Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM

Australasian Superpower

By Sean Swaby

with help from Peter Ward

1770- James Cook claims possession over Australia for Great Britain. Some of his crew ask permission to explore a little further inland in hopes of possibly finding exotic fruits or animals to document or capture and sell back home. They also wish to look for some regular supplies of water and food. Ten metres inland one of the crewmen discover a vein of gold bearing quartz exposed at the surface. He reports the discovery to Cook and later Cook of course reports the discovery to Britain upon his return in 1771.

1771-1787- British settlers go to the new colony of Australia to mine for gold, set up farms, claim land and seek their fortune. They initially encounter Aborigines and for the first 6 years they all live uneasily side by side, however later the settlers begin killing off the Aborigines in order to get land claimed by the Aborigines (and just through plain prejudice). Also Cook's other voyages take him to New Zealand, New Guinea and Hawaii.

1788- Britain decides to reduce the overcrowding in prisons by sending convicts to do hard labour in Australia for the free settlers already living there. Convicts were forced to work as punishment for their crimes (some were hardened criminals while others had been forced into crime by starvation and so were petty criminals). Free farmers, pastoralists and mine owners (and some miners) are assigned convicts labourers, whom they were free to treat fairly or badly. When their sentences expired many ex-cons stayed on Australia and obtained land grants, farms and mines. By 1868, when convict transportation finally ended up to 300,000 or more convicts had been brought to Australia.

1793-1840- First British settlers arrive in New Zealand. They live alongside the Maoris and took little notice of them. By 1830 they sign a treaty with the Maoris granting the Maoris British citizenship and granting them land rights (these rights were not enforced however and led to a short war later in 1840). Gold is found in southeastern Australia. Second Gold Rush in Australia. Wake Island annexed by British.

1810- Hawaiian Islands united as a Kingdom by Kamehameha I.

1820- Britain annexes all of New Guinea. Dutch protest, but British and Dutch come to a deal whereby the Dutch recognize New Guinea as British and the British drop any claims to the Molucca or Spice Islands in the East Indies (the British will have Malaysia as in OTL).

1837- British settlers arrive in Gilbert Islands (now Kiribati) and British set up protectorate over Gilbert and Ellice (now Tuvalu) Islands. Pitcairn is annexed to Britain in 1838.

1842- France makes Tahiti a protectorate and French missionaries go to New Caledonia.

1843- More gold found in southern Australia. This is part of Second Gold Rush.

1850- Britain transfers some powers to the four major Australian colonies (New Zealand is administered by New South Wales (NSW) and New Guinea is run by Queensland).

1852- New Zealand becomes separate colony from NSW. Eureka stockade; brief miners' revolt in Ballarat (put down by govt. soldiers (including native born "Australians")). Original cause of riot (mining licence is rescinded by colonial governments).

1853- France annexes New Caledonia. Kingman reef annexed by British.

1856-1865- Second Maori War in New Zealand. USA acquires Baker, Howard and Jarvis islands.

1858- Gold discovered in Otago, New Zealand; small gold rush to New Zealand. Johnston atoll claimed by kingdom of Hawaii.

1860- disappointing amounts of gold were discovered in New Zealand and so when some gold is discovered in New Guinea in 1861 only a few settlers go there. The hot climate, mosquitoes, malaria and deep jungle are unattractive for settlement (unlike the plains of Australia and New Zealand). Only 3 major towns develop in New Guinea (present day Port Moresby, Lae and what is now Jayapura). The settlers and natives get along fairly well (though not as best pals) and mostly keep away from each other (except in towns established by missionaries populated by natives and by descendants of native-settler unions).

1867- Canada becomes a confederation and a dominion. The initial success of this confederation encourages Britain to try the same thing in the Australasian continent. The Canadian experiment also begins to inspire those in Australia (and Tasmania) and New Zealand and New Guinea. USA acquires Midway Island and Alaska (purchased from Russia)

1869- Germany acquires Caroline Islands (present day Micronesia, Marshall Islands and Palau). These islands apparently have no mineral value so the British, French and Dutch make no protest.

