Side by side

Australia and United Kingdom compared

Two sourced records set beside each other — the figures each nation publishes, and the events each chronicle records of the other. Compared, never graded.

🇦🇺Australia

1 January 1901Six colonies join to create the Commonwealth of Australia

Dossier →Chronicle →

🇬🇧United Kingdom

12 July 927The monarchs of Britain recognise Æthelstan as king of the English

Dossier →Chronicle →

Shared indicators
41
Domains
9
Crossed events
4
Data through
2026-08-10

The figures, side by side

Each figure is the same observation, with the same source, as on the two dossiers. Every value shows the year it was observed — vintages differ by indicator and nation. A “—” is an absence in the source data, never a zero. Metric names link to the world ranking; values open the figure on its own dossier.

Entangled histories

4 events in which either nation’s sourced chronicle names the other — including under earlier names of the same state. Each is the same record, with the same sources, as on its own chronicle; nothing here was written for this page.

  1. 22 August 1770

    Cook charts and claims the east coast

    Lieutenant James Cook charted the eastern coast of the continent aboard HMB Endeavour and claimed it for Britain as New South Wales, opening the way to British colonisation.

    Colonisation · from the Australia chronicle · European contact and the First Fleet · Defining Moments: Cook claims Australia, Australia (country)

  2. 26 January 1788

    The First Fleet founds the penal colony

    Captain Arthur Phillip's First Fleet established a British penal colony at Sydney Cove, beginning permanent European settlement and the dispossession of Aboriginal peoples of the Sydney region.

    Colonisation · from the Australia chronicle · European contact and the First Fleet · Defining Moments: Convict cargo and the First Fleet, Australia (country)

  3. 1901

    Immigration Restriction Act and 'White Australia'

    One of the new parliament's first laws established the cornerstone of the 'White Australia' policy, using a dictation test to exclude non-European migrants and keep the nation overwhelmingly white and British.

    Peoples & Migration · from the Australia chronicle · Federation and the new nation · The Immigration Restriction Act 1901, Australia (country)

  4. 3 March 1986

    Australia Act and full legal independence

    The Australia Act 1986, building on the Statute of Westminster adopted in 1942, ended the British Parliament's power to legislate for Australia and abolished appeals to the Privy Council, completing Australia's legal independence.

    Independence · from the Australia chronicle · Modern Australia: multiculturalism, reconciliation, and the apology · Australia (country)