May 10
Born on this day Wednesday, May 10, 1899. : Singer, dancer and actor Fred Astaire is born. Fred Astaire was born Frederick Austerlitz in Nebraska on 10 May 1899. Astaire’s mother took him to New York for professional dance training in 1906, with the intent to train him for a career in vaudeville. A Paramount Pictures screen […]
May 16
Australian History Saturday, May 16, 1891. : Henry Lawson’s iconic poem, “Freedom On the Wallaby”, is published for the first time. The phrase “on the wallaby track” is an Australian term which has come to epitomise the freedom of being “on the road” with no ties and no specific, predetermined destination in mind. However, its meaning was […]
May 22
Born on this day Tuesday, May 22, 1888. : Australian illustrator Hal Gye is born. Hal Gye, pronounced Jye, was born Harold Frederick Neville on 22 May 1888 at Ryde, New South Wales. Originally a law clerk in Melbourne, Gye became an illustrator for book publishers Angus & Robertson, and various newspapers and magazines including The Bulletin, […]
May 20
Australian History Monday, May 20, 1867. : Copper is discovered in Queensland, sparking the founding of the town of Cloncurry. Copper is a highly valued metal, known to have been used throughout recorded history. It has high electrical conductivity, enabling its use in electrical and mechanical applications, and it is also valued in plumbing as it does […]
May 05
Australian History Friday, May 5, 1865. : Australian bushranger Ben Hall is shot dead by police. Ben Hall was born on 29 April or 9 May 1837 in Maitland, in the Hunter Valley of NSW. Both his parents had been convicted for minor stealing offences and transported to New South Wales, where they met and married, moving […]
May 30
Australian Explorers Thursday, May 30, 1861. : Ill-fated explorer Wills returns to the Dig tree to see whether a rescue party has arrived. Burke and Wills, with a huge party of men and supplies, departed Melbourne in August 1860 to cross Australia to the north coast and back. Burke, being impatient and anxious to complete the crossing […]
May 19
Born on this day Sunday, May 19, 1861. : Dame Nellie Melba, Australian operatic singer, is born. Dame Nellie Melba was born Helen Porter Mitchell on 19 May 1861 at “Doonside” in the inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond. She became the first Australian to achieve international recognition as an Opera soprano. Born into a musically gifted family, […]
May 14
Australian History Monday, May 14, 1855. : Australia’s first branch of the Royal Mint (London) commences operations in Sydney. Australia relied on currency sent from England during the first decades of its establishment as a British colony. Both the NSW Legislative Council and Victoria’s Legislative Council petitioned Her Majesty Queen Victoria in 1851 and 1852 respectively to […]
May 21
Australian Explorers Sunday, May 21, 1848. : Kennedy lands at Rockingham Bay, to commence his fateful expedition. Edmund Kennedy was born in 1818 on Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands of the English channel. As a surveyor, he arrived in Sydney in 1840 where he joined the Surveyor-General’s Department as assistant to Sir Thomas Mitchell. In 1845, […]
May 04
Australian History Wednesday, May 4, 1842. : The colony of the Moreton Bay District is declared a free settlement. The colony of the Moreton Bay District was founded in 1824 when explorer John Oxley arrived at Redcliffe with a crew and 29 convicts. The settlement was established at Humpybong, but abandoned less than a year later when […]