1870- Conference in Melbourne on federation begins. Delegates from New Zealand and New Guinea call for the union to be called Australasia. After some discussion, the delegates of the Australian colonies agree. More bickering goes on as to which city is to be the capital (Sydney and Melbourne are the only serious contestants). Due to Sydney being easier to access from New Zealand and New Guinea it is decided that Sydney will be the capital. Basing off the Canadian model, where no provincial/state capital is also national capital, the delegates also decide that Sydney will no longer be New South Wales' capital. The new capital of NSW will be a town a few miles north of Sydney called Newcastle. The area around Sydney is also declared to be a new territory called capital territory. The Victorians had hoped for Melbourne, but they come away pretty pleased as they have one of the largest populations in the union and so have the second most representatives in the House of Representatives (this aspect of govt. along with the Senate is based off the USA). Melbourne becomes the main financial centre of the union later on and eventually the seat of the Bank of Australasia when the confederated colony is granted the right to print its own money later on. At the end of the Conference the new Confederation of Australasia is declared. Like Canada it is also a dominion and is known simply as Australasia.

1871- Australasia's Central Bank set up in Melbourne one year after the founding of the Confederation. The Australasian currency is the Australasian Pound (roughly equivalent to the British pound with the Queen's/ King's face on all notes and coins).

1870s- Gold rush in New Caledonia. Newly united Australasia begins to form a colonial confederal militia called the Australasian Territorial Militia. The Royal Navy still provides defence as Australasia has yet to develop a militia naval arm.

1874- Fiji becomes British protectorate and later crown colony. Also Hawaii gets a new monarch, King Kalakaua (Kalakaua Rex).

1877-1879 Britain establishes naval station in Samoa. Britain also places the Cook Islands (including Niue), Tokelau, Norfolk, Heard, Mcdonald and Christmas islands under Australasian administration.

1880- Australasia begins to form Royal Australasian Navy. It original role is coastal defence however it begins to take over some of the duties of the Royal Navy around Australasian waters and begins frequently assisting the Royal Navy as far away as Singapore, Hong Kong, the Gilbert Islands and Pitcairn. By 1890 the Royal Australasian Navy (RAN) had sent some ships on journeys all the way to Vancouver and San Francisco. This rapid development is due to Britain providing many of the ships (and a new ship building industry forming in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide) and British officers providing most of the training (and for a time leading many ships).

1882- Princess Likelike, governor of the island of Hawaii and sister to Queen Liliuokalani cedes to Great Britain a tiny sliver of land, a few yards, in Kealakekua Bay to serve as a memorial to Captain Cook. RN ships and eventually the RAN ships periodically visit the site and clean things up. The Princess’ action gives King Kalakaua an idea on how to raise money (especially pounds) for the Hawaiian government. He convinced the British/Australasian Governments to lay a transpacific telegraph cable between Victoria, BC, Canada and Sydney, Australasia via Hawaii. The Hawaiian Government cedes the land where the telegraph cable comes ashore to the British and Australasians. Also in 1882 the Canadians, seeing the apparent successful start and usage of the RAN decide to build a Royal Canadian Navy with similar functions as those of the RAN. The RCN will aid the RN in operations in the north Pacific and north Atlantic regions. The RCN is relatively small at first and some of its first ships were bought from Australasia or built in Canada by Australasian and British shipbuilders. By 1886 however the Canadians are building their own ships for the RCN.

1886-New Hebrides, now Vanuatu, is claimed by both France and Britain. They agree to rule it jointly. Britain and German divide the Solomon Islands between themselves.

1889- Samoan agreement between Britain, Germany and USA. USA gets eastern Samoa as American Samoa and Germany gets western Samoa as German Samoa (British station still in German Samoa however). King of Samoa (Malietoa Laupepa) retains title and theoretical rule over Samoan people.
Britain (and Australasia) and USA also agree that "Hawaii shall remain an independent kingdom under the protection of both powers with both powers having access to naval bases in the islands."

1890- Women get right to vote in New Zealand. Move followed by rest of Australasia by 1892. Old age pensions and the eight-hour workday are introduced throughout Australasia in 1896.

1893- In January Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii is deposed and a Republic of Hawaii established with Sanford B. Dole as president. The new Hawaiian govt. asks to be annexed to the USA. Meanwhile, the British Resident (an Australasian Minister Plenipotentiary) telegraphs Sydney and the military forces are dispatched.

