20 July Australian History

1888 The Women's Suffrage League was formed in South Australia.

1923 Victoria Railways got all silly and started introducing new fangled electric locomotives.

1972 By order of the government, 150 Australian Federal Police evicted the diplomatic staff and pro-landrights protestors, arrested eight people and removed the Tent Embassy by force. The violent eviction was followed by large-scale protests.

1975 The coast of NSW was gently washed and rinsed from the effects of a tsunami that originated in the Solomon Islands.

1979 Inaugural meeting of the National Farmers' Federation.

1989 Landcare became a nation-wide program when the Federal Govt announced the "Decade of Landcare" plan for the nation,  alongside the funding of $320 million.

1992 The Molong - Dubbo Railway Line (NSW) was kicked to the kerb.

2017 Jabiluka made news headlines in July with reports that a team of archaeologists had uncovered evidence confirming the colonisation of Australia at least 65,000 years ago.

15 July Australian History

1851 – Charles La Trobe, aka Charley Joe, was appointed as first Lieutenant Governor of Victoria.Party!

Charles La Trobe

1912 – The first branch of the Commonwealth Bank opened. Party!

1915 The first group of NZ wounded soldiers returned from Gallipoli to Wellington, NZ on board the ship Willochra. 

1918 HMAT Barunga was travelling to Australia with 800 sick and wounded when it was torpedoed on this day. Destroyers were quickly on the scene to pick up survivors and saved all the ships crew.

1922 A zoo in USA, the Bronx Zoo, had taken delivery of a male platypus and it was first put on display to the public on this day. Party!

1940 The Volunteer Defence Force, composed mainly of World War I veterans, was formed for home defence by the Returned Services League. 

1942 The 2nd NZ Division captured Ruwiesat Ridge.

1964 Rupert Murdoch *hack* brought his new toy out to show off ; a new fish n chip wrapper called The Australian. Hmph.

1971 Today saw the introduction of the HQ Holden Kingswood! Party!

1977 Anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay vanished near Griffith, presumed murdered. 

1978 Today saw the biggest LGBT rights protest/demonstration to date with more than two thousand people in attendance.

1995  The Queensland state election partied itself into a hung Parliament, but with the support of independent Liz Cunningham the Coalition (Liberal Party & National Party) formed the Government in Queensland. 

2009 A Tsunami warning was issued at 7: 46 pm by the Bureau of Meteorology following an earthquake measuring 7.9 just off the NZ coast.

14 July Australian History

 1770 Today was a shite day for a random kangaroo  ; a crew person on Cook's ship became the first European (that we know of) to eyeball a 'roo.
And then shot it.
It is not true that the word means “I don’t understand”; this is a popular myth often applied to various other Aboriginal-based Australian words.

1952 The main railway line roll-out of diesel powered engines along Victoria Railways began with the delivery of this delicious beast pictured below.

Photo from THIS FABULOUS RAIL RESOURCE

1981 The New Fort Hill Wharf, at Darwin, was opened.

1986 The Sheraton Hotel opened on Mitchell Street, Darwin. Currently known as Hilton Darwin.

1995 Governor General of Australia William Hayden proclaimed both the Aboriginal Flag and the Torres Strait Islander Flag to be 'Flags of Australia' under the Flags Act 1953.

1 July in Australian History

1797 - The first mob of Merino sheep were bundled up from the Cape of Good Hope, Africa, by a pair of clever clogs named Captain Henry Waterhouse and Lieutenant William Kent. Party!

1841 -  The Convict Assignment System was kicked to the kerb in favour of the new Probation Gang System. Party!

1841 - New Zealand separated from NSW. Party!

1851 - Victoria separated from NSW. Party!

1871 - The London Missionary Society, led by Reverend Samuel Macfarlane, arrived on Erub Island in what the Torres Strait Islanders call The Coming of The Light, which they celebrate each year on this date. Party!

1932 - The then-PM Joseph Lyons blessed into being the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC). Party!

1945 - Unemployment Insurance was introduced for the first time to provide cash benefits for those unable to work due to sickness or accident.

1957 - Darwin-ites got gussied up to the nines in excitement of the very first voting for their very own Mayor and 12 councillors; He Who Won the right to wear The Mayoral Tiara was Lucius (Bill) Richardson. Party!

1970 - Melbourne Airport was magicked into being at Tullamarine. Which is named for Tullamareena, a senior Wurundjeri man, who was present at the signing of Batman's treaty, and who managed to burn down the original Melbourne Gaol (I'm not laughing, you're laughing).

1975 - Medibank was introduced; this was the earliest form of Medicare, (Australia) as we know it, which did not last long before the Whitlam Govt was dismissed and Fraser tinkered around with it.

1975 - Australia Post and Telecom Australia were pupped from the innards of the former Postmaster-General Dept.

1978 - The Top End aka the Northern Territory was deemed grown up enough to govern itself, and now celebrates this each year with Territory Day. Party!

Sources :

Portal: Australia/Anniversaries/July

Torres Strait History

Darwin History

Social Security Payments for the unemployed, the sick and those in special circumstances, 1942 - 2012: a chronology

On The Sheep's Back

Tullamareena's Escape

The Wedderburn Mystery 6 January 1937 Unsolved

 It's safe to say the two blokes having a scratch around in the dirt at Wedderburn got a nasty shock when the remains of a man were uncovered.

Despite following up leads for years afterwards the police were never able to identify the victim.

They even made a death mask of the man's face, then a sculpture of his head, the very first of its kind in Australia.

But they never solved the mystery of his identity or who killed him.

Further reading -

Wedderburn Mystery Murder Suspected

Sculptor Helped in Death Probe

The Great Wedderburn Mystery The Body in the Shaft

Attacked (and eaten) By Wild Cats

 Well.

There's certainly nothing of the subtle about ye old timey newspaper reporting.

9 June 1887 

The Gippsland Farmers' Journal and Traralgon, Heyfield and Rosedale News 

ATTACKED BY WILD CATS

Robert Francis Burns 1840 -1883 serial killer

 Well, here's another garden variety arsehole; convicted of one murder Burns confessed to the hangman he'd killed seven more people.

Why confess to the hangman? Is it an attempt to impress a bloke who's paid to kill people for the government?

Anyway, the seven further victims are based on speculation; although the useless mongrel gave clues he didn't give names (said he was useless) but this is well-considered with much evidence.

Further reading -

Robert Francis Burns

Bodies in The Morningstar Mine, Rushworth 1908 Unsolved True Crime

 When hoping to reopen the closed Morningstar Mine at Rushworth on 27th November 1908 some blokes got a nasty shock when decomposing matter was brought up with the mine cage; subsequent investigations discovered the very decayed bodies of a man and a woman in the water-logged mine shaft.

The woman's head was missing and never recovered despite bailing of the water from the mine and thorough searches for evidence. A scrap of newspaper sporting a bloody fingerprint, dated 28th August suggested this was the date the murders took place. Both bodies were badly broken and smashed up; so much so that the medical examiner was unable to locate any reproductive organs or much of the pelvis of the suspected female body, but owing to measurements they determined it was indeed a female.

Numerous people stated swaggies and others often camped at the site of the mine, one witness claiming he'd heard yelling at night some time earlier.

Missing friends and relatives were reported to the police but they were all safely located alive, leaving the police and coroner no answers as to the names of the couple or who had murdered them.