security and industrial relations. However, a constitutional crisis resulted in Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam being dismissed by the then Governor-General. In the subsequent general election the Labor Party suffered a major defeat and the Liberal-National Coalition ruled until 1983, when Labor again won office. In 1996 a Coalition Government led by John Howard won the general election and was re-elected in 1998, 2001 and 2004.1966 Australia went to decimal currency with the dollar replacing pounds and shillings. The previous year Australia responded to the call of help from the people of South Vietnam. A National Service Scheme was drawn up in 1964 that called up conscripts to be sent off in 1965 to fight. Many people thought this wrong and the Scheme was strongly opposed. There were protests and riots and in 1971 the last Australian troops left Vietnam for home. This war was the cause of the greatest social and political dissent in Australia since the conscription referendums of the First World War. Many draft resisters, conscientious objectors and protesters had been fined or goaled, while soldiers sometimes met a hostile reception on their return home.Sydney Opera House, a world famous Australian icon, was officially opened in 1973 by Queen Elizabeth II after 14 years of construction . Design credit goes to the Danish architect Jon Utzon who won the honors to design it in 1957. Now a foremost tourist attraction, it is home to some of the world's most celebrated performing arts companies and is a performance centre for most performance art forms., Christmas Day 1974, was the site of horrific disaster when a cyclone roared through the town and ravaged the city killing 49. For six hours the terrifying winds of tropical cyclone Tracy ripped through the city, reaching up to 250km an hour. There was a lull at about 2.30am, and many people came outside, thinking it was all over. They were in the eye of the massive storm and within 30 minutes the wind had built up again and changed direction. Roofs were torn from houses; buildings collapsed; and cars, trucks and even railway carriages were sent flying. More than two-thirds of the town s population of 47,000 people were airlifted to emergency accommodation by the defense forces. So much of the city was damaged (about 90%) that most of the town had to be rebuilt during the following few years.
saw the most incredible piece of Australian politics when the Govern-General Sir John Kerr (the Queen of England s representative in Australia) dismissed Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, claiming that his plans for the Australian society were too radical, and required too great a budget. There was a massive public uproar when opposition leader Malcolm Fraser was commissioned to form a "caretaker government". So an election was called betwee...
