As the 90s began, the world seemed to be a safer place. Repressive hard-line communism collapsed in Eastern Europe and the racially divisive apartheid system was dismantled in South Africa. The Soviet Union and the USA declared that the Cold War between them was over. Then in August 1991 a so called Emergency Committee tried to overthrow the government of President Gorbachev. When this attempted coup failed, thanks to the efforts of the reformer Boris Yeltsin, Gorbachev resigned as Soviet executive President and the USSR dissolved. But new threats to peace emerged. In the Middle East Iraqi President Saddam Hussein provoked the Gulf War of 1991 with his invasion of Kuwait. A terrible conflict also erupted in what used to be Yugoslavia, fuelled by ancient racial hatreds. Once again the world witnessed crimes against humanity in the guise of "racial cleansing". Although an historic peace agreement was signed between Israel and the PLO, the peace movement in the Middle East suffered a blow when an Israeli extremist assassinated Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. We also witnessed the world shed tears at the tragic death of Diana the "Queen of Hearts", and the control of Hong Kong (British colony since 1842) pass back to China. While terrorists still continued to prey on innocent citizens around the world, the IRA engaged for the first time in peace talks.

Nelson Mandela walks to freedom	Highway of Death (Gulf War 1991)
Fall of the Berlin Wall	Sarajevo under attack
Israel and PLO sign peace agreement	A nation mourns 'Queen of Hearts'

Australia at the start of the 90s saw the economy officially go into recession and the unemployment rate go higher than at any time since the Great Depression. Australian troops were once again sent overseas: first to the Persian Gulf as part of a United Nations force deployed in response to the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq; then at the end of the decade to East Timor as part of an international peacekeeping force. We also witnessed some of the worst bushfires of the century destroy enormous areas of the east coast in 1994, and in the following year Mary MacKillop became the first Australian to be considered for sainthood. This decade, however, was dominated by three events: the Republican debate - which led to a Constitutional Convention, and then a Referendum in 1999 in which Australians voted not so much for the Monarchy but against the 'compromise' Republican model; Aboriginal Land Rights - where two historic and controversial decisions by the High Court ('Mabo' and 'Wik') acknowledged the Aboriginal people's ownership of land belonging to their ancestors; and the Port Arthur massacre - where 35 innocent victims were killed in what became the world's worst massacre by a single gunman.

Australian Republican Movement	Bushfires on the east coast of NSW
Considered for sainthood	Eddie Mabo
Massacre Memorial at Port Arthur	Australian troops in East Timor

To visit the School Archives for this decade,
simply CLICK on any one of the YEAR PLAQUES listed below.