The British Parliament's South Australia Act 1834 established South Australia as a convict-free colony.

On 2 May 1829, Admiral Charles Howe Fremantle RN took formal possession of the western coast of New Holland.

The Australian Colonies Government Act was passed by the British Parliament in 1850.

In 1853 The New South Wales Legislative Council recommended establishing a general assembly of the colonies .

In 1850 the first branch of Australia's Federation League was established in Sydney.

On 6 February 1840, Captain William Hobson and about forty Maori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi.

On 5 July 1851 Irishman James Edmond showed gold he had found at Clunes near Ballarat to a journalist at the Geelong Advertiser.

The Eureka Stockade of 1854 is considered by some historians to be the birthplace of Australian democracy.

In 1855 New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania established constitutions and opened parliaments.

In 1956 South Australia became the first Australian colony to introduce universal male suffrage.

Telegraph links were established between Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney in 1858.

In 1857 a Select Committee of the Parliament of Victoria reported that a 'Federal Union' would be in the interests of all the colonies.