This Day in Australian History - 7th September

1790 - Captain Arthur Philip, first Governor of New South Wales, was speared in the shoulder by a native who mistook a friendly gesture for a hostile one. The Governor had gone to see a whale stranded on a beach at some distance from the settlement. With great wisdom he refrained from having the native punished, hoping to bring about better relations between the aborigines and their conquerors.

1794 - Seventeen-year old convict, Mary Haydock, marries Thomas Reibey, a junior officer on the 'Britannia'. After his death in 1811, Mary Reibey went on to manage and grow their trading and mercantile business. She is the face on the A$20 banknote.

1795 - Captain John Hunter arrives in Port Jackson in command of the Reliance, and assumes office as Governor of New South Wales. He was accompanied in the Reliance by a midshipman, Matthew Flinders, and a surgeon, George Bass.

1815 - John McDouall Stuart was born in England. Arriving in Australia in 1839, he was one of the great explorers, and his expedition across Australia from South to North led to the construction of the Transcontinental telegraph line.

1818 - John Oxley becomes the first European to discover Sydney River.

1825 - Major Edmund Lockyer arrives in Brisbane to explore the upper reaches of the Brisbane River.

1825 - John Godliman was hanged at Hobart for the murder of Samuel Hunt at Fourteen-Tree Plain, near Jericho.

1834 - Dr Robert Wardell, barrister, and founder, with Wentworth, of the journal, "The Australian," was shot by one of three absconding convicts on his farm at Petersham.

1837 - The charter of incorporation of the Australian Gaslight Company is granted.

1847 - Wide Bay River, Queensland, renamed Mary River, and Boyne River renamed Burnett River.

1858 - Hanged at Darlinghurst, New South Wales, James Moyes for the murder of William Alden on board the Oliver Jordan, berthed at Sydney.

1860 - The Bishop of Sydney (Rt. Rev. Dr. Baker) laid the foundation stone of the St. Mary's Anglican Church, West Maitland.

1860 - Plentiful rains break a drought period in the far north, where great anxiety had been felt about the welfare of the cattle.

1860 - A deputation from the Royal Geographical Society had an interview with the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies at the Colonial Office, London, to request the Government's aid in exploring part of Northern Australia.

1860 - Queensland Education Act receives the Royal assent.  It provided for a Board of Education of five persons.  The Act was superseded in 1875.

1876 - Clarence Michael James Dennis, Australian journalist, poet and author of 'The Sentimental Bloke', is born.

1879 - The West Maitland Jewish Synagogue, at the corner of Church and Banfield Streets, West Maitland, is consecrated.

1886 - Foundation stone of new Princess Bridge in Melbourne is laid.

1893 - Temporary Victoria Bridge, Brisbane, opened for traffic.

1894 - Victor York Richardson OBE, was born.  Richardson was a leading Australian sportsman of the 1920s and 1930s, captaining the Australian cricket team and the South Australian Australian rules football team, representing Australia in baseball and South Australia in golf, winning the South Australian state tennis title and also being a leading local player in lacrosse, basketball and swimming.  He also won the South Australian National Football League's highest individual honour, the Magarey Medal, while captain-coach of Sturt in 1920.

1902 - In Australia, the whole nation observes a 'day of humiliation' and prays for rain, as a terrible drought kills livestock and threatens crops; rain begins to appear on September 10.

1913 - First Orient steamer came up the Brisbane River and berthed at New Farm.

1920 - Queensland doctors take a ballot, which resulted as follows: In favour of prohibition 104; Continuance 32; State Control 22.

1920 - Commonwealth Government purchased two timber mills and timber areas in Queensland with the objective of building war service homes at a lower cost.

1928 - New submarine named Otway launched at Vickers' yards in Britain for the Australian Navy.

1936 - The last known Thylacine, or Tasmanian Tiger, dies.

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Sources:

1. Anniversaries To-Day (1934, September 7). Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954), p. 8 (CRICKET EDITION). 
2. To-Day's Anniversaries (1930, September 6). The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), p. 8. 
3. Looking Back (1940, September 7). News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), p. 2. 
4. On this day (1965, September 7). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), p. 2. 
5. Today's Yesterdays (1936, September 7). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 6. 
6. To-day's Yesterdays (1934, September 7). The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), p. 14. 
7. Extinction of thylacine. National Museum Australia. 
8. This Day in History 
9. www.onthisday.com (Australia)