- 1846 – Bushranger Lawrence Kavenagh is executed by hanging.
- 1912 – A fire at Mount Lyell traps miners underground, killing 42 men.
- 1923 – Cairns, Queensland is proclaimed a city.
- 1982 – The National Gallery of Australia is opened in Canberra.
- 1985 – Canon Arthur Marshall became the first Aboriginal bishop in Australia.
- 1988 – Two police officers are killed in the Walsh Street police shootings.
- 2002 – Eighty-eight Australians are killed in Bali in bombings committed by Jemaah Islamiyah.
- 2003 – Death of Jim Cairns, Deputy Prime Minister in the Whitlam government, aged 89.
- 2004 – Simon Crean resigns from the position of Shadow Treasurer, and John Faulkner resigns as Leader of the Opposition in the Senate in the aftermath of the Australian Labor Party's election loss.