1788A 2000

gang of convicts under a stonemason starts building a house for governor Arthur Phillip, who lays a foundation stone.

1797The

leader of the only survivors of the wreck of the ship Sydney Cove, stranded on an island in Bass Strait, arrive at Wattamolla Beach, south of Sydney, and are found. Seventeen had taken a longboat from the island to the mainland and were then wrecked on Ninety Mile Beach.

1803First

authorised public Catholic Mass in Australia and first Catholic marriage celebrated in Sydney.

1808The

brig Harrington is seized by 50 convicts in Farm Cove, Sydney, and sails for the Philippines.

1888Louisa

Lawson starts publishing The Dawn in Sydney, a monthly journal for women with household hints, stories and fashion with political comment on topics such as female suffrage.

1948Israel

is attacked by Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon hours after declaring independence.

1978Australia’s

longestserving PM, Liberal Party founder Robert Menzies, dies in Melbourne, aged 83.

2000Ian

Thorpe, 17, breaks his third world record in three days, in 200m freestyle, in Olympic trials despite illness.

2010Jessica

Watson, 16, sails into Sydney after 210 days at sea, becoming the youngest person to sail solo and unassisted around the world.

2018The

co-pilot of a Sichuan Airlines passenger jet is “sucked halfway” out of the plane after a cockpit windshield blows out forcing. He is saved by his seatbelt.