Thehistory of Queensland encompasses both a longAboriginal Australian presence as well as the more recent periods of Europeancolonisation and as astate of Australia.^[1] Before being charted and claimed for theKingdom of Great Britain byLieutenant James Cook in 1770, the coast of north-eastern Australia was explored by Dutch and French navigators.Queenslandseparated from theColony of New South Wales as aself-governingCrown colony in 1859. In 1901 it became one of the six founding states ofAustralia.

Established theories estimate that between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago, humans first arrived in Australia – although some theories suggest this figure to be much higher.^[2] They are thought to have arrived either by boat or byland bridge. The most likely route was fromSoutheast Asia across theTorres Strait. During the initial ten thousand years, these people and their descendants are thought to have traveled over much of the continent.^[1]

Around 25,000 years ago, theice age began with a rapid drop in the temperature of the Earth of eight degrees. Food was difficult to find and this led to the origin of seed-grinding technology. This climate change is estimated to have lasted for over 10,000 years. As the temperature rose, the land bridges fromSoutheast Asia toTasmania were reclaimed by the sea.^{[citation needed]}

About 15,000 years ago, global temperatures warmed and rainfall increased along the eastern coast of Australia. The inland of Queensland, also receiving rainfall, again became habitable. Coastal lands decreased due to rising sea levels and tropicalrain forests spread. The Kalkadoon people of the inland central gulf region dug wells 10m deep to maintain their supply of freshwater.^[1]

From 10,000 years until European arrival, despite the favourable warmer climate, humans were unable to develop either agriculture or animal husbandry due to the lack of domesticable cereal plants or suitable animals. When James Cook explored and charted the east coast of Australia in 1770–1772 he was able to navigate close to shore in shallow water as HMB Endeavour was flat-bottomed, so he and the other scientists on board had plenty of time to examine the land through telescopes whilst depths were taken every few metres for the charts, but they reported they saw no evidence of either agriculture or permanent structures, which caused them to believe the people were nomads and therefore the land was "Terra Nullius" or without owners.^{[citation needed]}

The peak Indigenous population in Queensland prior to European arrival is uncertain. The number may have been between 200,000 and 500,000 people.^[1] Numbers may have decreased at times of epidemics likesmallpox. Rough calculations of the population can be made from the knowledge that Queensland supported 34.2 per cent of the total number of tribes in Australia and from the knowledge that 35 to 39 per cent of Australian indigenous people lived in Queensland.^[3] Queensland was the most densely populated region of the continent with two of the six to seven hundred Indigenous nations and at least ninety language groups.^[1]

In 1606, the Dutch navigatorWillem Janszoon landed near the site of the modern-day town ofWeipa on the western shore of Cape York. His arrival was the first recorded encounter between European and Australian Aboriginal people.^[1]

In 1606,Luis Váez de Torres, aSpanish explorer may have sighted the Queensland coast at the tip of Cape York. In that year, he had sailed theTorres Strait, the body of water now named after him.^{[citation needed]}

In 1768, the French explorerLouis Antoine de Bougainville sailed west from theNew Hebrides islands, getting to within a hundred miles of the Queensland coast. He did not reach the coast because he did not find a passage through the coral reefs, and turned back.^{[citation needed]}

Lieutenant James Cook wrote that he claimed the east coast forKing George III of theKingdom of Great Britain on 22 August 1770 when standing onPossession Island off the west coast ofCape York Peninsula, naming eastern Australia "New South Wales".^[4] This included the present Queensland. Cook charted the Australian east coast in his shipHM BarqueEndeavour, namingStradbroke and Morton (nowMoreton Island) islands, theGlass House Mountains, Double Island Point, Wide Bay,Hervey Bay and the Great Sandy Cape, now calledFraser Island. His second landfall in Australia was at Round Hill Head, 500 km (310 mi) north ofBrisbane.Endeavour was grounded on a coral reef near Cape Tribulation, on 11 June 1770 where he was delayed for almost seven weeks while they repaired the ship. This occurred whereCooktown now lies, on the Endeavour River, both places named after the incident. On 22 AugustEndeavour reached the northern tip of Queensland, which Cook named theCape York Peninsula after theDuke of York.^{[citation needed]}

