reach temperatures of 25 degrees Celsius, as revealed in the journal Polar Biology on 8 September 2017, raising the possibility of a whole ecosystem of flora and fauna deep beneath the frozen surface. September 9 September 10 A pair of Australian and Belgian palaeontologists has revealed the fossilised skin of a bull-like carnivorous dinosaur, as the discovery was revealed on 10 September 2021. Australia clinched their historic fifth International Surfing Association (ISA) World Sup and Paddleboard Championship team gold, in the event's six-year history, on 10 September 2017 in Denmark. September 11 Australian immunologist Professor Jacques Miller won the prestigious Lasker Basic Medical Research Award 2019 for his contributions in the discovery of the roles of key immune cells – an award that is widely recognised as one of the highest international honours in medical research. Samantha Stosur won Australia's first Grand Slam tennis tournament in a decade, emphatically taking down Serena Williams from United States 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and 23 minutes on September 11, 2011. September 12 A new Creative Productivity Index developed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) ranked Australia as the sixth most efficient country in the Asia and Pacific region at turning creative inputs into tangible innovation, as revealed on 12 September 2014. Australian scientists have developed a genetic test to predict autism spectrum disorder in children, which could provide a long-sought way for early detection and intervention, according to a study published on 12 September 2012 in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. September 13 Astronomers from Australia, Canada and China have discovered a rare ‘polar ring galaxy’ wrapped in a huge ribbon of hydrogen, as published in the Royal Astronomical Society on 13 September 2023. September 14 Australian Professor Stephen Powles won the 2017 American Chemical Society International Award for Research in agrochemicals. Professor Powles became the first Australian to win the award, which is given to a scientist who has made outstanding contributions to the field of agrochemicals at the international level. Australian and Scottish scientists have discovered the world's longest known chain of continental volcanoes, running 2,000 kilometers across Australia, from the Whitsundays in North Queensland to near Melbourne in central Victoria. The volcanic chain was created over the past 33 million years and was detailed in the journal Nature on 14 September 2015. World's most comprehensive and largest study of Antarctic sea ice was set off as more than 50 scientists, from nine countries left Hobart on 14 September 2012 aboard Australia’s icebreaker Aurora Australis to gather information critical for a greater understanding of the connection between sea ice and Southern Ocean ecosystems. For the first time under-ice and airborne vehicles will be used simultaneously to investigate the impacts of climate change on the sea-ice environment off East Antarctica. September 15 Scientists in Australia have unearthed the fossil of a new genus of trapdoor spider, named Megamonodontium mccluskyi, believed to be anywhere from 11 to 16 million years old, as published in the Zoological Journal of Linnean Society on 15 September 2023. Australian researchers have discovered a 380-million-year-old heart of ancient fish - the oldest ever found in an ancient jawed fish - according to a study published in the Science magazine on 15 September 2022. Researchers at Australia's Monash University discovered new species of dolphin in 2011. On 15 September 2011 researchers revealed that dolphins found in southeastern Australia represent a previously unknown species which they have named Tursiops australis. Australia hosted the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic which was opened on 15th September, 2000. It was the second time that the Summer Olympics Games were held in Australia. September 16 September 17 Sophia Phan from Australia was named one of the International News Media Association's 30 under 30 award winners, recognising rising stars in the global media industry, on 17 September 2020. Simone Mainprize from Australia was named one of the International News Media Association's 30 under 30 award winners, recognising rising stars in the global media industry. Australian and English researchers have discovered that a newly discovered group of cells can help repair tissues in the body. The research was published in the journal Cell Reports on 17 September 2019. Australian film Sweet Country was named as the winner of the Platform prize at the 2017 Toronto Film Festival. September 18 Researchers from the University of Sydney, Australia have developed a method to store light-based information as sound waves on a computer chip. Their study was published in Nature Communications on 18 September 2017. Jamen Percy of Australia won the 2015 Astronomy Photographer of the Year Award in the Aurorae category for an image titled Silk Skies. September 19 Archaeologists from Australia and New Zealand have recovered evidence that people lived in the Australian arid zone in western desert 50,000 years ago. This is 10,000 years earlier than previously understood for the interior deserts of Australia, according to their study published in PLOS One on 19 September 2018. An Australian-led research team has successfully written data to a silicon-based quantum bit (qubit) , the basic unit of data for a quantum computer, creating the world’s first working silicon-based qubit. The research was published in the scientific journal Nature on 19 September 2012. September 20 Astronomers from Australia and the United States have discovered the most crowded galaxy ever seen in the known Universe. The ultra-compact dwarf galaxy, known as M60-UCD1, may be the densest galaxy close to Earth, packed with an extraordinary number of stars. The results