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Some images are burned into our memories. Others will shock us, move us, or surprise us with their beauty. For 50 years The Australian has showcased the nation’s best news and features photography, capturing everything from war and political drama to high fashion and awe-inspiring landscapes.
Charles Perkins makes a splash at the newly desegregated Moree pool in February 1965. After visiting the town with our reporter just weeks before, he had returned as part of his Freedom Ride. Picture: Neville Whitmarsh
Australian army conscripts collect their kit in 1965. From 1964 to 1972, young men were randomly chosen by ballot to perform two years' National Service. Two hundred "nashos" would be killed in Vietnam
Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali stands over challenger Sonny Liston in a controversial May 1965 fight that lasts less than two minutes. Ali (Cassius Clay) had snatched the title from Liston in February 1964
Ronald Ryan, pictured flanked by police in 1966, was found guilty of the murder of a prison warder and became the last person to be executed in Australia when he was hanged in Melbourne's Pentridge Prison in 1967
Rufus Youngblood, bodyguard to visiting US President Lyndon B. Johnson, is spattered with paint during a 1966 protest in Melbourne against the Vietnam war. Picture: Terry Phelan
Prime minister Harold Holt, pictured in 1966 with his daughters-in-law at Portsea near Melbourne, disappears during a swim in the area on December 17, 1967. Photograph by Ron Iredale
Members of 7RAR wait for Iroquois helicopters to return them to Nui Dat after Operation Ulmarra in August 1967. Australian troops serve in Vietnam until late 1972. Picture: Australian War Memorial
Former prime minister Sir Robert Menzies jokingly taunts Ron Barassi with his cane at the opening of the Aussie Rules legend's office furniture business in Melbourne, May 1969
Australian women take up the fight against sex discrimination with new vigour, in 1969 demonstrating outside Melbourne's Trades Hall in support of equal pay
Wish you were here ... at Tranquility Base on the moon, Buzz Aldrin (left) deploys a solar wind experiment as Neil Armstrong walks towards the lunar module on July 21, 1969
An elated prime minister elect Gough Whitlam and his wife Margaret arrive in Canberra the day after sweeping to victory in the December 2, 1972 election
Carlton's king of the specky, Alex Jesaulenko, takes what would be voted the Mark of the Century in the VFL grand final against Collingwood, September 26, 1970
Jim Cairns steps out with former secretary Junie Morosi at a 1977 festival near Canberra. Scandal over their affair had helped bring down the Whitlam government
In February 1978, a bomb explodes outside Sydney's Hilton Hotel, killing three people. The nation's first terrorist attack was aimed at the visiting Indian PM
Refugees from Vietnam wait on their vessel in Darwin, April 1979. From 1976 to 1981, more than 2000 asylum seekers arrived in this first wave of "boat people"
A rioter dances in a Newcastle street on September 19, 1979 after a crowd of thousands at the Star Hotel's closing night descended into violence. Picture: Ron Bell
In February 1981, seven months after their baby vanishes, the Chamberlains accompany Senior Constable Frank Gibson on a search of the Uluru camp area. Lindy will be jailed for murder before being exonerated in 1988
Australia II's triumphant skipper, John Bertrand, is mobbed as he steps ashore in Newport in September 1983. The underdog Aussie yachtsman and his crew have snatched the America's Cup from the New York Yacht Club
Aboard a plane during the 1983 campaign, Labor leader Bob Hawke holds court with (from left) journalist Colin Parks, Senator Kerry Sibraa, journalist Peter Logue, adviser Geoff Walsh and staffers Kate Moore and Janet Willis. Picture: Ray Strange
Ian Macrea and his son Robbie, 15, carry their dog and a few possessions from the ruins of their home in Cockatoo, south-east of Melbourne, after the Ash Wednesday bushfires in February 1983. Picture: Mike Arthur
By June 1985, when this image of an Ethiopian from Tigre province being helped by aid workers is published, more than a million people have starved to death in the drought-hit African nation. Picture: Sebastiao Selgado
Tasmanian Independent MP and future Greens leader Bob Brown is manhandled by loggers during a March 1986 protest against forest clearing operations at Farmhouse Creek in Tasmania. Picture: Fred Kohl
Aboriginal men line up to kiss the hand of Pope John Paul II after performing a spiritual dance in Blatherskite Park near Alice Springs, November 29, 1986
