Winning BIG and celebrating 30 years of .AU

Nintendo released Legend of Zelda

The original Computer Graphics Division from Lucasfilm disbanded from the company and then formed Pixar Studios.

DC released Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, introducing a much darker version of superheroes.

Intel manufactures 80386, the microprocessor that set the standard for other microprocessors that followed

Jonathan Bruce Postel, considered one of the godfathers of the Internet, allocated the TLD to Kevin Robert Elz of Melbourne University in 1986.

Elz is regarded by many as one of the first people to connect Australia to the Internet. Elz was also responsible for developing Internet RFC documents, which helped the country to connect to the cyber community. The creation of these documents also paved the way for an internet-based research network within Australia.

By the 90s, .AU was already attracting the attention of some of Australia’s most recognised and loved brands, with the Sydney Opera House, Hog’s Breath Café, and Hocking Stuart all getting a name of their own.

During the early years of .AU, it was mainly Elz that took care of the TLD. However, with .AU experiencing tremendous growth, it was clear that he couldn’t oversee the task alone.

As a result, ICANN approved that a self-regulating body would look after .AU. auDa was born into a fresh Millennium, in 2000.

Along with the Australian government, auDa is in charge of implementing consumer safeguards and accredit registrars for .AU.

In 2002, AusRegistry served as the official registry for the .AU’s second level domains, mainly .com.au, .net.au, .id.au, .asn.au, and .org.au.

As the official registry, AugRegistry is associated with Domain Name System (DNS) infrastructure. In 2011, AusRegistry experienced a huge milestone when they hit the record number of 2 million .AU registrations.

This showed the world the registry’s tremendous success as the official operator of the TLD.

George Pongas, director of product management for the registry, told Crazy Domains:

.AU is an important part of Australia’s online identity and a vital tool in getting Aussies online.
Often we take for granted how long it’s been around, so we thought .AU’s 30th birthday was a milestone worth celebrating. We’re hoping Aussies get involved with the celebrations – there are prizes to be won!

In 2016, AusRegistry is celebrating .AU’s 30th year.
To commemorate this event, the registry is running a competition* to find the most obscure piece of technology that has been mass produced over the last 30 years.

So you need to:

You could be in the running to win an awesome prize, like a Beats Pill + Wireless Bluetooth Speaker or Beats by Dre Solo2 Wireless Headphones.