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.

3 July in Australian History

1797 Following much fighting between the European settlers and the Indigenous people in the Hawkesbury area Governor John Hunter sent a group of soldiers to protect the settlers.

1850 Tired of saddling their broomsticks and kick-starting their horses, The Powers That Were got the lads on the tools to begin construction of the First Ever Railway Line in The Fair Isle of Oz; actually t'was the daughter of the Governor Charles FitzRoy, the Honourable Mrs. Mary Stewart, who prettily modelled the spade whilst she turned the first sod of the Sydney Railway Company at Cleveland Paddocks to begin work on the Sydney-Parramatta Railway Line.

The Hon. Mrs. Mary Stewart, nee FitzRoy.

1915 A medical report from the 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station situated at Anzac Cove observed that “Dysentery is becoming very acute, and cases of extreme collapse are occurring”.

It is estimated that approximately 700 soldiers died from diseases.

1931 The Chemical Warfare Board was renamed as the Chemical Defence Board.

1942 Tea was now rationed; each adult was only allowed half a pound (approx. 230gms) of tea every 5 weeks.

This was in place for 8 years until 1 July 1950.

1947 Bust out the cake tin, Marge, SUGAR RATIONING HAS ENDED 

But don't bother with the teapot.

Sugar had been rationed since it was introduced nearly five years earlier, on 29 August 1942. 

Examiner

1989 The Commission of Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct (the Fitzgerald Inquiry; 1987–1989) ended with Tony Fitzgerald QC submitting his final report.

As a result, a number of high-profile politicians were charged with crimes, and Queensland Police Commissioner Terry Lewis was charged with corruption.

Sources:

Golden Gifts for a Governor's Daughter

Public Health at ANZAC Cove

Dysentery and the ANZAC Legend

The Gallipoli Campaign

Chemical Warfare in Australia Timeline

Part 3 of Australian Frontier Wars; The Hawkesbury Nepean Wars

The Fitzgerald Inquiry

The Fitzgerald Inquiry Report

The Fitzgerald Inquiry - The History Lesson We Must Never Forget

2nd July Australian history

 

1915 The inaugural Violet Day Appeal began, a local remembrance day for the fallen of WW1 in South Australia, started by Alexandrine Seager who had formed the Cheer-Up Society to provide 'general comfort, welfare, and entertainment' for soldiers, for which the annual Violet Day Appeal was the main fundraiser.

The Argus

1918 Naval ratings all over the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) were feeling a little more secure with their choppers as the first Fang Carpenter aka Dentist joined the RAN , Lieutenant. M. L. Atwill who joined the battle cruiser HMAS Australia in London.

1954 The Yackandandah to Beechworth railway line in Victoria was kicked to the kerb for want of bottoms on seats.

1971 Tennis champion, Wiradjuri Evonne Goolagong won her first Wimbledon Championship, receiving the Women's Singles Trophy from Princess Alexandra after beating Margaret Court 6 - 4, 6 - 1

Sources:

Australian Naval History

Yackandandah Railway Line

Violet Day; A Tribute to the Dead

Alexandrine Seager

The Brisbane Courier

Melbourne's Botanic Gardens Shooting Spree Norman List 23 January 1924

 Almost a century ago a young man displayed worrying mental health symptoms - paranoia, believing wireless messages were being sent to his mind to control him, to hurt his family, that people were telling lies about him and his family, that his enemies had a radio system that advertised him everywhere he went...(I'd like to know what Professor Graeme Yorston made of him).

After tramping all over the world, fighting in WW1, Norman List returned to his family home in Richmond, Victoria, where these symptoms were on full display.

This all came out after the horrific shooting spree he orchestrated at the Melbourne Botanic Gardens; in just 4 minutes four people were dead.

Their names were

Frederick McIlwaine

Miriam Podbury

Eugenie Strohhecker

John Moxham

Norman List himself was found dead by suicide at Deep Creek near Pakenham, Victoria.

Further reading - 

Massacre At The Botanic Gardens