Although English has no official status in the Constitution, Australian English is Australia's de facto official language and is the first language of the majority of the population.

The one-off test in 1999 between England and Australia that was played to commemorate Australia's first test against Reverend Matthew Mullineux's British side saw England wear an updated version of this jersey.

Banknotes are mostly paper, but Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation developed the world's first polymer currency in the 1980s that went into circulation on the nation's bicentenary in 1988.

The Dutch visited Australia's northern coastline in the 1600s, and created the first European maps of the area.

The early colonial governors held an almost autocratic power due to the distance from and poor communications with Great Britain, until 1824 when the New South Wales Legislative Council, Australia's first legislative body, was appointed to advise the governor.

Accordingly McEwen personally supervised the signing of the first post-war trade treaty with Japan, new trade agreements with New Zealand and Britain, and Australia's first trade agreement with the USSR ( 1965 ).

On 4 June 1829, newly arriving British colonists had their first view of the mainland, and Western Australia's Foundation Day has since been recognised by a public holiday on the first Monday in June each year.

In September 2009 Western Australia's dams reached 50 % overall capacity for the first time since 2000.

Labor formed South Australia's first majority government after winning the 1910 state election, two weeks after federal Labor formed Australia's first majority government after winning the 1910 federal election.

The 1965 campaign against the Labor Government ( lead since April 1964 by Jack Renshaw ), a government widely perceived to be tired and devoid of ideas, was notable for being one of Australia's first " presidential-style " campaigns, with Askin being the major focus of campaigning and a main theme of " With Askin You'll Get Action ".

He also put on 167 in a partnership with Alan Davidson, the first collaboration between the pair, who would later go on to lead Australia's bowling in the last five years of their career.

He scored 97 in Australia's only innings and then took 7 / 46 in the hosts ' first innings as the tourists took an innings win.

Benaud took 4 / 69 and 4 / 42 in the First Test in Dhaka ( now in Bangladesh ), sealing Australia's first win in Pakistan.

The first Test of the season, against the touring South Africans, saw high drama as Australia's left arm paceman Ian Meckiff was called for throwing by Colin Egar and removed from the attack by Benaud after one over.

Motel ( 1968 ) was Australia's first half-hour soap opera.

Meanwhile in 1974 the Reg Grundy Organisation created its first soap opera, and significantly Australia's first teen soap opera, Class of ' 74.

* 2001 – Ansett Australia, Australia's first commercial interstate airline, collapses due to increased strain on the international airline industry, leaving 10, 000 people unemployed.

* The agony of Australia's Stolen Generation – The first of Australia's Stolen Generations to win compensation.

In 1989, Nauru took legal actions against Australia in the International Court of Justice over Australia's actions during its administration of Nauru.

In particular, Nauru made a legal complaint against Australia's failure to remedy the environmental damage caused by phosphate mining.

With Askin's death, investigative journalists were freed from the threat of legal action under Australia's punitive defamation laws — unlike the United States, Australia has no constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech and there is no precedent like that in US law that makes truth an absolute defence.

Abbott conceded that the political threat One Nation posed to the Howard Government was " a very big factor " in his decision to pursue the legal attack, but he also claimed to be acting " in Australia's national interest ".

He campaigned successfully to have a legal euthanasia law passed in Australia's Northern Territory and assisted four people in ending their lives before the law was overturned by the Federal government.

Dixon, widely regarded as Australia's greatest judge, had a commanding personal and legal influence over the court in this time, measurable in the rise in joint judgments ( many of which were led by Dixon ) and good relations between the Justices.

This procedure was legal in Australia's Northern Territory between 1995 and 1997.

* 1973: Australia's first legal casino opens at Wrest Point Hotel Casino

The mint serves primarily to manufacture Australia's legal tender precious metal coins.

" He said that Australia's counter-terrorism laws " require review and, where necessary, updating if we are to have a legal framework capable of safeguarding all Australians from the scourge of terrorism.

