Timelines...

DATE	WESTERN AUSTRALIA	AUSTRALIA	THE WORLD
1972		Australian Labour Party elected to government for first time in 23 years; leader Gough Whitlam becomes Prime Minister last Australian troops leave Vietnam	US President Richard Nixon makes state visit to China
1973		Sydney Opera House opened Patrick White, Australian novelist, wins Nobel Prize for Literature
1974	Rules and Regulations for prisons in Western Australia first issued	cyclone ‘Tracey’ hits & destroys Darwin, Northern Territory on Christmas day
1975		Constitutional crisis reaches conclusion when Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismisses Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. Leader of Opposition, Malcolm Fraser commissioned to form ‘caretaker government’ until elections in 1976	Altair personal computer introduced by MITS
1976			Death of Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung
1981			Personal Computer launched by IBM
1983		between 16 & 18 February bush fires in Victoria destroy $A400 million in property & kill 71 people Australian Labour Party elected to government; leader Bob Hawke becomes Prime Minister on 26 September Australia wins America’s Cup (first nation to wrest yacht racing trophy from New York Yacht Club in 128 years)
1984	An Act to abolish capital punishment in Western Australia passed by State Parliament on 5 September 1984
1988	Riot by prisoners at Fremantle Prison on 4th January with order restored on 5th. Considerable fire & water damage to 3 & 4 Divisions largest such project ever undertaken in Western Australia at time, Fremantle Prison Conservation & Future Use project commenced, making extensive investigations & researches into Prison site, its history & heritage potential; it reported to State Government during 1990, recommending Prison be conserved as significant heritage site, recommendation accepted by Government	Australia celebrates bicentenary of arrival of First Fleet on 26 January
1989			Collapse of communism in Eastern Europe
1990			Reunification of Germany Russian economy moves from central command to crude free-market one
1991	inmates & staff of Fremantle Prison transferred to new metropolitan maximum security prison at Casuarina, about 20 kms south of Perth, & Fremantle Prison closed		Communist Party suspended in Soviet Union; all Soviet Congress relinquishes its powers; U.S.S.R. becomes Commonwealth of Independent States or Russia
1992		High Court of Australia delivers its decision in Mabo case recognising some native title rights to land
1994		Sydney wins right to host Olympic Games during 2000
1999			NATO forces begin bombing campaign in Kosovo & Belgrade (heaviest engagement in Europe since Second World War
2000	150th anniversary of the arrival of convicts in Western Australia.