A meeting was held at the Clarendon Hotel in South Melbourne to establish a junior football club, which was named the South Melbourne Football Club.

The club commenced playing at its home ground, Lakeside Oval in Albert Park.

South Melbourne participated in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) competition.

South Melbourne attained senior status in the Victorian Football Association.

South Melbourne amalgamated with the nearby Albert-park Football Club, adopting the club's red and white colours. Following the amalgamation, the club retained the name South Melbourne.

South Melbourne won the VFA premiership.

South Melbourne traveled to Newcastle and Sydney, defeating the Northern Districts League and Sydney, respectively.

South Melbourne won the VFA premiership undefeated.

South Melbourne finished as runner-up to Geelong in the VFA premiership.

South Melbourne won three consecutive VFA premierships.

South Melbourne lost narrowly to a touring Maori team from New Zealand.

South Melbourne and Collingwood finished equal at the top of the VFA's premiership ladder, requiring a playoff match to determine the season's premiership.

Collingwood defeated South Melbourne in the VFA premiership playoff match.

South Melbourne was one of the original founding clubs of the Victorian Football League.

South Melbourne Juniors was formed by the South Melbourne Football Club, joining the Metropolitan Junior Football Association (MJFA).

South Melbourne won the VFL premiership.

The Victorian Junior Football League (VJFL) was formed, with the Leopold Football Club operating as South Melbourne's affiliate.

The red sash on the guernsey was replaced with a red "V".

The team became known as the Swans, inspired by the number of Western Australians in the team and the club's association with nearby Albert Park and Lake.

South Melbourne reached the grand final, which became known as "the Bloodbath" due to a player brawl. Carlton won the match.

South Melbourne finished fourth in the VFL under coach Norm Smith but lost the first semi-final.

South Melbourne finished fifth under coach Ian Stewart but lost the elimination final.

The VFL scheduled 2 premiership matches for the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The financially struggling Fitzroy Lions conducted a feasibility into the possibility of moving to North Sydney, but was voted down by its board in 1980.

The VFL stated that its market study showed there was sufficient support for a Sydney team and that it intended to have a team in Sydney, possibly as soon as 1982.

The South Melbourne board decided to play all 1982 home games in Sydney.

News of the proposal broke on 2 July 1981, after which a letter was sent to members justifying the board's reasons for making the proposal and noting that the coach and current players were in favour of the move.

The VFL formally accepted the proposal, paving the way for the Swans to shift to Sydney in 1982.

At an extraordinary general meeting, the Keep South at South group won control of the club's board.

The VFL failed to obtain the required majority to rescind the decision to move to Sydney.

The players went on strike, seeking to force the new board to commit to Sydney in the long term and seeking payments owed from the previous season.

The board accepted a $400,000 loan from the VFL, under the condition that it commit to Sydney for at least two years.

The club won their first official Sydney home game against Melbourne.

The club dropped the name "South Melbourne", officially becoming "the Swans" for the rest of the season.

Geoffrey Edelsten "bought" the Swans for what was thought to be $6.3 million.

The Swanettes were rapidly discontinued.

The Southern Cross club went bankrupt, and the club relocated to the newly built Sydney Football Stadium.

The Swans scored 201 points against the West Coast Eagles and the following week scored 236 points against the Essendon Football Club.

The VFL revoked the Swans license and took over ownership of the club.

A group of financial backers purchased the licence and bankrolled the club.

Coach Tom Hafey was sacked by the club after a player-led rebellion at his tough training methods.

The VFL paid Powerplay just $10 to transfer ownership of the club in an attempt to keep it afloat until a buyer could be found.

Members from the 15 AFL clubs voted on axing the struggling Swans.

Ron Barassi was recruited as coach who helped save the club from extinction while serving them as coach from Round 7, 1993 to 1995.

St Kilda Football Club champion Tony "Plugger" Lockett was recruited.

Rodney Eade took over as coach.

The Swans lost the grand final to North Melbourne, which had been their first appearance in a grand final since 1945.

