![Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne (foreground) and the aircraft carrier USS Midway](http://upload.luquay.com/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/HMAS_Melbourne_%28R21%29_and_USS_Midway_%28CV-41%29_underway_on_16_May_1981_%286380752%29.jpg/100px-HMAS_Melbourne_%28R21%29_and_USS_Midway_%28CV-41%29_underway_on_16_May_1981_%286380752%29.jpg)
- 1929 – Fremantle, Western Australia, is proclaimed a city.
- 1969 – The aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collides with the destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in the South China Sea, killing 74 US sailors.
- 1991 – Paul Keating made his first leadership challenge for the Australian Labor Party. Bob Hawke won 66–44 and Keating resigned as Treasurer the same day.
- 1992 – Mabo v Queensland is decided upon by the High Court of Australia, making irrelevant the doctrine of terra nullius and recognising the existence of Native Title land rights .