Today In History
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Take a look below to read about some of the key events in World history and Australian history during the month of June.
June 01
Australian History Monday, June 1, 1829. : Today is Foundation Day for Western Australia. The first recorded sighting of Australia’s western coastline came in 1611, when Dutch mariner Hendrik...
View Events from this dateJune 02
Australian Explorers Wednesday, June 2, 1841. : Eyre’s expedition across the Nullarbor is saved when he meets Captain Rossiter, of the whaler ‘Mississippi’. Edward John Eyre, born 5 August...
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Australian Explorers Tuesday, June 3, 1862. : John McKinlay, during his relief expedition to locate the missing Burke and Wills, loses a horse to snake bite. The Burke and...
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Born on this day Sunday, June 4, 1911. : Dr Alan Walker, founder of Lifeline, is born. Alan Walker, Australian theologian and the founder of Lifeline, was born on...
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Australian Explorers Thursday, June 5, 1823. : Explorer Allan Cunningham breaks through the Warrumbungle Range on his quest to find an overland route to the Liverpool Plains. Allan Cunningham...
View Events from this dateJune 06
Australian Explorers Wednesday, June 6, 1827. : Explorer Allan Cunningham discovers the Darling Downs. Allan Cunningham was born on 13 July 1791 in Wimbledon, England. As a botanist who...
View Events from this dateJune 07
Australian Explorers Thursday, June 7, 1770. : Lieutenant James Cook names Palm Island, off Australia’s eastern coast. Lieutenant James Cook was not the first to discover Australia, as he...
View Events from this dateJune 08
Australian Explorers Saturday, June 8, 1861. : Burke and Wills attempt to collect Nardoo in their quest for survival. The Burke and Wills expedition was supposed to mark the...
View Events from this dateJune 09
Australian History Monday, June 9, 1851. : Victorian Governor La Trobe offers a reward of 200 pounds to anyone finding gold within 200 miles of Melbourne. Gold was first...
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Australian Explorers Sunday, June 10, 1770. : Lieutenant James Cook’s “The Endeavour” runs aground and nearly sinks on the Great Barrier Reef. Following Lieutenant James Cook’s observations in Tahiti...
View Events from this dateJune 11
Australian History Wednesday, June 11, 1851. : The first gold is found in Victoria. Gold was discovered in Australia as early as the 1830s, but discoveries were kept secret,...
View Events from this dateJune 12
Australian History Friday, June 12, 1931. : The territories of North Australia and Central Australia are reunited as the Northern Territory. The Northern Territory is a federal territory of...
View Events from this dateJune 13
Australian Explorers Saturday, June 13, 1874. : Explorer John Forrest’s party fires upon Aborigines during an attack in central Western Australia. John Forrest was born on 22 August 1847,...
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Born on this day Tuesday, June 14, 1864. : Alois Alzheimer, the man who first identifies the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, is born. Aloysius “Alois” Alzheimer was born on...
View Events from this dateJune 15
Australian History Sunday, June 15, 1862. : Australia’s largest ever gold robbery is carried out by bushranger Frank Gardiner near Forbes, New South Wales. Frank Gardiner was born Francis...
View Events from this dateJune 16
Australian Explorers Monday, June 16, 1845. : Explorer Ludwig Leichhardt discovers and names the Mitchell River in north Queensland. Ludwig Leichhardt was born in Prussia and studied in Germany....
View Events from this dateJune 17
Born on this day Sunday, June 17, 1703. : John Wesley, founder of Methodism, is born. John Wesley was born on 17 June 1703, in Epworth, Lincolnshire, England. In...
View Events from this dateJune 18
Australian History Thursday, June 18, 1829. : The colony of Western Australia is proclaimed. The western coast of Terra Australis Incognito is believed to have first been sighted by...
View Events from this dateJune 19
Born on this day Monday, June 19, 1797. : Australian-born explorer Hamilton Hume is born. Hamilton Hume, born near Parramatta, New South Wales on 19 June 1797, was an...
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Australian Explorers Monday, June 20, 1836. : Australian explorer Major Thomas Mitchell names Swan Hill. Major Thomas Mitchell was born in Craigend, Scotland, in 1792. He came to Australia...
View Events from this dateJune 21
Born on this day Monday, June 21, 1982. : Prince William of Wales is born. Prince William of Wales was born William Arthur Philip Louis Mountbatten-Windsor at 9:03pm on...
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Born on this day Sunday, June 22, 1930. : Aviator Charles Lindbergh’s young son, who is later kidnapped and murdered, is born. Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr was born on...
View Events from this dateJune 23
Australian History Saturday, June 23, 1810. : Governor Macquarie opens Australia’s first post office. In 1809, Lieutenant Colonel Lachlan Macquarie arrived in Sydney to take up the position of...
View Events from this dateJune 24
Australian History Friday, June 24, 1870. : Australian horseman and poet, Adam Lindsay Gordon, commits suicide. Adam Lindsay Gordon was born on 19 October 1833, at Fayal in the...
View Events from this dateJune 25
Australian History Friday, June 25, 1847. : Melbourne, capital of Victoria, is proclaimed a city. The city of Melbourne, Australia, began as an illegal settlement after native-born Australian John...
View Events from this dateJune 26
Australian Explorers Saturday, June 26, 1858. : Explorer John McDouall Stuart discovers Chambers Creek, later to be renamed Stuart Creek. John McDouall Stuart was born in Dysart, Fife, Scotland,...
View Events from this dateJune 27
Born on this day Sunday, June 27, 1880. : Helen Keller, the first blind and deaf person to communicate effectively with the sighted and hearing world, is born. Helen...
View Events from this dateJune 28
Australian Explorers Sunday, June 28, 1789. : Governor Arthur Phillip sets out to trace the course of the Hawkesbury River. Captain Arthur Phillip was Governor of the colony of...
View Events from this dateJune 29
Born on this day Sunday, August 29, 1790. : The inventor of the idea of dental floss, Levi Spear Parmly, is born. Levi Spear Parmly was born in Braintree,...
View Events from this dateJune 30
Australian Explorers Sunday, June 30, 1861. : Explorer Robert O’Hara Burke dies on the banks of Cooper Creek. Robert O’Hara Burke, with William Wills later appointed second-in-command, led the...
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