- 1812 – Indefatigable, the first direct convict transport from Britain to Tasmania arrives in Hobart.
- 1872 – Holtermann's nugget, a 286 kg slab of granite containing 82.11 kg of gold, was found in New South Wales.
- 1900 – Bill Ponsford, Australian batsman who twice broke the world record for the highest first-class score, is born in North Fitzroy, Melbourne.
- 1960 – Death of George Wallace, comedian, vaudevillian and film star, aged 65, at Kensington, New South Wales.
- 1979 – The Australian Federal Police is established.
- 1991 – The perjury trial of former Queensland Premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen ends in a hung jury. Prosecutors decide against a retrial on the basis of Joh's advancing age & divided public opinion.
- 1999 – Steve Bracks sworn in as Premier of Victoria after defeating Jeff Kennett in the 1999 Victorian state election.
- 2000 – Charles Perkins, Aboriginal activist dies.
- 2001 – SIEV-X, an Indonesian fishing boat en route to Christmas Island, carrying over 400 asylum seekers, sank in international waters with the loss of 353 people.