1788 - Governor Phillip, and his party, on this day proceeded up the Parramatta River by rowing boats. Two days later he ordered convicts to clear a site for a settlement which he named Rose Hill, after the Secretary of the Treasury, England (Sir George Rose).
1804 - In an accident in Aberdare colliery shaft, Cessnock, one man was killed and five others injured.
1816 - The foundation-stone of Piper's House at Elizabeth Point was laid. It is the first known occasion on which the Masonic fraternity took part in a semi-public function.
1820 - Sir Saul Samuel, New South Wales politician, was born.
1821 - Sir George Bowen, the first Governor of Queensland, was born.
1830 - Hanged at Bathurst, "The Ribbon Gang": Ralph Entwistle, Thomas Dunne, William Gahan, Patrick Gleeson, Michael Kearney, and John Shepherd for the murder of John Greenwood, bushranging and horse theft. The remaining four members of the gang: Dominic Daley, James Driver, John Kenny, and Robert Webster, were also hanged on this day, for plundering houses, bushranging and horse theft.
1838 - People hold a day of fasting on account of the drought in New South Wales.
1840 - Construction of The Causeway across the Swan River in Perth begins.
1849 - Hanged at Bathurst, Patrick Walsh, for the murder of Benjamin Fox on the Turon River.
1877 - Victor Trumper, in his time a famous Australian batsman, was born in Darlinghurst, Sydney.
1878 - Robert Fletcher Watson, runner, defeated John Applitt, of Parks, on the old Maitland Racecourse over 200 yards for the championship of Australia and a stake of £400. Watson won by six yards in 20 seconds, on a grass track. Applitt had beaten Watson in November, 1876, but at that time Watson was recovering from an illness. In the last race Watson beat Applitt by six years in 20 seconds on a chipped grass track. Watson then retired as champion of Australia, with records of having defeated the champion runners of Great Britain and America.
1882 - A public meeting was held in Rockhampton, Queensland, for the purpose of founding a Grammar School for Girls.
1883 - The Northern Rugby Union (later renamed Queensland Rugby Union) was formed at a meeting in Brisbane.
1888 - Public meeting in Brisbane Town Hall, advocated construction of a bridge across the river at Kangaroo Point.
1890 - Railway extension to Mayne, Queensland, opened.
1895 - General Booth, of the Salvation Army, arrived in Brisbane, on his second visit.
1902 - The first through cable message between Australia and England, via the Pacific service was sent.
1903 - Manly Council (Sydney) rescinded its by-law prohibiting bathing in the ocean during daylight hours.
1904 - One man was killed and five were injured in an accident at Aberdare Colliery shaft, before mining operations began.
1909 - The badge of the city of Sydney was granted by King Edward VII.
1916 - All collieries in Queensland stop work owing to a dispute about working hours and other matters.
1922 - QANTAS began its first scheduled flights, between Charleville, Queensland and Cloncurry, Queensland.
1934 - Ken Rosewall, champion tennis player, was born in Sydney.
1942 - The capture of Kokoda, New Guinea, and its airstrip on this day, enabled the Australian advance across the Owen Stanley Range to continue.
1946 - Champion racehorse Bernborough suffered torn sesamoid ligaments in the LKS MacKinnon Stakes and was retired to stud.
1962 - The first performance of the Australian Ballet Company was Peggy van Praagh’s production of Swan Lake at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Sydney.
2002 - The sixth Gay Games, Under New Skies, kicks off in Sydney, Australia with 12,100 participants.
2004 - Makybe Diva becomes the first mare in history to win back-to-back Melbourne Cups.
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