2006 was the year that Cyclone Larry rung up a 250-million-dollar insurance claim for the people of Northern Queensland. Beginning as a low-pressure system over the Coral Sea, this severe tropical cyclone made landfall on Monday March 20 in Innisfail, Northern NSW.

Despite the unfolding Global Financial Crisis, 2007 was a prominent year for technology buffs. In his trademark presentation style, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced to the world, their newest product at the annual Macworld conference

2008 was the year that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered a national apology to the Stolen Generation.

In 2009 Barack Obama was elected as America’s first African-American President. The election of the charismatic Democrat Senator was highly symbolic in a country with a history of slavery and civil rights struggles.

On January 12, 2010, one of the world’s poorest countries, Haiti, was hit by a devastating natural disaster. A 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the near the island’s capital Port-Au-Prince.

After almost ten years searching for Al Queada frontman Osama Bin Laden, in May Barack Obama announced that Bin Laden had been killed during a secret U-S military raid on an Al Qaeda safehouse in Pakistan.

2012 was the year Australian Julian Assange, founder of internet whistle-blower site WikiLeaks, sought asylum in the Ecuador’s Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning over sexual assault allegations.

A tragedy made the headlines in April 2013 when more than 1100 people were killed and 2500 injured as an eight-story garment-factory in the Savar district of Bangladesh collapsed.

On the 8th of March 2014, Australians woke to the news that a Malaysian Airlines flight bound for Beijing had gone missing. MH-370, carrying 239 people, had disappeared off the radar.

On the 14th of September in 2015 – Malcolm Turnbull wrestled the prime ministership of Australia away from Tony Abbott in a Liberal party room spill – winning 54 votes to 44.