March 3rd all day til midnight

1772 - French explorer, Capt. Marion du Fresne of the Mascarin and Marquis de Castries, sights Van Diemen’s Land where a party goes ashore, one Aboriginal is shot and killed, others wounded.

1799 - Torrential rains broke the drought with the Hawkesbury River busting its banks and flooding the grain stores.
Typical; either feast or famine with the water in Oz!

1816 - Not liking the cut of their jib, Aboriginal people killed off 4 white settlers near the Nepean River, NSW.

1818 - Hamilton Hume and James Meehan set out to find an overland route from Sydney to Jervis Bay.

1827 - Having something to say and determined to be heard G.T Howe started publishing the Tasmanian newspaper in Hobart.

1828 - Several deaths from whooping cough occurred for the first time in Sydney including the death of Gov Ralph Darling's son.

1837 Rejecting syphilitic John Batman and the names Batmania and Bearbrass (goodness knows why?!) the powers that were curried favour when The City of Melbourne was named after William Lamb, British Prime Minister and second Viscount Melbourne.
Sidenote-Melbourne in Florida, USA was named in a competition by a former Melbournian after Melbourne, Australia.

1840 - The first race at Flemington was off and racing.

1840 - The first sale of wool by auction in Australia was held in South Australia on this day.

1842 - On the corner of Elizabeth and Victoria Street (the site of the then Melbourne Cattle Market in fact but better known as The Queen Vic Market) the fledgling The Agricultural and Pastoral Society of Australia Felix held its first show.....which was deemed a failure due to the lack of resources in such a young colony and another event was not held until 6 years later when farmers ran amok with ploughing races on the banks of the Moonee Ponds Creek.

1854 - Australia's first telegraph line was opened.

1869 - William Lanne, supposedly the last Tasmanian Aboriginal male, died on this day. His death sparked a scramble for his remains and his body was mutilated in the morgue prior to burial.

1876 - Dockworkers in sunny Qld were granted an 8 hour work day so they could spend more time (fishing, surfing and playing beach cricket) with the family.

1885 - A contingent from NSW to fight in the Sudan departed from Sydney.

1891 - Ah Chi alias Li Ki Hong, Chinese, murdered Ah Gin, Chinese, at Daliak, York.

1891 - "One people, One destiny" was adopted as the slogan for the call for Federation by the National Australasian Convention in Sydney.

1897 - A liquor licence was granted to the Renmark Hotel and it became the first community owned hotel in the Commonwealth and was administered by a trust.

1911 - Feeling like a change of pace, Palmerston became known as Darwin.

1933 - A major national cancer conference warned that people should stay out of the sun or wear some kind of protection if they had to be out in it.

1934 - Bondi Surf Club opened a new Clubhouse opened in style.

1942 - A Japanese destroyer shelled Direction Island in the Cocos group of islands.

1942 - Broome, in Westralia, was bombed by Japanese aircraft , which resulted in many of the women and children being evacuated from the town, then the Japanese went on to bomb Wyndham.

1942 - A DC-3 took off from Java transporting civilians being evacuated and a box of diamonds. This DC-3 arrived over Australia during the Japanese air raid on Broom where it was hit by gunfire and the port engine was set on fire. During the attack two of the passengers died from bullet wounds. The damaged DC-3 force landed intact on the beach at the north side of Carnot Bay, roughly 60 miles north of Broom.

1943 - A Soviet embassy was established in Canberra and an Australian diplomat was posted to Moscow.

1945 - HMS Illustrious became the first ship to use the newly completed Captain Cook Graving Dock at Garden Island Naval Base, Sydney, NSW.

1946 - Eight died in flooding across north Queensland.

1949 - Aboriginal People gained the right to vote in Commonwealth elections...but only if their state/territory laws allowed it or if they were returned servicemen.
To be seen to be doing a great deal when there's bugger all being delivered at all.

1949 - Harold Blair, Aboriginal activist and marvellously talented tenor, announced his engagement to Dorothy Eden. They met at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music where both were taking singing lessons.

1950 - Qantas Empire Airways commenced a Sydney - Tokyo commercial air service.

1954 - Australia claimed the Australian Antarctic Territory via a 2 shilling blue stamp based on a photo taken on this date.

1966 - Gough Whitlam narrowly survived an attempt by the executive to expel him from the Labor Party after he criticised the Federal Executive over its opposition to government funding for church schools.

1967 - Liza Minnelli got hitched to Aussie singer Peter Allen.

1969 - 103 years of Morse Code on Victorian Railways came to an end with the final Morse Code transmission from Mildura to Melbourne on this day.
Message was probably something like "milk and two sugars stop and a couple of bikkies please stop ohhh some of that home made midera tea cake would go down a treat stop a foot rub would be nice, too stop I don't suppose your mother made scones again did she? stop jam and whipped cream would be delish stop hello? hello? HELLO????".

1971 - In Darwin the T&G Building on Smith Street was officially opened by the Hon H.C. Chaney CBE AFC.

1976 - Senior Const. Kevin John Laube, Victoria Police, died whilst on duty.

1978 - Former Governor-General Sir John Robert Kerr resigned from his new appointment as Australia's ambassador to UNESCO in Paris on the day he was supposed to have taken up the post. The resignation followed an outburst of public disapproval over the appointment.

1983 - The Socialist Homosexual Conference Planning Collective was first listed at Surrey Hills, NSW.

1983 - The Commonwealth Minister for Home Affairs and the Environment announced payments to twenty scuba divers for recognition of the help they provided towards protection of Australian maritime heritage.

1990 - The Bombala Railway Line (NSW) was closed.

1990 - Gay & Lesbian Rights Lobby organised a march to protest against the rise of anti-gay violence

1997 - The Holiday Inn opened on The Esplanade in Darwin.

2001 - The Sydney Mardi Gras was dancing through the streets to the theme of Out There, Everywhere.
The lead float was titled Behind the Pink Picket Fence and was intended to send a strong political message about gay and lesbian parents and their children.

