Nineteenth Century
1878 – Mykhailo Miklouho-Maclay, a Ukrainian explorer, naturalist and ethnographer visits Australia.
1881 – Miklouho-Maclay is instrumental in establishing Australia’s first biological field station at Watson’s Bay, NSW.
The Twenties
1920’s early – First permanent Ukrainian settler in Australia. H. Donchak settles in Brisbane from the Far East.
1928 – Shkardun & Hryhoriy Bodnia families arrive in Brisbane.
1928 – Yevstakhii Antonyshyn arrives in Sydney. Moves to Queensland in 1932, and to Macai in 1934.
The Thirties
1938 – Marko Merezhanyi, a former underground fighter in Ukraine who fled to the Far East, arrives in Brisbane.
The Roaring Forties
1948 February – First post-war Ukrainian settlers arrive in Western Australia aboard the ship “SS General Stewart”.
1948 April – First post-war Ukrainian settlers arrive in Victoria aboard the ship “General Black”.
1948 May – First post-war Ukrainian settlers arrive in New South Wales aboard the ship “General Sturgis”.
1949 April – First Ukrainian association forms in South Australia
1949 July – First edition of the newspaper “The Free Thought” (Vil’na Dumka). Published in Sydney, NSW.
1949 September – First Ukrainian association forms in Victoria
1949 October – First Ukrainian association forms in New South Wales
1949 December – First Ukrainian association forms in Queensland top
The Fifties
1950 February – First Ukrainian association forms in Western Australia.
1950 June – Foundation of a representative body for all Ukrainian organisations in Australia. This body was called the Association of Ukrainians in Australia. Renamed to Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations in December 1953.
1950 July – First Ukrainian association forms in Canberra
1951 October – Founding of the Loan Agency “Samopomich”, affiliated to the Ukrainian Catholic Church, North Melbourne. Samopomich became the Dnister Credit Cooperative in September 1959.
1953 October – Association of Ukrainians in Victoria purchases first community centre in South Melbourne for £12,250.
1954 January – First Ukrainian association forms in Tasmania
1954 April – Credit Cooperative “Nasha Maibutnist'” (Our Future) registered in Merrylands, NSW.
1954 November – Ukrainian community centre purchased in Brisbane.
1956 November – Foundation of the newspaper “Ukrainian In Australia” (Ukrainets v Avstrailiyi) in Melbourne.
1958 January – The first community centre, built by Ukrainians, completed in Northam, WA.
The Sixties
1961 – Opening of the Catholic Church, Brisbane, Qld.
1961 March – Official opening of the community centre in Perth, WA.
1966 April – Publication of the first major work “Ukrainians In Australia”
1966 August – Vasyl’ Avramenko, choreographer, begins 6-month tour of Australia.
1966 November – Opening of Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Essendon, Victoria.
1967 January – Plast Adelaide buys 45 acre property in Tea Tree Gully. top
1967 March – First Basilian sisters from Argentina arrive in Australia.
1968 February – Publication of Year 4 reader “Yevshan-Zillia” by Maria Dejko.
1968 March – First edition of the fortnightly newspaper “Church and Life”, from Melbourne.
1968 May – A USSR anti-submarine fleet visits Sydney
1968 June – Opening of the community centre in Geelong.
1968 October – A visitation and Australian tour by his Eminence Cardinal Josyf Slipyj, Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.
1969 August – Opening of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, Newcastle, NSW.
The Seventies
1970 January – Inaugural all-Australian AFUO Ball. Chosen Princess of the Ball – Halyna Rebij from SA.
1970 – Dnister Credit Cooperative reaches assets totalling $1million.
1971 April – Second all-Australian AFUO Ukrainian Festival, Melbourne.
1971 September – Mass demonstration in support of dissident, Valentyn Moroz, in front of the USSR Embassy, Canberra.
1971 December – Captain Yurij Roman Wenhlowsky, the first Ukrainian-Australian decorated with the “Military Cross” for bravery in Vietnam.
