This Day in Australian History - 23rd October

1786 - Baron Field, who was for a number of years a judge in New South Wales, is born.

1789 - Matthew Flinders' name is entered on his first ship's log-book. He was then only 15 years of age.

1803 - The first religious service on the shores of Port Phillip was conducted by Rev. Robert Knopwood in the camp at Sullivan's Bay, near the entrance to the Port Phillip, 14 days after David Collin's settlers, soldiers and convicts had arrived there. The settlement was abandoned in favour of the present site of Hobart, Tasmania.

1803 - Fort Macquarie in Sydney is completed.

1813 - Australian explorer Ludwig Leichhardt, who was first to travel from the eastern coast to Port Essington in the north, is born. After numerous exploration, in October 1847 he set out on another journey to Northern Australia. His fate remains a mystery. He was last heard of 3 April 1848.

1823 - John Oxley, Lieut. Sterling, Mr. Uniske, and Mr. Hoddle, depart Sydney in H.M.S. cutter "Mermaid", to inspect and survey Port Curtis to investigate for penal settlement purposes. They arrived there on 5 November, made their inspection and survey, and condemned the site as unsuitable for a penal settlement. They returned to Sydney on 13 December, but on the way there entered Moreton Bay, and entered the river which Oxley named Brisbane.

1851 - First Legislative Council in Tasmania is elected.

1857 - Ship, Catherine Adamson, is wrecked near Inner North Head, Port Jackson. Twenty-one lives are lost.

1861 - South Australian John McKinlay's relief expedition to locate Burke and Wills finds the burial site of party member Charles Gray.

1862 - Hanged at Bathurst, Jackey (indigenous) for the violation of Louisa Brown at Winburndale.

1872 - The first official cable message was received in Adelaide on this day from Lord Monck. The message was dated London, October 22, 1872, 2.40 p.m.

1872 - The first cable message from London to Brisbane is received.

1874 - Work begins on constructing the railway from Geelong to Colac, Victoria.

1879- The Home for Incurables in South Australia, which later became the Julia Farr Centre, is incorporated. The suggestion that a home for people suffering from incurable complaints came first from Julia Farr, wife of the headmaster of St Peters College, who had already helped to found a home for orphan girls, and was supported by Dr William Gosse. 

1881 - Unusually cold weather was experienced in Southern Queensland on October 23, 1881. There was ice on the water at Toowoomba.

1884 - Hanged at Perth Gaol, Thomas Henry Carbury, for the murder of Constable Hackett at Beverley on 12 September 1884.

1893 - Hanged at Boggo Road Gaol, George Thomas blantern, for the murder of Flora McDonald at Marlborough Station.

1907 - Hanged at Fremantle Prison, Augustin De Kitchilan, for the murder of Leah Fouracre at Peppermint Grove Farm, Waroona on 15 or 16 August 1907.

1913 - The first permanent building for the Commonwealth Bank in Australia was completed and occupied on this day.

1913 - The Tug Chesterford overturns and sinks in Brisbane River; engineer and fireman are drowned.

1931 - Mascot Woollen Mills and their Sydney factory cooperated in the shearing of sheep and treatment of the fleece, and completed the manufacture of a three-piece suit of clothes in 1 hour and 53 minutes from the sheep's back, beating the record held by Crowther and Sons, Leeds, England, 2 hours and 10 minutes, by 17 minutes.

1937 -The Australian Council of Trade Unions calls on the government to boycott trade with Japan, following the Japanese invasion of China.

1942 - Battle of El Alamein begins. The battle of El Alamein, in Egypt, one of the turning point battles of the Second World War, began with a massive artillery bombardment preceding attacks by British and Australian divisions.

1942 - During action between the 23rd and 31st, Sergeant W.H. Kibby, 2/48th Battalion, originally from Durham in the United Kingdom, wins the Victoria Cross at the battle of El Alamein, Egypt.

1965 - Canberra, capital city of Australia, begins operation of its first two sets of traffic lights.

1976 - Much of southern Australia experiences a total solar eclipse.

1991 – First general strike in 65 years takes place in New South Wales.

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Sources:

1. Australian War Memorial 
2. South Australian Historians 
3. This Day in History
4. Anniversaries To-Day (1933, October 23). Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954), p. 4. 
5. Anniversaries To-Day (1934, October 23). Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954), p. 6. 
6. Anniversaries To-Day (1935, October 23). Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954), p. 6. 
7. To-day's Yesterdays (1933, October 23). The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1931 - 1954), p. 8. 
8. To-day's Yesterdays (1934, October 23). The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), p. 12. 
9. To-day's Anniversaries (1930, October 23). The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), p. 8 (5 O'CLOCK CITY EDITION).