2006 - The NSW Supreme Court approved an out-of-court settlement offer made by the Immigration Department to the family of Shayan Badraie, a five-year-old boy who was detained for one year in Woomera and six months in Villawood between 2000 and 2002, resulting in severe psychological trauma. A $400,000 compensation payout was made for the psychological harm he suffered.

2007 - Sydney's Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras was shimmering in style, the theme was Objects of Love.

2008 - A new study by the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinic Research estimated that HIV infection rates could rise 73 percent in Victoria and 20 percent in Queensland by 2015 if current trends continued. Rates in New South Wales were predicted to decline.

2010 - ACON calls on the Government to introduce rapid testing for HIV following disturbing survey results from a study in Queensland which showed that there are still a proportion of men who remain unaware that they have contracted the virus.

2012 - Mardi Gras in Sydney was adored near and far to the theme of Infinite Love.

2012 - Thousands of Australians were ordered to evacuate their homes in Sydney's northwest and elsewhere in New South Wales state as heavy rainfall flooded rivers and waterways.

2014 - The United Nations' highest court banned Australia from making any use of documents it seized from a lawyer working for East Timor in an arbitration case over a multibillion-dollar oil and gas deal between the two nations.

2015 - Ghillar Michael Anderson, leader of the Euahlayi people and ambassador of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra, wrote an open letter to the United Nations in which he stated that the proposed closures of remote communities were to open up the land for mining.

2018 - HAPPY MARDI GRAS!!!
40 years of Evolution

2nd March in The Fair Isle of Oz through history

1788 - Governor Phillip went for a not-so casual stroll as he was a picky bugger and was looking to see if the agricultural grass was greener at Broken Bay than Sydney Cove.

1829 - Daniel Brown was Hanged at Hobart for murder of a fellow-convict named Stopford at Macquarie Harbour.

1829 - John Salmon was Hanged at Hobart for murder of a fellow-convict named Stopford at Macquarie Harbour.

1839 - Joseph Redman was a greedy bugger when he applied to marry Frances Ann Nevin . The application was knocked back as the greedy bugger was already married with 7 children.

1840 - Patrick Leslie was a leader amongst men...or a drover amongst pastoralists when he drove the first mob of sheep overland from NSW to Moreton Bay.

1840 - The first competitive Agricultural Exhibition was held at Fordham's Hotel in Grenfell Street, Adelaide, where people were flashin' their fancies.

1850 - Mystery was the ships name but there was no mystery as to her fate; she struck a rock when the wind changed whilst sheltering under Swan Island, Tas. and her crew abandoned ship. During the following day the lighthouse keepers assisted the crew to salvage the cargo and much of the gear and fittings, before the Mystery broke up in a gale.

1851 - Excitingly the very first census of Victoria revealed that man had been successfully doing the horizontal limbo with the population hitting 77,345.
I have an idea how they were spending their free time....

1857 - Chu-Ah-Luk was Hanged at Melbourne Gaol for the murder of Ah Pat at Campbell's Creek.

1860 - Stuart departed Chambers Creek on the first of his expeditions to cross from the south to the northern coast.

1860 - The Hall of Commerce was a large iron building in Watt St, Newcastle until it caught alight on this day, was consumed by the flames within an hour and ceased to be a large iron building.

1863 - Const. Thomas Cavanagh (NSW) died whilst on duty.

1865 - The Jardine Expedition north from Carpentaria Downs to establish a settlement at Cape York named Somerset completed its 1,600-mile journey after five months of peril and hardship, travelling over difficult country, and several clashes with the Indigenous residents without loss of human life. Twenty-one horses, the mule, and many of the cattle were lost.

Vale the mule.

1866 - Surprise by name and surprise by nature; the ship Surprise left the Gippsland Lakes for Melbourne on this day and was not seen again.
Surprise!

1884 - Pizarro was sailing from Barrow, England to Cooktown, Queensland with railway material; she passed Gabo Island, Victoria on this day and was never seen again.

1889 - Long Jimmy alias Jimmy Long, a Malay, was Hanged at Fremantle Prison for the murder of Claude Kerr on board a pearling lugger 'Dawn' at Cossack.

1891 - A group of colonial representatives had a knees up in Sydney to form the rules of the Aussie constitution. They tagged Sir Henry Parkes as the president. 

1904 - The second parliament opened and closed with the same Prime Minister, but there were four changes of government and three different Prime Ministers between the 1903 and 1906 federal elections. This was the most unstable of Australia's 40 parliaments.

1916 - Sgt 1/C William Bowen (NSW) died whilst on duty.

1919 - The Main South Railway line (NSW) was opened.

1929 - More than slightly displeased with the reduction in their hard won wages, NSW coal miners staged a strike that lasted all through winter (brrrr) until June the following year.

1933 - The coastline of NSW felt the effects of a tsunami that had originated in Japan.

1942 - Sianta was sank after being torpedoed and shelled by a Japanese submarine 250 nautical miles west of North West Cape, WA. Forty of her crew of sixty-one survived.

1946 - A cyclone generated weather that caused damage to Cairns to Townsville some loss of life.

1949 - A major cyclone hit Gladstone, doing extensive damage to the town.

1955 - Const. McManus (WA) was killed whilst on duty.

1956 - John (King) Kelly, half-brother to Ned, former WA policeman, WW1 ANZAC, and circus stunt rider died in Buenos Aires.

1959 - Standing around leaning on shovels wasn't allowed as work officially began on the Sydney Opera House, although the old tram shed at Bennelong Point had gone the way of the Dodo the year before.

1967 - Prime Minister Holt introduced legislation for a referendum to be held on May 27, 1967.

1971 - Radio station 8HA Alice Springs began broadcasting music.

1971 - Leadbeater's Possum was proclaimed the official animal emblem of Victoria, Australia.

1972 - The last RAAF flight out of Vietnam.

1972 - The first Australian Falcon, the Ford XA, was introduced.

1973 - Boyne was a work boat that was rammed and sunk by the dredge Sir Thomas Hiley at the mouth of the Brisbane River, with one life lost.