The RN/RAN force reaches Honolulu by mid-February. There is an intense standoff between them and the USS Boston. RN/RAN forces set up a blockade and send a message to the Hawaiian republican govt. that the overthrow of the Queen violated the treaty over Hawaii and that she must be reinstated by the rebel republicans (some of whom are Americans) or the islands will be invaded by Australasian and British troops to forcefully put the Queen back on the throne. Word is flashed to Washington (the Annexationists unwittingly use the British cable since there is no American cable to Hawaii) and the situation looks a little grim when the British Ambassador confronts newly elected President Cleveland. Cleveland recognizes that the US Minister to Hawaii, Stevens, has completely overstepped his authority and directly aided in the overthrow of a government friendly to the United States (which it was). Cleveland withdraws American protection from the now Provisional Government of Sanford B. Dole, which must now negotiate with the British/Australasian Governments. Queen Liliuokalani is returned to the throne and liberal reforms are emplaced in the newly organized Hawaiian Government. The British and American Governments agree to jointly lease Pearl Harbour from the Hawaiian Government, exclude any other Power from the Island chain and maintain the independence and neutrality of the Kingdom of Hawaii. (The Americans will later adopt this system of leasing bases in Cuba after the Spanish-American War). Hawaii is established as a "free trade zone".

1895- Australasia is estatic. They just faced down the USA in a stand-off over Hawaii (well sort of, they faced off with the USS Boston) and their Navy helped change the situation in Hawaii itself. When Britain goes to war with the Boers in 1899 both Australasia and Canada send troops (both sets of militias distinguish themselves on the battlefield). The submarine cable is in wide use now and due to Australasia's relative wealth extra cables are commission by Australasia to "connect every major port and naval base of this great nation". So by 1897 the map of British submarine cables will show a rather high concentration of these cables around Australasia (these are the Australasian cables) and in the Pacific (the Australasians also built more cables to the surrounding British pacific possessions and to their own possessions and to Canada and Hawaii). With enhanced communication between Australasia and Canada, some joint ventures in shipbuilding occur with materials form both nations being used.

1898- Spanish-American War. USA acquires Puerto Rico, Guam and Philippines. Cuba becomes a US protectorate with some bases being leased indefinitely.

1899- Nauru is annexed to Germany but Britain (and Australasia) lease some of the phosphate mines there.

1900- RAN now operates over a lot of the Pacific. RAN ships are a frequent sight in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, off Malaysia, the Dutch East Indies and Hong Kong, off Pitcairn and Hawaii. The RAN ships are usually seen stationed with RN ships especially in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Britain establishes protectorate over Tonga. Around Tonga, Samoa and Fiji it is mainly the RN that is seen with some RAN ships.

1913- Wallis Island (seen as having little value to the British and Australasians) is annexed by the French.

1914- WWI breaks out and RAN ships transport Australasian Army troops to German Nauru. Nauru is quickly conquered. Japan conquers the Caroline Islands. Australasian troops also take the German Solomon Islands and German Samoa. Australasia also sends troops to fight in Europe and the Australasian Army Corps (AAC) fights with distinction in northern France, in Egypt and Palestine and in Turkey proper (Gallipoli- where they manage to occupy a large portion of the peninsula and even open the Straits for a short period of the war).

1918-1919- Peace breaks out and at the peace conference it is decided that Nauru will be jointly administered by Britain and Australasia and that (formerly) German West Samoa and the north Solomon Islands (formerly German) will become Australasian mandates. The North Solomons are eventually to be united with the Solomon Islands later on.

1919- Dry-docks completed in Pearl Harbour/Pearl Harbor by the British and Americans.

1921- Australasian, Irish, South African and Canadian delegates urge Britain to give the dominions more autonomy and so when the Irish Free State is formed, the Statute of Westminster is declared whereby the Dominions of Canada, Australasia, South Africa and the Irish Free State are equal partners with Britain (and not subservient) in the new British Commonwealth of Nations. The British Empire still goes on of course and the dominions are still considered British dominions but for all events and purposes they are now their own nations. British also declare intent to make India a dominion by 1948 or 1950 and for some African and West Indian colonies to be dominions by the 1950s and 1960s/1970s.

