Labor Day in Australia is a public holiday on dates which vary between states and territories. It is the first Monday in October in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and South Australia. In Victoria and Tasmania, it is the second Monday in March (though the latter calls it Eight Hours Day). In Western Australia, Labor Day is the first Monday in March. In Queensland and the Northern Territory, Labor Day occurs on the first Monday in May (though the latter calls it May Day). It is on the fourth Monday of March in the territory of Christmas Island. The first march for an eight-hour day by the labor movement occurred in Melbourne on 21 April 1856.
The Black Friday bushfires of 13 January 1939, in Victoria, Australia, were among the worst natural bushfires (wildfires) in the world. Almost 20,000 km2 (4,942,000 acres, 2,000,000 ha) of land was burned, 71 people died, several towns were entirely obliterated and the Royal Commission that resulted from it led to major changes in forest management. Over 1,300 homes and 69 sawmills were burned, and 3,700 buildings were destroyed.
The Bombing of Darwin, on 19 February 1942 was the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia. On that day, 242 Japanese aircraft, in two separate raids, attacked the town, ships in Darwin's harbor.
The 1967 Tasmanian fires were an Australian natural disaster which occurred on 7 February 1967, an event which came to be known as the Black Tuesday bushfires. They were the most deadly bushfires that Tasmania has ever experienced, leaving 62 people dead, 900 injured and over seven thousand homeless.
The Ash Wednesday bushfires, known in South Australia as Ash Wednesday II, were a series of bushfires that occurred in south-eastern Australia on 16 February 1983, which was Ash Wednesday in the Christian calendar. In Victoria 47 people died. There were 28 deaths in South Australia. This included 14 CFA and 3 CFS volunteer fire-fighters who died across both states that day.
In February 1986 Australia launched its Cellular Telephone System by Telecom Australia. Peter Reedman was the first Telecom Customer to be connected on 6 January 1986 along with five other subscribers as test customers prior to the official launch date of 28 February.
At the 2009 Australian Open, Nadal won his first five matches without dropping a set, before defeating compatriot Fernando Verdasco in the semifinals in the second longest match in Australian Open history at 5 hours and 14 minutes.
The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of bushfires that ignited or were burning across the Australian state of Victoria on and around Saturday, 7 February 2009 and were among Australia's all-time worst bushfire disasters. The fires occurred during extreme bushfire weather conditions and resulted in Australia's highest ever loss of life from a bushfire; there were 173 direct identified fatalities, The figure was later increased to 180 fatalities, after several people had succumbed to their injuries. Many were left homeless as a result.
In March 2014, Xiaomi Store Australia (an unrelated business) began selling Xiaomi mobile phones online in Australia through its website, XiaomiStore.com.au. However, they traded for only a few months, as Xiaomi soon "requested" that the store be shut down on (or by) 25 July 2014. Shortly after sales were halted, the website itself was also taken down, on 7 August 2014. An industry commentator described the action by Xiaomi to get the Australian website closed down as unprecedented, saying, “I’ve never come across this [before]. It would have to be a strategic move.” At the time this left only one online vendor selling Xiaomi mobile phones into Australia, namely Yatango (formerly MobiCity), which was based in Hong Kong — although this business closed in late 2015.
On 6 April 2015, Harry reported for duty to Australia's Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin at the Royal Military College, Duntroon in Canberra, Australia. Harry flew to Darwin later that day to begin his month-long secondment to the ADF's 1st Brigade. His visit included detachments to NORFORCE as well as to an aviation unit.
Kenin opened the 2020 seasons by playing the Premier-level events at Brisbane and Adelaide, falling in the second round of both tournaments to Osaka and compatriot Danielle Collins respectively. She also played doubles with Mattek-Sands in Adelaide, but the pair fell in the semifinals to the eventual champions Nicole Melichar and Xu Yifan. Seeded 14th at the Australian Open, Kenin recorded straight-set wins over qualifiers Martina Trevisan and compatriot Ann Li to reach the third round for the first time. She then overcame a double break deficit in the first set to defeat 2016 quarterfinalist Zhang Shuai and advance to the fourth round, where she defeated Coco Gauff to reach the quarterfinals. Kenin went on to defeat Ons Jabeur in straight sets, advancing to her first semifinal at a Grand Slam championship. She then defeated the top seed Ashleigh Barty in straight sets to reach the final, where she defeated Garbiñe Muguruza in three sets to claim the trophy. Eventually, she entered the Top ten worldwide by ranking 7th on Feb 3, 2020.