In 1799, inNorfolk,Matthew Flinders spent six weeks exploring the Queensland coast as far north as Hervey Bay. In 1802 he explored the coast again. On a later trip to England, his ship HMSPorpoise and the accompanyingCato ran aground on a coral reef off the Queensland coast. Flinders set off for Sydney in an opencutter, at a distance of 750 miles (1,210 km), where the Governor sent ships back to rescue the crew from Wreck Reef.^{[citation needed]}

In 1823,John Oxley sailed north from Sydney to inspectPort Curtis (nowGladstone) andMoreton Bay as possible sites for a penal colony. At Moreton Bay, he found theBrisbane River whose existence Cook had predicted and proceeded to explore the lower part of it. In September 1824, he returned with soldiers and established a temporary settlement atRedcliffe. On 2 December, theMoreton Bay penal settlement was transferred to where theCentral Business District (CBD) ofBrisbane now stands. The settlement was initially calledEdenglassie, aportmanteau of the Scottish townsEdinburgh andGlasgow. MajorEdmund Lockyer discovered outcrops of coal along the banks of the upperBrisbane River in 1825.^[5] In 1839,transportation ofconvicts ceased, culminating in the closure of the Brisbane penal settlement. In 1842, a free settlement was permitted. In the same year,Andrew Petrie reported favourable grazing conditions and decent forests to the north of Brisbane, which led shortly to the arrival of settlers to Fraser Island and the Cooloola coast region.^[6]

In 1847, thePort of Maryborough was opened as a wool port.^[7] The first immigrant ship to arrive in Moreton Bay was theArtemisia in 1848. In 1857, Queensland'sfirst lighthouse was built atCape Moreton.^{[citation needed]}

Fighting between Aboriginals and settlers in colonial Queensland was more bloody than in any other colonial state in Australia, perhaps partly due to Queensland having a larger pre-contact indigenous population than any other colony in Australia, accounting for over one third, and in some estimates close to forty percent, of the entire pre-contact population of the continent.^{[citation needed]} The latest and hitherto most comprehensive survey estimates that some 1,500 European settlers – and their Chinese, Aboriginal and Melanesian allies – died in frontier skirmishes with Aboriginals in Queensland during the nineteenth century.^{[citation needed]} The same study indicates that the number of casualties Aboriginal people suffered in these battles with settlers and native police (frequently described by contemporary political leaders and newspapers as "warfare", "a kind of warfare", "guerrilla-like warfare", and at times as a "war of extermination") is highly likely to have exceeded 30,000. (That is a tripling of the hitherto used minimum estimates for Queensland.)^[8] Yet even this figure is liable to increase if the results of the first attempt to use extensiveprimary sources to calculate the Aboriginal casualties due to violence on the Queensland frontier in this period is used. A paper prepared by Raymond Evans and Robert Ørsted-Jensen for the annual AHA conference at theUniversity of Queensland on 9 July 2014 indicated that a minimum figure of 65,000 Aboriginal casualties is a more realistic figure.^[9] The"Native Police Force" (sometimes "Native Mounted Police Force"), recruited and deployed by the Queensland government, was allegedly involved in the oppression, dispossession and murder of indigenous people during this period.^[10]

The three largest massacres of whites by Aboriginals in Australian colonial history all took place in Queensland. On 27 October 1857 Martha Fraser'sHornet Bank station on theDawson River, incentral Queensland took the lives of 11 Europeans.^[11] The tent camp of the embryo station ofCullin-La-Ringo near Springsure was attacked by Aboriginals on 17 October 1861, killing 19 people including the grazierHoratio Wills.^[12] Following the wreck of the brigMaria at Bramble Reef near theWhitsunday Islands, on 26 February 1872, a total of 14 European survivors were massacred by local Aboriginals.^[13] TheBattle of One Tree Hill andDarkey Flat Massacre also took place in the 1840s.^{[citation needed]}

