1959
- University friends Alastair Wood, Ian Wall and Jim Bettison establish EILCO – the Electronics, Instrument and Lighting Company Limited, in Adelaide, South Australia to tackle a range of challenges in electronics engineering.
1961
EILCO releases its first High Frequency Radio – Type 6104 HF Transceiver – for the School-of-the-Air network operating in the Australian outback.
1970s
- Codan acquires an interest in IMP Engineering, an Australian manufacturer of Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs).
- Codan wins its first Australian Export Award for Outstanding Export Achievement.
- Codan relocates its Adelaide premises from Norwood to Newton, South Australia to expand production capacity and focus on export growth.
- Codan commences exports of its HF radio equipment to Papua New Guinea and the US.
- EILCO forms a joint venture with Associated Electronics Services to develop HF radio. They call the joint venture Codan.
- EILCO wins an Australia-wide contract to re-equip 12 Royal Flying Doctor Service base stations with HF radios.
1980s
- Codan revolutionises radio communications by launching its automatic tuning whip antenna.
- Codan releases the 5300 series, its first C-Band Satellite Transceivers.
- Codan releases the 9000 series, its first Ku-Band satellite transceivers for use on Australia’s AUSSAT satellites.
- Codan produces Satellite RF subsystems for AUSSAT to support the launch of Australia’s first domestic satellite system.
- The United Nations (UN) makes a significant purchase of Codan HF Radio equipment for their relief efforts in Uganda, signalling the start of Codan’s operations in Africa.
1990s
- Codan acquires MITEC – Queensland designer and manufacturer of high power satellite amplifiers and digital microwave radio technology.
- Codan launches its New Generation Transceiver (NGT) product range with revolutionary HF Radio user interface.
- Codan releases its 5700 series C-Band Satellite Transceiver.
- Codan’s 5700 series C-Band satellite transceivers win awards for Excellence in Innovation, Commercialisation and Export Excellence from the Electronics Industry Association.
- Codan launches the world’s first commercial modem for fast and fully automatic HF fax and data transmission.
- Mike Heard joins Codan as CEO.
2000
- Codan wins Manufacturer of the Year, Product Innovation for its 5900 series Ku-Band transceiver.
2005
- Codan acquires Talia Sound and Vision which then merges with Provideo to become Codan Broadcast.
- Codan opens offices in India and China.
- 2110 HF Manpack wins Gold Cup award for Excellence in Innovation and Commercialisation at the Electronic Industry Association Awards.
- Codan wins the Design Wrought Product category at the International Magnesium Association’s Annual Design Awards for its 2110 HF Manpack.
- Codan wins Innovator of the Year at the EDN Innovation Awards for its Satellite 6700 series MBUC.
2009
- Codan celebrates its 50th anniversary.
- Codan establishes its Military and Security Division in the US.
- Codan wins Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Award in the Asia Pacific Aerospace and Defence category for Tactical Military Communications Provider of the Year.
2012
- Codan acquires Minetec, developer of innovative mining productivity and safety solutions, which was founded by Greg Anderson in 2000.
- Codan sells its satellite communications assets to CPI international.
- Codan launches the Envoy™ High Frequency Software Defined Radio and 2110M Manpack with 3G ALE.
- Codan acquires Daniels Electronics, Canadian designer of land mobile radio products.
2013
- Minelab achieves record-breaking GPX sales into Africa.
- Minelab releases the CTX 3030 Waterproof All-Terrain Treasure Detector.
2015
- Minelab opens distribution centre in Dubai for direct distribution into the African market.
- Minelab releases GO-FIND® Metal Detector series.
- Minelab releases GPZ 7000® Gold Detector.
- Codan Communications releases STRATUS® transportable P25/LTE solution.
2019
- Codan Communications completed development of the new Sentry® Military Manpack.
- Minelab delivered first shipment of the new MDS-10® countermine detector.