1812 - Governor Macquarie issues a public notice to the effect that no cattle, other than Government, were to graze in the Domain, no stones were to be quarried or loam dug from the Domain and no boats were to land in Farm Cove.
1824 - Hume and Hovell set out to explore the country to the south in New South Wales. They finished up on the shore of Corie Bay.
1830 - Captain Logan, Commandant at Moreton Bay, is murdered at Limestone (now Ipswich), Queensland. His body was recovered a few days later.
1830 - The first cricket match played in Australia, of which a record remains of the scores, the one played on this day on Hyde Park, Sydney, between two local clubs — The Australian Club, 70 and 80, and the Marylebone Club 93 and 77.
1832 - Hanged at Hobart, Thomas Fleet, for the attempted axe murder of William Waring Saxton at Port Arthur; and William Evans, for the attempted knife murder of George Edwards at Granton.
1834 - Sir James Reading Fairfax, son of the founder and for many years managing editor of the "Sydney Morning Herald," is born in Leamington, England.
1839 - European discovery of the Victoria River, North Australia, by Captain J. C. Wickham, of H.M.S. Beagle.
1843 - Hanged at Newcastle, Benjamin Harris, for the murder of Constable John Rutledge near Denman.
1854 - The first issue of the Melbourne "Age" appears in print.
1854 - Amidst the unrest which eventually led to the Eureka rebellion, the Eureka Hotel is burnt to the ground during a riot.
1854 - Formal authority for establishing a branch of the Royal Mint in Sydney is granted.
1854 - First exhibition in Victoria opens.
1856 - The Geelong to Duckponds railway is opened.
1859 - Hanged at Perth Gaol, Richard Bibbey, for the murder of Billamarra at Upper Irwin in March 1859. Bibbey was the first European executed for murder of an aboriginal in Western Australia
1861 - At Cullin-la-ringa, near the Dawson river, occurred the most savage murder in the history of Queensland. Horace Wills and his family, Patrick Manyon and his nanny, and several others, 18 in all, being murdered by the Aboriginals. Wills had settled on the station on October 3, just a fortnight before the massacre.
1866 - Wallsend Jockey Club is established, with Dr. John Pierce as President, and Mr. James Flynn as Secretary.
1882 - The first conference of local authorities ever held in Brisbane met at the old Town Hall in Queen Street. Robert Porter (then Mayor of Brisbane) was elected president, and W. H. G. Marshall (Town Clerk) was appointed secretary.
1885 - Gold Creek reservoir, Queensland, completed at a cost of £185,000.
1889 - First Wesleyan district meeting in North Queensland.
1893 - The Pacific cable to New Caledonia is completed.
1897 - The S.S. Kameruka is wrecked at Pedro Point.
1897 - Nugget weighing 30 ounces found on Clermont goldfield.
1898 - The Perth Zoo opens with two lions and a tiger.
1900 - Natural gas is found at Roma in Queensland.
1902 - The Pacific cable from Bamfield (Vancouver) to Southport (Queensland) is completed. It opened on 7 December 1902. It was 7320 nautical miles long; Vancouver to Fanning Island 3458 miles, Fanning Island to Suva 2043 miles, Suva to Norfolk Island 982 miles, Norfolk Island to Southport 837 miles.
1917 - The transcontinental railway line, Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie, is completed on this day. It opened on 22 October 1917. The first sod was turned at Port Augusta on 4 September 1912, by the Governor-General (Lord Denman). The distance was 1051 ½ miles.
1917 - The two halves of the Trans-Australian Railway meet.
1917 - Sumner Locke Elliott, Australian (later American) novelist, and author of "Careful, He Might Hear You", was born in Sydney.
1919 - The famous play "Chu Chin Chow," which was written and staged in London by the Australian actor Oscar Asche, establishes a world's record when it was performed for the 1467th time in the Haymarket Theatre.
1919 - Resignation of Sir Samuel W. Griffiths as Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia is accepted.
1920 - St. Augustine's War Memorial Anglican Church at Hamilton, Brisbane, opens.
1929 - Ada Crossley, Australian contralto, dies. She had been a favourite of royalty, having been commanded five times in two years to sing before Queen Victoria.
1949 - Work commences on the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme, considered one of the wonders of the modern engineering world.
1950 - Royal Australian Regiment in action at Sariwon, Korea. In a bold bluff, the battalion's second-in-command, Major Ferguson, convinces at least 1,500 North Korean soldiers to surrender at Sariwon during confused fighting.
* * * * *
Sources:
- Australian War Memorial
- South Australian Historians
- This Day in History
- Anniversaries To-Day (1934, October 17). Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954), p. 6. Retrieved September 27, 2018, from
- Anniversaries To-Day (1935, October 17). Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954), p. 6. Retrieved September 28, 2018, from
- To-day's Yesterdays (1936, October 17). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 4. Retrieved September 28, 2018, from
- To-day's Yesterdays (1933, October 17). The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1931 - 1954), p. 8. Retrieved September 28, 2018, from
- To-day's Yesterdays (1934, October 17). The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), p. 12. Retrieved September 29, 2018, from
- Anniversaries (1934, October 17). The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), p. 14. Retrieved September 30, 2018, from
- Anniversaries (1935, October 17). The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), p. 16. Retrieved September 30, 2018, from
- To-day's Anniversaries (1930, October 17). The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), p. 8 (5 O'CLOCK CITY EDITION). Retrieved September 30, 2018, from
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