1986 - QEII put pen to paper and signed on the dotted line to cut some (but not all, of course) apron string constitutional ties between Australia and Britain.

1987 - The first Aria Awards was held in Sydney but was not televised so therefore did not put anyone off their stroke.

1992 - The Gwabegar Railway Line (NSW) was closed.

1992 - Open Learning University began playing with peoples minds when it started broadcasting on the ABC TV.

1994 – A parcel bomb exploded at the Adelaide office of the National Crime Authority, killing Detective Sergeant Geoffrey Brown and injuring lawyer Peter Wallis.
Dominic Perre was charged but released due to lack of evidence.

1995 - Gay and Lesbian Teachers and Students split as two Executive Committees seek to take control of the Association.

1996 - John Howard became PM of Oz and put everyone right off the very thought of procreation.

1996 - The Oh So Fabulous Mardi Gras glittered its way through Sydney.

1998 - Channel 10 TV won its timeslot with a broadcast of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade.

1999 - Dominic Davies, co-author of The Sexual Politics of Disability, presented a lecture on disability and sexuality.

2002 - The theme of the spectacular Mardi Gras on this day was Happy Mardi Gras!

2004 - And not a can of baked beans in sight...Cyclone Monty shared its lovin' with 210 kmph winds in Westralia.

2005 - A competition for the design of the National Police Memorial in Canberra was launched today.

2009 - In southern Australia rescuers used jet skis, backhoes and human muscle to save dozens of whales and dolphins stranded on Naracoopa Beach on Tasmania state's King Island. Rescuers refloated 54 whales and five bottlenose dolphins. A total of 194 pilot whales and seven dolphins became stranded the previous evening.

2010 - Today was Queensland's wettest day on record, with an area average of 32mm.

2010 - In Australia Seth Enslow, an American motorcycle stuntman twice, broke the world record for the longest distance jumped on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, sailing through the air near Australia's Sydney Harbor to shatter the previous 10-year-old record. Bubba Blackwell set the previous record with a 157 foot (47.85 meters) jump in Las Vegas in 1999.

2012 - Multicultural Affairs became a Ministerial portfolio, with Senator Kate Lundy being promoted to the position of Minister for Multicultural Affairs.

2012 - Sen Const David James Rixon (NSW) died whilst on duty.
Posthumously awarded Commissioner's Valour Award.

2013 - Mardi Gras once again prettified the streets of Sydney with the theme of Generations of Love.

2016 - Pukumani poles, which tell a traditional Tiwi story about the creation of rituals to help the dead enter the spirit world, were restored and placed at the new Australian Centre for Indigenous Knowledges and Education.

Grim, Grand and Gay with a side serving of Gory, Glory and Groovy was March 1st in The Fair Isle of Oz.

Let's not beat about the bush on this one; she's packed with enough content to sink the Titanic 6 times over!

The Gory & The Grim

1816: Thomas Hill was hanged for cutting and maiming a police constable near Parramatta.

1816: William Langford was hanged for highway robbery on the Parramatta Road, robbing Wm. Wright of a silver watch.

1828: William Fowler was hanged at Hobart for the murder of a little girl.

1828: Henry Williamson was hanged at Hobart for the murder of Malcolm Logan at Green Ponds (Kempton).

1858: Edward Brown and William Jones were hanged at Melbourne Gaol for Robbery With Violence at Ararat Racecourse.

1870: A riot occurred in Adelaide during a recession. Men offered "starvation wages" for digging trenches rushed the Treasury Building and were dispersed by mounted police using the flat of their swords.

1943: Senior Constable Frederick Edward Jones, Victoria Police, died whilst on duty.

1982: Const. Stephen Henry, Victoria Police, died whilst on duty.

2016: A coronial inquest into the death of an Aboriginal woman in police custody in Broome (2012) led to vital changes in local custodial procedures.

🎖️ The Grand & The Glory

1862: The Police Regulation Act passed; all existing forces amalgamated to establish the NSW Police Force under Inspector General John McLerie.

1901: Federation fever! The Postmaster-General's Department (PMG) became effective, controlling all postal and (later) telecommunications services.

1901: The Australian Navy was "pupped" as naval and military forces of the States transferred to Commonwealth control.

1914: Australian military aviation was born when Lieutenant Eric Harrison flew a Bristol Boxkite from Point Cook, Victoria.

1940: Establishment of the Australian Legation in the US; Richard Gardiner Casey presented his credentials as Envoy Extraordinary.

1942: HMAS Perth was sunk in the Sunda Strait alongside the USS Houston. 353 of Perth's 680 crew were killed in the battle.

1970: The Indian Pacific transcontinental train successfully completed its first journey, covering 3,961km in 65 hours.

2012: The 150th Anniversary of Policing in NSW.

🌈 The Gay & The Groovy

1965: The nation was stunned when the Australian Amateur Swimming Union banned Olympic champion Dawn Fraser from competition for ten years following the Tokyo Olympics.

1967: Go-Set headlined with The Bee Gees signing to Brian Epstein's NEMS, while the annual Moomba pop concert was banned by Trustees.

1971: Federal Labor frontbencher Bill Hayden backed gay law reform.

1975: Life changed forever as Colour TV was officially introduced. ABC’s The Aunty Jack Show was the first full show in bright technicolour.

1975: Olivia Newton-John won the Grammy for Record of The Year for I Honestly Love You.

2003, 2008, 2014: The Sydney Mardi Gras marched through history with themes like "25 Years of Fabulous" and "Kaleidoscope," drawing hundreds of thousands to the streets.

2010: 5,200 people embraced stark naked on the steps of the Sydney Opera House for a Spencer Tunick photo shoot.

🛤️ The "G-Side" Serving (Progress & Pitfalls)

1836: The Newcastle Breakwater was inspected and declared a "decided failure." When those pioneers set out to fail, they did it spectacularly.

1845: Taswegians busted open their mattresses to deposit pennies in the Hobart Savings Bank on its first day of business.

1856: Civil registration started in New South Wales (including Queensland).

