Gday...

1788  -   First Fleet cattle from the government herds go bush, disappearing for seven years.

The First Fleet of convicts to Australia departed Portsmouth, England in May 1787, and arrived in New South Wales in January 1788. Whilst one of the primary purposes of the First Fleet was to establish a penal colony on the east coast of the Australian continent, removing excess prisoners from England was not the only rationale. It was intended that New South Wales would eventually become a self-supporting British presence in the South Pacific. This would not only help expand the British Empire and provide a trading outpost, but would help to deter the French from establishing a presence in the region. To that end, the First Fleet carried many supplies that would assist the colonys long-term prospects of survival. This included livestock such as cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and horses. Further livestock was purchased at Cape Town, the final stop before New South Wales.

On 5 June 1788, a large number of cattle from the government herds that had arrived with the First Fleet strayed from the colony and went bush. The cattle were not recovered until pardoned convict John Wilson, who settled southwest of Sydney, found the herd and its descendants living near the Nepean River in 1795. The herd had thrived in the bush, and the cattle were strong and healthy. The location where the lost cattle were located became known as Cow Pastures.

1823  -   Explorer Allan Cunningham breaks through the Warrumbungle Range on his quest to find an overland route to the Liverpool Plains.

Allan Cunningham was a botanist who came to Australia suffering from tuberculosis. As he found that Australia's climate helped him regain some of his health, he was keen to discover more of the country he came to love. Initially, he explored with John Oxley, following the Lachlan and Macquarie Rivers in 1817.

By the 1820s, the pastoral industry in the young colony of New South Wales was growing, and there was greater need for more grazing land. On 15 April 1823, Cunningham departed from Bathurst, supported by Governor Brisbane, to find an easier route north between the settlements around Bathurst and the Liverpool Plains which Oxley had discovered five years earlier. On this expedition, Cunningham discovered the only point where sheep and cattle could easily cross the mountain barriers, at the junction of the Warrumbungle and Liverpool Ranges. This gap became known as Pandora's Pass. He broke through the previously impenetrable Warrumbungle Range on 5 June 1823.

1866  -   Explorer John McDouall Stuart, first to successfully cross Australia from north to south, dies.

John McDouall Stuart was born in Dysart, Fife, Scotland, on 7 September 1815. He arrived in South Australia in 1839. He had a passion for exploration and gained experience when he was employed as a draughtsman by Captain Charles Sturt on an expedition into the desert interior. Following his experience with Sturt, Stuart led a number of expeditions west of Lake Eyre. When the South Australian government offered a reward of two thousand pounds to the first expedition to reach the northern coast, Stuart found sponsors and made his first attempt in 1860. He was beaten back several times by the Aboriginal attack and the harsh conditions. The crossing of Australia from south to north became a race against Burke and Wills, who were financed by the Victorian government. Whilst the latter won the actual crossing, they did not survive. Stuart, on his fifth expedition and third attempt to cross the continent, crossed Australia and returned alive, blinded from scurvy, but alive. His health suffered for the rest of his life, and he died on 5 June 1866, aged fifty years.

1988  -   Kay Cottee returns to Sydney, the first woman to sail solo around the world.

Kay Cottee, nee McLaren, was born in Sydney on 25 January 1954. Born into a yachting family, she developed a keen love of and skill for the sport. On 29 November 1987, she sailed out of Watsons Bay at the entrance to Sydney Harbour, on her quest to sail solo around the world in her 11.2m yacht named "First Lady". Ever aware of the dangers of modern-day pirates, bad weather, rocks and even icebergs, Cottee succeeded in her objective, taking 189 days to complete her solo circumnavigation. She sailed back into Sydney Harbour to a heros welcome on 5 June 1988. Cottee's yacht remains on display, fully rigged, at the National Maritime Museum at Sydney's Darling Harbour.  

Cheers - John