Colony of Queensland
British Crown Colony
1859–1901
Flag (1876–1901)
Light green: Queensland Green: Territory of Papua (annexed by Queensland in 1883) Dark grey: otherBritish possessions
Government
• Type	Self-governing colony
Monarch
• 1859–1901	Victoria
Governor
• 1859–1868	George Bowenfirst
• 1896–1901	Charles Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamingtonlast
Legislature	Parliament of Queensland
History
• Separation fromNew South Wales,Responsible government	6 June 1859
• Federation of Australia	1901
Preceded by Succeeded by Colony of New South Wales Australia Queensland

In 1851, a public meeting was held to consider Queensland's separation from New South Wales. On 6 June 1859Queen Victoria signedletters patent to form the colony of Queensland. A proclamation was read byGeorge Bowen on 10 December 1859^[14] whereupon Queensland was formally separated from New South Wales. Bowen became the first Governor of Queensland andRobert Herbert became the firstPremier of Queensland. The young colony was keen to fill its treasury. Seeing the gold rushes and their effects in Victoria and New South Wales, the government of Queensland offered significant rewards to anyone discovering payable gold deposits.^[15]

Queensland was the only Australian colony that commenced immediately with its own parliament (responsible government), instead of first spending time with agovernor appointed byThe Crown. By this time, Western Australia was the only Australian colony without a responsible government.Ipswich andRockhampton became towns in 1860, with Maryborough andWarwick becoming towns the following year.^{[citation needed]}

In 1861, rescue parties forBurke and Wills, which failed to find them, did some exploratory work of their own, in central and north-western Queensland. Notably among these wasFrederick Walker who originally worked for the native police.^[16] Brisbane was linked by electric telegraph to Sydney in 1861, however, the first operating telegraph line in Queensland was from Brisbane to Ipswich in the same year.^[17]

Although smaller than the gold rushes of Victoria and New South Wales, Queensland had its own series of gold rushes in the later half of the nineteenth century. In 1858, gold was discovered atCanoona, creating the short-lived Canoona gold rush.^[18] In 1867, gold was discovered inGympie.James Nash's find was invaluable to the nascent Queensland colony, saving it from bankruptcy.^[15]Richard Daintree's explorations in North Queensland led to several goldfields being developed in the late 1860s.^[19] In 1872, William Hann discovered gold on thePalmer River, southwest of Cooktown.Chinese settlers began to arrive in the goldfields, by 1877 there were 17,000 Chinese in Queensland gold fields. In that year, restrictions on Chinese immigration were passed.^[20]

Queensland's western boundary was changed from longitude 141° E to 138°E in 1862.^{[citation needed]}

In 1863, the firstChief Justice, SirJames Cockle was appointed.^{[citation needed]}

On 25 November 1863, thePresbyterian Church of Queensland was officially established.^[21]

1864 was a bad year for Brisbane. In March of that year, major flooding of theBrisbane River inundated the centre of town, in April, fires devastated the west side ofQueen Street, which was the main shopping district and in December, another fire, which was Brisbane's worst ever, wiped out the rest of Queen Street and adjoining streets.^[22]

1865 saw thefirst steam trains in Queensland, travelling (fromIpswich to Bigge's Camp, which is now known asGrandchester).Townsville was gazetted as a town in the same year. In 1867, theConstitution of Queensland was consolidated from existing legislation under theConstitution Act 1867. Sugar production was by then becoming a major industry. In 1867, six mills produced 168 tons of cane sugar, by 1870 there were 28 mills with a production of 2,854 tons. The production of sugar started around Brisbane but spread toMackay andCairns, and by 1888 the annual output of sugar was 60,000 tons.^[23] 1871 sawGeorge Phipps, 2nd Marquess of Normanby become the Governor of Queensland.

In 1877,Arthur Edward Kennedy became the Governor of Queensland. The first meat processed in the state occurred at Queensport along the Brisbane River in 1881.^[24]

On 2 June 1883, the decision to form arugby union association was made at the Exchange hotel in Brisbane.^[25]

The land where theBrisbane Cricket Ground now sits was first used as a cricket ground in 1895, with the first cricket match played there in December 1896.^{[citation needed]}

In 1897, Queensland passed legislation to appoint the firstChief Protector of Aboriginals in the state.^[26]

In July 1899 Queensland offered to send a force of 250 mounted infantry to help Britain in theSecond Boer War (Second Anglo-Boer War). Also in that year, gold production atCharters Towers peaked.^[27]

