14 October stuff that happened on this day or when I can be bothered to look it up

1824 – W. C. Wentworth and Robert Wardell begin publication of The Australian, the first independent newspaper in Australia. 

1829 - The breaking of the 4 year drought in NSW. 

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, Thu 15 Oct 1829

1829 - Governor Darling proclaimed the Nineteen Counties of New South Wales which re-defined the Limits of Location, Location, Location beyond which settlement was prohibited.

1840 With the road from Adelaide to Port Adelaide completed the two Aussie Rules football teams could finally get down and dirty on the field. 

"A great procession of people, said to number 5000, travelled down the new road to Port Adelaide. Some 450 vehicles from four-in-hand barouches to bullock teams and donkey carts, as well as 500-600 equestrians made the journey. At the Port a regatta was held and 450 people sat down to a lavish lunch provided in the warehouses of the South Australian Company who had built the road. "

1879 – Author Miles Franklin born at Talbingo, New South Wales. 

1889 - The first electric tram in Oz was flung open for posteriors to be parked upon the bench seats as the people swayed to the rhythm from Doncaster to Box Hill

Opening day 

1923 – Severe floods in Melbourne, two drown. 

Fatalities in Melbourne

1927 - HMAS Adelaide arrived at the British Solomon Islands Protectorate as part of a British punitive expedition. The Royal Australian Navy operated as part of a British empire force in one of the first instances in which Australian forces intervened in regional affairs.

1935 – The Hornibrook Bridge opens, connecting Brisbane and Redcliffe, the 2.8 km bridge is one of the longest timber and girder bridges in Australia. 

1958 – Death of Douglas Mawson, Antarctic explorer and geologist, aged 76. 

1959 – Radio comedian and quiz show host Jack Davey dies. 

1959 – Death of Errol Flynn, flamboyant film actor, in Vancouver, British Columbia, aged 50. He shares coffin space with six bottles of whiskey, a parting gift from his drinking buddies. 

1968 – The town of Meckering, Western Australia, was badly damaged by an earthquake.

10 July Australian History

1901 The Royal yacht, Ophir, sailed gaily up the Port River to Port Adelaide with the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall - later known as King George V and his lovely missus Queen Mary.

1911 HRH King George V granted the title of “Royal” for the Royal Australian Navy and it’s Permanent Commonwealth Naval Forces and the Royal Australian Naval Reserve.

1934 The Peak Branch Railway Line (NSW) was flung open betwixt Peak Junction and Occidental Mine.

1936 The 1928 Animals and Birds Protection Act listed the Tiger on the 'wholly unprotected' schedule, and it was not 'wholly protected' until 10 July 1936, only 59 days before it became officially extinct – when the last known tiger died in the Beaumaris Zoo.

Thylacine

1956 The Westbury Branch Railway Line was closed betwixt Westbury Junction and Mangoplah.

1967 New Zealand kicked ye olde pounds, shillings and pence to the kerb in favour of getting all decimal with yon currency.

1985 The Greenpeace ship, Rainbow Warrior, was sunk in Auckland Harbour by French secret agents who had attached explosives to the hull.
One person was killed, a Portuguese photographer named Fernando Pereira.

Rainbow Warrior

2004 Someone had a few brain cells when they reopened the Ballarat to Ararat Railway Line.