Australian Bicentenary Australian Bicentenary The bicentenary of Australia was celebrated in 1988. It marked 200 years since the arrival of the First Fleet of British convict ships at Sydney in 1788. The bicentennial year marked Captain Arthur Phillip's arrival with the 11 ships of the First Fleet in Sydney Harbour in 1788, and the founding of the city of Sydney and the colony of New South Wales. 1988 is considered the official bicentenary year of the founding of Australia. The Australian Bicentenary was marked by pomp and ceremony across Australia to mark the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet of
1988 Gilgit massacre of Parachinar, where an estimated over 200 died. The first major anti-Shia riots in Gilgit broke out in May 1988 over the sighting of the moon, which ushers the end of the holy month of Ramadan. When Shias in Gilgit celebrated Eid al-Fitr, a group of extremist Sunnis, still fasting as their religious leaders had not yet declared the sighting of the moon, attacked them. This resulted in violent clashes between Sunnis and Shias. Following a brief calm of about four days, the Pakistani military regime reportedly used a number of militants along with local Sunnis to ‘teach a lesson’