From the start to the end (main events while PM)
20 Dec 1991
24th Prime Minister
In an exchange of Labor Party leadership, Paul Keating became prime minister, taking over Bob Hawke, who left parliament on 20 February, 1992, after 12 years representing the seat of Wills.
01 Jan 1992
World Wide Web
The first browser program went on sale and transformed the Internet paths to a global network. Developed by scientists in Geneva in 1989, this text-based browser let anyone with knowledge of the UNIX operating system to link to the Internet. The first image-based browser, Mosaic, went on sale in September, 1993.
03 Jun 1992
Mabo Case
Ten years after the case began, the High Court’s judgment was handed down in a case bought by people from the Torres Strait island of Mer. The decision added the legal doctrine of native title into Australian law. This led to the Native Title Act in 1993, which enabled Indigenous people throughout Australia to claim traditional rights to specific lands.
01 Sep 1992
Wattle Day
Australia’s first official Wattle Day. The date was proclaimed as an annual celebration of the golden wattle. This wattle, Acacia pycnantha benth, had been proclaimed the official national floral emblem in August, 1988.
14 Sep 1992
Somalian crisis
Australian personnel, members of a United Nations peacekeeping force, arrived in Somalia in East Africa in a crisis of civil war and famine.
13 Mar 1993
37th federal election - House of Representatives and 40 Senate seats
Labor under Prime Minister Paul Keating retained government.
28 Jul 1993
The opal proclamation
Australia was provided with a national gemstone, when the opal was officially proclaimed to fit this role. The environmental conditions necessary for opal to form are more common in Australia than elsewhere. Australia produces 95% of the world’s opals.
09 Aug 1993
Phosphate payout
Australia agreed to pay Nauru 107 million dollars in compensation for damage caused to the island by phosphate mining. In June, 1992, the International Court of Justice ruled on the claim, holding Australia alone liable.
20 Nov 1993
Strengthening APEC
Regional heads of government met in Seattle in the United States to expand the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum, an initiative of Australia. Malaysia’s Prime Minister did not attend, and relations with Australia deteriorated. Relations recovered with the visit of the Prime Minister to Malaysia in January, 1996.
30 Mar 1994
Industrial Relations Court
An Act established the Industrial Relations Court of Australia to take over the functions of the Industrial Division of the Federal Court of Australia. This arrangement was altered when industrial relations were restructured in 1997.
10 May 1994
End of apartheid
Nelson Mandela became President of the Republic of South Africa after the first post-apartheid elections. In July, South Africa rejoined the British Commonwealth. Australia had played a strong role in the authorisation policy against the apartheid regime that outlawed the African National Congress and jailed Mandela from 1963 to 1990.
01 Jan 1995
World Trade Organization
Established in Geneva under the international Uruguay Round negotiations from 1986 to 1994, the WTO was set up to negotiate and start the regulation of international trade agreements. In 2002 there were 144 member countries.
08 Nov 1995
Death of a Prime Minister
Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli gunman. This threatened the fragile progress towards peace between Israel and Palestine achieved by the Washington agreement two years before.
14 Dec 1995
Peace in Bosnia
After three years of war in the post-Yugoslav states, the presidents of Croatia and Serbia, and the Bosnian Muslim leader, signed a peace treaty ending hostilities.
28 Dec 1995
Nuclear weapons testing
Australia joined countries protesting against France’s renewed nuclear weapons testing. The French exploded nuclear devices at Mururoa Atoll in the south Pacific one month after a United Nations vote for an immediate ban on nuclear testing.
16 Feb 1996
22nd Governor-General
Sir William Deane served as Governor-General until 29 June, 2001.
02 Mar 1996
38th federal election - House of Representatives and 40 Senate seats
Labor under Prime Minister Paul Keating lost government.