1922- Australasia becomes a member of the League of Nations. During the Washington Naval Conference of 1922 the Canadians agree to limit their number of battleships to the sum of a third of the American navy's battleships and a third of the Japanese navy's battleships. This makes the RCN number of battleships slightly smaller than Australasian navy (about 88% of the Australasian navy) and half the size of the American navy (around 50+ % of the US Navy's battleships). So Britain and America have direct parity in battleships, Australasia and Japan have parity in battleships. Thus the RAN can maintain a rough equivalent/balance to the Japanese navy. Canada has a ratio of battleships that reflect the RCN's smaller role than the RAN. To reflect the bigger role in the Atlantic that the RCN has than in the Pacific about 2/3rds of its battleships are stationed in the Atlantic and the other 1/3rd in the Pacific (though this ratio can become half and half during any time of crisis by sending some of the RCN battleships through the Panama Canal to the Pacific (and the RCN naval base of Esquimalt). Thus, as Australasia and Canada are very reliable allies/dominions of Britain, the British Empire can rely on rather large naval forces during the 1920s and 30s (and 40s), approximately 2.1 times the number of battleships that the American navy has and approximately 3.5 times the number of battleships that the Japanese navy has. The British Empire and Commonwealth also have slightly more carriers and submarines than the USN or IJN (Imperial Japanese Navy).

1929- Uprising by Mau people of Samoa against Australasia. Uprising halts after Australasians promise to address grievances of the Mau people. Depression starts and the Labour Party of Australasia gains popularity.

1931- Japan occupies Chinese province of Manchuria. This action by Japan sparks even more suspicion by the Australasians and British. RAN-RN patrols in East China Sea intensify. In League of Nations, Australasia advocates sanctions against Japan. Japan leaves League after League protests occupation of Manchuria. Manchuria is renamed Manchukuo in 1932 and is technically an independent kingdom under the last Manchu Emperor of China, Pu Yi.

1932- Australasia claims a large sector of Antarctica. As the other claimants in Antarctica do not dispute the Australasian claim then the Australasian Antarctic Territory comes under the effective control of Australasia.

1933- Australasians decide to follow the Canadian (and American) monetary example and change their currency to the Australasian Dollar (monarch's face remains on notes and coins of course).

1935- Government of India Act passed; provinces of British India granted autonomy and self-government from 1937. British India as a whole gains more autonomy (an India-wide Parliament for example is set up in 1937 to draught legislation that the British Parliament thinks can be done by local authorities).

1936- Basic wages for man with a wife and 3 children is fixed by an arbitration court in Australasia.

1939- WWII starts and Australasia sends an expeditionary force in October 1939 to fight in Europe. Australasian Expeditionary Force (AuEF or AEF) lands in Britain and from there goes to France in January 1940.

1940- Germans invade Belgium and northern France in May. Due to the AEF in northern France alongside the BEF, French and the Canadian troops the German advance is slower than in OTL. The AEF, BEF and Canadians (and some French) escape the massive German advance in northern France from ports in Normandy (such as Cherbourg and Le Harve) after intense fighting in northern France and the fall of Paris. Finally the French surrender after 9 weeks (instead of the seven weeks in OTL). AEF, Canadian and British forces in Egypt stall the Italian invasion and push them back into Libya. After a lull the Germans send forces to North Africa in 1941 and the Commonwealth forces are pushed back into Egypt where the German-Italian advance stalls a short distance past the border.

1941- In November the Japanese attack the British and American fleets at Pearl Harbour bringing the USA into the war and starting the war in the Pacific between Japan and the Commonwealth forces. The Japanese assault on Hong Kong and Weihaiwei begins. Weihaiwei falls in December but Hong Kong doesn't fall until early 1942. The Australasians (and the British) after Pearl Harbour blockade Indochina and Thailand which are under Japanese occupation and this prevents many Japanese reinforcements from reaching south-east Asia for the attack into Malaya and Singapore.

1942- Only in March do enough Japanese troops reach south-east Asia for the assault on Malaya and Singapore to begin. In Malaya fierce fighting occurs in the towns and it doesn't fall until April 1942. Singapore holds out until July 1942 with the aid of the RAN and RN. In August in North Africa the British Eighth Army with support by the Canadians and AEF drive German forces from Egypt and into Libya. Battle of Midway in June results in US victory. In New Guinea the Japanese invasion force gains control only over the north-eastern fourth of the island and are unable to advance any further. In the Dutch East Indies some islands remain under Australasian occupation following the Japanese invasion and the Japanese are unable to take these particular islands.