The first natural gas find in Queensland and Australia was atRoma in 1900 as a team was drilling a water well.^[28]

During the 1890s many workers known as theKanakas were brought to Queensland from neighbouring Pacific Island nations to work in the sugar cane fields. Some of whom had been kidnapped or coerced under a process known asblackbirding. When Australia was federated in 1901, theWhite Australia policy came into effect, whereby all foreign workers in Australia were deported under thePacific Island Labourers Act of 1901.^[29]

April 1900 saw thebubonic plague enter Queensland at Rockhampton, where it persisted until 1909.^[30]

On 1 January 1901, following a series of referendums, the six Australian colonies including Queenslandfederated to formAustralia as a nation. Certain powers previously exercised by the Queensland Government were ceded to the federal government under theConstitution of Australia.

Federation was a considerable economic shock to Queensland, which had the most restrictive tariff policy on the eve of the formation of Commonwealth customs union.^[31] Free trade with other states led to an influx of manufactured imports from New South Wales and Victoria, resulting in a contraction of employment within Queensland's less competitive manufacturing sector.^[32]

TheTrackson was an Australian automobile built in Brisbane.^[33] In 1901, theChillagoe smelters commenced operations.^[34]

In 1905,women voted in state elections for the first time.^[35]

In 1908, Witches Falls, now part ofTamborine National Park onTamborine Mountain is declared the first national park in Queensland.^[36]

TheUniversity of Queensland was established in 1909 with teaching commencing in 1911.^[37][38]

The1912 Brisbane General Strike lasted for five weeks.^[39]

The United Kingdom declared war against Germany on 4 August 1914. As Australia's new constitution was silent on the declaration of war, on 20 August 1914 Queensland made anindependent proclamation of war between His Majesty the King (George V) and the German Emperor (Wilhelm II). Later Queensland made further independent proclamations of war against Austria and Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey.^[40]Initially in 1914 the war in Europe did not impact greatly on life in Queensland, although the existing militia was deployed in theAustralian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force attack onGerman New Guinea.^[41]

The outbreak of war created a heightened sense of patriotism; the call for Queenslanders to volunteer for theAustralian Imperial Force met its initial quota of 2500 men by September 1914. With so many willing to enlist, the army could insist on a high standard of physical fitness. However, the only women accepted by the army were single women nurses. Women doctors were not accepted by the army, arguing they could not stand the conditions (despite nurses enduring the same conditions) and, perhaps more tellingly, that male doctors would be unwilling to work with them.^[42] This led to a number of Queensland women finding unofficial ways to serve the war effort, e.g.Lilian Violet Cooper, Queensland's first female doctor served in theScottish Women's Hospitals serving inSerbia while her companionJosephine Bedford also served in the Scottish Women's Hospitals as an ambulance driver in Serbia.^[43][44]Eleanor Bourne, another Queensland doctor, travelled to England to enlist as a medical officer in theRoyal Army Medical Corps and later served in theQueen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps.^[45] Visiting London during the outbreak of the war,Annie Wheeler, a married nurse, remained in London and, with the assistance of her daughter Portia, became a volunteer worker for the comfort ofCentral Queensland soldiers, maintaining a comprehensive card index through which she ensured the soldiers and their families were kept well-informed and supported through practical and financial assistance. Eleanor Bourne. There was also a heightened suspicion of Germans with any known German military reservists being immediatelyarrested and detained.^[41]

In Queensland on 10 January 1916, CanonDavid John Garland was appointed the honorary secretary of the Anzac Day Commemoration Committee of Queensland (ADCCQ) at a public meeting which endorsed 25 April as the date promoted as "Anzac Day" in 1916 and ever after. Devoted to the cause of a non-denominational commemoration that could be attended by the whole of Australian society, Garland worked amicably across all denominational divides, creating the framework for Anzac Day commemorative services.^[46] Garland is specifically credited with initiating the Anzac Day march, the wreath-laying ceremonies at memorials and the special church services, the two minutes silence, and the luncheon for returned soldiers.^[47] Garland intended the silence to be used in lieu of prayer to allow the Anzac Day service to be universally attended, allowing attendees to make a silent prayer or remembrance in accordance with their own beliefs. He particularly feared that the universality of the ceremony would fall victim to religious sectarian disputes.^[48]

