On This Day in Oz History 7 July

1841 Scottish explorer Edward Eyre reached Albany. on an expedition that saw the murder of John Baxter, Eyre's assistant/co-explorer.
For this Eyre was awarded the founder's gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1847.

In 1997 the Ngadju-Mirning man Arthur Dimer said it was Eyre who killed Baxter in a fit of rage because Baxter was drunk; the two South Australian Aboriginal people fled in fright and were speared by Mirning people who were observing the expedition’s progress.

1907 The Australian Navy Cadets was established and commenced activities today. 

1915 Cholera inoculations began at Anzac.

1916 The New Zealand Labour Party was formed at a conference in Wellington.

1942 Papuan and Australian troops began operations along the Kokoda Track. 

1942 Horn Island bombed by the Japanese. Horn Island was bombed a total of 9 times during WW2.

1942 9th Division went into action at El Alamein. 

 1942 The Air Board gave a resounding Yay to taking over the disused Picton Railway tunnel in NSW to store conventional bombs. 

 1956 Last RAAF transports returned from Korea. 

 1960 The frightening, dreadful, sad kidnapping of poor little Graeme Thorne. 

1974 At the height of apartheid in South Africa New Zealand imposed a blanket ban on virtually all visits by sports teams from South Africa.

 1986 Brian Chambers and Kevin Barlow became the first westerners executed in Malaysia under strict new Asian drug-trafficking laws. 

 1991 The Australian Republican Movement was formed amidst a growing debate about Australian republicanism. 

 2001 Australian cricketer Karen Rolton smashed an unbeaten 209 to set a new world record for the highest score in a women's Test in Australia's 9 wicket win v England at Headingley. 

 2002 The British Naval destroyer HMS Nottingham (D91) was certainly NOT trying a handbrake U-turn when they happened to run aground off Lord Howe Island.

July 6 in Oz history

 Ha!
Discovered many of my long reliable history bookmarks are now doing the whole,
"404 we don't know you, new webpage, who dis?" 
Keeping me out of mischief hunting down new RELIABLE web sources.

1813 Elizabeth Macarthur, manager of Merino sheep on Elizabeth Farm whilst the troublesome spouse was sticking his oar into all sorts of mischief, sent the first commercial shipment of wool to Britain.

Elizabeth Macarthur 

1841 Edward John Eyre, was out for a Sunday perambulation post Sunday lunch when he tripped over the King's River, just short of his intended Final Destination of King George's Sound. Finding the river too high to cross on horse back, he tip-toed through the tulips and trout to t'other side.

1863 Letters, of the Patent variety not the air-mail sort, were blessed and signed by Queen Vicky annexing the Top End from the Croweaters in South Australia.

1878 The Main South Railway Line (NSW) was flung open from Bethungra to Junee.

1914 The railway line from Crib Point to the HMAS Cerberus Naval Base (Vic) was opened with gay abandon.

1924 The Mount Hope Branch Line (NSW) was closed from Matakana to Mount Hope.

1936 The Final Destination of the Derwent Valley Railway Line, Tasmania, was reached today when they got to Kallista.

1943 Darwin, capital of the Northern Territory, was heavily bombed by Japanese 64 times, today being the last of the heavy bombing although less severe attacks continued.

1955 The Westland District Second World War memorial (RSA building) at Sewell St, Hokitika, NZ was officially opened today by local MP Mr J.B. Kent. The two-storey building incorporated a lobby, the local RSA clubrooms and a social hall. This building was closed because of earthquake risk in June 2013 and demolished in July 2014. The new Hokitika-Westland memorial hall and clubrooms was opened on the site of the old building on 28 February 2017.

1963 The Advertiser (of Adelaide) let it be known to all and sundry that the glorious trolley buses that had toddled about for 31 years were to be no more after the 12th July.

1964 Warrant Officer Kevin Conway from Brisbane became first Australian serviceman to be killed in Vietnam.

1970 Draft resister Karl Armstrong was sentenced in Melbourne to eight days jail for defying the fine imposed for refusing to register.

1971 Three thousand demonstrators caused mayhem at the first ‘Springboks’ match in Sydney at the SCG. There were 59 arrests.

1972 Commonwealth police raided DRU (Draft Resisters Union) headquarters Belmore Street Enmore looking for Peter Galvin.

1979 Brand spanking new LGBT news print media The Star Observer was thrust out into the world.

1983 The AIDS Action Committee (AAC) requested that its role on the NSW advisory AIDS committee be upgraded after it was relegated to merely writing material about AIDS. 

1983 In Lismore, NSW, a local social group, Summerland Gay People, was formed.

July 5 Australia History On This Day

1788 Governor Arthur Philip sent a despatch to the British Under-secretary of state cos Oz was turning spectacularly into Destination Fucked due to the lack of food. 
*We won't point out the obvious that they were surrounded by tucker*

1851 James Esmond made public the fact he'd tripped over a great lump of GOLD! in Clunes, Victoria.

James Esmond

1881 New Zealand Parliament passed the Chinese Immigration Act under which, having received Royal Assent, they then legislated a Poll Tax of £10 ($1,770 in todays money) on the-now restricted numbers of Chinese migrants.

1900 British Parliament passed the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act.
This document set out guidelines for how the Federation would be founded, and how the laws and authorities of The Fair Isle of Oz would be created, and was given Royal Assent on 9 July 1900.

