28th day of February which has lasted 6 years since the arrest of Andrew...

1788 - First Aussie farm was set up at Farm Cove, by a bloke who was the only one who knew anything about farming, Henry Dodd. Henry was the convict whisperer; he was able to get the convicts to focus on doing the seed thing without whipping them silly, and in 1789 he also grew a cabbage that weighed 12 kgs. His was the first public funeral in 1791 when he popped his clogs, he was given a headstone in St John's, Parramatta.

1790 - Hospital assistant John Irving became the first convict to be emancipated; he was a surgical assistant and did his best to keep people alive when they were in the habit of getting sick and dropping off the perch. 

1799 - With settlers ignoring the previous warning on grog, Governor Hunter was forced to stamp his feet yet again and issue another order prohibiting the distillation of spirits. Party pooper. 

1814 - The settlement at Norfolk Island was abandoned due to the surrounds clashing with the decor and costing a packet to redecorate and run. 

1825 - Governor Brisbane didn't like the Feng Shui of Redcliffe so he dragged the Moreton Bay settlement over to the current-day site of Brisvegas. 

 1855 - William Ryan was Hanged at Darlinghurst for the murder of his wife Catherine near the corner of Hay and Castlereagh Sts. 

1868 - A parcel of cheques was found under a log in Ben Lomond, presumed to have been left there by the Bushranger Thunderbolt. 

1874 - Poor old Arthur Orton, butcher from Wagga Wagga, was sentenced to gaol for daring to attempt to claim to be Sir Roger Tichborne. Was he or wasn't he? He wasn't...was he? 

1881 - The Hay Branch Railway Line (NSW) was opened from Junee - Narrandera and then from Junee North Junction - Junee West Junction. 

1890 – The steamship RMS Quetta sank off Cape York Peninsula, killing 133; one of the adults to survive was Alice Nicklin who clung to the body of a dead sheep (apparently they float, who knew?) but was then able to snaffle a passing hatch as she was sans a Jack. 

1905 - The railway line from Strathmerton (Vic) to Tocumwal (NSW) opened. 

1914 - AE1 and AE2, Australia's first submarines, were commissioned into service.

1932 - The City Circle Railway Line (NSW) was opened from Wynyard - Central. 

1932 - The North Shore Railway Line (NSW) was opened from Waverton - Wynyard. 

1947 -The usual suspects were up to their mischief when the Eureka to Buninyong railway line (aka The Bunny Hop Line) was closed forever. 

1950 - A cyclone crossed over Gladstone to Hervey Bay. Floods down to Brisbane. 

1959 - The Victorian Railways St Kilda to Elwood Electric Street Railway (aka tram) was no more when, yet again, those who couldn't create destroyed what had been built by those who came before them. 

1959 - Six O'Clock Rock, the rock music show, debuted on ABC TV. The show terrified parents and teenagers, who didn't know they were teenagers, rejoiced. 

1966 - Joern Utzon resigned as architect of the Sydney Opera House, following a bitter struggle with the new Public Works Minister, Davis Hughes, over fees, costs and design changes. Hughes (a Liberal) was determined to reign in escalating costs, and to put his own stamp on the project, which had been commissioned by the previous Labor government. A major controversy erupted, with many sections of the community calling for his reappointment, but Utzon was not reinstated and left the country soon after. He disowned the final design and did not return to Australia until 1998. 

1967 - The South Australian Premier, Frank Walsh, introduced legislation to establish the Natural Gas Pipelines Authority for the conveyance of gas from the gas field at Moomba in the far north of the state to Adelaide. This had come about because not only the Gas Company converted to the use of natural gas, but the Electricity Trust also wished to use this fuel for its production of electricity at the Torrens Island power station. 

1969 - Victoria introduced provisional ("P-plate") licences for novice drivers. 

1970 - Left-wing journalist Wilfred Burchett was allowed temporary entry back into Australia after a 15-year government ban, that stemmed from his support of the Communist Party. Burchett described allegations that he brainwashed Australian POWs during the Korean War as "silly and untrue". 

1971 - The first edition of The Sunday Australian appeared, just in time to line the cocky's cage. 

1972 - Time magazine reviewed Dennis Altman’s book, Homosexual Oppression and Liberation. 

1973 - Legislation was passed with the breakfast prunes to lower the voting age in Federal elections from 21 down to 18. 