of this work were published in the journal the Astrophysical Journal Letters on 20 September 2013. A team of Melbourne scientists have made a fertility breakthrough. Their findings, published in the Molecular Cell journal on 20 September 2012, show for the first time a way to protect the fertility of women who are having cancer treatment, and then also offer a way to prevent premature menopause. September 21 Australian, Russian and German scientists have discovered molecules of fat in an ancient fossil to reveal the earliest confirmed animal in the geological record that lived on Earth 558 million years ago. The fossil of the mysterious creature, called Dickinsonia, was detailed in the journal Science on 21 September 2018. September 22 September 23 Professor Matthaios Santamouris from the University of New South Wales in Australia won the prestigious 2019 World Society of Sustainable Energy Technologies (WSSET) Innovation Award in the Low Carbon Buildings and Future Cities category in recognition of the heat mitigating materials and technology that he and a team of researchers have developed over the last two decades. Viney Kumar from Australia was announced as the winner of the 2013 Google Science Fair Competition in the 13-14 age category for his project The PART (Police and Ambulances Regulating Traffic) Program. Viney’s project looked for new ways to provide drivers with more notice when an emergency vehicle is approaching, so they can take evasive action to get out of the emergency vehicle’s way. September 24 September 25 Australian finance minister Wayne Swan was awarded as the world's best finance minister by Euromoney magazine in 2011. Mr Swan received his award as Finance Minister of the Year in Washington on 25 September 2011. September 26 September 27 September 28 Australian researchers have built world-first robotic surgical system, named HeroSurg, with sense of touch. The innovation means laparoscopic, or keyhole/micro surgery, will be safer and more accurate than ever before as announced on 28 September 2016. September 29 September 30

October

October 1 Australia successfully launched one of the world’s most-advanced communication satellites Sky Muster into orbit on 1 October 2015 from the Guiana Space Centre in South America. Sky Muster will play a critical role in providing fast broadband access to around 400,000 regional and remote Australian homes and businesses. October 2 Australian F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo won the 2016 Malaysia Grand Prix in 1 hour 37 minutes and 12.776 seconds. October 3 Barry J. Marshall and J. Robin Warren from Australia jointly won The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2005 for their discovery of "the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease". October 4 Researchers in Australia and the USA have developed a gel-like glue, called MeTro, that seals wounds in seconds. The discovery was described in a paper published on 4 October 2017 in Science Translational Medicine. Brian P. Schmidt from Australian National University jointly won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae. October 5 Australia on 5 October 2012 launched the world's fastest radio telescope which will exponentially increase astronomers' ability to survey the universe, mapping black holes and shedding new light on the origins of galaxies. October 6 Australia's National Broadband Network on 6 October 2016 successfully launched its second broadband satellite Sky Muster II into orbit from French Guiana Space Centre in South America. Australian journalist Peter Greste along with his Al-Jazeera television colleagues Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were honoured with the 2015 Freedom of Speech Award by the International Association of Press Clubs (IAPC). They were awarded in recognition of the defence of truth and freedom of expression while facing ongoing intimidation and imprisonment since their arrest in Cairo on 29 December 2013. October 7 Peter C. Doherty from Australia along with Rolf Martin Zinkernagel from Switzerland won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on 7 October 1996 for their discoveries concerning the specificity of the cell mediated immune defence. October 8 Australian flag carrier airline Qantas made it to the top 10 list of Best First Class, Best Business Class, Best Premium Economy and Best Long Haul Economy Class published by AirlineRatings.com on 8 October 2015. Australian and Indonesian scientists have identified some of the earliest cave paintings produced by humans in a rural area on the Indonesian Island of Sulawesi. The cave paintings are at least 40 thousand years old, according to their study published on 8 October 2014 in the scientific journal Nature. Until now, paintings this old had been confirmed in caves only in Western Europe. October 9 October 10 Australia switched on the Greenough River Solar project, its first utility-scale solar farm, in Western Australia on 10 October 2012, bringing the country a small step closer to achieving its renewable energy use targets. October 11 October 12 October 13 Australian long-distance swimmer Chloe McCardel set a new world record for the most number of swims across the English Channel between England and France after completing her 44th crossing on 13 October 2021. Australian scientists from the University of NSW have claimed a world record for preserving a single quantum bit held in solid state. The scientists were able to preserve the information for approximately 35 seconds, as revealed on 13 October 2014. The longer the information can be preserved, the more complex and extensive calculations can be performed using quantum computers. October 14 Eight countries including Australia on 14 October 2020 signed an international pact for moon exploration called the Artemis Accords, named after NASA’s Artemis moon programme. Australian author Richard Flanagan won the £50,000 Man Booker Prize on 14 October 