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.

Critchley Parker ; Lost In Tasmania Searching For A New Jerusalem; Poynduk 1942

 Critchley Parker, aged only 31, trekked into the Tasmanian wilderness in an effort to find suitable land for future Jewish settlements far away from the bloodshed of Europe.

He was not Jewish himself but he was infatuated with a (married) Jewish journalist named Caroline Isaacson, and was determined to help find a permanent peaceful refuge for those fleeing the violent horrors of WW2. 

During his fateful trek near Port Davey he discovered a small pond with swans, called poynduk in the local Ninene language. Critchley hoped to name the settlement Poynduk but this was not to be.

Critchley had had TB which had left his lungs and overall health in a weakened state; the weather turned suddenly and he was caught in bucketing rain for weeks that triggered pleurisy. He had planned to light a signal fire to alert the fisherman to come pick him up but he ran out of matches, ran out of food, ran out of time.

But he never ran out of plans for the future settlement of Poynduk; he wrote in his copious notes that he wished it to be based on the "principals of racial tolerance and international brotherhood", to have universities open to students of all colours, medical facilities, schools, hydro-electric power plants. 

Critchley planned for the Tasmanian Games to be hosted at Poynduk each year; the games would celebrate not just sports but poetry, plays, weaving, music and pottery.

Alas, with his early death in the wilderness Critchley's plans for Poynduk were dashed for good.

Further reading -

“Poynduk”: the Extravagant, Impossible (and Understandable) Dreams of Critchley Parker