1975 - Darwin Reconstruction Commission was established by the Darwin Reconstruction Act. 

1975 - The ABC officially launched colour TV broadcasting in Australia with a five-minute special, Aunty Jack Introduces Colour, which ran from 11:58pm to 12.03am on 1 March. 

1977 - The first Aussie open range zoo, Western Plains Zoo near Dubbo, was opened, although it was missing the monkeys and organ grinders as they were busy in Canberra. 

1980 - After a swift, sadly short 5 weeks on air, the brand new Channel 10 made the decision to cease life support to its new soapie Arcade over something called "piss poor ratings". 

1981 - In Newcastle The 1981 Australian Mr Leather Contest was launched at the Criterion Hotel. “Dallas” won Mr Leather Newcastle. 

1982 - Two men were detained by police in the Bottoms Up Bar of the Rex Hotel as intoxicated persons. Note: In October 1982 the NSW Ombudsman found they were unlawfully detained. 

1985 - A gay pre-premier fund raising night of La Cage aux folles was organised by the Knights of the Chameleons Co-ordinator, Donnie Smith. 

1985 - The AFI and the Gay Mardi Gras presented the Gay Film Festival at the Chauvel Cinema, Paddington. 

1986 - The recently appointed NSW Minister for Health, Barry Unsworth, visited St Vincents Hospital AIDS unit. 

1987 - A SGMG art exhibition was held at the Hogarth Galleries in Paddington. 

1988 - The first NASCAR held outside of America was held at the Thunderdome at Calder park in Victoria, Australia. 

1988 - The SGMG and the Australian Film Institute (AFI) held the Mardi Gras Film Festival at the Chauvel Cinema. 

1993 - Victorian road rules finally caught up with the rest of the nation when cars turning left at intersections had right of way over those turning right...riveting, I know...zzzzzzzzzzz. 

1997 - In Canberra Prime Minister John Howard hosted a forum on youth suicide. Gay and Lesbian Teachers and Students Association (GaLTaS) and Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) spoke at the forum. 

1998 - Sydney's 1998 Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (theme 20 years of (R)Evolution saw the biggest show of bear solidarity in Australia as more than 4 times the previous bear numbers turned out. These are the bears women want in the woods...! 

1998 - A crowd of 700,000 lined the parade route of the 1998 Mardi Gras Parade. It was led by 220 people who participated in the first Mardi Gras. 

1999 - Flinders Island was recognised as a genocide site when it was handed over to the Indigenous People. 

2000 - The British electrical power transmission company, National Grid International, was chosen as preferred bidder to construct the Basslink electricity cable from Tasmania to Victoria across Bass Strait.

 

2001 - OutFM returned for one month’s transmission from Feb 1 until Feb 28.

2004 - The annual Bobby Goldsmith Foundation’s Shop Yourself Stupid was held in Oxford Street.

2004 - Central City Film Studios flung open their doors for business in Docklands, Melbourne. 

2004 - The Practical Guide to Mental Hygiene art exhibition by Shaun Weston and Suzanne Boccalatte opened at Gallery Barry Keldoulis. 

2007 - The greatly talented singer songwriter Oz rocker Billy Thorpe passed away. 

2009 - Melbourne Victory won the championship of the A-League 2008–09 season, defeating Adelaide United 1–0 in the Grand Final at Telstra Dome. 

2010 - The effects of a tsunami were felt along the hemlines of NSW, QLD and Tassie with 50cm wave at Norfolk Island, 42cm wave at Gold Coast QLD, 29cm wave at Port Kembla NSW, and a 28cm wave at Southport TAS.

2011 - In a weird echo of Dodd's 12kg cabbage, the 2011 Sydney Royal Easter Show was prepping on this day, and news broke of a record-breaking pumpkin that would eventually weigh in at over 390kg. Dodd would have wept with joy.

2013 – The End of the "Grey Flash": today saw the last ever Mitsubishi 380 rolled off the production line in Adelaide years prior, but by this date in 2013, the final remnants of Mitsubishi's Australian manufacturing were being cleared out. A sad day for Aussie car fans.

2021 – The First Jab: This was a huge "this day in history" moment—Australia officially reached its first full week of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. While the rest of the world was struggling, we were just starting the long road back to "normal."

2022 – The Great Deluge: On 28 February 2022, Lismore faced its most catastrophic flood in recorded history, with the Wilsons River peaking at an unthinkable 14.4 metres. It completely redefined disaster management in Northern NSW.

