Kevin Rudd

Kevin Rudd is Australia's current Labour Prime Minister is a hero to most of Australia but mostly the Aboriginals because of his 'Sorry' speech to them. The speech was to say sorry for the stolen generation (see article on aboriginals) the children who were taken from their native homes and placed in different families and given an education. The government regretted this as many were expelled from the schools for unruly behaviour. Kevin Rudd won the election against the Liberal party's John Howard in 2007/08. The speech was (Other than being elected) his first public show. John Howard refused to do the sorry speech because he felt it wasn't his responsibility to do so because it wasn't his government that did it.

Aborigines

Although they're not exactly heroes they are Australia's native people. They probably came to Australia a very very long time ago by people from Java in canoes going out to explore the world, or, they could of possibly walked because back then lots of the countries and continents were joined. When the First Fleet came in 1788 (see article on James Cook) the aborigines were not familiar with stealing and disobeying orders or laws so they had no idea why these people had come and invaded there territory.

Eventually as all bad things do it ended out in small war in 1799 the Black War broke out where the Aborigines had given up on waiting for them to leave. In 1869 Aboriginal girls under 18 and boys under 13 (later called the stolen generation)were rounded up and taken away by the Europeans and given to other families and, according to the Europeans, properly schooled.

The only reason the Europeans went to war with the aborigines was because of the different methods for marking territory; the Aborigines used natural things like mountain ranges and rivers, the Europeans being more relatively civilized didn't recognize this as they were used to fences and gates.

James cook

James cook was not really Australian but he claimed Australia under British command in 1788 (The Aborigines weren't happy about that and thought they wouldn't stay long... but they did.) James was born in Marton in Yorkshire, England under relatively humble circumstances and lived just like a normal boy.
When he was sixteen he moved to a fishing village were he got his first sail on a proper boat, leading him to the explorer he became.

Craig Mottram

Craig Mottram is Australias fastest runner, At the 2006 Commonwealth Games Craig got a silver on the 5000 meter run(Which I went to see) at the MCG Melbourne, Victoria. He also won bronze in Helsinki 2005 at the 5000 meters. He attended Geelong Grammar School the prestigous school in Corio, Geelong, where he found he had a talent for running.

Victor Chang

Victor Chang, was the pioneer in heart surgery in Australia. He and his team accomplished many successful heart transplants and other heart surgery. Victor became a target for the Chinese underworld, and on the 4th July 1991 he was attacked by armed men outside his car, the first bullet went through the edge of his skull, not lethal but knocked him out. Victor would have survived if the men had not fired a second bullet, the second penetrated his brain and killing him instantly. 10 years after his death Vanessa Chang, his daughter, published a book; A tribute to my father. In his memory the Victor Chang cardiac research institute was founded. It has already had major breakthroughs, the institutes main priority is to build the bionic heart also on memory of victor Chang who started the research into it.