1943- Tripoli falls and all of North Africa is under Allied control. In June Allies invade Sicily. In August Allied forces invade Italian mainland.

1944- Allies enter Rome and Italy joins the Allies in June. Also in June Allies invade Normandy (with two American beaches, 2 British beaches, 1 Canadian beach and 1 Australasian beach). In August Australasian troops liberate northeast New Guinea and begin landings in some Japanese controlled Dutch East Indian islands. US begins reconquest of Philippines in October. Later, Australasian and British troops land in northern Borneo and begin liberating British held Borneo, RAN-RN forces blockade Singapore and by December Singapore falls back to the British. US-British-Australasian forces land in Iwo Jima and after intense, bloody fighting the island falls.

1945- Early in the year the Anglo-Australasian and American forces land in Okinawa and again more intense fighting occurs but the island falls. Anglo-Australasian forces blockade Hong Kong and soon retake the city from the Japanese. In July the Soviets declare war on Japan (the war in Europe ended in May with the Soviet advance across eastern Europe the same as in OTL). In August the USA drops 3 atomic bombs on Japan and finally the Japanese surrender a week later. Korea is totally occupied by the USSR, which withdraws in 1947 leaving behind a communist govt., which declares the People's Democratic Republic of Korea. The US Commanders in the Pacific advocate an exclusive US occupation of Japan, the Soviets decide not to pressure for a share in the occupation of Japan but the Australasians (and the British) do and finally the US agrees to allow the British and Australasians to occupy the smallest Japanese Home Island: Shikoku, as well as occupying the peninsular section of Honshu that lies to the north of Shikoku. The British-Australasian occupied area is designated the British Commonwealth Occupation Zone and the overall commander of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in the Zone is always an Australasian. The British and Australasians do, however, totally accept and go along with US policy in shaping occupied Japan. The United Nations is formed in late 1945 and replaces the League of Nations.

1946- Formal peace treaties signed between Allies and Germany, Italy and Japan. Australasia given trusteeship over Marshall Islands (it controls Wake Island), while the USA is given control over Palau, Northern Marianas and Micronesia as trusteeships. The Soviet annexation of South Sakhalin and all of the Kurile islands is recognised by the rest of the allies and by Japan. All those areas were formerly under Japanese control. US begins nuclear testing in Pacific. Many Asians begin immigrating to Australasia in search of a better life after the devastation of their homelands by WWII.

1947- India and Pakistan gain independence.

1955- The occupation of Japan by the United States and British Commonwealth is formally ended and Japan’s government takes full control of the country. The US and to a lesser extent, the UK and Australasia are responsible for Japan’s defence via a mutual defence treaty. The Americans retain total control over the Ryukyu Islands and the Bonin Islands for an indefinite period of time and though some American bases were handed over to the new Japanese Self Defence Force, the Americans retained a number of bases. The British and Australasians scaled back their military presence in Japan greatly, but they still maintained around 3 bases in their former occupation zone. In Europe the official occupation of Austria is also brought to an end and the single Australasian brigade in the British Zone withdraws with the rest of the British troops. The occupation of Germany had ended 5 years before in 1950 with the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany and the establishment in 1952 of the Democratic Republic of Germany by the Soviets. Australasian servicemen were still stationed in the (former) British Zone, however, alongside British, Canadian, Dutch, Belgian, American and West German troops.

1956- the name of the province of New Guinea is officially changed to Papua New Guinea to reflect that many native Papuans live in the province and as sign of respect and atonement for any ill treatment of Papuans before. Also in 1956 Maori reserves and Aborigine reserves (called "native lands/territories" were set up in New Zealand and Australia respectively. The main Maori native land is in the northeast peninsula of the North Island of New Zealand. One Aborigine native land spans across Western Australia, South Australia and Northern Australia (formerly Northern Territory until 1950). Some other Aborigine native territories are in Arnhem Land, along the northwest coast of Western Australia and in sections of the Cape York peninsula in Queensland.

