- 1656 – The Vergulde Draeck, a Dutch East India Company ship bound for the port of Batavia (now Jakarta), is wrecked south of Ledge Point in present-day Western Australia.
- 1949 – At the 43rd session of the International Olympic Committee, held in Rome, Italy, Melbourne is announced as the host of the 1956 Summer Olympics, defeating bids from Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, and Detroit.
- 1985 – Thirty-three members, including Senator Jo Vallentine (pictured in 2011), resign from the Nuclear Disarmament Party at the national conference held in Melbourne, claiming the party had been taken over by members of the Socialist Workers Party.
- 1996 – In a shooting spree, 35 people are murdered by Martin Bryant in the town of Port Arthur, Tasmania.
- 2009 – Businessman Richard Pratt, the former president of the Carlton Football Club, dies at his home in Kew, Victoria, at the age of 74.