Over 58,000 Queenslanders fought in World War I and over 10,000 of them died.^[49]

The state's largest recordedearthquake struck in 1918 nearRockhampton with a magnitude of six.^[50]

In 1919 the "Spanish flu" arrived in Queensland. From January to May 1919 theQueensland Government closed theborder between Queensland and New South Wales to try to prevent the spread of the disease. The Queensland Commissioner for Public Health was empowered to examine, detain or isolate anyone with the disease or believed to have been in contact with a sick person. TheQueensland Police were authorised to apprehend people or take other actions to prevent breaches of public health laws. Initially, the only border crossings allowed (and supervised by the Queensland Police) wereCoolangatta,Wallangarra andGoondiwindi, but faced with public pressure, the Queensland Government extended border crossing points to includeWompah,Hungerford,Wooroorooka,Adelaide Gate andMungindi. Mungindi was to become a popular target for "border breakers". Despite not being official entry points, the police were required to actively prevent crossings at border locations such asKillarney,Stanthorpe,Texas andHebel. A number of police officers died from infections acquired in protecting the border. In May 1919 the restrictions on border crossings were removed as it was apparent that the virus was well established in Queensland and police administering the border crossings were returned to their normal duties.^[51]

Qantas was founded in 1920 to serve outback Queensland. 1920 sawMatthew Nathan become Governor and actively promotes British migration to Queensland.TheMount Mulligan mine disaster killed 75 workers in 1921. In 1922, theQueensland Legislative Council was abolished, making Queensland the only Australian state (to this day) without abicameral legislature. On 9 June 1925, theTraverston rail disaster occurs – the worst rail disaster in Queensland's history until 1947.^[52] In 1927, theDuke andDuchess of York toured Queensland. They were here to openParliament House in Canberra but spent time in southern Queensland to meet and greet people.^[53] In 1928, theRoyal Flying Doctor Service of Australia makes the first flight, departing fromCloncurry. Also, in 1928,Sir Charles Kingsford Smith landed theSouthern Cross in Brisbane, completing the first trans-Pacific flight. In 1935, 101cane toads were brought into Queensland to try to control pests on sugar cane crops and bred to 3,000, which were released into areas around Cairns,Innisfail andGordonvale. They have since spread to many parts of Queensland, New South Wales and the Northern Territory. In late 1936 a lightning strike hit theBundaberg Rum Distillery, destroying the distillery without any loss of life. It was rebuilt and is currently operating on the same site today.

The state's first national park ranger, Mick O'Reily was temporarily appointed between 1919 and 1923.^[54]

During World War II, many Queenslanders volunteered for theAustralian Imperial Force, theRoyal Australian Air Force and theRoyal Australian Navy.

Following the outbreak ofwar with Japan, Queensland soon became a virtual frontline, as fears of invasion grew. Several cities and places in Northern Queensland were bombed by the Japanese during theirair attacks on Australia. These includedHorn Island,Townsville andMossman.^[55]

There was a massive buildup of Australian and United States forces in the state, and the Allied Supreme Commander in theSouth West Pacific Area, GeneralDouglas MacArthur, established his headquarters in Brisbane.^[56] Facilities were assigned or constructed to accommodate and train these forces such asCamp Cable south of Brisbane. Tens of thousands of Queenslanders wereconscripted intoMilitia (reserve) units.

On 14 May 1943, theAustralian Hospital Ship Centaur was sunk offNorth Stradbroke Island, by a torpedo from aJapanese Navysubmarine.^[57] Later in the war, the3rd Division, a Militia unit made of predominantly Queensland personnel, took part in theBougainville campaign.^[58]

The1948 Queensland Railway strike was a nine-week strike over the wages of railway workshop and depot workers. In 1952, Queensland's onlywhaling station opens atTangalooma and closed a decade later. A cyclone crossed the coast over Coolangatta on 20 February 1954 causing significant damage.^[59]