2014 for his wartime novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North. October 15 Australian rider Saya Sakakibara won her maiden UCI BMX Racing Cycling World Cup title after winning the final three rounds of the season, with a victory in Argentina on 15 October 2023 with a dominant display in Round 10. October 16 Australia was elected to the UN Human Rights Council on 16 October 2017 for a 3-year term starting on 1 January 2018. Australian and Brazilian scientists have found evidence for a huge mountain range that sustained an explosion of life on Earth 600 million years ago. The mountain range was similar in scale to the Himalayas and spanned at least 2,500 kilometers of modern west Africa and northeast Brazil, which at that time were part of the supercontinent Gondwana. Their findings were published on 16 October 2014 in Nature Communications. Australian professional motorcycle racer Casey Stoner won the 2011 MotoGP World Championship with a victory at the Australian motorcycle Grand Prix on October 16, 2011. October 17 October 18 Australian and English scientists have proposed that the most recently discovered ancient human relatives - the Denisovans - somehow managed to cross Wallace's Line, one of the world's most prominent marine barriers in Indonesia, and later interbred with modern humans moving through the area on the way to Australia and New Guinea. Their study was published on 18 October 2013 in the journal Science. Australia was elected as a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council on 18 October 2012 for the years 2013-2014. October 19 Astronomers in Australia have detected the most distant burst of fast radio waves ever discovered - eight billion light-years from Earth. The discovery was detailed in a paper published on 19 October 2023 in Science. Australian scientists have discovered that Scottish fish Microbrachius dicki were the first creatures to have sex 430 million years ago. Their findings were published on 19 October 2014 in the journal Nature. October 20 Australian researchers have discovered a 95m-year-old new species of dinosaur, Savannasaurus elliottorum, in western Queensland, Australia, as reported in the journal Scientific Reports on 20 October 2016. October 21 October 22 Australian scientists have found traces of gold in eucalyptus leaves, according to their study published on 22 October 2013 in the journal Nature Communications. The real value of the study is that nature’s own version of gold leaf could provide mine companies with an inexpensive and environmentally friendly indicator of where to drill test sites. October 23 Scientists in Australia have created a new material that could change the way human tissue can be grown in the lab and used in medical procedures. The new material belongs to a family of substances called hydrogels, as published on 23 October 2023 in Nature Communications. A joint international research team, including researchers from Australia, has described a new songbird species — the Rote Leaf-Warbler Phylloscopus rotiensis named after Rote, Indonesia where it was found. The discovery was published in the journal Scientific Reports on 23 October 2018. Australian scientists have discovered two new methane metabolizing organisms whose role in greenhouse gas emissions and consumption is not yet known. The novel organisms belonging to a group of microorganisms, called the Bathyarchaeota - an evolutionarily diverse group of microorganisms found in a wide range of environments, including deep-ocean and freshwater sediments, as detailed on 23 October 2015 in the journal Science. In a radical new theory, scientists from Australia and the USA have proposed that parallel universes really do exist and they interact with one another. They show, in a study published on 23 October 2014 in the journal Physical Review X, that such an interaction could explain everything that is bizarre about quantum mechanics. October 24 In a world first, Australian surgeons have successfully transplanted human hearts which had stopped beating. It was officially announced on 24 October 2014 that could change the way organs are donated. October 25 October 26 October 27 October 28 Australian scientists have discovered a massive detached coral reef just off Cape York on the Great Barrier Reef, which is more than 500m high, that is taller than the Empire State Building or the Sydney Tower, as revealed on 28 October 2020. Researchers from James Cook University have found a fragment of Australia beneath Vanuatu, thought to have separated from the mainland prior to the Cenozoic Era, around 100 million years ago. Their findings were revealed on 28 October 2014. An expedition to Cape York Peninsula in north-east Australia has found three vertebrate species new to science and isolated for millions of years—a bizarre looking leaf-tail gecko, a golden-colored skink and a boulder-dwelling frog, according to an official announcement on 28 October 2013. Australian Casey Stoner won his sixth successive Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix on 28 October 2012 at Phillip Island. October 29 A team of scientists from The Australian National University has discovered a new species of lizard hidden among the sand dunes of Western Australia’s coastline, according to an official announcement on 29 October 2012. Shark's brains share several common features with those of humans, scientists at The University of Western Australia have found, prompting a suggestion it may help researchers working to design a shark repellent, according to an official announcement on 29 October 2012. October 30 October 31 Australian scientists have developed a new compact, lightweight, gel-free and waterproof electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor that offers more comfort and less skin irritation, compared to similar heart monitoring devices on the market. The discovery was revealed in AIP Applied Physics Reviews on 31 October 2023.