Police take cover as shots ring out in Queen St, Melbourne on December 8, 1987. Gunman Frank Vitkovic kills eight people in an office building before plunging to his death in our worst massacre to that date. Picture: Bill McAuley
West Germans hack at a portion of the Berlin Wall. After a popular uprising, the wall that has divided the city for decades falls on November 9, 1989. Picture: Stéphane Duroy
Nelson Mandela and his wife Winnie salute supporters at a rally in Durban, South Africa on February 25, 1990, two weeks after the ANC leader's release from jail. Mandela had been in prison for 27 years
Carmen Lawrence is pictured in the kitchen of an Aboriginal centre in February 1990 soon before becoming the nation's first female premier. Picture: Ernie McLintock
St Kilda player Nicky Winmar takes a stand against racist taunts from hostile Collingwood supporters at an AFL game in Melbourne in April 1993, pointing to his skin and declaring "I'm black and I'm proud". Picture: John Feder
Eddie Mabo's widow Bonita visits his grave in Townsville with daughters Maleta West, left, and Bethel Ryan on January 25, 1993. Mabo was named our Australian of the Year following the landmark native title victory in his name. Picture: Colin Murty
On November 11, 1993, the Unknown Soldier is finally laid to rest in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra. The coffin contains the first and only remains of an Australian soldier to return from the Western Front. Picture: Michael Amendolia
Prime minister Paul Keating wears a headdress made from hornbill beaks during a ceremony naming him Paramount Chief of the Oro people in Papua New Guinea, September 1995. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen.
During the March 1997 military uprising in PNG, a bodyguard loyal to sacked Brigadier-General Jerry Singirok threatens a soldier suspected of supporting the government. Lyndon Mechielsen took the picture through the fence of Murray Barracks, Port Morseby
Athlete Nova Peris-Kneebone takes to Darwin's Casuarina Beach in 1998 with daughter Jessie, 10, after being named the first runner in the 2000 Olympic torch relay. Picture: Nick Cubbin
Ian Thorpe, 15, becomes the youngest man in history to win a world swimming title after taking out the men's 400m freestyle at the World Championships in Perth on January 15, 1998. Picture: Gregg Porteous
Amid a wave of killings in the lead-up to the East Timorese independence vote in August 1999, Silbano Gustavo (second from right) grieves for his father Hilario. Police suspected Falantil guerillas of the murder in Desa Darulete. Picture: John Feder
With a nation’s hopes on her shoulders, Cathy Freeman prepares for the 400m final at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. It will take Freeman 49.11 seconds to run her way into gold medal history. Picture: David Caird
Waterfalls cascade down Uluru during a period of record rainfall in the red centre. This image by Alice Springs photographer Steve Strike, published on Page 1 on February 23, 2000, prompted a huge response from readers
New York’s World Trade Centre lies in eerie, smouldering ruins after September 11, 2001. Almost 3000 people were killed in the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. Picture: Sacha Waldman
Mohammed Mohsin, with son Mohsin on his shoulders, leads his family out of battle-torn Basra on March 29, 2003, as British forces lay siege to Iraq’s second largest city. Picture: John Feder
Nuratia, 12, is prepared for a Muslim burial at Lhoong, south of Banda Aceh, her face dusted with powder. The schoolgirl died of infection after the devastating tsunami of Boxing Day 2004. Picture: Renee Nowytarger
Mutthi Mutthi man Colin Charles sits in the alien landscape of the “Walls of China” under a full moon in Lake Mungo National Park, south-west NSW, June 2004. Picture: Brett Faulkner.
Firefighters in a CFA truck flee a giant firestorm at Labertouche near Pakenham, east of Melbourne, on Black Saturday, February 7, 2009. Picture: Alex Coppel
An emotional Kevin Rudd, with his wife Therese Rein and son Marcus, resigns as prime minister on June 24, 2010 after Julia Gillard challenges and wins the leadership unopposed. Picture: Ray Strange
A woman combs the debris of Japanese fishing port Ofunato on March 17, 2011. The town was wiped out six days earlier by a massive earthquake and tsunami that left at least 19,000 dead or missing. Picture: Kelly Barnes
The coffin of a 10-week-old boy is loaded onto a plane on Christmas Island in July 2013. The baby, an Afghan Hazara, died when a boat carrying asylum seekers capsized north of the island. Picture: Colin Murty
