MAPS OF HISTORY · HISTORY OF · Australia

ONE LAND · 3 ATLASES

Australia, on the map of history

What was Australia before it was Australia? Below, every era of this land in the Maps of History collection — who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed — each line linked to the dated map that shows it. Modern borders stand in as an honest approximation; every atlas says so on the map itself.

Australia · The Great War, 1914–1918

Australia sent 416,000 volunteers from under five million people — no conscription; two referendums refused it — and counted Gallipoli’s 25 April as its coming of age (Ch. 4). Monash’s Australian Corps in 1918 helped write the modern combined-arms method at Amiens (Ch. 10). One in five who embarked never returned.

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Australia · The War Room — WW2, 1936–1945

Fought in the Mediterranean, then — after Singapore fell and Darwin was bombed — turned from Britain to America for protection: a permanent strategic reorientation. New Guinea’s Kokoda Track is Australia’s Thermopylae.

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Australia · The Cold War, 1945–1991

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