2024 – Leap Year Eve: Since 2024 was a leap year, 28 February was the day everyone realized they had one more day of work than they planned for.

27th day of February in Australian History

1788 - Today was really not the best one for Thomas Barrett (profession - convict, mutineer, forger, thief); he'd been sprung in the act of nicking food from the colony food store.So, to make certain they deterred any other starving human from doing the same thing again, Thomas Barrett became the first (in a very long line) bloke hung in The Land of Oz.

1793 - Marie-Louise Victoire Girardin, ship steward and cross dresser, was probably the first European woman to park her posterior in Van Diemen's Land when the ship she was on was in search of La Pérouse.

1818 - William Wallis was Hanged at Sydney for robbery in the house of John Harris.

1818 - Edward Haley was Hanged at Sydney for stealing a horse, cart and other sundries near Parramatta.

1818 - Samuel Pollock was Hanged at Sydney for stealing a horse, cart and other sundries near Parramatta.

1818 - James Fitzpatrick was Hanged at Sydney for burglary in the house of John Brown at Portland Head.

1819 - The schooner Young Lachlan was "borrowed" by some convicts from the Derwent who took it for a joy ride and "somehow, unbeknownst to them, officer" ended up in Java.

1830 - Freo's first fish and chip wrapping was published, The Fremantle Journal and General Advertiser, a manuscript newspaper written by hand.

1832 - Charles Smithwick was Hanged at Sydney for the murder of George Miller at Razorback.

1863 - Crow Eaters rejoice! The South Oz parliament opened for business.

1867 - Mary Ann Bugg, Birrpai warrior and wife of bushranger Captain Thunderbolt aka Fred Ward, was freed from Maitland gaol after a public outcry at her prosecution and  three month sentence for supposed theft of fabric; fabric found in her possession but without a receipt. Such was the outcry that Magistrate Edward Day made enquiries and assisted her in petitioning the Governor for early release.

1910 - A tram accident at Lake Wendouree saw two electric tram cars (as opposed to those running on coal) have a bingle at a crossing loop, leaving the trams more than a little battered but only one passenger wildly shaken.

1912 - Following a strike on the Brisvegas Tramways, which involved much name-calling, rough n tumble, fisticuffs and a mashed hat, the Arbitration Commission granted the rights to the Union to wear their badge at work. This was only a small win for the Union as the Company refused to accept back any of the employees who were involved in the strike. The men who were involved in the strike were only re-employed in 1924 after the Tramway System was taken over by the Government.

1925 - The Wallerawang Colliery Branch Railway Line (NSW) opened from Wallerawang Colliery Junction - Wallerawang North Junction and from Wallerawang North Junction - Weighbridge Loop.

1927 - The Empire Theatre in Sydney flung open its doors and made a grand entrance with the first production being the musical Sunny, debuting the ever wonderful late great Queenie Ashton.

1927 - The first Police (wage) Award was registered in Western Australia.

1928 - Bert Hinkler completed a solo flight from England to his home town of Bundaberg Qld, where he taxied the plane down the main street to his mum's house without a hint of road rage in sight.

1938 - Mrs Jess Sams (nee Millard) of Ulladulla overtook the field of Australian anglers with a 330lb striped marlin, which remained unbeaten and secured her the principal trophy for the heaviest gamefish. Mrs Sams received an avalanche of attention and publicity with her capture, particularly for her triumph in what was, at the time, an almost exclusively male sport. The fish was also an Australian record which still stands today, on 60kg line class.

1946 - The Defence Committee agreed that all chemical ammunition held by the Army should be disposed of.

1958 - Bust out the stockings and gloves, Mavis, Queen Elizabeth II frocked up to Melbourne and attended a State Reception at the Exhibition Buildings.

1965 - The Seekers' hit song about a love-struck sheep "I'll Never Find Another (Ewe) You" hit the number 1 spot in the UK and was the very first million record selling single for any Aussie group...or sheep station.

1972 - The Women's Electoral Lobby was launched in Melbourne

1974 - Gough Whitlam appointed Sir John Kerr as G-G - whoops!!!

1982 - 8000 people and 31 floats took part in Mardi Gras led by the HLRC – theme: On Our Way to Freedom. Robert French launched the Parade which began at Town Hall Square and proceeded to the Showgrounds via George, Liverpool, Oxford and Flinders Streets and Anzac Parade.

