1789 - Dr. William Bland was born in London. He was transported to Sydney in 1814 for having fought a duel. Once in Australia he took an active part in public life of the colony. He was associated with Wentworth in the fight for the political rights of the colonists, and was a noted philanthropist. While in Australia he invented an airship, a model of which was exhibited in England. He died on July 27, 1868.
1799 - Governor Hunter was recalled in a stern dispatch from Portland dated 5 November 1799. It was acknowledged by Hunter on 20 April 1800, and he handed over the government to the Lieutenant-Governor King on 28 September.
1802 - The ship, Atlas, was struck by lightning in Sydney Harbour, and its bottom was perforated by the electric current, but no one was injured.
1804 - Colonel William Paterson, with a settlement party of soldiers and convicts arrived in Port Dalrymple on November 5, 1804, but did not land his party until November 11.
1818 - George W. Evans and three other members of John Oxley's exploration party, set out from Port Stephens, overland, for Newcastle, and arrived there on the same day. The Commandant, Captain Wallis, sent a vessel to Port Stephens to bring the other members of the party to Newcastle.
1832 - Hanged at Sydney, Edward Fordham, for the murder of Thomas Bradford at Lower Minto.
1837 - Governor Bourke (New South Wales) suggested that Moreton Bay be used for short sentence convicts only.
1843 - Sir Harry Rawson, British admiral, was born. He was the governor of New South Wales from 1902 to 1909.
1844 - European discovery of the Dawson River, Queensland, by Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichardt.
1850 - Hanged at Darlinghurst, Mogo Gar (Bundjalung man), for the murder of Daniel Page at the Bellinger River; and James Whelan, for the murder of Catherine Byrnes near Kent St.
1854 - The first batch of mechanics and navvies arrived at Newcastle in the ship, Ellenborough, to assist in the construction of the Hunter River Railway Company's railway from Honeysickle Point to East Maitland. The Ellenborough was the first ship to arrive at Newcastle direct from England.
1884 - The first pile of the Musgrave Wharf, at South Brisbane, was driven by Lady Musgrave.
1895 - Eleven locomotive engine-drives at Bowen, Queensland, were suspended for refusing to take coal to a steamer at the jetty.
1898 - First Brisbane golf club was formed.
1899 - First troops leave Western Australia for the Boer War.
1917 - Australian Light Horse and Infantry, following the fall of Beersheeba, attacked Gaza, the key of Palestine, along a 20-mile front, in the face of a great heatwave. Suffering agonies from heat, dust, and thirst, they advanced nine miles, and captured Gaza, taking 4000 prisoners, 70 guns, and great stores of war material. It was a bad beating for the Turks, who were driven back 30 miles towards Jerusalem within five more days.
1938 - Non-stop flight by a pair of Vickers Wellesleys from Egypt to Darwin. This sets a new world distance record of 7,158 miles (11,520 km).
1950 - No. 77 Squadron, for the first time in the Korean War, flies in support of the 3rd Battlion, Royal Australian Regiment, in the Pakchon-Sinanju road area, Korea. Australian Mustang fighters strafed Chinese positions just before 3RAR commenced its assault at Pakchon.
1956 - The ABC's first television broadcast commenced.
1965 - The 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, was deployed in Operation Hump in Vietnam.
1975 - Annette Kellermann, professional swimmer, vaudeville and film star, died in Southport, Queensland, aged 88.
2010 - It is reported that the world's oldest ground-edge tool has been discovered in northern Australia.
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