1869: Thousands of pigeons went hungry as Sydney teemed with people trying to spy the Duke of Edinburgh on his visit.

1910: RC Banks unsuccessfully attempted the first powered flight in Australia at Digger's Rest.

1919: The extraordinary Smith's Weekly hit the newsstands, leaving many speechless with its fury and laughter.

1954: Adelaide was rockin' and rollin' to a 5.4 magnitude earthquake.

1993: The Federal Disability Discrimination Bill made discrimination unlawful on the basis of AIDS/HIV.

2015: The Matagarup Aboriginal Refugee Camp was set up on Heirisson Island in Perth.


💡 Did You Know?
While we celebrate Australia Day in January, March 1st is arguably the day the nation actually started "acting" like a single country.
On this day in 1901, the individual colonial militias were officially disbanded and reborn as the Commonwealth Military Forces. It was the first time Australians from every state wore the same badge and answered to one single government. Essentially, March 1st is the Australian Army’s official birthday—over 120 years of service that started with a simple paperwork transfer!

28th day of February which has lasted 6 years since the arrest of Andrew...

1788 - First Aussie farm was set up at Farm Cove, by a bloke who was the only one who knew anything about farming, Henry Dodd. Henry was the convict whisperer; he was able to get the convicts to focus on doing the seed thing without whipping them silly, and in 1789 he also grew a cabbage that weighed 12 kgs. His was the first public funeral in 1791 when he popped his clogs, he was given a headstone in St John's, Parramatta.

1790 - Hospital assistant John Irving became the first convict to be emancipated; he was a surgical assistant and did his best to keep people alive when they were in the habit of getting sick and dropping off the perch. 

1799 - With settlers ignoring the previous warning on grog, Governor Hunter was forced to stamp his feet yet again and issue another order prohibiting the distillation of spirits. Party pooper. 

1814 - The settlement at Norfolk Island was abandoned due to the surrounds clashing with the decor and costing a packet to redecorate and run. 

1825 - Governor Brisbane didn't like the Feng Shui of Redcliffe so he dragged the Moreton Bay settlement over to the current-day site of Brisvegas. 

 1855 - William Ryan was Hanged at Darlinghurst for the murder of his wife Catherine near the corner of Hay and Castlereagh Sts. 

1868 - A parcel of cheques was found under a log in Ben Lomond, presumed to have been left there by the Bushranger Thunderbolt. 

1874 - Poor old Arthur Orton, butcher from Wagga Wagga, was sentenced to gaol for daring to attempt to claim to be Sir Roger Tichborne. Was he or wasn't he? He wasn't...was he? 

1881 - The Hay Branch Railway Line (NSW) was opened from Junee - Narrandera and then from Junee North Junction - Junee West Junction. 

1890 – The steamship RMS Quetta sank off Cape York Peninsula, killing 133; one of the adults to survive was Alice Nicklin who clung to the body of a dead sheep (apparently they float, who knew?) but was then able to snaffle a passing hatch as she was sans a Jack. 

1905 - The railway line from Strathmerton (Vic) to Tocumwal (NSW) opened. 

1914 - AE1 and AE2, Australia's first submarines, were commissioned into service.

1932 - The City Circle Railway Line (NSW) was opened from Wynyard - Central. 

1932 - The North Shore Railway Line (NSW) was opened from Waverton - Wynyard. 

1947 -The usual suspects were up to their mischief when the Eureka to Buninyong railway line (aka The Bunny Hop Line) was closed forever. 

1950 - A cyclone crossed over Gladstone to Hervey Bay. Floods down to Brisbane. 

1959 - The Victorian Railways St Kilda to Elwood Electric Street Railway (aka tram) was no more when, yet again, those who couldn't create destroyed what had been built by those who came before them. 

1959 - Six O'Clock Rock, the rock music show, debuted on ABC TV. The show terrified parents and teenagers, who didn't know they were teenagers, rejoiced. 

1966 - Joern Utzon resigned as architect of the Sydney Opera House, following a bitter struggle with the new Public Works Minister, Davis Hughes, over fees, costs and design changes. Hughes (a Liberal) was determined to reign in escalating costs, and to put his own stamp on the project, which had been commissioned by the previous Labor government. A major controversy erupted, with many sections of the community calling for his reappointment, but Utzon was not reinstated and left the country soon after. He disowned the final design and did not return to Australia until 1998. 

1967 - The South Australian Premier, Frank Walsh, introduced legislation to establish the Natural Gas Pipelines Authority for the conveyance of gas from the gas field at Moomba in the far north of the state to Adelaide. This had come about because not only the Gas Company converted to the use of natural gas, but the Electricity Trust also wished to use this fuel for its production of electricity at the Torrens Island power station. 

1969 - Victoria introduced provisional ("P-plate") licences for novice drivers. 

1970 - Left-wing journalist Wilfred Burchett was allowed temporary entry back into Australia after a 15-year government ban, that stemmed from his support of the Communist Party. Burchett described allegations that he brainwashed Australian POWs during the Korean War as "silly and untrue". 

1971 - The first edition of The Sunday Australian appeared, just in time to line the cocky's cage. 

1972 - Time magazine reviewed Dennis Altman’s book, Homosexual Oppression and Liberation. 

1973 - Legislation was passed with the breakfast prunes to lower the voting age in Federal elections from 21 down to 18. 

1975 - Darwin Reconstruction Commission was established by the Darwin Reconstruction Act. 

1975 - The ABC officially launched colour TV broadcasting in Australia with a five-minute special, Aunty Jack Introduces Colour, which ran from 11:58pm to 12.03am on 1 March. 

1977 - The first Aussie open range zoo, Western Plains Zoo near Dubbo, was opened, although it was missing the monkeys and organ grinders as they were busy in Canberra. 

1980 - After a swift, sadly short 5 weeks on air, the brand new Channel 10 made the decision to cease life support to its new soapie Arcade over something called "piss poor ratings". 

1981 - In Newcastle The 1981 Australian Mr Leather Contest was launched at the Criterion Hotel. “Dallas” won Mr Leather Newcastle. 