TheShearers' strike of 1956 saw Queensland shearers off work between January and October in a dispute over wages.^[60] Henry Abel Smith becomes Governor in 1958. In 1962, the first commercial production of oil in Queensland and Australia began atMoonie.^[28] The first long-distance oil pipeline in Australia carried the oil 191 miles (307 km) to the newly constructedLytton Oil Refinery near the mouth of the Brisbane River. A program ofdrum lines to reduce shark attacks at beaches also began in 1962.^[61] 1968 sawSir Joh Bjelke-Petersen elected as Premier. He remained in that role for 19 years. In 1969, the firstnatural gas pipeline in Queensland and Australia, connecting theRoma gasfields to Brisbane, became operational.

1971 saw escalating protests in regard to the1971 South Africa rugby union tour of Australia and Bjelke-Petersen declare astate of emergency in the state^[62] In the same yearDaylight Saving is introduced to Queensland.^[63] Only to be abandoned the following year.^[63] TheBox Flat Mine explosion took the lives of 18 men in 1972.^[64] Two years later the1974 Brisbane flood caused widespread damage. In 1976,sand mining onFraser Island is halted.^[65]

1982 saw Brisbane host theCommonwealth Games. In the same year,Eddie Mabo began action in the High Court to claim ownership of land in theTorres Strait on behalf of the indigenous inhabitants, following the Queensland Amendment Act, which was passed that year. In 1985, the Queensland government tried to end proceedings in the High Court by passing theQueensland Coast Islands Declaratory Act 1985, which claimed that Queensland had total control of the Torres Strait Islands after they had been annexed in 1879. This act was held as contrary to theRacial Discrimination Act 1975 by the High Court in 1988. The well-knownMabo v Queensland (No 2) (1992) decision was handed down in 1992, which recognised the native title.

In 1987 in response to a series of articles on high-levelpolice corruption inThe Courier-Mail by reporter Phil Dickie, followed by aFour Corners television report, aired on 11 May 1987, entitled "The Moonlight State" with reporterChris Masters theFitzgerald Inquiry (1987–1989), presided over by Tony Fitzgerald QC, resulted in the deposition of a premier, two by-elections, the jailing of three former ministers and a police commissioner being jailed and losing his knighthood.Wayne Goss led the Labor Government to power in 1989. In 1980, the annualState of Origin series began atLang Park in Brisbane. Two years later theCommonwealth Games was held in Brisbane.

In May 1987, theFitzgerald Inquiry (1987–1989) into Queensland Police corruption was ordered by Deputy PremierBill Gunn. On 1 December 1987,Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen was forced to resign asPremier of Queensland. His resignation is accepted by GovernorWalter Campbell. In 1987, theBrisbane Bears Australian rules football team joined theVFL as the second team outsideVictoria. It was merged with Fitzroy to become theBrisbane Lions in 1997. 1987 saw Brisbane host games of thefirst ever Rugby World Cup.

Expo '88 was held in Brisbane in 1988 to celebrate the Bicentenary of the First fleet founding the colony of Australia. The event was very successful and helped promote Brisbane and Queensland on the world stage. Also that year, theBrisbane Broncos andGold Coast-Tweed Giants rugby league teams were founded, followed by theSouth Queensland Crushers andNorth Queensland Cowboys in 1995. In 1989, Queensland commenced a three-year trial ofDaylight Saving.^[63] On 2 December 1989, theNational Party government ofRussell Cooper was defeated at thestate election. The government of Labor PremierWayne Goss commenced on 7 December 1989.

The 1990s saw Queensland undergo rapid population growth, largely as the result of interstate migration. Internal migrants were attracted to Queensland's buoyant economy, and the opportunity for young families to more easily purchase homes than market conditions would allow in Sydney. Queensland's population growth during the 1990s was largely concentrated in South East Queensland. In 1991, logging on Fraser Island ceases.

In October 1990, homosexuality was decriminalised in Queensland, the second last state to do so.^[66]

By the late 1990s, Queensland's rapid population growth was placing pressure on South East Queensland's infrastructure, including within Brisbane. Major planning of road, rail, electricity and water infrastructure was undertaken to cope with the growing population, with many of these projects being built during the following decade.

