January 21

Born on this day Wednesday, January 21, 1801. :   Unofficial founder of Melbourne, John Batman, is born. John Batman was born in Parramatta, Sydney, on 21 January 1801. As a native born Australian, Batman was interested in opening up new pastureland and promoting the growth of the colonies. He applied for land in the Westernport Bay area […]

January 07

Australian Explorers Monday, January 7, 1799. :   Bass and Flinders complete their first circumnavigation of Van Diemen’s Land. Matthew Flinders and George Bass were early sea explorers who charted sections of Australia’s coastline, adding valuable information to the maps of the time. In 1798, Bass explored along the southern coast of what would later become the colony […]

January 19

Australian History Tuesday, January 19, 1790. :   The second fleet of convicts sets sail from England to New South Wales. The First Fleet of convicts, which established the colony of New South Wales, arrived in Port Jackson on 26 January 1788. The Second Fleet left England with a cargo of 1026 convicts, bound for New South Wales, […]

January 24

Australian History Thursday, January 24, 1788. :   French ships are noted outside Botany Bay just two days before Captain Arthur Phillip takes formal possession of New South Wales. Over 150 years before English explorer Lieutenant James Cook ever sighted eastern Australia, the Dutch landed on the Western coast. Australia held no great interest for the Dutch, and […]

January 22

Australian History Tuesday, January 22, 1788. :   Captain Arthur Phillip names Manly Cove in Sydney. In 1786 the decision was made in England to send a colonisation party of convicts, military and civilian personnel to Botany Bay, under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip, who was appointed Governor-designate. The First Fleet consisted of 775 convicts on board […]

January 05

Born on this day Monday, January 5, 1778. :   George Evans, explorer in the early New South Wales colony, is born. George William Evans was born on 5 January in either 1778 or 1780, in Warwick, England. He arrived in Australia in October 1802, and after serving for a time as a storekeeper at Parramatta, he was […]

January 17

Australian Explorers Sunday, January 17, 1773. :   Captain James Cook’s ship, the ‘Resolution’, becomes the first known ship to cross the Antarctic Circle. James Cook was born at Marton in North Yorkshire, on 27 October 1728. He was the son of a farm labourer, and held no great ambitions, being apprenticed in a grocer/haberdashery when he was […]

January 31

Born on this day Sunday, January 31, 1762. :   Colonel Lachlan Macquarie, Governor of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821, is born. Lachlan Macquarie was born on 31 January 1762 on the Isle of Mull in the Hebrides islands of Scotland. He joined the army at age 14 and gained experience in North America, India and […]

January 25

Born on this day Thursday, January 25, 1759. :   Scottish poet Robert Burns is born. Robert Burns, often called the Bard of Ayrshire, was born on 25 January 1759 near Ayr, in Alloway, Scotland. His father was a tenant farmer who undertook much of his seven children’s education, as the Burns children were required to help on […]

January 27

Born on this day Tuesday, January 27, 1756. :   Austrian Classical composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is born. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756 in Salzburg, Austria. At the age of three, it was apparent that Mozart was a musical prodigy and he was taught to play the harpsichord, violin, and organ by his father. […]