1982 - Two men were detained by police in the Bottoms Up Bar of the Rex Hotel as intoxicated persons. Note: In October 1982 the NSW Ombudsman found they were unlawfully detained. 

1985 - A gay pre-premier fund raising night of La Cage aux folles was organised by the Knights of the Chameleons Co-ordinator, Donnie Smith. 

1985 - The AFI and the Gay Mardi Gras presented the Gay Film Festival at the Chauvel Cinema, Paddington. 

1986 - The recently appointed NSW Minister for Health, Barry Unsworth, visited St Vincents Hospital AIDS unit. 

1987 - A SGMG art exhibition was held at the Hogarth Galleries in Paddington. 

1988 - The first NASCAR held outside of America was held at the Thunderdome at Calder park in Victoria, Australia. 

1988 - The SGMG and the Australian Film Institute (AFI) held the Mardi Gras Film Festival at the Chauvel Cinema. 

1993 - Victorian road rules finally caught up with the rest of the nation when cars turning left at intersections had right of way over those turning right...riveting, I know...zzzzzzzzzzz. 

1997 - In Canberra Prime Minister John Howard hosted a forum on youth suicide. Gay and Lesbian Teachers and Students Association (GaLTaS) and Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) spoke at the forum. 

1998 - Sydney's 1998 Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (theme 20 years of (R)Evolution saw the biggest show of bear solidarity in Australia as more than 4 times the previous bear numbers turned out. These are the bears women want in the woods...! 

1998 - A crowd of 700,000 lined the parade route of the 1998 Mardi Gras Parade. It was led by 220 people who participated in the first Mardi Gras. 

1999 - Flinders Island was recognised as a genocide site when it was handed over to the Indigenous People. 

2000 - The British electrical power transmission company, National Grid International, was chosen as preferred bidder to construct the Basslink electricity cable from Tasmania to Victoria across Bass Strait.

 

2001 - OutFM returned for one month’s transmission from Feb 1 until Feb 28.

2004 - The annual Bobby Goldsmith Foundation’s Shop Yourself Stupid was held in Oxford Street.

2004 - Central City Film Studios flung open their doors for business in Docklands, Melbourne. 

2004 - The Practical Guide to Mental Hygiene art exhibition by Shaun Weston and Suzanne Boccalatte opened at Gallery Barry Keldoulis. 

2007 - The greatly talented singer songwriter Oz rocker Billy Thorpe passed away. 

2009 - Melbourne Victory won the championship of the A-League 2008–09 season, defeating Adelaide United 1–0 in the Grand Final at Telstra Dome. 

2010 - The effects of a tsunami were felt along the hemlines of NSW, QLD and Tassie with 50cm wave at Norfolk Island, 42cm wave at Gold Coast QLD, 29cm wave at Port Kembla NSW, and a 28cm wave at Southport TAS.

2011 - In a weird echo of Dodd's 12kg cabbage, the 2011 Sydney Royal Easter Show was prepping on this day, and news broke of a record-breaking pumpkin that would eventually weigh in at over 390kg. Dodd would have wept with joy.

2013 – The End of the "Grey Flash": today saw the last ever Mitsubishi 380 rolled off the production line in Adelaide years prior, but by this date in 2013, the final remnants of Mitsubishi's Australian manufacturing were being cleared out. A sad day for Aussie car fans.

2021 – The First Jab: This was a huge "this day in history" moment—Australia officially reached its first full week of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. While the rest of the world was struggling, we were just starting the long road back to "normal."

2022 – The Great Deluge: On 28 February 2022, Lismore faced its most catastrophic flood in recorded history, with the Wilsons River peaking at an unthinkable 14.4 metres. It completely redefined disaster management in Northern NSW.

2024 – Leap Year Eve: Since 2024 was a leap year, 28 February was the day everyone realized they had one more day of work than they planned for.

27th day of February in Australian History

1788 - Today was really not the best one for Thomas Barrett (profession - convict, mutineer, forger, thief); he'd been sprung in the act of nicking food from the colony food store.So, to make certain they deterred any other starving human from doing the same thing again, Thomas Barrett became the first (in a very long line) bloke hung in The Land of Oz.

1793 - Marie-Louise Victoire Girardin, ship steward and cross dresser, was probably the first European woman to park her posterior in Van Diemen's Land when the ship she was on was in search of La Pérouse.

1818 - William Wallis was Hanged at Sydney for robbery in the house of John Harris.

1818 - Edward Haley was Hanged at Sydney for stealing a horse, cart and other sundries near Parramatta.

1818 - Samuel Pollock was Hanged at Sydney for stealing a horse, cart and other sundries near Parramatta.

1818 - James Fitzpatrick was Hanged at Sydney for burglary in the house of John Brown at Portland Head.

1819 - The schooner Young Lachlan was "borrowed" by some convicts from the Derwent who took it for a joy ride and "somehow, unbeknownst to them, officer" ended up in Java.

1830 - Freo's first fish and chip wrapping was published, The Fremantle Journal and General Advertiser, a manuscript newspaper written by hand.

1832 - Charles Smithwick was Hanged at Sydney for the murder of George Miller at Razorback.

1863 - Crow Eaters rejoice! The South Oz parliament opened for business.

1867 - Mary Ann Bugg, Birrpai warrior and wife of bushranger Captain Thunderbolt aka Fred Ward, was freed from Maitland gaol after a public outcry at her prosecution and  three month sentence for supposed theft of fabric; fabric found in her possession but without a receipt. Such was the outcry that Magistrate Edward Day made enquiries and assisted her in petitioning the Governor for early release.

1910 - A tram accident at Lake Wendouree saw two electric tram cars (as opposed to those running on coal) have a bingle at a crossing loop, leaving the trams more than a little battered but only one passenger wildly shaken.

