Holly Smith - Adelaide & South Australia Travel Adventures

World War I brought Australia into the international spotlight, when the country provided the worlds only all-volunteer army with its Australian Imperial Force (AIF). Combined with New Zealands troops, they formed the famous Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), a hard-fighting group of men who were instrumental in helping the British. However, of Australias more than 300,000 volunteers, more than 180,000 lost their lives or were wounded. The most famous battle was in 1915, when Australian soldiers landed along the rugged Turkish coast at Gallipoli in hopes of helping the British and French capture the capital of Constantinople. The attack was a disaster, though, that left more than 10,000 Australian, New Zealand, and British soldiers dead after trying to fight their way up the cliffs against German and Turkish gunfire. The bravery of these soldiers, which united the Australian nation, is commemorated in the annual ANZAC Day memorial ceremonies on April 25.

Meanwhile, to keep up with the medical demands of the expanding settlements and Outback cattle and sheep stations at home, The Royal Flying Doctor service was established in 1928 by minister and missionary John Flynn. The name for the continents core mobile medical team came from their use of small prop planes to reach emergencies around the vast Outback. The service, which started in Alice Springs, soon expanded to set up bases in major settlements from which medics could quickly reach remote desert locations. Patients in critical condition were transported to the nearest hospital; those only needing consultation did so via two-way radio. Now nearly a century old, this vital service has 14 regional offices and attends to more than 100,000 different cases each year.

Although the 1920s brought the inception of many innovative business enterprises, including the Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service (now Qantas Airlines), the next decade began with worldwide economic depression. Poverty spread quickly throughout Australia, where many for the first time were feeling a touch of the lifestyle to which they had relegated their Aboriginal neighbors. In 1939, the country was kick-started into action in World War II, when new AIF troops were enlisted to help England. After the Japanese took over Malaysia in early 1942, thousands of Australian soldiers were sent to the British military base in nearby Singapore to prevent the Japanese from moving south toward Australia. By mid-year, two Japanese submarines had been taken down in Sydney Harbour, and Darwin was being bombed regularly by the Japanese. US naval ships in the Pacific helped stave off further threats to Australia, and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in August put an end to the war.

The loss of thousands of soldiers in battle, and Australias tightening global alliances, caused the government to re-think the countrys immigration policies. Still, the borders stayed open to welcome waves of newcomers, many of whom were encouraged by monetary grants to come to Australia. Numerous British citizens, as well as groups from southern Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia, arrived in Australia during this time, setting up some of what are now the most colorful, vibrant neighborhoods in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth. High-quality vineyards, olive groves, and fruit orchards were also planted, courtesy of the regional experts from Italy, France, Greece, and other Mediterranean countries.