Events That Changed Australia

How Australia's richest man disrupted cricket - and amateur sport - in this country forever, and created professional sport as we know it.

Unfolding across the late 1990s and 2000s in a series of violent and very public confrontations, Melbourne's gangland wars was a time of true fear for Melbournians. What began as underworld rivalries over drugs, money, and power spiralled into an all out street war, with more than thirty murders linked to the conflict. The ordinary suburbs of Melbourne became the backdrop for brazen executions, drive-by shootings, and daylight ambushes that shocked ordinary Australians. Central to the bloodshed were figures like Carl Williams, the Moran brothers, and Alphonse Gangitano, whose names became synonymous with violence, excess, and the media-fuelled glamour of organised crime. The gang wars left a permanent scar on Melbourne's identity, shifting the way Australians viewed criminals: no longer folk heroes or larrikins, but dangerous men whose violence spilled into everyday life.

Our national game used to be available to only half of the population - until women became an unstoppable force on the Australian sporting field.

How a muscle-bound bushman and one crazy idea for a tourism advertisement made our nation what it is today.

The 2002 Bali bombings, and the 2014 Lindt Cafe Siege in Sydney are two pivotal moments in Australian history. The events of September 11th, 2001 left us shocked, but terror still seemed a long way away for us. The events of Bali - and then the Lindt Cafe siege - brought home the idea of terrorism to our nation, but also exposed an Australia in denial - and a country that was hopelessly unprepared for this new, scarier world.

Devastating fires wipe out entire towns … And force us to confront how we deal with mega-bushfires in an ever-changing climate. On February 7, 2009, Victoria endured its darkest day when catastrophic bushfires swept across the state. Known as Black Saturday, the infernos claimed 173 lives - our biggest ever peacetime loss of life. The tragedy sparked a Royal Commission that not only investigated how the disaster unfolded but also ordered the abolition of the controversial "Stay or Go" policy, forever changing how Australians prepare for and respond to fires in our ever-hotter Australian summers.

Sydney's Cronulla Beach became the site of an organized, race-driven riot in December 2005. The ugly violence lasted for days, forcing a national reckoning on race and Australian identity, making us question what kind of country we want to live in.