18 July Australian History

1814 Today saw Matthew Flinders' book, A Voyage to Terra Australis, finally in print where he named Australia... well, Australia.

A Voyage to Terra Australis.

1881 What eventually became Sydney's Prince Henry's Hospital started life as a sanitary camp at Little Bay for those suffering during a small pox epidemic.

1890 Crib Point was blessed by the Post Office Fairy Godmother when a post office was dropped off by the stork.

1910 Due to foggy weather obscuring the signals a Melbourne-bound train from Elsternwick ploughed into the back of a Melbourne-bound train from Brighton at Richmond Station.
Nine people died, 114 people were injured.

Train crash @ Richmond Station 18 July 1910

1914 Maurice Guillaux landed in Sydney - the first airmail delivery from Melbourne to Sydney was achieved.

Celebrating the arrival of the first airmail in Sydney from Melbourne 1914.

1966 Playschool dipped its round window into the turbid airwaves of telly when it debuted on the ABC in Oz.

1984 The National Crime Authority was established.

2005  Amy Gillett, cyclist and rower, was killed in Germany in a road accident.

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.

16 July Australian History

1800 – Reverends Richard Johnson and Samuel Marsden opened a church school at Ryde.
Which was just as well as newspapers at the time claimed the whole colony was the scene of

The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate

1847 The good ship Rattlesnake slithered into port at Sydney to float about doing a scientific survey and some charting bizzo; but the more important thang was that self-taught anatomist and biologist Thomas Huxley met his future wife Henrietta Heathorn. Party!

Thomas Huxley

Henrietta Heathorn

1888 Railway line betwixt Palmerston (Darwin) and Adelaide River began. Party!

1900 Australian Mounted Troops struck the North East to reach the railway lines behind the Boers in Pretoria.

1900 Aussie journo George Morrison was injured while rescuing a defender during the Chinese Boxer Rebellion.
George was better known for having walked all over Australia due to his itchy feet.

In 1910 John Duigan had nothing better to do so he built an aeroplane and flew it on this day on his parents property in Victoria.

1914  Maurice Guillaux left the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds in Flemington to fly to Sydney in a Blériot monoplane in the first delivery of airmail. He arrived in Sydney on 18 July after nine and a half hours of flying time.

1943 Australian troops advanced from Wau, New Guinea, toward Salamaua.

1956 HSV-7 in Melbourne began channelling the spirit world for test transmissions of the idiot box in monochrome (TCN-9 in Sydney had jumped the gun 3 days earlier).

1962  Public funding of private schools became an issue following a strike by parents and the community who closed Catholic schools in Goulburn, New South Wales on this day, resulting in government funding for private schools.

1986 An explosion at Moura No. 4 mine in Moura, Queensland killed 12 people.

The Rajah Quilt 19th July 1841

 The convict transport ship Rajah rocked up in Hobart on this date in 1841; 180 gals on board were given supplies for personal use as well as materials to sew of which they put to good use when they flashed their very advanced and talented artistry in embroidery and applique, in this quilt. This quilt was made in thanks to the British Ladies' Society for Promoting the Reformation of Female Prisoners for providing the female convicts with the supplies.

 

Many, many, many more details of these ladies, their journey, their sewing skills and much more in the following links -
Sources;

NGA

Wikipedia

How a new play is leading the push to return an historic convict-sewn quilt back to Tasmania

Australia's Convict Quilt: Something to be proud of

National Quilt Register

Elizabeth Fry : The Angel of Prisons

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.

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.