Australian History: Australia goes online
The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was the first international network to use packet switching (Technology that is still the dominant medium for data and voice communication world wide). In 1981 Australia connected to ARPANet, which could be said to be the 'Internet' (International network). Whilst this fact can be debated by the loose meaning of the words 'International Network', the 'Internet' in Australia rose from the ARPANet.
In 1985, ARPANet opened the network for commercial interest. By 1990, the term "Internet" was being used to describe this network.
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