1988 - The annual SGMG Parade was held along Art Gallery Road, Oxford and Flinders Streets with around 120,000 spectators and 60 floats and costumed groups. 10,000 later partied on at the Manufacturer’s Pavilion until 9am Sunday.

1992 - Carole Ruthchild, co-convenor of the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby (GLRL), Derek Williams, co-convenor of Gay and Lesbian Teachers and Students (GaLTaS) met with Virginia Chadwick, School Education Minister and two high school students who were forced to leave their school after anti-homosexual threats and verbal attacks.

1993 - Sydney’s 16th Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade captured a record crowd of 500,000 who watched 118 entries in a 2 hour, 2 ½ km parade.
The Party at the Showgrounds raises $800,000.

1997 - The Gang-gang cockatoo was adopted as the faunal emblem of the Australian Capital Territory.

1998 - In Canberra Federal Court Justice Moore found the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission had erred in its interpretation of the Public Service Act’s definition of spouse on 17 June 1996, by including same sex couples. The application of Roger Miller to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for spouse allowances for his partner was rejected.

1998 - 20 people protested against the actions of the city’s Strand Arcade management which demanded the shop Loot, remove gay and lesbian material from display.

1999 - The 22nd Mardi Gras Parade and Party were held with 6,000 participants led by a double sided effigy of Bob Carr and Kerry Chikarovski and are cheered on by 600,000 spectators.

1999 - The SGLMG Satellite dance party at Home Nightclub was organised as an alternative to the main Mardi Gras party.

1999 - The Rainbow Party, backed by Dawn O’Donnell, was held at the Australian Technology Park in Redfern, with profits going to the Luncheon Club.
The Luncheon Club, with its off-shoot the Larder (providing an opportunity for people with HIV to take home basic food supplies) banded together a group of dedicated volunteers and supporters to provide twice-weekly lunches for people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS, offering them an opportunity for great food in a welcoming and social atmosphere.

2000 - The 2000 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Film Festival proved to be a success with 29 sell out sessions and 23,000 tickets sold.

2000 - Cyclone Steve passed the coast at the northern beaches of Cairns causing structural damage and flooding. Wind gusts up to 85 knots were recorded and the peak wave measurement was 5 metres at Cairns Wave Recording Station. Prominent buildings were unroofed. Mareeba reached a record flood level of 12.4 metres and evacuations were conducted.

2000 - The Metropolitan Community Church held a service at the Heffron Hall to bless the Mardi Gras.

2001 - Cyclone Abigail crossed north-west of Cairns at Ellis Beach before entering the Gulf and reforming before crossing the coast again near the Queensland / Northern Territory border. Some damage was sustained on Mornington Island where the wave surge was 1.3 metres and the Maximum wind gust was 64 knots. Both Cairns and Green Island had considerable winds to 50 knots.

2001 - The Gay and Lesbian Holocaust Memorial Project and South Sydney Council held a dedication ceremony for the new Green Park monument.

2010 - Australia thousands of people in lavish costumes and various states of undress danced and partied their way through Sydney's streets, in the annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade.

2011 - Australian racehorse trainer Les Samba was gunned down at Middle Park, south of the Melbourne CBD, after reportedly leaving Crown Metropol Hotel.

2011 - Peeps got to shoot through like a Bondi Tram once more with with a chance to travel on the Sydney Tramway Museum's restored trams during a festival.

2012 - PM Julia Gillard defeated Kevin Rudd, her former foreign minister, 71 votes to 31 in a ballot of Labor Party lawmakers, ending Rudd's attempt to recapture the job Gillard took from him in an internal party coup in 2010.

2013 - “100 VOICES” An oral history project on behalf of Sydney's Pride History Group was launched at Paddington Town Hall.

2015 - The Launceston Tramway Museum held a fundraising event with night rides on restored trams.

Stuff that happened on the 26th of February in Oz history

 1606 - Willem Jansz became the first recorded European to tap dance on the shilly-shally shores of The Fair Isle of Oz at the Pennefather River, where the Banana-Bender (aka QLD) town of Weipa now stands.

Pissing off the locals, Jansz lost ten of his crew, no, not down the back of his couch, they were done a nasty mischief by the pissed off locals, during multiple visits to the shore (cos obvs they couldn't take a hint the first time!). He gave a pithy Tripadvisor review of the joint, finding it swampy, humid (and just sooo savage on his tresses).