1912 - Following a strike on the Brisvegas Tramways, which involved much name-calling, rough n tumble, fisticuffs and a mashed hat, the Arbitration Commission granted the rights to the Union to wear their badge at work. This was only a small win for the Union as the Company refused to accept back any of the employees who were involved in the strike. The men who were involved in the strike were only re-employed in 1924 after the Tramway System was taken over by the Government.

1925 - The Wallerawang Colliery Branch Railway Line (NSW) opened from Wallerawang Colliery Junction - Wallerawang North Junction and from Wallerawang North Junction - Weighbridge Loop.

1927 - The Empire Theatre in Sydney flung open its doors and made a grand entrance with the first production being the musical Sunny, debuting the ever wonderful late great Queenie Ashton.

1927 - The first Police (wage) Award was registered in Western Australia.

1928 - Bert Hinkler completed a solo flight from England to his home town of Bundaberg Qld, where he taxied the plane down the main street to his mum's house without a hint of road rage in sight.

1938 - Mrs Jess Sams (nee Millard) of Ulladulla overtook the field of Australian anglers with a 330lb striped marlin, which remained unbeaten and secured her the principal trophy for the heaviest gamefish. Mrs Sams received an avalanche of attention and publicity with her capture, particularly for her triumph in what was, at the time, an almost exclusively male sport. The fish was also an Australian record which still stands today, on 60kg line class.

1946 - The Defence Committee agreed that all chemical ammunition held by the Army should be disposed of.

1958 - Bust out the stockings and gloves, Mavis, Queen Elizabeth II frocked up to Melbourne and attended a State Reception at the Exhibition Buildings.

1965 - The Seekers' hit song about a love-struck sheep "I'll Never Find Another (Ewe) You" hit the number 1 spot in the UK and was the very first million record selling single for any Aussie group...or sheep station.

1972 - The Women's Electoral Lobby was launched in Melbourne

1974 - Gough Whitlam appointed Sir John Kerr as G-G - whoops!!!

1982 - 8000 people and 31 floats took part in Mardi Gras led by the HLRC – theme: On Our Way to Freedom. Robert French launched the Parade which began at Town Hall Square and proceeded to the Showgrounds via George, Liverpool, Oxford and Flinders Streets and Anzac Parade.

1988 - The annual SGMG Parade was held along Art Gallery Road, Oxford and Flinders Streets with around 120,000 spectators and 60 floats and costumed groups. 10,000 later partied on at the Manufacturer’s Pavilion until 9am Sunday.

1992 - Carole Ruthchild, co-convenor of the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby (GLRL), Derek Williams, co-convenor of Gay and Lesbian Teachers and Students (GaLTaS) met with Virginia Chadwick, School Education Minister and two high school students who were forced to leave their school after anti-homosexual threats and verbal attacks.

1993 - Sydney’s 16th Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade captured a record crowd of 500,000 who watched 118 entries in a 2 hour, 2 ½ km parade.
The Party at the Showgrounds raises $800,000.

1997 - The Gang-gang cockatoo was adopted as the faunal emblem of the Australian Capital Territory.

1998 - In Canberra Federal Court Justice Moore found the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission had erred in its interpretation of the Public Service Act’s definition of spouse on 17 June 1996, by including same sex couples. The application of Roger Miller to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for spouse allowances for his partner was rejected.

1998 - 20 people protested against the actions of the city’s Strand Arcade management which demanded the shop Loot, remove gay and lesbian material from display.

1999 - The 22nd Mardi Gras Parade and Party were held with 6,000 participants led by a double sided effigy of Bob Carr and Kerry Chikarovski and are cheered on by 600,000 spectators.

1999 - The SGLMG Satellite dance party at Home Nightclub was organised as an alternative to the main Mardi Gras party.

1999 - The Rainbow Party, backed by Dawn O’Donnell, was held at the Australian Technology Park in Redfern, with profits going to the Luncheon Club.
The Luncheon Club, with its off-shoot the Larder (providing an opportunity for people with HIV to take home basic food supplies) banded together a group of dedicated volunteers and supporters to provide twice-weekly lunches for people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS, offering them an opportunity for great food in a welcoming and social atmosphere.

2000 - The 2000 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Film Festival proved to be a success with 29 sell out sessions and 23,000 tickets sold.

2000 - Cyclone Steve passed the coast at the northern beaches of Cairns causing structural damage and flooding. Wind gusts up to 85 knots were recorded and the peak wave measurement was 5 metres at Cairns Wave Recording Station. Prominent buildings were unroofed. Mareeba reached a record flood level of 12.4 metres and evacuations were conducted.

2000 - The Metropolitan Community Church held a service at the Heffron Hall to bless the Mardi Gras.

2001 - Cyclone Abigail crossed north-west of Cairns at Ellis Beach before entering the Gulf and reforming before crossing the coast again near the Queensland / Northern Territory border. Some damage was sustained on Mornington Island where the wave surge was 1.3 metres and the Maximum wind gust was 64 knots. Both Cairns and Green Island had considerable winds to 50 knots.

2001 - The Gay and Lesbian Holocaust Memorial Project and South Sydney Council held a dedication ceremony for the new Green Park monument.

2010 - Australia thousands of people in lavish costumes and various states of undress danced and partied their way through Sydney's streets, in the annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade.

2011 - Australian racehorse trainer Les Samba was gunned down at Middle Park, south of the Melbourne CBD, after reportedly leaving Crown Metropol Hotel.

2011 - Peeps got to shoot through like a Bondi Tram once more with with a chance to travel on the Sydney Tramway Museum's restored trams during a festival.

2012 - PM Julia Gillard defeated Kevin Rudd, her former foreign minister, 71 votes to 31 in a ballot of Labor Party lawmakers, ending Rudd's attempt to recapture the job Gillard took from him in an internal party coup in 2010.

2013 - “100 VOICES” An oral history project on behalf of Sydney's Pride History Group was launched at Paddington Town Hall.

2015 - The Launceston Tramway Museum held a fundraising event with night rides on restored trams.

Stuff that happened on the 26th of February in Oz history

 1606 - Willem Jansz became the first recorded European to tap dance on the shilly-shally shores of The Fair Isle of Oz at the Pennefather River, where the Banana-Bender (aka QLD) town of Weipa now stands.