In 1992, Queensland held areferendum onDaylight Saving, which was defeated with a 54.5% "no" vote.^[67] In 1998, the use of the Brisbane andBremer Rivers for the barging of coal ceases after 158 years.^[5]

The first nature refuge established under Queensland'sNature Conservation Act 1992 was declared for "Berlin Scrub",^[68] a forty-one-hectare site in theLockyer Valley in 1994.

In 2001, theGoodwill Games were held in Brisbane. In 2003, both Brisbane and Townsville hosted games of the2003 Rugby World Cup. In the same year, the oil pipeline running from Jackson to Brisbane bursts open at Lytton, causing Queensland's largest-ever oil spill.^[69]Cyclone Larry crossed the Queensland coast in March 2006 becoming the costliest tropical cyclone to ever impact Australia. That year residents of Toowoomba voted against the use of recycled sewage in drinking water in areferendum, halting a project that was described as the world's most ambitious wastewater recycling scheme.^[70]2007 sawAnna Bligh become the state's first appointed female Premier.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology 2010 was Queensland's wettest year on record.^[71] At the end of 2010 and into the next year the state experienced widespreadfloods.Toowoomba and theLockyer Valley experienced severeflash flooding in January. In February 2011,Cyclone Yasi crossed the Queensland coast in February, causing more damage than Cyclone Larry. In 2018Gold Coast hosted the2018 Commonwealth Games.^[72] It was the first time the city has hosted the games and the second for the state ofQueensland, afterBrisbane in1982.

In 2020, despite alow number of cases during theCOVID-19 pandemic, Queensland's state borders were temporarily and conditionally closed, andsocial distancing was introduced. In 2021, the State borders were again conditionally closed, and on July 21, it was announced that Brisbane would host the2032 Summer Olympics.^[73]

In mid-December 2023Cyclone Jasper caused the record2023 Cairns floods. It became the worst flooding event in Cairns, since records began in 1915, when theBarron River exceeded its record level of March 1977 at 3.8 metres (12 ft).^[74]

In December of 2024, Premier Anastasia Palaszczuk, who had served Queensland since 2014, retired from politics and made her deputy, Steven Miles become premier of Queensland.

During Steven Miles time as Premier, most Australians and people around the world as well as Queenslanders, have been going through a cost of living crisis due to a number of factors. Because of this, Premier miles throughout 2024 brought out cost of living policies like 50 cent fares and 20 percent off car rego's, to comeback the cost of living crisis.

In October of 2024, David Crisafulli won government after the Liberal National party were in opposition for 12 years. Crisafulli ran on a campaign of law and order, while Steven Miles, who is leader of the Queensland labor party ran on policies of cost of living.

• Evans, Raymond:A History of Queensland, Cambridge 2007, 321 pages, ill.
• Ørsted-Jensen, Robert:Frontier History Revisited, Brisbane 2011, 284 pages ill.
• Reid, Gordon:A Nest of Hornets: The Massacre of the Fraser family at Hornet Bank Station, Central Queensland, 1857, and related events, Melbourne 1982.
• Rienits, Rex & Thea (1969).A Pictorial History of Australia. Hamlyn Publishing Group.ISBN 0-600-03125-X.

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Constitution Act 1867

• Queensland History, Queensland Government
• Historical timeline, Queensland Government
• Central Queensland History
• Queensland State Archives – the state's major source of historical documentation relating to government
  • Queensland's Declaration of War in 1914
• Royal Historical Society of Queensland Welsby Library has a unique collection on Queensland history and the Commissariat Store is a convict museum
• State Library of Queensland's Heritage Collections – the state's largest collection of Queensland related historical materials including books, newspapers, films, photographs, manuscripts, ephemera, digital stories, clippings files, artworks, and realia
• Convict Queenslanders – those who arrived in Australia as convicts, then made their way to Queensland where they became a part of the colony's history
• Watch historical footage of Far North Queensland from theNational Film and Sound Archive of Australia's collection.
• "A plague on all your houses – The bubonic plague in Queensland - Stories from the Archives".Blogs. Queensland State Archives. 7 December 2021.

• States and territories established in 1859
• States and territories disestablished in 1901
• History of Queensland

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