1996 saw a huge leap in the number of computers which could host the internet, rising from 1 to 12 million. The World Wide Web was starting to take off as a means of information dissemination, commerce, and collaboration across the globe.

Where were you on the 31st of August 1997? It may be tough to remember a specific date, but you will likely recall the shocking death of Diana, Princess of Wales in a car crash in Paris, chased by Paparazzi.

It was the scandal that nearly brought down an American president. In 1998 US President Bill Clinton finally admitted to having a relationship with White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, after he previously denied they’d engaged in sexual relations.

It was the disaster that never happened. In 1999 there was a significant concern about the Y-2-K bug, with predictions that computers would fail at beginning of the new millennium.

In the year 2000 Sydney hosted the Olympic games. Previously Australia hosted the world’s biggest sporting spectacle in Melbourne in 1956.

In 2001 the world changed forever with the 9-11 attacks in the United States. Domestic airliners were hijacked and flown into both towers of New York’s World Trade Centre, the Pentagon in Washington and a field in Pennsylvania.

In 2002, the Euro became the official currency of the European Union as it went into circulation on the 1st of January. Gone were francs, marks, pounds, schillings, pesetas, lira and guilders, among many others. There are now 19 countries that use the Euro.

On the 19th of March, 2003, U-S president George W. Bush announced the beginning of the invasion of Iraq. Australia was the third contributing member of the U-S led 'Coalition of the Willing', but many opposed what the Americans called – ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom. ‘

2004 ended with one of history’s deadliest natural disasters - the Boxing Day Tsunami - where an estimated 225 thousand people were killed. The 9-magnitude earthquake struck 160 kilometres off the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia.

In 2005 events in an Australian beachside suburb made headlines around the world. Three off-duty, out-of-uniform lifeguards, had a confrontation with four men of Middle-Eastern appearance, two of the lifeguards hospitalised a reports of community reaction spiralled. Five thousand people showed up at Cronulla beach the following Sunday, December the 11th.