Australia 1939
Australia 1940
Australia 1941
Australia 1942
The Battle of El Alamein, North Africa begun. The Battle of the Coral Sea begun. The Battle of the Kokoda Trail, New Guinea begun. 19 February: Darwin was bombed by the Japanese and 243 people were killed. Broome and Wyndham were also bombed by the Japanese. General Douglas MacArthur established a headquarters in Australia for the Allied forces. 15 February: The fall of Singapore begun and approximately 15,000 soldiers were taken by the Japanese as prisoners of war.
Australia 1943
Military overseas service conscription was introduced to Australia. Japan bombed Darwin one last time in an air attack. Exmouth, Western Australia was bombed by the Japanese.
Australia 1944
Prisoners of war escaped their harsh camp at Cowra, New South Wales. During this escape 234 prisoners were killed and 4 camp guards were also killed. Australians and New Zealand also signed an agreement involving the ANZACs in war.
Australia 1945
15 August: The Second World War ended in the Pacific as Japan surrendered due to new weapons being used and the atomic bombs that were being used in Japan at the time. Australia became a member of the United Nations.
Australia 1946
Australia and Britain tested out weapons in South Australia at the Woomera rocket range that had been newly built.
Australia 1947
Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations began all over the world.
Australia 1948
The Malayan Emergency was declared on 18 June 1948, after three estate managers were murdered in Perak, northern Malaya.
Australia 1949
All indigenous ex-servicemen and any Indigenous Australians who are eligible to vote in State Elections are given an unrestricted right to vote in federal elections. and later on in the end of 1949 and the start of 1950, Australian troops are sent to the Korean War to assist South Korea.
- 3 September: War was declared on Germany by the Australian Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies.
- It became the norm to work 44 hours a week.
- Victorian bushfires killed 71 people in total.
- Robert Gordon Menzies and his government had a meeting with physicists for the first time.
- Mid 1939, conscription for home service was introduced.
- Radio stations were made such as 'Australia Calling' and broadcast messages in many languages such as Spanish, French, Dutch and English.
Australia 1940
- Action was noted in North Africa and the Middle East and Australian military men and women prepared.
- July: The Volunteer Defence Force was established in July 1940 made by the Returned and Services League of Australia otherwise known as the RSL.
- Petrol rationing began.
Australia 1941
- Australian defence forces were involved in combat and conflicts in North Africa, Greece, Syria and Crete.
- 8 December: Australia declares war on Japan.
- Australia's, HMAS Sydney was attacked and sunk by Kormoran, a German auxiliary cruiser on the coast of Western Australia, killing all 645 men aboard.
- 7 December: Japan began the Pacific campaign starting with the attack on Pearl Harbour in Hawaii.
Australia 1942
Australia 1944
Prisoners of war escaped their harsh camp at Cowra, New South Wales. During this escape 234 prisoners were killed and 4 camp guards were also killed. Australians and New Zealand also signed an agreement involving the ANZACs in war.
Australia 1945
Australia and Britain tested out weapons in South Australia at the Woomera rocket range that had been newly built.
Australia 1947
Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations began all over the world.
Australia 1948
The Malayan Emergency was declared on 18 June 1948, after three estate managers were murdered in Perak, northern Malaya.
Australia 1949
All indigenous ex-servicemen and any Indigenous Australians who are eligible to vote in State Elections are given an unrestricted right to vote in federal elections. and later on in the end of 1949 and the start of 1950, Australian troops are sent to the Korean War to assist South Korea.