1972 April – First visitation by the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Mstyslav.
1972 July – Baritone Mykhailo Minsky tours Australia.
1972 November – Bandurist and tenor Volodymyr Luciv tours Australia.
1973 January – V. Kolesnyk, conductor of the Kyiv Opera, obtains political asylum in Australia. top
1973 December – Third all-Australian AFUO Ukrainian Festival, Adelaide.
1974 June – Ukrainian accepted as a matriculation subject by the Victorian Ministry of Education.
1974 August – Ukrainian accepted as a matriculation subject by Sydney University.
1975 March – Ukrainian radio programming begins in Adelaide on 5UV under the leadership of Theodore Sudomlak.
1975 April – Opening of a community centre in Wollongong, NSW.
1975 May – First Ukrainian radio programmes on 3ZZ in Melbourne. First announcer Irene Zaleska.
1975 December – Visit by renowned artist Jacques Hnizdovsky from Canada.
1976 April – Fourth all-Australian AFUO Ukrainian Festival, Sydney.
1976 June – Baritone Mykhailo Minsky tours Australia.
1976 October – First Ukrainian radio programmes on 6NR in Perth, First announcer Bohdan Warchomij.
1976 November – Ukrainian Medical Society formed in Sydney under the leadership of Dr Bohdan Shekhovych.
1977 March – Ukrainian community centre in Brisbane seriously damaged by fire.
1977 July – Australian visit by US Senator of Ukrainian descent Mary Beck.
1978 January – First Ukrainian radio programme on 3EA in Melbourne. Announcer Dmytro Pyrohiv.
1978 January – Australian visit by the Vice-President of the Ukrainian National Republic in Exile, Professor Mykola Stepanenko.
1978 April – Leonid Pliusch, recently released prisoner from the Soviet Gulag, visits Australia. Appears before Australian Senate Commission.
1979 April – The Lysenko Musical Theatre, from Melbourne, tours England.
1979 November – Red Army Choir visits Australia. Mass community protests.
The Eighties
1980 May – Queen Elizabeth II visits Australia. Ukrainian community represented by Stefan Lysenko and his wife.
1980 September – Dissident Valentyn Moroz visits Australia.
1980 October – The Lubomyr Sklepkowycz Foundation is formed in Sydney to foster Ukrainian education and culture.
1981 February – Australian tour by the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus from the USA.
1981 May – The renowned artist Mykhailo Kmit dies in Sydney.
1981 July – 48 hour hunger strike in front of the USSR Embassy in Canberra to release political prisoner Yuriy Shukhevcyh.
1982 August – Pope John Paul II proclaims the Eparchy of the Ukrainian Catholic Church of Australia, New Zealand and Oceania.
1982 October – Formation of the Concord Credit Cooperative in Brisbane.
1982 October – Ukrainian lectureship established at Monash University, Melbourne. Financed by the Association of Ukrainians in Victoria.
1983 February – Plast campsite Sokil seriously damaged by fire in southern Victoria.
1983 May – Stepan Lysenko appointed as Advisor to the Minister for Ethnic Affairs.
1983 October – Visitation by former Soviet political prisoner Dr Nina Strokata-Karavanska.
1983 October – Mass demonstration in Canberra to commemorate 50 years since the Ukrainian Famine of 1933
1983 December – Opening of the Ukrainian Catholic Centre in Canberra as a memorial to 1000 years of Christianity in Ukraine.
1984 May – Opening of a new $2.5million Dnister Cooperative Centre in Essendon, Victoria. top
1985 February – Public AFUO conference “Ukrainians in a Multicultural Australia” in Melbourne.
1985 August – Bolshoi Ballet visits Australia. Community protests.
1985 October – Chaika Choir from Melbourne tours USA and Canada.
1985 October – Screening of a Canadian film on the Ukrainian Famine “Harvest of Despair”
1985 October – Visit to Australia by an expert on the Ukrainian famine, Dr James Mace.
1985 December – Fifth all-Australian AFUO Ukrainian Festival, Melbourne.
1986 March – First visitation by the Patriarch of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, Cardinal Ivan Liubachivkyi.
1986 April – The Chornobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine
1986 May – Mass demonstration at Parliament House, Canberra.
1988 February – Visitation by member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group, Oksana Meshko.
1988 March – Australian Federal Parliament accepts a resolution to support the Ukrainian Helsinki Group. Resolution put forward by Philip Ruddock.