1961- Aborigines, Maoris and Papuans (of New Guinea) gain rights in Australasia to ancestral lands and all are recognized as citizens of Australasia. The Australasian govt. made a public apology to the Native peoples for the poor behaviour towards them by past Australasian govts.

1963- Samoa gains independence from Australasia as a new member of the Commonwealth. However Samoa signs a special treaty whereby Samoans can freely travel and work in Australasia for long periods of time. Australasia is also responsible for Samoa's defence and the RAN still retains a naval base in Samoa. Samoa also uses the Australasian currency as its own currency.

1965- Kiribati and Tuvalu (formerly the Gilbert and Ellice Islands) gain independence within the Commonwealth from Britain. They sign a treaty with Australasia making Australasia responsible for defence. Both new nations also use the Australasian currency solely. By 1965 the Australasians introduce a new set of notes and coins with the monarch's face (Queen Elizabeth II) on only the coins and one of the notes. The rest of the notes depict prominent Australasians such as Women's Lib. campaigners, WWI and WWII heroes, the first PM, Native peoples (Maori, Aborigine and Papuans).

1970- Tonga and Fiji gain independence within the Commonwealth from Britain but Australasia is responsible for their defence and both countries use the Australian currency alongside their national currencies. By 1970 the Australasian dollar is used by Australasia and her territories (Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau, Chatam Islands, Christmas Island, Norfolk Island, Heard Island, Mcdonald Island and Wake Island (some of these islands are uninhabited and use of the currency is by the Australasian military). Nauru also uses the Aus$ as by 1970 it is still run by Australasia. The Australasian mandates of North Solomons and the Marshall Islands also use the Aus$.
Samoa, Kiribati and Tuvalu (formerly the Gilbert and Ellice Islands) are independent by 1970 and use the Australasian dollar as their sole currency.
Tonga and Fiji use the Australasian currency officially alongside their national currencies.
The British dependency of Pitcairn uses the Aus.$ solely.
Also in 1970, Hawaii uses the Australasian currency (and the US dollar, though the Aus. dollar is more popular) unofficially alongside its national currency. Certain areas of Malaysia also widely use the Aus.$ unofficially (especially Kuala Lumpur and Singapore). Hong Kong also uses the Aus.$ unofficially as it is popular there.

In southeast Asia, the Australasians send troops to South Vietnam to assist their ally the United States. The anti-communist allied forces face a daunting task and for 3 years the only Australasian troops to have success were the Australasian Special Air Service (ASAS) and Australasian Special Boat Service (ASBS). Back in Australasia the public watch regular morning and nightly news images of events in Vietnam with no apparent successes in sight.

1972- North Solomons Islands and Solomon Islands gain independence within the Commonwealth from Australasia and Britain respectively and unite as the Solomon Islands. The Solomons are defended by Australasia and use the Australasian currency solely. The New Hebrides gain independence from Britain and France as Vanuatu and sign a similar treaty with Australasia as the Solomons did.

1973- Nauru gains independence from Australasia and Britain within the Commonwealth and sign a similar treaty with Australasia as Samoa did.

Also the Americans pull out of Vietnam. Australasian troops are also called home where there are greeted not with the raucous, noisy celebrations of 1945, but with the relief of a nation glad to have their young sons back at home and safe and with the acknowledged appreciation that they “fought for freedom” and their country’s interests.

The Indonesian-Australasian War, 1975

1974- There is a coup in Portugal that overthrows the dictatorship and installs a new democratic government. The new rulers of Portugal decide to put an end to the pointless and expensive wars in Angola, Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique) and in Portuguese Guinea (Guinea Bissau). The new governments resolves to leave all colonial possessions by 1975.

February to March 1975- the 3 main parties in Portuguese Timor: the UDT, Apodeti (which advocated union with Indonesia and was not very popular having only 300 supporters) and FRETILIN (the most left-leaning of the 3) had been voted for by the population with Fretilin gaining 55% and the UDT and Fretilin combined gaining over 90% of the votes.

