ON THIS DAY

1788:

James Bloodsworth announces design for construction of first Government House, Sydney.

Convicts seize the ship Harrington anchored in Sydney Harbour, and escape.

American Freeman Cobb arrives in Australia to set up stagecoach company.

Royal Flying Doctor Service inaugurated in Cloncurry, Queensland.

Britain drops its first hydrogen bomb on Christmas Island in the Pacific. Death of Sir Robert Menzies. Liberals win office in Tasmania. Australian actor Bud Tingwell dies, aged 86, after a battle with prostate cancer.

Australian Jessica Watson, 16, becomes the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe solo, non-stop and unassisted.

Australia cricket captain Michael Clarke weds Kyly Boldy in a secret ceremony.

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