When changes to Australia's legal system which have the potential to severely impact on individual's liberty and rights are proposed it is fundamentally important that the community is properly consulted and informed before our elected representatives act.

The Wrest Point Hotel Casino was Australia's first legal casino, opening in the suburb of Sandy Bay in Hobart, Tasmania, on 10 February 1973.

Australia's first legal casino, Wrest Point Hotel Casino, was opened in 1973 at the site of the former Wrest Point Riviera hotel.

A major legal question associated with enterprise agreements stemmed from the High Court of Australia's decision in the case of Electrolux v The Australian Workers ' Union.

Hayne received Australia's highest civil honour when he was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia ( AC ) in 2002 for service to the judiciary, to the law as an outstanding scholar, barrister and jurist, and to the community in the advancement of both legal and general education.

: The Marriage Act 1961, Australia's law that governs legal marriage.

As a former British Colony, Australia's historical approach to Human Rights has been subject to the inheritance of its Colonial past-thus notions of the rights and processes established by the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights 1689 were brought to Australia by British colonists, but so was the European legal precept of Terra Nullius ( overturned in 1992 ) by which Indigenous Australians were initially dispossessed without treaty nor compensation.

Australia's laws on divorce and other legal family matters were overhauled in 1975 with the enactment of the Family Law Act 1975, which established " no-fault " divorce in Australia.

After the argument Singh finally left the room, warning Galbally over his shoulder not to criticise Malaysia's British-based legal system or suggest Australia's was superior.

Vizard studied Law and Philosophy at the University of Melbourne ; he practiced as a lawyer and was a partner in a City Law firm ; he has written for and produced various Logie and AFI award winning television show-from Fast Forward to Kangaroo Palace ; he has hosted his own 5 night a week national Tonight Show, Tonight Live With Steve Vizard for which he was three times nominated for and won a Gold Logie in 1991 ; he has interviewed over two thousand major names, from Audrey Hepburn, Oliver Stone, Mel Gibson, Robin Williams, Sir Bob Geldof, Peter Allen, Patrick Swayze, Bob Hope, Sir Peter Ustinov, Shirley MacLaine, Michael Parkinson, Spike Milligan, Edward de Bono, Robert Ludlum, Sir Harry Secombe, and Prime Ministers and politicians ; he founded one of Australia ’ s largest independent Production houses, Artist Services, which was subsequently sold to Granada ; he has been the President of the National Gallery of Victoria and the Chairman of the Victorian Major Events Company, securing events such as the World Cycling Champioships and the World Gymnastics Championships ; he has appeared on the cover of Time and Rolling Stone ; he was an elected representative to the 1999 Constitutional Convention ; he was Father of the Year in 2001 ; he was embroiled in three highly publicised legal proceedings, involving the theft of moneys by his former accountant from the Vizard Companies, and Vizard's civil penalty in 2005 for breaching directors duties ; he has broadcast on the Austereo, Fairfax and Macquarie Radio Networks and in 2011 was nominated for best Talkback Presenter in Australia ; he was Chairman of the World Swimming Championships ; and he has written several books ranging on topics ranging from humour to Australia's population policy.

Given Mill's known pacifist sympathies and his association with ( although he was not a member of ) the Australia First Movement, it was unsurprising that he was detained without trial for suspicion of placing Australia's interests before those of the Empire, and for offering his legal services to Australia First members on 10 March 1942.

Under a unique agreement with the Commonwealth of Australia's Department of the Treasury, the Mint's new operator was empowered to mint and market gold, silver and platinum Australian legal tender coinage to investors and collectors worldwide.

It is responsible for manufacturing and marketing most of Australia's legal tender precious metal coins, including proof quality Australian Nugget gold coins, Australian Platinum Koala coins, Australian Silver Kookaburra coins and bullion.

Although there was debate in Australia's first Parliament after federation to consider adopting the metric system, metric units first became legal for use in Australia in 1947 when Australia signed the Metre Convention ( or Convention du Mètre ).