Change was in the air in footy mad Melbourne when a young Julian Assange decided he was going to shake-up the world.
Although not a native of the Australian mainland's most southern capital, Assange had finally settled down after years on the road.
Collingwood, one of the giants of Australian Rules football, had just broken its 32-year premiership drought when a 20-year old Assange decided to hack into the Melbourne master terminal of Nortel - a Canadian multi-national telecommunications corporation.
Julian Assange in 1995 after facing court in Melbourne on charges of computer hacking. Assange was known back then to enjoy the rave scene and it was the town where he developed his idea for WikiLeaks
A fresh-faced Julian Assange. The WikiLeaks founder lived in several locations along Australia's east coast when he was a child before settling down in Melbourne. It was there he put his plan in motion to establish an enterprise that would ultimately see him held in captivity
A bearded and clearly upset Julian Assange is dragged from the Ecuadorian embassy. He began his rise to infamy in Melbourne where he was prosecuted in the 90s for hacking into a Canadian telecommunications company
The most anyone had really heard of hacking in the 90s lingered from memories of the 1983 movie War Games, which starred a young Matthew Broderick.
Kids were still enthralled by the Sega Mega Drive and lucky teens were captivated by the Commodore Amiga.
Today Assange sits in a London jail cell pondering a bleak future that could see him spend years more behind bars in a United States prison.
He has already been found guilty of failing to surrender to the court and now faces US federal conspiracy charges related to one of the largest ever leaks of government secrets.
The WikiLeaks founder was dragged kicking and screaming from the Ecuadorian embassy in London on Thursday where has been holed up for several years in a bid to avoid extradition to the US.
But when his asylum was dramatically withdrawn, he was unceremoniously removed from embassy by police - all the while shouting: 'This is unlawful, I am not leaving.'
Born in 1971, Assange had found himself in Melbourne after a circus-life-like pilgrimage across the country with his family.
Starting in Townsville, in Queensland's north, he lived in various places along the east coast before settling in Melbourne.
His mum Christine Ann Hawkins is thought to still be living in Northern NSW on Australia's east coast.
She took to Twitter today to support her son.
'I have just spoken to one of Julian's lawyers ... UK likely to seek max prison term of 12 months in higher court. Our focus is as always to STOP a U.S. Extradition! Let's get to it!' she tweeted.
Ms Assange had hooked up with her son's father, anti-war activist and builder John Shipton, in the 60s but they split before Assange was born.
She later married and divorced Richard Brett Assange, an actor, with whom she ran a small theatre company.
Julian Assange in 2011 holds up his Sydney Peace Prize after receiving the award in London. Assange had lived an unstable life in Australia before cooking up an idea that would see him spend years in captivity
Last December, Mr Shipton travelled to England to support his son, calling for his 'torment' to end.
1971: Born in Townsville to parents Christine Hawkins and John Shipton
1979: Christine and Brett Assange divorced
1979–1983: Attends Goolmangar Primary School in New South Wales and Townsville State High School as well as being schooled at home
1994: Studied programming, mathematics, and physics at Central Queensland University
1996: Pleads guilty in Melbourne to hacking charges and is fined
2003–2006: Attends Melbourne University
2006: Founded WikiLeaks
April 2010: WikiLeaks published a series of leaks and is investigated by the US Government.
November 2010: Sweden issued an international arrest warrant for Assange
December 2010: Assange surrendered to UK police but was released on bail within 10 days
2010: Breaches his bail in London
2012: Flees to the Ecuadorian embassy
2015: WikiLeaks had published more than 10 million documents and associated analyses, and was described by Assange as ‘a giant library of the world's most persecuted