Pissing off the locals, Jansz lost ten of his crew, no, not down the back of his couch, they were done a nasty mischief by the pissed off locals, during multiple visits to the shore (cos obvs they couldn't take a hint the first time!). He gave a pithy Tripadvisor review of the joint, finding it swampy, humid (and just sooo savage on his tresses).

Willem mapped 320 kms of the shore before rocking back home to the Netherlands. 

Except, the silly bugger was convinced it was part of New Guinea, and Dutch maps repeated his hubris for yonks.

1804 - Good old souse Bobby Knopwood aka Rev Robert Knopwood did spaketh forth in Tassie's first church service on the current-day site of the Tasmanian Museum.

1811 - James Hutchinson was Hanged at Sydney for stealing from the shop of Thomas Abbott. Hutchinson was originally condemned to death in June 1810 for burglary however he escaped from custody, upon being recaptured his sentence was reduced to hard labour. In February 1811 he was convicted along with James Ratty of stealing from commercial premises and both were hanged together.

1811 - James Ratty was Hanged at Sydney for stealing cloth, muslin etc. from the shop of Thomas Abbott.

1825 - Samuel Fielding was Hanged at Hobart for sheep-stealing.

1825 - James Chamberlain was Hanged at Hobart for sheep-stealing .

1825 - Stephen Lear was Hanged at Hobart for burglary at the Surveyor-General's.

1825 - Henry Fry was Hanged at Hobart for burglary at the Surveyor-General's.

1830 - Oh how simply spiffing, what-oh! 

The first serious game of cricket was held in Hyde Park where the Colonial Civilians (Currency Lads) soundly defeated the 57th regiment (the Die Hards).

Now, back to the hangings...

1830 - John Killeen was Hanged for sheep stealing. 

1830 - Samuel Jones was Hanged at Hobart for sheep stealing.

1830  - Joseph Fogg was Hanged at Hobart for an unnatural crime.

1830 - Thomas Goodwin was Hanged at Hobart for cutting the throat of Ann Hamilton with intent to kill.

1831 - Thomas Bartie was a lucky little chap when he was granted 2560 acres of land at Hinton in the Parish of Butterwick and Seaham. 

The grant was known as Rosebank

1837 - An original voyage of the damned was a ticket on the migrant ship Lady McNaghten, which arrived in Port Jackson today with 54 deaths on board her decks during and a further 13 in quarantine after the not-so-delightful-sea-jaunt.

1838  - The Fitzroy River in Westralia was just lying around waiting for someone to discover it when Commander John Wickham on HMS Beagle doffed his hat and obliged.

1840 - Seeing as Or-stray-lia had so much land to fill up 56 French-Canadian and a couple of Irish rebels from the Lower Canadian Rebellion won a free sea cruise on HMS Buffalo to be interred near current-day Concord, NSW thus blessing the colony with names like Exile Bay, Canada Bay and French Bay.

1848 - A £25 reward was offered by Govt. for apprehension of Indigenous bloke 'Darley' for the rape of a female residing at a station belonging to the Australian Agricultural Company.

1856 - James Galloway convinced a meeting of employers and employees to begin implementing the 8 hour day. A public holiday was declared and floats were prepared to represent the various trades, and was celebrated until the last procession in 1951.

1866 - Governor Darling was recalled.
Ahhh, yes, well I remember the dear, sweet little numbers he wore when out promenading upon the grassed lawns of the Colonial Parliament House, the dashing hand-tooled shoes that matched his hair ribbons so well and the delicious little draw-string bags he wore at his waist....oh.
Yes.
*ahem* He was recalled back to Britain.
Though his ensemble for the voyage was simply darling...

1872 - The brig 'Maria' sank off the coast of Queensland, Australia, with the loss of 21 by drowning and 14 by Indigenous Australians.

1882 - With a 182 metre long platform and a clock tower without a clock, Albury railway station was finally completed (no clock?). It had hit hip pockets for £24,000 (but still no clock?) and in June 1883 the station hosted a massive gala party to celebrate the linking of Melbourne and Sydney by rail...but without a time piece handy.

1902 -  The Federation Drought had the populace on its knees already so they were given a public holiday to pray for rain while they were down there. Their calls were placed in a queue and answered as soon as an operator was available, which was June 9.

1907 - The Neath Colliery Branch Railway Line (NSW) was opened from Neath - Neath Colliery.

1914 - Douglas Mawson and the crew of the Aurora received a hero’s welcome on their return to Adelaide after their 2 year Australasian Antarctic Expedition.

1917 - Annie Isabel Rankine, Indigenous leader, was born at the Aboriginal Station Raukkan (Point McLeay) in South Oz.

1942 - A float plane from a Japanese sub made a reconnaissance joy flight over Melbourne and Port Phillip Bay.

1963 - Miss Jane started looking in the mirror and hallucinating seeing people who were at home in their lounge rooms. No, it wasn't a bad dose of rocket fuel but the beginnings of Romper Room....see me walk so straight and tall, I won't let my basket fall....
Code Purple to Miss Jane's room....

1965 - Talbot Duckmanton followed in the conga line behind Sir Charles Moses as chairman of The Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC).

1968 -  Lionel Rose (1949-2011) outpointed Fighting Harada in Tokyo and became a national sports hero and an icon for Australia's indigenous community. Hundreds of thousands lined Melbourne's streets to welcome him home after his title triumph. He lost the world bantamweight title to Mexican Ruben Olivares in a fifth-round knockout in August 1969.

1973 - Prime Minister Gough Whitlam announced the establishment of diplomatic relations with Hanoi, but retained recognition of South Vietnam's Government.

1974 - The original inhabitant of Oz, Mungo Man, gave up his boney passport as evidence when the thigh bone connected to the hip bone at Lake Mungo, NSW.

1976 -  A group of beady-eyed divers from the Society for Underwater Historical Research located the remains of the Loch Vennacher off Kangaroo Island, 71 years after she went down with the loss of all.hands.