August 1975- the UDT stages a "coup" so to speak and this lead to a 3 week battle/civil war between the UDT and Fretilin and 2000 deaths. Fretilin, being more popular, better armed, more disciplined and motivated, won the battle convincingly, which led to the flight of a few thousand refugees, UDT supporters and Apodeti loyalists to West Timor in Indonesia. This was a disaster for UDT and a setback for Indonesia. On the 27th of August, in the middle of the conflict, the Portuguese Governor, staff, doctors and military secretly left Dili by night for the offshore Timorese island of Atauro, where they stayed until December 1975, before leaving for Portugal. From August 1975 there was no further Portuguese administration. A handover never took place; decolonization was never officially completed and the Portuguese just abandoned East Timor. Fretilin now found itself in defacto control of the new country.
Frustrated at their attempts to provoke a reason for intervention as a result of internal conflict, the Indonesian generals now oriented Operasi Komodo towards a more direct military solution.

September 1975- Indonesian troops started infiltrating across the border from Indonesian West Timor into East Timor. By attacking civilians and burning crops and homes in the border region, they tried to create the illusion that the civil war was still continuing and that anarchy prevailed. Chaos of this kind would justify an invasion.

October 1975- On the 16th 5 Australasian-based newsmen (2 British, 3 Australasian), who were trying to record the clandestine Indonesian incursions into East Timor at the East Timorese border town of Balibo, were killed by the advancing Indonesian army. There was much evidence to suggest that these killings constituted cold-blooded murders of people who were obviously foreign and non-combatants, and that it was done to ensure that news of the incursions in progress did not get out. The Australasian government protested loudly and demanded a full investigation on the part of the East Timorese and Indonesians with Australasian police investigators.
Shortly after Fretilin got around to the business of officially declaring independence.

November 1975- The military intervention by Indonesia, together with the refusal of the Portuguese to return to help setup a proper administration and social services, forced Fretilin to proclaim the Democratic Republic of East Timor on 28 November 1975, in a ceremony in front of the old Portuguese Government House. Independence would possibly enable East Timor to appeal for international help to halt the Indonesian aggression. The next day, on 29 November 1975, the Balibo Declaration, a document which had been written by the Indonesian intelligence, was presented to the leaders of the UDT and Apodeti parties, who were coerced into signing it under threat of being repatriated into the hands of their former adversaries, Fretilin. It was signed in Bali (Indonesia) but given the name of "Balibo Declaration", Balibo being an East Timorese border town, to give the impression that it came from inside East Timor. It asked for the assistance of the Indonesians in East Timor. It was an Indonesian strategy to use the disgraced UDT and Apodeti leaders as a means of replying to Fretilin's declaration of independence and of preparing the world for the planned all-out invasion of East Timor. The Indonesian generals needed an excuse to invade. Australasian intelligence finds out the truth about the declaration and eventually finds out about Indonesian plans to invade East Timor.

December 1975- On December 4th, 1975 the Indonesian Army invaded and by December 18th most of the country is in Indonesian hands. There is an active and still undefeated Timorese resistance that formed from the remnants of the organised Timorese defences. On the day of the invasion the Australasian government called a special session to debate the consequences and possible courses of action. Some in the Australasian Parliament call for nothing to be done, that the Indonesian invasion was a response to unrest and to the ascension of a communist leaning government in Dili. Some were apathic about going to war so soon after Australasian forces withdrew from South Vietnam alongside the Americans. Many other Australasian MPs though call for stern action and a particularly convincing argument was that none of Australasia's friends and allies would have confidence in Australasia again if it let this violation of East Timorese sovereignty go uncontested and that Indonesia must be held accountable for murdering the British and Australasian newsmen. Finally the Australasian government on December 20th issued an ultimatum to Indonesia stating that Indonesia should withdraw from East Timor by January 1976 at latest and should hand over those soldiers who had murdered the newsmen or face the consequence. Of course Suharto thought it was a bluff and that Australasia would not possibly send its men to die for 5 newsmen, much less that half-island nation that was poor by even Indonesian standards. Since Suharto showed no signs of pulling his army out, Australasia prepared "the consequences" of such action: An Australasian Expeditionary Force.