November

November 1 Australia ranked as the third most positive country at the World’s Most Positive Countries 2019. Australia ranked as the second most positive country at the World’s Most Positive Countries 2018. Australia reclaimed the World’s Most Positive Country title in half a decade in 2017. Australia ranked as the fourth most positive country at the World’s Most Positive Countries 2016. Australia ranked as the fifth most positive country at the World’s Most Positive Countries 2015. Australia ranked fifth in the list of the World’s Most Positive Countries for 2014. Australia ranked fourth in the list of the World’s Most Positive Countries 2013. Australia ranked second in the list of the World’s Most Positive Countries 2012. Australia topped the list of the World’s Most Positive Countries 2011 revealed by Daily Positive (D+) published on November 1, 2011. Australia was admitted as a member of the United Nations (UN) on 1 November 1945. November 2 Australian professional surfer, Stephanie Gilmore, won her fourth consecutive world championship on the Women's ASP World Tour on 2nd November 2010. In the process she made history as she became the first woman surfer to claim four world titles from as many attempts. Australia won the 1991 Rugby World Cup. They won the final 12-6 against England. It was the second ever rugby world cup. November 3 Australia took the sixth place at the Legatum Prosperity Index 2016, making it as one of the best places in the world to live. November 4 November 5 Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on 5 November 2015 was appointed as chair of the Sanitation and Water for All partnership, a key United Nations agency, whose goal is to achieve universal access to sanitation and safe drinking water. An extinct species of carnivorous platypus about a meter long – the largest platypus ever found – has been discovered by a group of University of New South Wales researchers in the famous Riversleigh World Heritage Area of Queensland, Australia. The new species, named Obdurodon tharalkooschild, has been identified from a highly distinctive tooth found in a deposit and was reported in 2013 in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. On November 5, 2010 archaeologists revealed they have found a piece of a stone axe dated as 35,500 years old on sacred Aboriginal land in Australia, the oldest object of its type ever found in the world. November 6 Archaeologists from the Australian National University have discovered fossils of seven giant rat species on East Timor, with the largest up to 10 times the size of modern rats, as announced on 6 November 2015. Australia won the 1999 Rugby World Cup. It is Australia’s second Rugby World Cup win. They won the final comprehensively 35-12 against France on November 6, 1999 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales. November 7 Australia’s Madison de Rozario won the wheelchair division of the 2021 New York City Women’s Marathon. The Melbourne Cup, one of the world's most famous horse races, was run for the first-time on November 7, 1861. It was won by Archer, an Australian Thoroughbred racehorse, and was ridden by Australian jockey John Cutts. While the Cup was first run on a Thursday, the race is always run on the first Tuesday in November and was first run on a Tuesday in 1875. November 8 Australian and Indonesian researchers have identified the earliest known painting of an animal, from 40,000 years ago, in a cave on the island of Borneo, Indonesia. Their study was published in the journal Nature on 8 November 2018. Australian and American scientists have revealed that a protein, called Piezo 1, first discovered in 2010 is directly responsible for sensing touch. The study was published on 8 November 2016 in the journal Cell Reports. Australia won its first ever fifty-overs Cricket World Cup in 1987. Australia won the nail biting final over England by 7 runs. November 9 Australian researchers and their international colleagues have discovered a two-million-year-old adult hominin (human-like creatures) skull – the earliest known and best preserved Paranthropus robustus specimen ever found – at the Drimolen archaeological site north of Johannesburg. The findings were published on 9 November 2020 in Nature Ecology & Evolution. Australian doctors at the Melbourne Royal Children's Hospital successfully separated conjoined Bhutanese twins Nima and Dawa in a six-hour operation on 9 November 2018. November 10 Australian scientists and their international colleagues have recognized a particular form of the HLA-DRB1 gene that may provide better protection against typhoid fever, which infects millions of people each year. The discovery, described in Nature Genetics on 10 November 2014, is expected to lead to improvements in the rational design of vaccines for this and other bacterial infections. November 11 Australian astronomers and their international colleagues have discovered the oldest known stars, dating from before the Milky Way