This Day in Australian History - 9th October

1803 - Lieut-Colonel David Collins arrives in Port Phillip on this day to found a settlement, holding a commission as Lieutenant-Governor. Two transports, the Calcutta (Captain D. Woodruff) and the Ocean (Captain J. Mertho), in the charge of Collins, left Spithead, England, on April 24, 1803, with 299 male convicts, 16 married women, 7 children, and 12 free settlers, with a guard of three subalterns and 47 soldiers. There was also a civil staff with Collins. Among the children was John Pascoe Fawkner, a pioneer of Port Phillip settlers. The Ocean entered Port Phillip on October 7, and the Calcutta two days later. Collins regarded the site inside the heads as unsuitable for a settlement, and at the end of January removed the settlement to the Derwent, where he founded the present city of Hobart, as Hobart Town.

1820 - Brunswick Bay, Western Australia, is named by Lieut. Phillip Parker King.

1829 - Trial by jury is authorised in New South Wales by an Act of the Legislative Council, which was entitled "An Act for regulating the constitution of juries for the trial of civil cases in the Supreme Court of New South Wales."

1830 - Commandant Patrick Logan starts on an exploring trip of Upper Brisbane River.

1853 - The present day site of Sandgate, Queensland, is surveyed.

1856 - Sir Thomas Ewing is born.  He was a New South Wales politician and a member of the first Federal Parliament. Becoming the Minister for Defence in 1907, he introduced a Bill for compulsory training of Citizen Forces.

1875 - The Adelaide Steamship Company is registered in Adelaide with a nominal capital of £100,000.

1880 - The first volunteer camp at Fort Lytton, Queensland, begins.

1885 - The first direct shipment of sugar from Queensland to London 9 ½ tons, is sent on the "Merkara" by the Pioneer plantation.

1886 - Memorial stones of new Parliament House at Melbourne are laid.

1888 – Launceston, Tasmania is proclaimed a city.

1888 - Sir Anthony Musgrave, colonial administrator and governor, dies in office as Governor of Queensland.

1888 - Brisbane tram employees go on strike.

1890 - Bishop Saumarez Smith, of Sydney, enthroned as Anglican Primate of Australia.

1890 - New Baptist Tabernaclek, Brisbane, opened.

1891 – The ceremonial mace is stolen from Victoria's Parliament House, Melbourne.

1896 - Female Court of Foresters opens in Brisbane.

1899 - A detachment of New South Wales Lancers sail for South Africa. This was the first Australian Contingent to leave for the Boer War.

1901 - The Newcastle and District Congregational Churches are amalgamated.

1908 - The Yass-Canberra area is named as the site for the new Federal Capital Territory of Australia.

1912 - The Maternity Allowance Bill is passed by Federal Parliament providing for payment of a bonus of £5 for every child born of white parents in Australia.

1941 - First 800 Australian airmen land in San Fransisco to join Empire Air Training scheme in Canada.

1942 – The Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942, which symbolically represents Australia's independence from the United Kingdom, becomes law.

1957 - The final major British atomic bomb test is conducted at the remote South Australian site of Maralinga.

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Sources:

1. South Australian Historians 
2. This Day in History
3. Anniversaries To-Day (1933, October 9). Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954), p. 4. 
4. Anniversaries To-Day (1934, October 9). Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954), p. 4. 
5. On this day (1965, October 9). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), p. 2. 
6. Today's Yesterdays (1936, October 9). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 6. 
7. To-day's Yesterdays (1934, October 9). The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), p. 14. 
8. To-Day's Anniversaries (1931, October 9). The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), p. 8 (FIRST EDITION). 
9. To-Day's Anniversaries (1930, October 9). The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), p. 8.