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.

17 July Australian History

1880 Today saw the last of the articles printed in the Queenslander newspaper that covered treatment of the Aboriginal People titled "The Way We Civilise"; written by journalist Carl Feilberg he fought for Aboriginal rights and against the blackbirding trade.

Blackbirding

1922 The North Coast Railway Line (NSW) was flung open with gay abandon from Coff's Harbour to Glenreagh.

1964 Donald Campbell got all Speedy Gonzales on Lake Eyre when he set the world record for four wheeled jet propelled vehicles at 403.10 mph.

1967 A mini Buffet service began serving up the hot tea on the Melbourne to Albury trains.

1976 The annual, long standing, Northern Territory News Walkabout was revived after a lapse and on a new course; this foot race has now since been discontinued.

2020 Border restrictions were lifted for interstate visitors coming into Northern Territory.

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.

13 July Australian History

 1888 The Star of Greece, a three masted clipper ship, was wrecked on a reef only 200 metres from Port Willunga and within sight of shore but not anywhere near rescue equipment. The captain with most of the crew had been clinging to the mizzen mast rigging where they had been drowned.

Star of Greece

1903 The railway line from Coburg to Somerton was closed due to a rail strike.

1919 The Main South Railway Line now stretches from Central Station in Sydney allllll the way down the slippery dip into the Cabbage Patch aka Victoria and to Marvellous Melbourne...but back in 1919 they were all a'flutter about the line being connected betwixt Picton and Mittagong Junction.

1943 It was agreed that all chemical ammunition (loading and unloading) was to be handled by trained service personnel and that any other non chemical cargo that was stored with the chemical would also to be handled by these personnel.

1945 UK may have Lady Jane Grey, the 9 Day Queen but we beat that with Francis Ford, The 8 Day Queen Caretaker PM.
You wore your crown with pride, Francis!

1945 – Ben Chifley was crowned The Sixteenth Prime Minister of Australia.

1958 The foundation stone was laid for St Mary's War Memorial Cathedral, Darwin.

1997 A crowd of over 100,000 people gathered to watch the Royal Canberra Hospital implosion. Twelve-year-old Katie Bender was killed when debris from the site travelled across Lake Burley Griffin.

On This Day in Australian TV - TOO many to list here, you will have to go to the site for a good stickybeak down memory lane.

11 July Australian History

 

1858 The first completed stage of St Francis Xavier Cathedral, Adelaide, was consecrated today by Father Michael Ryan.

1867 The Main Western Railway Line (NSW) was gaily opened from Penrith to Blaxland Junction.

1877 Today Kate Edger became the first female Kiwi of the species to earn a university degree and the first gal of the British Empire to earn a Bachelor of Arts.

Kate Edger

1882 The Mungindi Railway Line (NSW) was opened today from Gunnedah to Boggabri

1979 Skylab, the first space station, crashed on through the atmosphere to land in parts of Western Australia.

1983 New Zealander Lorraine Downes was crowned Miss Universe; after a career in modelling, Lorraine competed in , and won, the second season of Dancing with The Stars in 2006 raising $112,000 for the Child Cancer Foundation.

1990  Sarah MacDiarmid, age 23, vanished from, and was likely murdered at Kananook railway station, Melbourne. The crime remains unsolved.

1997 Australians were evacuated from Phnom Penh following a bloody coup

9 July Australian History

1791 The Mary Ann, a ship operating independently of the Third Fleet, rocked up in New South Wales, bringing with her 141 female convicts and six children, as well as stores and nine months provisions for the women.

Read here of Elizabeth Lee, Lancashire Lass who travelled on the ship Mary Ann.

Mary Ann

1837 As early as this date the spot for a picnic, aka the Adelaide Botanic Garden, had *possibly been chosen with a drunken game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey.
*Probably not.

1900 Queen Victoria ( she who was never amused but enjoyed the rumpy pumpy) flourished a quill on a bit of parchment that signed The Fair Isle of Oz into the Commonwealth of Oz, which got all frivolous and Federated on January 1, 1901.

1908 The NSW Railway chaps were doing a silly dance (maybe) to celebrate the opening of the Tocumwal Branch Line, from Tocumwal Bridge to Tocumwal.
Tocumwal, from the local Indigenous Bangarang word 'Tocumival' (meaning deep hole).

1971 The Australian Aboriginal Flag , designed by Harold Thomas, was first raised at a land rights rally in Victoria Square/Tarntanyangga, Adelaide, on the then-National Aborigines Day.
From 1940 until 1955, the Sunday before Australia Day was the Day of Mourning, now known as Aborigines Day.

1977 The last Traralgon to Maffra railmotor service operated.
1977 The last Castlemaine to Maryborough railmotor service operated