1988 December – Sixth all-Australian AFUO Ukrainian Festival, Melbourne.
1989 January – Visit by former dissident Petro Ruban.
1989 July – Visit by defender of the catholic faith in Ukraine, Josyp Terelia.
1989 August – Visit by poet and Ukrainian MP Dmytro Pavlychko.
1989 September – Visit by President of the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations, Slava Stetsko.
1989 November – Visit by author and MP Volodymyr Yavorivskyi. Spoke before Federal Parliament.
The Nineties
1990 March – Chornobyl Medical Supplies and Equipment Relief Flight: 50 tons of surplus medical equipment and supplies from hospital across Australia flown to Ukraine by the “Antonov” cargo aircraft.
1990 May – The Sydney Dance Ensemble Veselka tours Ukraine.
1990 May – Australian Chornobyl Foundation formed by the AFUO.
1990 July – Nina Matvienko, singer from Ukraine, tours Australia.
1991 December – Australian Parliament recognises Ukrainian sovereignty.
1992 January – Monash University (Melbourne) holds conference “Ukraine in the Nineties”
1992 January – Ex-dissident Ivan Dziuba visits Australa. top
1992 March – Zina Botte is appointed as the first Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Australia.
1992 June – Macquarie University (Sydney) holds conference “Ukraine Today – Perspectives”
1992 June – Les’ Taniuk, Leader of the Ukrainian Opposition, meets with Federal MP’s in Canberra.
1992 August – First Worldwide Forum of Ukrainians in Kyiv, Ukraine. Australia represented by Mykhailo Moravski.
1992 October – Singers Oksana Bilozir and Ivan Popovych tour Australia.
1992 November – Delegates from Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, visit Australia.
1993 March – Singer Ihor Bohdan tours Australia.
1993 April – Ukrainian Retirement Complex opens in Melbourne, Victoria.
1993 May – Archbishop Peter Stasiuk becomes Eparch for all Ukrainian catholics in Australia.
1993 August – Adelaide’s song and dance ensemble Kashtan tours Ukraine.
1993 October – Official opening of a youth centre in Geelong, Victoria.
1994 January – Ten children affected by the Chornobyl disaster visit Australia under the auspices of “Caruna”
1994 March – Dmytro Nytchenko awarded the literary prize Premier of Lesia Ukrainka.
1994 April – World Gymnastics Championship in Brisbane. Local community hosts Ukrainian National Team who won two silver and one bronze medals.
1994 June – Youth for Christ movement founded in Melbourne.
1994 July – Sydney’s Ivasiuk Ensemble tours Ukraine.
1994 August – The Ukrainian Youth Association Dance Ensemble Verkhovyna (Melbourne) tours Canada.
1995 March – International Air Show in Avalon, Victoria. Entry by the Antonov aircraft building works from Ukraine.
1995 April – Whitbread round the world entry from Ukraine, the Hetman Sahaidachny, berths at Fremantle, WA.
1995 April – Australian parliamentary delegation visits Ukraine under the leadership of Graham Campbell.
1995 June – Helen Darville (pseudonym Demidenko) wins Australian award for literature, the Miles Franklin Award, for a book on Ukrainian-Jewish relations The Hand That Signed the Paper. Later uncovered to be a hoax.
1995 October – The Odesa National Symphony Orchestra, conductor Theo Kuchar, tours Australia.
1996 January – Australia’s Coca-Cola Amatil opens factory in Lviv, Ukraine.
1996 November – Joint venture signed between oil company “UkrNafta” and “Fountain Oil Boryslav Inc.”.
1996 November – The first President of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk, visits Australia.
1997 November – 9th ITU Triathlon World Championships in Perth, WA. Andriy Gluschenko from Ukraine wins Junior category.
1999 January – World Swimming Championships in Perth, WA. Local community hosts Ukrainian swimming team.
The New Millenium
2000 September – Sydney Olympics. Local community hosts athletes from Ukraine.
2004 January – Singer-composer Ron Cahute from Canada tours Australia
2004 January – The Canadian Dance Ensemble Tryzub tours Australia
2004 March – Ukrainian parliamentary and business delegation tours Australia.
2004 March – Ukrainian goodwill ship “Batkivschyna” visits Australia.
