Internet Celebrates 20 Years in Oz
27 Nov 2009
In a big year for “birthdays” of the internet, it’s Australia’s turn to mark the coming of the net Down Under with the 20th anniversary of its switch on here.
Australia’s Academic and Research Network (AARNet) made the country’s leap into cyberspace in 1989 with Australia’s very first international Internet connection through a 56 kilobit per second satellite link that connected the University of Melbourne and the University of Hawaii.
This was the first known direct live overseas link with Australia, and today, the same connection to the United States is 200,000 times faster operating at 10 gigabits (Gbps) per second.
“20 years ago, the idea of the Internet only existed in the technical realms of Australia’s universities and research institutions,” Chris Hancock, CEO of AARNet said.
“The concept of how the Internet could change the way we work, play, learn and communicate was unknown to the general population in Australia. The Internet has become so much a part of our lives now that it is hard to believe it is only 20 years old in Australia.”
While AARNet’s achievement may have represented the country’s entry into the greater digitally connected world, it wasn’t quite the first computer collaboration in Australia.
Indeed, Australia can claim to be one of the earliest to experience computer networking.
One of the earliest computing networks was CSIRONET, established by Dr Trevor Pearcey in 1963. The first local network in Australia, CSIRONET connected more than 50 computers and more than 250 terminals around Australia in 1976.
The AARNet milestone is the latest in a series of celebrations of the development of the internet around the world this year.
Earlier this year, the achievements by Tim Berners-Lee and his team from CERN was celebrated as the 20th anniversary of the World Wide Web.
And in October, the attention turned to the 40th anniversary of the switching on of ARPANET, the US defence research network that is the infrastructure foundation of today’s Internet.
AARNet’s 1989 achievement is being commemorated with the launch of a book “AARNet – 20 years of the Internet in Australia” documenting the history of how the Internet was established here.
Governor-General, Ms Quentin Bryce, AC, will launch the book – written by Glenda Korporaal - at Admiralty House, Sydney.
“For more than half a decade, AARNet’s history was also the history of how the Internet was established in Australia. The individuals we have documented in the book were amongst the pioneers of the Internet in Australia,” Ms Korporaal said.
“As Australians debate about the merits of the National Broadband Network, they should look at the history of AARNet to gather deeper insights into what may happen in the future.”
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