Willem mapped 320 kms of the shore before rocking back home to the Netherlands. 

Except, the silly bugger was convinced it was part of New Guinea, and Dutch maps repeated his hubris for yonks.

1804 - Good old souse Bobby Knopwood aka Rev Robert Knopwood did spaketh forth in Tassie's first church service on the current-day site of the Tasmanian Museum.

1811 - James Hutchinson was Hanged at Sydney for stealing from the shop of Thomas Abbott. Hutchinson was originally condemned to death in June 1810 for burglary however he escaped from custody, upon being recaptured his sentence was reduced to hard labour. In February 1811 he was convicted along with James Ratty of stealing from commercial premises and both were hanged together.

1811 - James Ratty was Hanged at Sydney for stealing cloth, muslin etc. from the shop of Thomas Abbott.

1825 - Samuel Fielding was Hanged at Hobart for sheep-stealing.

1825 - James Chamberlain was Hanged at Hobart for sheep-stealing .

1825 - Stephen Lear was Hanged at Hobart for burglary at the Surveyor-General's.

1825 - Henry Fry was Hanged at Hobart for burglary at the Surveyor-General's.

1830 - Oh how simply spiffing, what-oh! 

The first serious game of cricket was held in Hyde Park where the Colonial Civilians (Currency Lads) soundly defeated the 57th regiment (the Die Hards).

Now, back to the hangings...

1830 - John Killeen was Hanged for sheep stealing. 

1830 - Samuel Jones was Hanged at Hobart for sheep stealing.

1830  - Joseph Fogg was Hanged at Hobart for an unnatural crime.

1830 - Thomas Goodwin was Hanged at Hobart for cutting the throat of Ann Hamilton with intent to kill.

1831 - Thomas Bartie was a lucky little chap when he was granted 2560 acres of land at Hinton in the Parish of Butterwick and Seaham. 

The grant was known as Rosebank

1837 - An original voyage of the damned was a ticket on the migrant ship Lady McNaghten, which arrived in Port Jackson today with 54 deaths on board her decks during and a further 13 in quarantine after the not-so-delightful-sea-jaunt.

1838  - The Fitzroy River in Westralia was just lying around waiting for someone to discover it when Commander John Wickham on HMS Beagle doffed his hat and obliged.

1840 - Seeing as Or-stray-lia had so much land to fill up 56 French-Canadian and a couple of Irish rebels from the Lower Canadian Rebellion won a free sea cruise on HMS Buffalo to be interred near current-day Concord, NSW thus blessing the colony with names like Exile Bay, Canada Bay and French Bay.

1848 - A £25 reward was offered by Govt. for apprehension of Indigenous bloke 'Darley' for the rape of a female residing at a station belonging to the Australian Agricultural Company.

1856 - James Galloway convinced a meeting of employers and employees to begin implementing the 8 hour day. A public holiday was declared and floats were prepared to represent the various trades, and was celebrated until the last procession in 1951.

1866 - Governor Darling was recalled.
Ahhh, yes, well I remember the dear, sweet little numbers he wore when out promenading upon the grassed lawns of the Colonial Parliament House, the dashing hand-tooled shoes that matched his hair ribbons so well and the delicious little draw-string bags he wore at his waist....oh.
Yes.
*ahem* He was recalled back to Britain.
Though his ensemble for the voyage was simply darling...

1872 - The brig 'Maria' sank off the coast of Queensland, Australia, with the loss of 21 by drowning and 14 by Indigenous Australians.

1882 - With a 182 metre long platform and a clock tower without a clock, Albury railway station was finally completed (no clock?). It had hit hip pockets for £24,000 (but still no clock?) and in June 1883 the station hosted a massive gala party to celebrate the linking of Melbourne and Sydney by rail...but without a time piece handy.

1902 -  The Federation Drought had the populace on its knees already so they were given a public holiday to pray for rain while they were down there. Their calls were placed in a queue and answered as soon as an operator was available, which was June 9.

1907 - The Neath Colliery Branch Railway Line (NSW) was opened from Neath - Neath Colliery.

1914 - Douglas Mawson and the crew of the Aurora received a hero’s welcome on their return to Adelaide after their 2 year Australasian Antarctic Expedition.

1917 - Annie Isabel Rankine, Indigenous leader, was born at the Aboriginal Station Raukkan (Point McLeay) in South Oz.