1902 Today Australia fielded a decent team, it seems, as Oz won the only Test they played at Sheffield against England.

1905 Alfred Deakin had a blank spot on his dance card so tossed his hat into the ring for a second turn as PM.

1945 John Curtin had a nasty mischief; he popped his clogs in office.

John Curtin

1957 Lew Hoad won the Men Singles at Wimbledon when he beat fellow Aussie Ashley Cooper.

1967 New Zealand banks were closed today for bank staff to convert their records in readiness of the currency changing from Pounds and Pence to Dollars and Cents.

1968 Rod Laver won the Wimbledon Mens Singles against fellow Aussie Tony Roche.

1969 Rod was back at the scene of the crime when he won against Aussie John Newcomb.

1971 Two hundred protesters demonstrated at Sydney Town Hall against a reception for the ‘Springboks’.

1972 Commonwealth police raided the ABC TV studios at Gore Hill Sydney thirty minutes after underground draft resister (and DRU Secretary) Peter Galvin was interviewed on This Day Tonight.

1980 Evonne Goolagong Cawley beat Chris Evert for the Womens Singles at Wimbledon. 

Evonne Goolagong-Cawley

1981 Jan Stephenson waltzed off with the crown for the du Maurier Golf Classic. 

1987 Pat Cash , despite the 80s big hair, managed to win the Men Singles title at Wimbledon. 

2003 A memorial was dedicated on this day at Gordon, 4.3 km from the crash site of a DC-3 airliner in the Kaimai Range, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. All 23 passengers and crew were killed in what still remains the worst air crash within New Zealand. 

SOURCES

Ballarat Gold Rush 

Labour History Timeline

4 July Australian History

 1857 - Hundreds of European miners on the search for GOLD! at Buckland River got more than a little casually racist when they went all thug-like on the settlement of 3,000 Chinese miners belting the living crap out of them until they died or left the area.

1868 Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Tūruki of Rongowhakaata, a Māori leader, was arrested in 1865 after allegedly spying. He became one of hundreds exiled to the remote Chatham Islands where he established the Ringatū faith, which was adopted by many of his fellow exiles. On this day he began an uprising; 300 prisoners overpowered their guards, captured the schooner Rifleman and sailed for New Zealand.

1918 The Battle of Hamel took place during the First World Disagreement.

1966 Nine young people were arrested and charged with obstruction for protesting against bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong at U.S Consulate in Sydney.

1967 A rally outside the U.S Consulate in Commercial Road, Melbourne, was followed by a march to a  meeting at the Assembly Hall in Collins Street. The highlight was the debate ‘LBJ’ v ‘Thomas Jefferson’ – ‘U.S independence 1776-Vietnam independence when?’

1968 A moratorium protest against the Vietnam War outside the US Embassy in Melbourne ended in violence as the crowd was having a free-for-all in in what became "the most violent protest in living memory" with the protesters being charged by mounted police.

1969 4000 demonstrators marched down St. Kilda Road towards the U.S Consulate in tight formation. Police on horseback charged protestors at the barricades. The following afternoon twenty Consulate windows were smashed by ‘Melbourne People’s Liberation Army’

1969 Sydney’s 1969 July 4 (‘Freedom Day’) rally highlighted by burning of U.S flag and effigies of Prime Minister Gorton outside U.S Consulate

1970 2000 demonstrators marched in Melbourne and occupied the road in front of Pan-American Airways building in Collins Street.

1970 600 protestors marched in Adelaide in militant demonstration against U.S imperialism.

1971 Police bashed demonstrators at U.S Consulate and South African Trade Commission in Melbourne.

1971 1000 protestors picketed outside the Squire Inn Motel,  Bondi Junction as ‘Springboks’ arrived in Sydney

1972 A lunch-time demonstration, of over 200 young people, gathered in Adelaide to mark American Independence Day with emphasis on U.S bombing of dykes and dams in North Vietnam

1975 Juanita Neilsen, victim in the still unsolved disappearance/murder of The Missing Heiress, was last seen alive on this date when she attended a meeting in Sydney's Kings Cross.

1991 World renown heart surgeon Dr Victor Chang AC was murdered in Sydney in a failed extortion attempt.

2002 American Steve Fossett became the first chappie to pilot a hot air balloon all on his lonesome all around the Big Blue Marble, plopping down in The Fair Isle of Oz 13 days after take-off.

2018 The Fair Isle of Oz and the USA celebrated a century of 'mateship".

Being 100 years since we got together and began killing people.

Sorry, 100 years since we first started fighting alongside each other at the Battle of Hamel under the command of General Sir John Monash.

2023 Australian rules player Heather Anderson sadly became the first known professional female athlete to be diagnosed with degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) after a landmark diagnosis at Australian Sports Brain Bank

SOURCES:

Labour History Melbourne

Chinese Victims of Buckland Riot

The Missing Heiress

Chilling new clues in missing heiress Juanita Nielsen’s cold case murder

Disappearance of Juanita Nielsen

Juanita Nielsen

History of Mateship

The Battle of Hamel

CTE: Brain disease diagnosed in female athlete for first time

World's first CTE diagnosis in a female athlete

Steve Fossett

Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute

Taking to the streets against the Vietnam War

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

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