Tony Lockett kicked his record-breaking 1300th goal against Collingwood in Round 10.

Paul Roos was appointed caretaker coach midway through the season, replacing Rodney Eade.

The Swans' first game played at the stadium against Essendon attracted 54,169 spectators.

Sydney announced its team of the century.

The Sydney Swans v Collingwood match set an attendance record for the largest crowd to watch an AFL game outside of Victoria with an official attendance of 72,393.

The Sydney Swans Foundation aimed initially at raising $5 million in funds to develop the Swans and the code in New South Wales was formed.

The Swans faced the Eagles in a rematch in the AFL Grand Final and prevailed by four points. The Premiership was the Swans' first in 72 years and their first since being based in Sydney.

A ticker tape parade down Sydney's George Street was held in honour of the Swans' achievements.

The West Coast Eagles avenged their 2005 Grand Final defeat by beating the Sydney Swans by one point.

Sydney finished the home and away season in 7th place, and advanced to the finals, where they faced and were defeated by Collingwood by 38 points in the elimination final.

The Swans defeated North Melbourne in the elimination final before losing to the Western Bulldogs the following week.

The club registered only eight victories as they failed to reach the finals for the first time since 2002, finishing 12th with a percentage of below 100% for the first time since 1994.

Sydney returned to the finals by virtue of a fifth-place finish at the end of the regular season. The club defeated Carlton by five points in the elimination final before losing to the Western Bulldogs in the semi-finals.

John Longmire took over as coach of the Swans.

The Swans defeated St Kilda in an elimination final before losing to Hawthorn in the semi-finals.

The Swans caused the upset of the season, defeating the star-studded Geelong Cats on its home ground, Skilled Stadium, where the home tenant had won its past 29 games in succession.

The 2012 season began for the Swans with the inaugural Sydney Derby against AFL newcomers Greater Western Sydney.

In the grand final, the Swans defeated Hawthorn by ten points, with Nick Malceski kicking a snap goal with 34 seconds left to seal the Swans' fifth premiership.

The Swans reached the preliminary finals where they were defeated by Fremantle at Patersons Stadium, its first loss at the venue since 2009.

The Swans defeated Carlton to match a winning streak set three times in club history, the last of which came way back in 1935, and eventually closed out the season with their first minor premiership in 18 years and a club record 17 wins for the season.

It was announced that the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) would be scrapped.

The 2014 AFL Grand Final was played on Saturday, 27 September 2014, in near perfect weather conditions, with Sydney seen as favourites leading up to the match. The Hawks dominated the game quite early and eventually defeated the Swans 11.8.(74) to 21.11.(137).

A pre-season Pride Game was played at Drummoyne Oval between the Swans and the Fremantle Dockers.

The Swans started off the 2016 season with a convincing 80-point round 1 win against Collingwood, with new Swans recruit Michael Talia suffering a long-term foot injury.

The Swans were defeated by the Western Bulldogs in the grand final.

The Swans women's team was founded for the 2016 exhibition series; however, they did not bid for AFLW entry until 2022.

The men's and women's U16 and U18 teams have contested Division 2 of the men's and women's underage championships.

The AFLW Pride Round was established.

The Swans Academy also joined the Talent League.

The Sydney reserves have competed in the Victorian Football League.

The Swans made a slight but inclusive change to the penultimate line of their club song, with the words "while her loyal sons are marching..." changing to "while our loyal Swans are marching...".

Following the granting of an official AFLW license, the team made its debut in 2022 AFL Women's season 7.

On 24 September, the Swans were defeated by Geelong by 133 points to 52 in the 2022 AFL Grand Final.

The club began moving into the facility in December 2022.

The facility was formally opened by the Prime Minister and New South Wales Premier.

The Swans achieved their highest home attendances in club history, with an average of 38,202 fans at each of their 11 home games at the SCG.

The club also reached a new membership record of 73,757.

John Longmire decided to announce his resignation as senior coach of Sydney Swans and hand the senior coach role to assistant coach Dean Cox.