1942 - A float plane from a Japanese sub made a reconnaissance joy flight over Melbourne and Port Phillip Bay.

1963 - Miss Jane started looking in the mirror and hallucinating seeing people who were at home in their lounge rooms. No, it wasn't a bad dose of rocket fuel but the beginnings of Romper Room....see me walk so straight and tall, I won't let my basket fall....
Code Purple to Miss Jane's room....

1965 - Talbot Duckmanton followed in the conga line behind Sir Charles Moses as chairman of The Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC).

1968 -  Lionel Rose (1949-2011) outpointed Fighting Harada in Tokyo and became a national sports hero and an icon for Australia's indigenous community. Hundreds of thousands lined Melbourne's streets to welcome him home after his title triumph. He lost the world bantamweight title to Mexican Ruben Olivares in a fifth-round knockout in August 1969.

1973 - Prime Minister Gough Whitlam announced the establishment of diplomatic relations with Hanoi, but retained recognition of South Vietnam's Government.

1974 - The original inhabitant of Oz, Mungo Man, gave up his boney passport as evidence when the thigh bone connected to the hip bone at Lake Mungo, NSW.

1976 -  A group of beady-eyed divers from the Society for Underwater Historical Research located the remains of the Loch Vennacher off Kangaroo Island, 71 years after she went down with the loss of all.hands.

1983 - The Sydney Vice Squad led by Detective-Inspector Ernie Shepard raided the new Club 80 again. 11 men were charged with ‘scandalous conduct’.

1983 - The Oh So Fabulous Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras flounced its stuff to the theme of Our Lives/Our Selves.

1985 - A cultural festival of performance, exhibitions, forums, film and sports was held in conjunction with the Gay Mardi Gras.

1985 - Dwarf tossing raised its ugly head in a popular Surfer's Paradise nightclub as a jockey-throwing contest was ditched when no jockeys fronted up for the pleasure of being bodily bowled.

1986 - Soft Targets, a play about AIDS was held at the Stables Theatre, Nimrod Street, Kings Cross.

1991 - The LGBTI Outrage magazine was advertised on Australian commercial television.

1994 - Looking Good, the first Aboriginal gay and lesbian visual arts exhibition was held at Boomalli Aboriginal Artists’ Co-op.

1994 - Oz Lotto was launched.

1997 - The High Court announced it would allow Nick Toonen and Rodney Croome action against the Tasmanian government to proceed, paving the way for Tasmania’s anti-gay legislation to be found to be invalid.

2000 - Shop Yourself Stupid this year was extended to Broadway Shopping Centre and the Queen Victoria Building.

2005 - Retail Therapy, formerly Shop Yourself Stupid was pared back after the cancellation of its tie-in partner, the East Sydney Festival.

2006 -  In Australia Joseph Terrence Thomas (32), a former taxi driver known as "Jihad Jack" and alleged by prosecutors to be an agent for Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, was convicted of receiving funds from the group but acquitted on more serious terrorism charges.

2009 - The Australian government announced a multi-million dollar investment in research on reducing gas emissions from farm animals as part of the fight against global warming.

2010 - Australia warned Japan that "diplomacy comes to an end this year" on whaling, after presenting a bold plan to phase out the controversial hunts in the Southern Ocean.

 2014 - Today marked 100 years since Australian geologist, Dr Douglas Mawson, returned from his two year Australasian Antarctic Expedition.

2015 - Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s famous bike became a part of Australian history, due to the bike being
donated by the Prime Minister to the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House.

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.

22 Twenty twoooooooo October History

1858 The Lying In Hospital that opened today wasn't actually for women who were lazing their days away and you might know it better as the Melbourne Royal Women's Hospital...or whatever they've rebranded themselves as now.

Bendigo Advertiser

1894 Martha Needle was not a very nice lady.
Many people agreed with this sentiment when she was found guilty and hanged at Melbourne Gaol for poisoning her hubby, children and brother-in-law for the in$urance money.
*As a side note, the sea wall at St Kilda was built using bluestone bricks from Old Melbourne Gaol, 14 of them marked with initials and dates of executed people, including Martha herself.

1945 - Today the Royal Australian Navy decommissioned, then handed back the borrowed HMAS Nepal to the Royal Navy which later broke up the ship in 1956.

