Australia at IYPT
1998 to Today

The concept behind the IYPT originates from the former Soviet Union. After a tournament of that kind was executed there for quite a while the first international IYPT took place in 1988.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the IYPT was carried out in other European countries as well, whereas the number of participating countries grew continuously.

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Important events:

1998 -  The 11th IYPT was held in Donaueschingen, Germany. Australia and Mexico became the first non-European countries to participate. Australia was represented by a team from Brisbane Girls Grammar School.

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2001 -  In Espoo, Finland, Australia reached the Final for the first time, finishing runner-up to Slovakia.

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2002 -  The IYPT Australia Challenge was launched to give a qualifying process to select an Australian Team for IYPT. 

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2003 -  The first Australian Team that contained students from more than one school travelled to Uppsala, Sweden, for the 16th IYPT.   The three schools represented were Brisbane Girls Grammar School, Brisbane Grammar School and Fairholme College all from Queensland.

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2004 -  The IYPT took place outside of Europe for the first time. The venue was Brisbane (Australia) and jointly hosted by Brisbane Grammar School and Brisbane Girls Grammar School.

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2005 and 2006 -  The Australian Team placed 4th in both years, narrowly missing the Finals.​

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2007 -  The Australian Team again reached the Finals defeating South Korea and New Zealand.

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2008 -  Mr Alan Allinson, Brisbane Girls Grammar School was elected President of IYPT. Served in that role until 2015

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2010 -  The Junior Young Physicists' Tournament, JYPT, was launched to introduce IYPT to younger students. The first JYPT was at the Scots College in Sydney. It has been held in Australia, New Zealand. Korea and Singapore since then. Most schools competing have come from Australia and New Zealand.

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