October 25
Born on this day Tuesday, October 25, 1881. : Spanish artist Pablo Picasso is born. Pablo Picasso was born Pablo Diego Jose Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Maria de los Remedios Cipriano Santisima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso on 25 October 1881 in Málaga, Spain. When he was born, he was thought to be still born. Stories abound […]
October 02
Born on this day Saturday, October 2, 1869. : Political leader and humanitarian, Mahatma Gandhi, is born. Mahatma Gandhi was born Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi on 2 October 1869 in Porbandar, India. Gandhi was a peace-loving man who initially trained as a barrister in England, but was unsuccessful in pursuing a career in law once he returned to […]
October 16
Born on this day Friday, October 16, 1863. : Daisy Bates, the Irish-born Australian woman who lived for many years among the Aborigines, is born. Daisy Bates was born Daisy May O’Dwyer on 16 October 1863, at Caraig Hill, County Tipperary, Ireland. She arrived in Townsville, Queensland, Australia, when she was 21, and shortly after […]
October 17
Australian History Tuesday, October 17, 1854. : Amidst the unrest which eventually led to the Eureka rebellion, the Eureka Hotel is burnt to the ground during a riot. The Eureka Hotel at Ballarat was opened by its owner, James Bentley, in July 1854. Also known as Bentley’s Hotel, it stood on the northeast corner of Eureka Street […]
October 01
Australian Explorers Tuesday, October 1, 1844. : German explorer Ludwig Leichhardt sets out from the Darling Downs to travel northwest to Port Essington. Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt was born on 23 October 1813, in Trebatsch, Prussia, which is now Brandenburg, Germany. Passionate about the natural sciences, he came to Australia in 1842, where he promptly undertook to […]
October 12
Australian History Friday, October 12, 1838. : Second Governor of South Australia, Lieutenant George Gawler, arrives in the colony. George Gawler was born on 21 July 1795 in Devon, England. Upon finishing his schooling, he was educated at the military college of Great Marlow, where he was an exemplary student. Gawler had led a distinguished military career, […]
October 13
Australian Explorers Thursday, October 13, 1836. : One of Mitchell’s men drowns as his expedition returns from the successful ‘Australia Felix’ discovery. Major Thomas Mitchell was born in Craigend, Scotland, in 1792. He came to Australia after serving in the Army during the Napoleonic Wars, and took up the position of Surveyor-General of New South Wales. He […]
October 19
Born on this day Saturday, October 19, 1833. : Australian horseman and poet, Adam Lindsay Gordon, is born. Adam Lindsay Gordon was born on 19 October 1833, at Fayal in the Azores, a group of Portuguese islands in the Atlantic Ocean, about 1,500 km from Lisbon, Portugal. Educated in his teenage years in England, he was a […]
October 31
Australian Explorers Saturday, October 31, 1818. : Oxley’s expedition party is attacked by Aborigines as they camp near Port Stephens. After discovering the rich, fertile country of the Liverpool Plains in New South Wales, Oxley continued east, heading back towards Sydney. On the way, he crossed the Great Dividing Range and came upon the Hastings River, which […]
October 21
Australian History Wednesday, October 21, 1818. : Notorious bushranger of Van Diemen’s Land, Michael Howe, is killed. Michael Howe was a bushranger active in Van Diemen’s Land (later Tasmania) between 1814 and 1818. Born in Pontefract, Yorkshire, England in 1787, Howe served in the Merchant Navy before running away and joining the Royal Navy. Within two years, […]