1956 - Part of the British nuclear tests was codenamed Breakaway; exploded on this day was 10.8 kilotonnes of TNT (45 TJ) from a tower. You can google the images and see what a mess was made.

1965 - A demonstration against the Vietnam War was held in Sydney with 65 people being arrested.

1999 - The leader of the National Party, Pat McNamara announced the (state) National Party would split from the coalition which they had formed with the (state) Liberal Party in 1990.
Didn't last long.

2007 - It was reported that Swedish museum officials handed back the remains of 10 Aboriginal people which had been illegally smuggled out of Australia 100 years before.

2021 - Melbourne waltzed itself out of the last of the lock downs with announcements from the likes of Reuters it was the world's 'most locked down city'

And if you're alive to bitch about, you're welcome.

21 October in Australian history

1800 Where there's a fat sheep there's a fair wether....the good ship Buffalo toddled off to England from Oz with 6 sample Merino fleeces from John Macarthur...er, Mrs Macarthur who did all the hard yakka.

1818 Michael Howe went a' bushranging, changed his title from convict to "Lieutenant Governor of the woods" and ended up in a sticky mess; being shot by Private William Pugh and convict Thomas Worrall will do that, even on the banks of the Shannon River, Tasmania.

1886 - George Chaffey signed a mad-arse agreement with the Victorian Govt to knock together an irrigation settlement at Mildura.

1890 - Proclamation Day on 21 October 1890 was the real beginning of self-government in Western Australia. Proclamation Day was celebrated throughout the Colony; streets were lined with decorations, and events including sports, picnics and, in Perth itself, a 'Monster Tea'. At night fireworks and balls were staged. For many years after 1890 a public holiday known as Proclamation Day was celebrated on 21 October each year and in recent years ceremonies have been arranged on 21 October to commemorate the establishment of the State's Constitution.

1915 -  Vera Deakin, daughter of former PM Alfred Deakin, established Australia's Red Cross Missing and Wounded Enquiry Bureau in Cairo.

1940 Pastor Doug Nicholls made a basic plea for Indigenous Peoples to be treated as equals.

Townsville Daily Bulletin

1957 - Excitement, peoples! Australia's very first automatic telephone weather service made it's grand entrance in Melbourne today.

1969 - Zelda D'Aprano went to the Commonwealth Building, where a number of government offices were located, and chained herself to the entrance of the building in protest for Equal Pay.

1972 - Yippee! The Snowy Mountain Hydro-Electric Scheme was officially done and dusted, opened and online.

1978 – Civilian pilot Frederick Valentich went missing in a Cessna 182 over Bass Strait south of Melbourne, after reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft.

1985 - Throughout October 1985 Australian unions carried out industrial bans targeting the racist regime in South Africa. These covered aviation, shipping, building, mail, telecommunications and other industries, then finished with a march and rally in Sydney outside South African Airways on October 21. Their action came after the 1985 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting(CHOGM) meeting in the Bahamas watered down sanctions against apartheid.

2000 - The newly built Melbourne Museum was officially flung open for the great unwashed masses to mass.

2002 – Two people were killed in the Monash University shooting, while five others were injured.

20 October all day til midnight

 1862 The rails sang as the first official train rocked up to Sandhurst aka Bendigo from Melbourne. 

1899 The World's Oldest Blogger , young Olive Riley, was found in the cabbage patch at Broken Hill, and she commenced blogging to promote the idea that "one is not too old for the internet"

All About Olive

1900 Aussies off to war. New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia sent naval contingents as part of a British empire force deployed against anti-western Chinese secret societies.

1939 Compulsory military training Six weeks after Australia entered the Second World War, Menzies announced the reintroduction of compulsory defence training, to take effect on 1 January 1940. Unmarried men aged 21 were required to undergo 3 months training with the militia.

1966 Australia was formally Blessed when the POTUS, LB Johnson, popped in for a chinwag with Harold Holt (before he did the bolt)

1973 The Sydney Opera House was flung opened with gay abandon by the late great Elizabeth II.

1987 Everyone had their tits in a tangle. The Black Monday stock market crash caused the All Ordinaries Index to fall 25%, the single biggest one day drop in the market's history.

1989 The Grafton bus crash occurred, resulting in 21 people killed and 22 injured when a tourist bus collided with a semi-trailer on the Pacific Highway near Grafton.

2023 They didn't care to hear about the plague anymore...

Or some such.