Timeline of ANU events

The old hospital buildings, 1954. These buildings have been used by ANU since the late 1940s and currently house the Research School of Earth Sciences.

The following timeline highlights some of the important moments in the history of The Australian National University. It has been compiled from several sources, including the comprehensive fiftieth anniversary publication, The making of the Australian National University by S G Foster and Margaret N Varghese. The timeline is an ongoing project and does not claim to be all-inclusive. Suggestions for additions are most welcome.

1930: Canberra University College, which later amalgamated with the Australian National University, enrolled its first students. Canberra University College was established with a loose association with the University of Melbourne.

Late 1944 to early 1945: discussions between intellectuals and administrators, including H C 'Nugget' Coombs, Alfred Conlon, and Roy Douglas 'Pansy' Wright set the scene for the establishment of a National University.

April 1946: H C Coombs meets with prominent academics in England, some of them Australian ex-patriots, including the medical scientist Sir Howard Florey, the historian W K Hancock and the physicist Mark Oliphant on the proposed Australian National University.

1 August 1946: the Bill establishing the Australian National University is passed by Federal Parliament.

September 1946: The first meeting of the Interim Council of the University takes place in the Senate Committee Room in Parliament House.

Late 1947: Brian Lewis, Professor of Architecture at the University of Melbourne was appointed Consulting Architect to design the University's major buildings.

March 1948: Sir Douglas Copland appointed the first Vice-Chancellor of the University.

Easter 1948: Significant meetings occur between the Interim Council and the Academic Advisory Committee, consisting of Florey, Hancock, Oliphant and the anthropologist Raymond Firth on the shape the national university was to take. The meetings took place in the Institute of Anatomy Building, which now houses ScreenSound Australia, the National Screen and Sound Archive.

1948: the University's first librarian, A L G McDonald, was appointed to begin gathering together the University Library's collections.

24 October 1949: foundation stones for the John Curtin School of Medical Research, the Research School of Physical Sciences and University House laid by Ben Chifley, Prime Minister and John Dedman, Minister for Post-War Reconstruction.

Early 1950: the first academic staff members arrive to take up their appointments at ANU. At this time, there were few buildings to house them.

12 July 1951: first meeting of the ANU Council, which succeeded the Interim Council appointed in 1946.

July-September 1951: a series of seminars on science, Commonwealth-State relations and federalism held to mark 50 years of Federation.

7 December 1951: ANU confers its first degree ö an Honorary Doctor of Laws on Sir Robert Garran, one of the authors of the Australian Constitution and a long-time advocate of university education in Canberra.

1952: the laboratories for the Research School of Physical Sciences, the University's first permanent buildings, are opened.

1952: the University's first Chancellor, Lord Bruce, is installed.

1953: Noel Butlin, an economic historian in the Research School of Social Sciences, begins collecting Australian business records, which come to form the basis of the Universityâs Archives of Business and Labour (now the Noel Butlin Archives Centre).

February 1954: University House is officially opened.

1955: Canberra University College celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary.

1957: Mt Stromlo Observatory formally becomes part of the ANU through association with the Department of Astronomy in the Research School of Physical Sciences.

1960: the ANU amalgamates with Canberra University College. CUC becomes the School of General Studies at the ANU and undergraduates become part of ANU life for the first time.

In 1960 the ANU still had its four central research schools, the John Curtin School of Medical Research, the Research School of Physical Sciences, the Research School of Social Sciences and the Research School of Pacific Studies, while the School of General Studies had Faculties of Arts, Economics, Law and Science.

1961: Bruce Hall, the first residential hall for undergraduate students on campus, is occupied.

1961: the School of General Studies establishes a new faculty, the Faculty of Oriental Studies. In 1970, it became the Faculty of Asian Studies.

1961: the New Guinea Research Unit, part of the Research School of Pacific Studies, begins operations with a small group of support staff and academics located in Canberra and New Guinea. The Unit fostered interdisciplinary work on New Guinea among ANU academics.

1963: The two University Library Buildings are opened, the R G Menzies Building and the J B Chifley Building.

1964: Lake Burley Griffin is flooded, skirting the southern edge of the ANU campus.

1964: Hanna Neumann is appointed the University's first female professor, as Professor of Mathematics in the School of General Studies.

1965: the Australian Forestry School, which had been established in Canberra since 1927, accepted its first students as a department in the ANU's Faculty of Science.

1967: the Research School of Chemistry and the Research School of Biological Sciences are established bringing the number of research schools to six.

1968: the Computer Centre was established, intended to serve users campus wide.

1971: A decision is made to create a separate Research School of Earth Sciences from departments in the Research School of Physical Sciences.

1972: the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies (CRES) is established, part of a trend to establish what was sometimes referred to as a 'third dimension', namely units and centres within the University.

1973: the North Australia Research Unit (NARU) is established to facilitate research on north Australia.

1974: the Humanities Research Centre (HRC) is established as another important 'centre' in the University.

1976: After extended debate, a separate Women's Studies Program in the Faculty of Arts came into being.

1984: a new 2.3 metre telescope is opened at the Siding Spring Observatory, which was closely linked with the Department of Astronomy in the Research School of Physical Sciences.

1987: the University purchases a 'Fujitsu FACOM VP50 vector processor' and establishes the ANU Supercomputer Facility to house it.

1989: the ANU Graduate School is established, intended to coordinate graduate teaching and resources across the University and to provide greater cohesion between the Institute of Advanced Studies and the Faculties.

1991: the Research School of Physical Sciences becomes the Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering.

1992: the Canberra Institute of the Arts, comprising the Canberra School of Music and the Canberra School of Art, amalgamates with the ANU.

1993: in the Faculties, a new Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology is established.

1994: in the Institute of Advanced Studies, the Research School of Information Sciences and Engineering is established.

1996: ANU celebrates its 50^th anniversary with a program of academic and social events.