January 1976- After intensive training and intelligence gathering from Dec. 20th to January 1st. the AEF was ready for deployment to East Timor. The first Australasian troopers on the ground however were the ASAS who deployed secretly to prepare for the counter-invasion by Australasia.
On January 3rd the AEF sets out for E. Timor and the RAN is about to play its biggest role in a war since WWII. The RAN first set up a blockade of all of Timor and then from a staging base in Christmas Island proceeded to blockade the islands of Java and Bali, which contained most of the Indonesian population and its capital of Jakarta. Under the cover of this blockade, RAAF airstrikes and a RAN naval bombardment of Indonesian positions on Timor, the AEF landed. The AEF fought a pitched battle in the southeast of E.Timor and outside Dili and just north of Kupang (in Indonesian West Timor). By January 12th the Indonesian army on the island of Timor had surrendered. Celebrations erupted all across Australasia. In Indonesia the results were protests, demonstrations and riots. In Aceh it resulted in an intensification for call for independence and the activitives of the independence movements and in many other areas across the Indonesian archipelago. The army became tied down trying to keep rioters in check. In Java, with the RAN blockade still up, reinforcements could not arrive and the result was chaos in Jakarta. Students and many ordinary people encirlced Suharto's residence and called for him to step down and allow free elections, saying he had failed the Indonesian people and led to the disgrace of the nation and the army. Faced with the prospect of rioters storming his refuge, he gave in and said he would call free elections in 2 months and that until such time political parties had time to form and prepare for campaigning. Jakarta erupted in celebration and a day later the RAN lifted the blockade (though the ships remained on standby off Christmas Island). Meanwhile on Timor the Australasian forces remained and continued to occupy West Timor, though the AEF only stayed for security while daily life was run by a group of Indonesian democracy advocates.

February 1976- the AEF withdraws from West Timor, though it remains in East Timor on the request of the E. Timorese parties (Fretilin and UDT). The AEF essentially becomes a security force and overseas elections in March in E. Timor. In March the UDT wins 47% of the votes and Fretilin wins 53%. They agree to form a unity govt. after a suggestion by Australasia and the new govt. comes into power by the end of March.

March 1976- E. Timor asks the Australasian govt. if a small number of Australasian troops (perhaps 400 to 700) may be allowed to remain in E. Timor indefinitely as a token of Australasia's defence agreements and to help protect E. Timor into the foreseeable future (more troops would be sent in a crisis of course). Australasia agrees. Also in March the E. Timorese govt. adopts the Australasian dollar as a temporary currency until it can print its own (or have Australasia print its currency). By 1977 E. Timor will have adopted its own currency, but due to the popularity of the Australasian dollar (A$), the A$ is retained as the second official national currency. Australasia and E. Timor also sign an official treaty similar to the one with Samoa, though this treaty doesn't bind both nations as tightly.

1975- Australasia declares its waters to be a nuclear-free zone (as in no dumping of nuclear waste). Australasia however had worked with Britain on the British nuclear bomb back in the 1950s and provided a testing ground in the Australian desert. By this time many Pacific nations use the Australasian currency and have the RAN protecting them. Australasia's influence extends far over the Pacific and it is Australasia rather than America that is the primary Pacific power. Marshall Islands gain independence within the Commonwealth from Australasia and sign a similar treaty as Samoa. Marshallese independence sparks calls for Micronesian and Palauan independence from the USA.

1980- Micronesia and Palau gain independence from the USA and sign a treaty between themselves and the USA similar to the Samoan-Australasian treaty and they use the US dollar. The Northern Marianas opt to stay under US control and the trusteeship is finally ended.

1983- South Pacific becomes a nuclear free zone due to the
efforts of Australasia.

1991- Australasia contributes an infantry division to US-led operation to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation. The Australasian division is deployed next to the British divisions.

1995- French resume limited nuclear testing in French Polynesia.

1999- Samoa, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Nauru, The Marshall Islands, The Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, The British dependency of Pitcairn, Tonga, Fiji, East Timor all use the Australasian dollar officially either as their sole currency (the first eight nations/territories I just listed) or alongside their own currency (the last 3 I listed). Hawaii, Hong Kong (given back to China but still using Australasian dollar unofficially), some Malaysian cities (Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and a few others) and even some areas of the Philippines (like Manila) widely use the Australasian dollar unofficially.
(It should go without saying that Australasia and her territories of Heard, Norfolk, McDonald, Wake and Christmas Island and Niue, Tokelau, the Chatam Islands and the Cook Islands use the Australasian dollar solely).