Galaxy formed, when the Universe was just 300 million years old. The stars, found near the center of the Milky Way, were detailed in the journal Nature on 11 November 2015. November 12 Researchers at the Australia's national science agency, CSIRO, have spotted the extremely rare bigfin squid, a deep-sea creature found more than 2 kilometres underwater, in Australian waters for the first time, as revealed on 12 November 2020. The Australia sprinter Sally Pearson was named female Athlete of the Year by the International Association of Athletics Federations on 12 November 2011. Sally became the first Australian to be elected athlete of the year. On the 12 of November 1894 Lawrence Hargraves successfully lifts himself into the air under a string of four box kites on Stanwell Park Beach in New South Wales. Aided by his friend, two sandbags and a spring balance he rose 16 feet high with a wind speed of 21mph. His invention of the flying box kite, his study of aerofoils and his work on the rotary engine greatly contributed to the evolution of modern flight. November 13 Australian professional golfer Greg Chalmers won the 2011 Australian Open golf tournament on November 13, 2011. Greg won the Australian Open crown by a single shot. November 14 Australia won the ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup 2021 after their eight-wicket victory over New Zealand while chasing 173 runs in the final. Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson won the top ICC awards on 14 November 2014, being named the Cricketer of the Year, as well as Test Cricketer of the Year. Penelope Plummer from Australia was the winner of the 1968 Miss World contest at the age of 18. She became the first Australian to win the title. Miss World 1968 was held at Lyceum Theatre, London, United Kingdom on November 14, 1968. November 15 Australia and 14 other countries on 15 November 2020 agreed to form the world’s largest free trade bloc, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), at a virtual ASEAN Summit. Australia on 15 November 2017 secured their fourth straight FIFA World Cup spot with a 3-1 victory against Honduras. November 16 Australia on 16 November 2012 officially declared the creation of the world's largest network of marine reserves around Australia, protecting more than 2.3 million square kilometers (0.9 million square miles) of ocean environment. The announcement, after years of planning and consultation, will significantly expand the protection of creatures such as the blue whale, green turtle, critically endangered populations of grey nurse sharks, and dugongs. Qantas, national airline of Australia, was established in 1920. Qantas is the world's oldest continuously operating airline started on 16 November 1920. November 17 Australia and China on 17 November 2014 signed a Declaration of Intent for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). A great day in Australian medical history. Surgeons at the Melbourne Royal Children's Hospital successfully separated conjoined twins, at the head, Krishna and Trishna in 2009. Surgeons spent more than 27 hours separating the Bangladeshi girls, aged two years and 11 months. Children First Foundation brought the twins from Bangladesh for the operation. The use of seat belts in vehicles was made compulsory in Victoria, Australia, in 1970. Then Chief Secretary of the Victorian State Government, Sir Arthur Rylah, made the announcement on November 17, 1970 and by January 1, 1972 the wearing of belts was compulsory throughout Australia. November 18 November 19 Australia beat host India by six wickets for sixth ICC Men's Cricket World Cup title in Ahmedabad on 19 November 2023 after bowling out India for 240 runs. Australia won their third consecutive Rugby League World Cup title with a comprehensive 30-10 victory over Samoa at Old Trafford on 19 November 2022. Australian researchers at the Bionic Vision Technologies Pty Ltd (BVT) have successfully restored a sense of vision in four blind people with its bionic eye as part of a clinical trial in Melbourne, as announced on 19 November 2018. November 20 November 21 November 22 Australian researchers have found remnants of the oldest meal on record in fossils of a strange slug-like creature called Kimberella, which lived half a billion years ago, according to a study published in the journal Current Biology on 22 November 2022. Australia hosted the Melbourne 1956 Summer Olympic which was opened on 22nd November, 1956. It was the first time ever that the Summer Olympics Games were held in the Southern Hemisphere. November 23 The world's largest lithium ion battery, which has 100 megawatts of capacity, was successfully installed in south Australia. The battery is designed to store renewable energy, as revealed on 23 November 2017. November 24 November 25 Australia claimed their fourth Women's World Twenty20 cricket title beating England by eight-wicket in the final on 25 November 2018. November 26 Australia won a FIFA World Cup game for only