1797: The first known coal mines were discovered in 1791 by a group of escaped convicts in Newcastle, New South Wales, which was not yet a settlement and the discovery was not made public. But then on September 18, 1797 a rich seam of coal was discovered. Coal was officially discovered in the Newcastle area, laying the foundation for the establishment of Newcastle.


1876: Australia's ninth Prime Minister, James Scullin, was born in Trawala, Victoria. He was the first Catholic and the first Irish-Australian to serve as Prime Minister. After his death, the Australian Capital Territory of Scullin, a suburb of Canberra, was named after him, as was the House of Representatives district of Scullin. Skarlin Monolith in Antarctica is also named after him.


1979: David Tonkin was elected Premier of South Australia. Tonkin also served as his own state treasurer, where he combined fiscal conservatism with the implementation of socially progressive reforms. In 2000, Tonkin was awarded the Liberal Party's Outstanding Achievement Award by Prime Minister John Howard. He died in his sleep on 2 October 2000 while attending a music festival at Mongler Hill in the Barossa Valley, South Australia.


1981: Australian motorcycle stuntman Dale Baggins has died in Melbourne. By the time he was 20 years old, he had achieved national and international fame. In 1978, at the age of 17, Buggins jumped 25 cars on a Yamaha dirt bike, breaking the world record previously held by American stuntman Evel Knievel. 


2023: A stabbing incident occurred at the Australian National University. Two 20-year-old women were stabbed and a third man was attacked and suffered minor injuries. Two women were taken to hospital, one in critical condition and the other in stable condition. When police arrived, they took control of the situation and arrested a 24-year-old man, who was believed to be "not a student at the university" and remained in police custody.