1795: First Fleet printing press used for first time.

1802: First book published in Australia - N.S.W. General Standing Orders.

1803: Sydney Gazette and NSW Advertiser established by Governor King.

1804: First poem published in Australia - Vision of Melancholy.

1819: Vocabulary of Flash Language published.

1819: First book of verse published in Australia.

1824: First privately-owned newspaper in Australia founded (1824-1848).

1825: A library established in Sydney.

1830: First novel written in Australia to be published in book-form - Quintus Servinton - in Hobart.

1831: Sydney Herald established (1842 Sydney Morning Herald).

1838: First novel written by a woman to be published in Australia - The Guardian.

1840: First book of verse written by a woman to be published in Australia - author, Fidelia Hill.

1841: First children's book published in Australia - A Mother's Offering to her Children.

1846: Argus founded in Melbourne (1846-1957).

1848: First foreign language newspaper published in Australia in German in Adelaide.

1852: University of Sydney library established.

1853: Melbourne Public Library established.

1853: First play both written and published by a native-born writer, Charles Harpur.

1854: Melbourne Age founded.

1857: First novel by an Australian-born woman - Gertrude the Emigrant by Caroline Atkinson.

1865: Australian Journal founded (1865-1958).

1880: Bulletin magazine began publication.

1888: Dawn: Journal for Women established by Louisa Lawson.

1888: Angus and Robertson began publishing.

1898: NSW Bookstall Company established to publish cheap paperback novels.

1904: Steele Rudd's Magazine established.

1910: Mitchell Library, Sydney opened.

1922: Melbourne University Press founded.

1925: First Australian radio play written - The Barbarous Barber by J. H. Booth.

1940: Angry Penguins Journal founded (1940-46).

1940: Meanjin magazine established.

1944: The Ern Malley Hoax against Angry Penguins

1946: Children's Book of the Year Award began.

1949: Blue Hills radio serial, written by Gwen Meredith, began (1949-76).

1954: Overland (Melbourne) and Poetry magazines (Sydney) founded.

1956: Quadrant (Sydney) and Westerley (Perth) began.

1957: Miles Franklin Award began - first winner Patrick White's Voss.

1962: First chair of Australian Literature established at Sydney University.

1963: Penguin Australia founded.

1964: First volume of verse by Aboriginal Australian (Kath Walker) published.

1964: Australian newspaper founded.

1965: First novel by Aboriginal Australian (Colin Johnson) published.

1966: Australian Dictionary of Biography began.

1970: University of Queensland Press began extensive publication.

1971: Currency Press founded to publish only Australian plays.

1973: Patrick White awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

1973: Literature Board of the Australia Council established.

1974: The Age 'Book of the Year' Award began.

1974: Patrick White Award began.

1974: The National Book Council Award began.

1977: Association for the Study of Australian Literature founded.

1979: NSW Premier's Literary Award founded.

1980: Australian/Vogel National Literary Award began.

1981: The Macquarie Dictionary - first general dictionary compiled in Australia - published.

1982: Thomas Keneally awarded the Booker Prize.

1985: Victorian Premier's Literary Award began.

1988: The Australian National Dictionary: A Dictionary of Australianisms on Historical Principles published.

1988: Pascall Prize established.

1988: Peter Carey awarded the Booker Prize.

1990: Patrick White died.

1996: David Malouf awarded the Inaugural IMPAC Prize (Dublin) Literary Award.

1997: Les Murray awarded the T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry.

1997: Helen Garner awarded the Nita Kibble Prize.

Taken From: Webster's History of Australia, 1997.