1983 - The Sydney Vice Squad led by Detective-Inspector Ernie Shepard raided the new Club 80 again. 11 men were charged with ‘scandalous conduct’.

1983 - The Oh So Fabulous Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras flounced its stuff to the theme of Our Lives/Our Selves.

1985 - A cultural festival of performance, exhibitions, forums, film and sports was held in conjunction with the Gay Mardi Gras.

1985 - Dwarf tossing raised its ugly head in a popular Surfer's Paradise nightclub as a jockey-throwing contest was ditched when no jockeys fronted up for the pleasure of being bodily bowled.

1986 - Soft Targets, a play about AIDS was held at the Stables Theatre, Nimrod Street, Kings Cross.

1991 - The LGBTI Outrage magazine was advertised on Australian commercial television.

1994 - Looking Good, the first Aboriginal gay and lesbian visual arts exhibition was held at Boomalli Aboriginal Artists’ Co-op.

1994 - Oz Lotto was launched.

1997 - The High Court announced it would allow Nick Toonen and Rodney Croome action against the Tasmanian government to proceed, paving the way for Tasmania’s anti-gay legislation to be found to be invalid.

2000 - Shop Yourself Stupid this year was extended to Broadway Shopping Centre and the Queen Victoria Building.

2005 - Retail Therapy, formerly Shop Yourself Stupid was pared back after the cancellation of its tie-in partner, the East Sydney Festival.

2006 -  In Australia Joseph Terrence Thomas (32), a former taxi driver known as "Jihad Jack" and alleged by prosecutors to be an agent for Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, was convicted of receiving funds from the group but acquitted on more serious terrorism charges.

2009 - The Australian government announced a multi-million dollar investment in research on reducing gas emissions from farm animals as part of the fight against global warming.

2010 - Australia warned Japan that "diplomacy comes to an end this year" on whaling, after presenting a bold plan to phase out the controversial hunts in the Southern Ocean.

 2014 - Today marked 100 years since Australian geologist, Dr Douglas Mawson, returned from his two year Australasian Antarctic Expedition.

2015 - Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s famous bike became a part of Australian history, due to the bike being
donated by the Prime Minister to the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House.

Twenty Third day of the month of October throughout the not-so-many eons of Oz history

1786 - Barron Field, who claimed to be the first poet of Australia *ahem* and was for a number of years an actual judge in New South Wales, was hatched today.


1789 - A 15 year old Matthew Flinders' joined the Royal Navy at the muster of the ship Alert, although her did not sail on her. 
*He's important as he sailed all around Oz, but more importantly he was proudly owned by a cat named Trim.

1803 - Rev. Robert (Bobby) Knopwood conducted the Very First Anglican Church Parade on the spot that is now Sorrento, Victoria, as part of the brand new Collins Settlement in which the convicts, in tattered clothes, were told to give thanks for their safe arrival.

Nice.

1813 - Erstwhile explorer, Ludwig Leichhardt, was pupped in Prussia (now Germany) before he, too got itchy feet to go tramping all over the Fair Isle of Oz.... until he didn't.

1823 - John Oxley farewelled his friends as he tip-toed through the tulips on his way outta Sydney to scope out the areas northwards for a suitable site for a new settlement, as he surveyed the coast betwixt Gladstone and Fingal Head in the previously mentioned HMSC Mermaid (that Phillip Parker King drove into a tree!!!) which led to the Brisbane River discovery of the Oxley person paddling about its tootsies.

Ballroom dancing, anyone?

1861 - South Australian John McKinlay’s relief expedition to locate Burke and Wills found the burial site of party member Charles Gray.

1861 - John Davis, fellow member of John McKinley's expedition, wrote in his diary;

"Awfully hot day, and no wind to help us. We read today the story of poor Kennedy's sad exploring expedition. Poor fellow, perhaps we may all of us share the same fate as his companions, who all died or were killed, like himself, on their perilous journey, with the exception of a black fellow. Watch kept all night; natives close at hand." [sic]

1862 Jackey – Indigenous man. Hanged at Bathurst for the sexual assault of Louisa Brown at Winburndale.

1884 Thomas Henry Carbury was Hanged at the Perth Gaol for the murder of Constable Hackett at Beverley.

1893 George Thomas Blantern was Hanged at Boggo Road Gaol for the murder of Flora McDonald at Marlborough Station.

1907 - Augustin De Kitchilan was Hanged at Fremantle Prison for the murder of Leah Fouracre at Peppermint Grove Farm.

1907 - Today saw the opening of the Australian Exhibition of Women’s Work in Melbourne's glorious Exhibition Building by Lady Northcote, (spouse of 1st Baron Northcote aka Henry aka 3rd Governor-General), with Pattie Deakin, (spouse of 2nd PM Alfred Deakin), running a very popular model creche during the five-week exhibition showcasing the work of musicians, artists and craftswomen, which was open to ALL women, including Aboriginal/Indigenous women.

Lady Northcote

1917 - Early wee hours saw the explosion of a brilliantly hued meteor over Ballarat

1937 – The ACTU politely requested that the Oz Government cease and desist trading with Japan, following the not-so-polite Japanese invasion of China.

1942 – The Battle of El Alamein, in Egypt, began with a massive artillery bombardment preceding attacks by British and Australian divisions.

1965 - Canberrans were celebrating (maybe) at the grand opening (not really) of their first two sets of traffic lights in the Great Capital of Oz. Only 32 years and 10 days (but who's counting?) after the Traffic Tarts of Sydney were shaking their ra-ras at their own new-fangled traffic light.

1976 - Much of southern Australia experienced a total solar eclipse....scare.

The city shat itself over the whole eclipse, scared the utter bejebus out of the populace with WARNINGS in the MSM, on the radio INTERRUPTING chit-chat with REPEATED WARNING WARNING WARNINGS  DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN repeatedly all over the shop like a mad woman's washing.

Much of southern Australia wasn't told to sit under the table in their aunt's kitchen, so much of Australia missed out on the lamingtons and lemonade.