the third time in their history with a 1-0 victory over Tunisia on 26 November 2022. Australian and American researchers have found microbial life living in Lake Vida, an Antarctic lake that was sealed off from the outside world by a thick sheet of ice several thousands of years ago. The life survives at temperatures of -13 degree Celsius and could mean that life could survive in extreme conditions on Mars or other places in the Solar System. The research findings were published on 26 November 2012 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. November 27 November 28 The Illegal Logging Prohibition Act 2012 of Australia received Royal Assent on 28 November 2012, outlawing the importation of illegal logged timber from abroad. November 29 Samantha Kerr of Australia was named the 2017 Asian Football Confederation women's player of the year. A work and holiday visa agreement between the Australian and Uruguayan governments was signed in Canberra on 29 November 2012. The agreement provides a unique opportunity for limited numbers of university-educated Australian and Uruguayan travelers aged between 18 and 30 years old to work and holiday in each other’s country for up to 12 months, a special and simpler visa arrangement between the two countries. Australia's first satellite WRESAT (Weapons Research Establishment Satellite) was launched on 29 November 1967, thereby making Australia only the fourth country to launch its own satellite from its own territory after the U.S.S.R., U.S.A. and France. November 30 Australia won Rugby League World Cup 2013 with a 34-2 resounding victory over defending champions New Zealand in front of a record crowd at Old Trafford. Australia unveiled a new Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) radio telescope in the remote outback of Western Australian desert that will give the world a vastly improved view of the sun and much faster warnings on massive solar storms. The MWA, launched on 30 November 2012, is expected to be fully operational in February next year.

December

December 1 Caitlin Foord of Australia was crowned Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women's Player of the Year in a glittering ceremony on 1 December 2016. Australia officially assumed the presidency of the Group of Twenty (G20) for 2014 on 1 December 2013. A new Tobacco Plain Packaging Act took full effect on 1 December 2012 in Australia. All tobacco must now be sold in plain packaging with health warnings covering 75 per cent of the container. Australia became the first country in the world to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes. Australian beauty Belinda Green won the 1972 Miss World contest at the age of 20. Belinda was the second Australian woman to win the title. December 2 Australia won the 2017 Rugby League Men's and Women's World Cup beating England 6-0 and New Zealand 23-16 respectively in the finals. Australian designer, social scientist and sustainability expert Leyla Acaroglu eceived the United Nations' highest environmental accolade, the Champions of the Earth award, in the Sustainability Innovator category for instigating positive environmental and social change through innovation. Professor Jaynie Anderson from the University of Melbourne received the prestigious 2015 Ufficiale dell'Ordine della Stella d'Italia (Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy) award for her contribution to the knowledge of Italian and Renaissance art. December 3 An international team of researchers, including scientists from the Australia, has discovered engravings on a shell that dates to between 540,000 and 430,000 years ago. Their findings, reported in the journal Nature on 3 December 2014, provided new insights into the evolution of human behavior. December 4 Researchers in University of Queensland, Australia have developed a 10-minute test that can detect the presence of cancer cells anywhere in the human body, according to a newly published research in the journal Nature Communications on 4 December 2018. Australian and Indonesian researchers have uncovered a total of 28 rock art sites dating from at least 2,500 years ago on the island of Kisar in Indonesia. The ancient cave paintings were reported in the Cambridge Journal of Archaeology on 4 December 2017. A team of International scientists, including researchers from Australia, have discovered huge reserves of freshwater buried beneath the seabed on continental shelves off Australia, China, North America and South Africa. Their study was published on 4 December 2013 in the journal Nature. December 5 Marita Cheng of Australia won the 2014 GEDC Airbus Diversity Award at the World Engineering Education Forum (WEEF) in Dubai for her initiative designed to inspire girls aged 10-14 to choose engineering and technical careers. Australia and South Korea on 5 December 2013 signed a Free Trade Agreement in an attempt to boost trade between two countries. December 6 Australia won the Hockey World League 2015 championship with a 