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Home > Get the facts > Refugees in Australia > Timeline of refugees and Australia

Timeline of refugees and Australia

This timeline sets out Australia’s history of refugee policy and key events in Australia’s treatment of refugees. It is a selection of major events affecting refugees and people seeking asylum in Australia, drawn from official sources and media reports.

You can learn more about the events in this timeline on this website.

Refugees in Australia: a quick guide

Australia’s asylum policies

Thanks go to the many volunteers who have helped to compile this timeline.

Using the timeline

This timeline is best viewed on a desktop, because it is interactive. You can navigate using the arrows at the bottom of the screen. You can search for an event, zoom and you can see more events if you click on the ‘+’ or plus button on events that are grouped together. You can also see a description of each event if you click on the arrow next to it.

You can also download all the data here in .csv format (use this to open in Excel or similar formats). This also includes sources and links to sources, where available.

View the timeline (opens in full screen)

Key sources

This timeline draws from several key sources:

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