Six British colonies united to form the Commonwealth of Australia, with Edmund Barton as its first prime minister.
New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world to give women the right to vote in parliamentary elections.
The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed on the Gallipoli peninsula in the Allies' unsuccessful campaign against the Ottoman Empire; 25 April is now commemorated as Anzac Day.
The Imperial Japanese Navy launches a surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, bringing the United States into World War II.
Gold discoveries in the colony of Victoria drew hundreds of thousands of immigrants, transforming Australia's population and economy.
A series of armed conflicts between the colonial government and Māori iwi, chiefly over land and sovereignty, which led to large confiscations of Māori land.
Representatives of the British Crown and many Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand's founding document; differences between its English and Māori texts remain debated.