2-1 win against Belgium in the tournament final in Raipur, India. December 7 Researchers from the Museum of Tropical Queensland have discovered Australia's first complete plesiosaur fossil near the remote western Queensland town of McKinlay. The complete head and body of an ancient marine reptile with flippers like a turtle and long neck like a giraffe, as widely reported on 7 December 2022. December 8 December 9 Australian men’s hockey team won their fifth successive Champions Trophy in sensational style, beating The Netherlands 2-1 in golden goal extra-time in Melbourne on 9 December 2012. December 10 Australia has pledged $200-million to the United Nations Green Climate Fund to help poorer nations mitigate the impact of global warming, as announced on 10 December 2014. Australian researchers and their international colleagues have discovered a new class of stem cells, raising hopes of a new era of regenerative medicine in which currently incurable illnesses are conquered using patients’ own cells. Their study was published in the journal Nature on 10 December 2014. December 11 The Australia national field hockey team, nicknamed Kookaburras, created history on 11 December 2011 defeating Spain 1-0 in Champions Trophy final in Auckland to become the first team to win 4 Champions Trophy titles in a row. December 12 A rare, mummified specimen of the duck-billed dinosaur Edmontosauraus regalis described in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on 12 December 2013 by researchers from Australia, Italy and Canada shows for the first time that those dinosaurs' heads were adorned with a fleshy comb, most similar to the roosters' red crest. December 13 Australian Test captain Michael Clarke was named International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricketer of the Year for 2013. December 14 Australia ranked second at the UNDP Human Development Index (HDI) 2015 that measures long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development — a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living. Australian singer Sia won the International Female Artist of the Year award at the 2014 NRJ Music Awards, a prize presented by the French radio station NRJ. Sia also won the International Song of the Year award for her song Chandelier. For the first time ever the Oprah Winfrey Show, one of the world's most popular TV talk show, took place in Sydney, Australia on 14th December 2010. It is the first time the talk show queen Oprah Winfrey has taken the program outside North America. December 15 Researchers from the University of Queensland have grown a tiny kidney from stem cells. The research was reported on 15 December 2013 in the journal Nature Cell Biology, paves the way for improved treatments for patients with kidney disease. December 16 Australia and the United Kingdom (England) on 16 December 2021 signed a free trade deal that is expected to unlock more than £10 billion in trade annually. December 17 December 18 December 19 December 20 December 21 Australia’s Ellyse Perry won the inaugural Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award for the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year on 21 December 2017. December 22 December 23 Australian women’s football team ended 2016 as the highest ranked Asian national team according to the December FIFA listing released on 23 December 2016. Australia captain Steve Smith won the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year 2015. Smith also won the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year award. December 24 December 25 December 26 December 27 Tristan Miller from Australia became the first person to complete 52 marathons in 52 weeks. He crossed the finishing line of his 52nd marathon at Albert Park Lake, Melbourne on December 27, 2010. Miller began his quest to run a marathon a week previous New Year's Eve in Zurich. Since then he's run marathons on every continent, including Antarctica, and he's raised $15,000 for charity. December 28 Australian cricket star Ellyse Perry won the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Award for ICC Female Cricketer of the Decade on 28 December 2020. December 29 December 30 Australian researchers have identified a protein called Elf5, that controls milk production in the breast after pregnancy, which can also drive the spread of cancer cells to the lungs in breast cancer. The research was published in the journal PLOS Biology 30 December 2015. The world's smallest species of goanna has been discovered in Kimberley, Western Australia, as announced on 30 December 2014. At a maximum length of 23 centimeters and weighing just 16 grams, the new species was named as Varanus sparnus. Australia’s helicopter ambulance services celebrated 40 years in the skies on December 30, 2010. Fourty years back in 1970 a helicopter named The Angel of Mercy was brought to Australia. It was the first helicopter in the world to operate in conjunction with an ambulance service. December 31

---