Australia was first connected to the Internet in 1986 - a time when Crocodile Dundee was a big hit at the box office and Bob Hawke was the Prime Minister. That's when the country's official top level domain - .au - was first deployed,  giving Aussies their own unique online identity and - more than 3 million .au domain name registrations later - they've never looked back. 

The earliest adopters of the .au domain namespace included iconic local brands like St. George Bank, LJ Hooker, Wattyl and the Sydney Opera House. 

Image courtesy of AustraliaDomainNames.com.au

He pointed to Innovative changes such as the introduction of one-to-five year terms and direct .au registrations that give Australians a greater opportunity to get online by registering domain names in formats like yourname.au and businessname.au.

Kinderis added, "This is not the finishing line and it is vital that we protect this national asset and recognize the investment made in the .au domain namespace over the 30-year course, while positioning for success for the next 30 years and beyond. The .au domain namespace is indeed worth celebrating, so congratulations to each and every online Australian who chooses to represent themselves and their businesses online with a .au domain name."