January 10

Australian History Saturday, January 10, 1852. :   South Australia’s first lighthouse begins operation. Kangaroo Island is a protected and unspoilt island off the coast of South Australia, and 112 km southwest of the state capital, Adelaide. With an area of 4405 sq km, it is Australia’s third-largest island after Tasmania and Melville Islands. The Cape Willoughby lighthouse […]

January 29

Born on this day Tuesday, January 29, 1850. :   Lawrence Hargrave, Australian inventor of the box kite, is born. Lawrence Hargrave was born on 29 January 1850 at Greenwich, England, but emigrated to Australia in 1865. He took on an engineering apprenticeship in Sydney, and was always interested in a variety of experiments, particularly those to do […]

January 18

Born on this day Thursday, January 18, 1849. :   Edmund Barton, the first Prime Minister of Australia, is born. Sir Edmund Barton, first Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia, was born on 18 January 1849, in Sydney, New South Wales. He was educated at Fort Street High School and Sydney Grammar School, where he was twice […]

January 11

Born on this day Wednesday, January 11, 1843. :   The man who built Fremantle Harbour and who brought water to the Western Australian goldfields, CY O’Connor, is born. Charles Yelverton O’Connor was born on 11 January 1843 in Ireland. After leaving Ireland at age 21, he first found work in New Zealand as a Surveyor on […]

January 23

Australian Explorers Saturday, January 23, 1830. :   Charles Sturt’s exploration party narrowly avoids a confrontation with hostile Aborigines. Captain Charles Sturt was born in India in 1795. He came to Australia in 1827, and soon after undertook to solve the mystery of where the inland rivers of New South Wales flowed. Because they appeared to flow towards […]

January 09

Australian Explorers Tuesday, January 9, 1816. :   Explorer James Kelly lands at Port Dalrymple, Tasmania, where he is arrested as a bushranger. Captain James Kelly was born in Parramatta, New South Wales, in 1791. As a young man, he was inducted into the trades of sealer and sandalwood trader. At the age of 21, Kelly was enlisted […]

January 04

Born on this day Wednesday, January 4, 1809. :   Louis Braille, inventor of the raised-dot writing system for the blind, is born. Louis Braille, inventor of the Braille writing system for the blind, was born on 4 January 1809 in Coupvray near Paris, France. At the age of three, Braille injured his left eye with an […]

January 20

Australian History Thursday, January 20, 1803. :   Superintendent of public works, Charles Grimes, arrives at the Mornington Peninsula, now a popular holiday spot, where he pronounces it unsuitable for settlement. In 1802, Governor King, governor of the colony of New South Wales, sent acting lieutenant John Murray to survey Port Phillip Bay. Murray explored some parts of […]

January 28

Australian Explorers Thursday, January 28, 1802. :   Flinders discovers and names Fowlers Bay in South Australia. Matthew Flinders was born on 16 March 1774 in Lincolnshire, England. He became a sea explorer, and arrived in Australia in the 1790s. Australia was previously known as New Holland, and Flinders first proposed the name “Terra Australis”, which became “Australia”, […]

January 26

Australian Explorers Tuesday, January 26, 1802. :   Flinders crosses the 129th degree of longitude, which is later to become the border between Western Australia and South Australia. Matthew Flinders was born on 16 March 1774 in Lincolnshire, England. He arrived in Australia in the 1790s and commenced exploring and charting the coast of the continent. A meticulous […]