Search A Day Of The Year In History

Born on this day Thursday, August 1, 1872. :   George Taylor, little-known pioneer in Australian aviation, is born. George Augustine Taylor was born in Sydney on 1 August 1872....

Australian History Saturday, August 2, 1997. :   After three days, skiing instructor Stuart Diver is pulled alive from the rubble of the collapsed Thredbo resorts. For three days after...

Born on this day Saturday, August 3, 1811. :   Elisha Otis, inventor of the automatic safety brake for elevators, is born. Elisha Graves Otis was born in Halifax, Vermont,...

Australian History Monday, August 4, 1845. :   Australia’s worst civil maritime disaster occurs when the barque Cataraqui is wrecked off King Island, Bass Strait. Bass Strait is the body...

Born on this day Tuesday, August 5, 1862. :   Joseph Merrick, the ‘Elephant Man’, is born. Joseph Carey Merrick was born on 5 August 1862 in Leicester, England. He...

Born on this day Saturday, August 6, 1881. :   Bacteriologist and discoverer of penicillin, Alexander Fleming, is born. Alexander Fleming was born near Darvel in Ayrshire, Scotland, on 6...

Australian History Tuesday, August 7, 1928. :   Dingo hunter Frederick Brooks is killed, sparking the Coniston Massacre of Australian Aborigines. Coniston Station is a large cattle station in central...

Australian Explorers Sunday, August 8, 1802. :   Explorer Matthew Flinders discovers Port Curtis in Queensland, now the site of Gladstone. Matthew Flinders was an English sea explorer, and the...

Australian History Saturday, August 9, 1851. :   Gold is discovered at Sovereign Hill, near Ballarat, in Victoria. Gold was discovered in Australia as early as the 1830s, but discoveries...

Born on this day Monday, August 10, 1874. :   American President Herbert Hoover, who worked for some time in Australia as a mining engineer, is born. Herbert Clark Hoover...

Born on this day Wednesday, August 11, 1897. :   British children’s author, Enid Blyton, is born. Enid Blyton was born in East Dulwich, England, on 11 August 1897. Blyton...

Australian History Tuesday, August 12, 1806. :   Captain Philip Gidley King, third Governor of New South Wales, is succeeded by Captain William Bligh. Philip Gidley King, born in England...

Born on this day Monday, August 13, 1888. :   John Logie Baird, inventor of television, is born. John Logie Baird was born on 13 August 1888 in Helensburgh, Scotland....

Australian Explorers Wednesday, August 14, 1861. :   William Landsborough organises a relief expedition to find missing explorers Burke and Wills. Robert O’Hara Burke and William Wills set off from...

Born on this day Tuesday, August 15, 1769. :   Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, is born. Napoléon Bonaparte was born Napoleone Buonaparte in Ajaccio, Corsica, on 15 August 1769....

Born on this day Saturday, August 16, 1884. :   Hugo Gernsback, the American publisher credited with the establishment of science fiction as an independent literary form, is born. Hugo...

Australian Explorers Tuesday, August 17, 1813. :   Matthew Flinders writes to Sir Joseph Banks, outlining his reasons for suggesting New Holland be called Australia, after Banks disapproves of the...

Australian History Friday, August 18, 1786. :   The decision is made in England to colonise New South Wales with convicts from Britain’s overcrowded gaols. Conditions in England in the...

Born on this day Saturday, August 19, 1871. :   American pioneer aviator Orville Wright is born. Orville Wright was born in Dayton, Ohio, on 19 August 1871. Together with...

Australian Explorers Wednesday, August 20, 1794. :   Henry Hacking leads one of the earliest expeditions to cross the Blue Mountains. When the First Fleet landed on Australian soil in...

Australian Explorers Monday, August 21, 1820. :   Joseph Wild discovers the enigmatic Lake George, near Canberra. Lake George, in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia, and about a half hour’s...

Born on this day Sunday, August 22, 1847. :   John Forrest, Australian explorer and the first Premier of Western Australia, is born. John Forrest was born on 22 August...

Born on this day Friday, August 23, 1912. :   American actor, dancer and singer, Gene Kelly, is born. Gene Kelly was born Eugene Curran Kelly on 23 August 1912,...

Born on this day Friday, August 24, 1759. :   William Wilberforce, the man largely responsible for the abolition of the slave trade, is born. William Wilberforce was born on...

Australian Explorers Monday, August 25, 1828. :   Explorer Allan Cunningham discovers Cunningham’s Gap. Australian explorer Allan Cunningham was born in Wimbledon, England, on 13 July 1791. As a botanist...

Australian Explorers Friday, August 26, 1768. :   James Cook departs Plymouth on the journey during which he sights the east coast of Australia. In 1768, Lieutenant James Cook was...

Born on this day Thursday, August 27, 1908. :   Australian cricketing legend, Sir Donald Bradman, is born. Donald George Bradman was born on 27 August 1908 in Cootamundra, New...

Born on this day Tuesday, August 28, 1877. :   Charles Stewart Rolls, one of the founders of the Rolls-Royce Ltd automobile company, is born. Charles Stewart Rolls was born...

Born on this day Friday, August 29, 1958. :   Singer-songwriter Michael Jackson is born. Michael Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana on 29 August 1958, to a large family....

Australian History Tuesday, August 30, 1853. :   The last ship to carry convicts directly from Ireland to Australia arrives in Fremantle. Transportation of convicts to Australia began when the...

Born on this day Friday, August 31, 0012. :   Gaius Caesar (Caligula), third Roman Emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, is born Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus was born in Antium...