- 1810 – A town plan of Sydney was published, on which the streets were given new and permanent names, including Market, George, Park and Barrack Streets.
- 1862 – The Melbourne Zoo is opened.
- 1903 – The High Court of Australia opens in Melbourne.
- 1911 – Compulsory voting is introduced.
- 1920 – Henry Forster, 1st Baron Forster is appointed the seventh Governor-General of Australia, his appointment the first in consultation with the Australian Government.
- 1930 – Richie Benaud, one of the greatest leg-spinners to have played Test cricket, was born in Penrith, New South Wales.
- 1972 – A school teacher and her six pupils are kidnapped for A$1 million ransom in the Faraday School kidnapping.
- 1978 – Rock and roll singer Johnny O'Keefe dies.
- 1992 – Jeff Kennett becomes Premier of Victoria, after defeating Joan Kirner in the 1992 Victorian state election.
- 1992 – Death of Bill O'Reilly, cricketer, and well-respected cricket writer and broadcaster, in Sydney aged 87.