24 Things That Happened In Australia When The Current Year 12 Started School

    Prepare to feel very, very, VERY old.

    Isha Bassi
    by Isha Bassi

    Post Writer

    The year is nearly at a close, which means Year 12 students across Australia are just about done and dusted with their final year of high school.

    Disney

    To quote a very wise source (High School Music lol), "What time is it? / Summertime! It's our vacation!"

    To celebrate the graduating cohort, let's take a walk down memory lane and see what Australia was like when they first started school.

    Disney

    1. The year was 2007 and John Howard was the prime minister of Australia.

    Sergio Dionisio / Getty Images

    2. Happy Feet won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

    Warner Bros

    3. And filming for Baz Luhrmann's Australia had just begun.

    20th Century Fox

    Starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, this ~epic romance~ would later be released in 2008.

    4. Australian Idol was still on TV and Natalie Gauci beat out Matt Corby to take out the top prize.

    Ten

    5. Big Day Out was still in full swing, with Tool, Muse and The Killers headlining.

    Bradley Kanaris / Getty Images, Mark Metcalfe / Getty Images

    And if you're too young to remember, BDO was an annual Aussie music festival held in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, the Gold Coast, Adelaide and Auckland, New Zealand every summer. It was cancelled in 2015.

    6. But there was uproar over the organisers decision to "ban" the Australian flag at the festival.

    The Sydney Morning Herald / Via smh.com.au

    7. The Chaser Boys were arrested for their Osama bin Laden stunt at the APEC summit.

    ABC

    8. The last episode of Bert's Family Feud aired.

    Nine Network

    9. While shows like Sea Patrol, Farmer Wants A Wife, and The Morning Show premiered.

    Nine Network, Seven Network

    10. The PlayStation 3 was released, as was the iPod Classic.

    @scottdelgado88 / Via instagram.com, @rachelwhitedoe / Via instagram.com

    11. And nearly everyone was sporting a flip phone like this.

    12. Avril Lavingne performed "Girlfriend" at the Logies.

    Patrick Riviere / Getty Images

    13. Home and Away returned with a banging season opener that was about whether Sally survived being stabbed.

    Seven Network

    Spoiler alert: She did.

    14. Everyone was talking about that documentary called Bra Boys.

    Berkela Films

    15. The Veronica's released "Untouched", which went on to become Australia's unofficial anthem.

    Sire Records

    16. While Silverchair released "Straight Lines", which bagged Single of the Year and Best Selling Australian Single at the ARIAs.

    Eleven

    17. Oh, and let's not forget about Operator Please's insanely catchy "Just A Song About Ping Pong".

    EMI

    18. In fact, these were the top 10 songs on the ARIA charts in 2007.

    ARIA / Via aria.com.au

    19. Potterheads lined up at bookstores to get their hands on a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

    Michael Gottschalk / Getty Images

    20. And Twihards did the same, but for Eclipse.

    21. Aleisha Cowcher won the seventh season of Big Brother.

    Ten

    22. And Summer Heights High debuted and became an instant success.

    ABC

    23. The fourth season of Kath & Kim premiered on Seven.

    Seven Network

    This was kind of a big deal at the time since it marked a move away from the ABC and towards a commercial channel like Seven.

    24. And finally, the Kevin 07 campaign successfully ushered in Kevin Rudd as PM.

    Stefan Postles / Getty Images, Bradley Kanaris / Getty Images

    That is until there was a leadership spill in 2010.