1941 — The advance party of the 6th Australian Division arrived in Greece.

1945 — Australian troops captured Saposa in the Solomon Islands from the Japanese invasion force.

1945 — Battle of Waitavolo, New Britain, begins. With the capture of Waitavolo, fighting against the Japanese ceased and further Australian action was largely limited to patrolling across the Gazelle Peninsula.

1942 — A convoy of three ships, escorted by HMAS Yarra, was attacked by three Japanese cruisers and two destroyers, south of Java. All four ships were sunk and only thirteen of Yarra’s crew of 151 survived.

1982 — HMAS Tobruk transported ten helicopters to the Middle East as part of a multinational force enforcing the cease-fire between Egypt and Israel.  The RAN flew and maintained the aircraft from their base at El Gorah, North Sinai.

1885 — The New South Wales Contingent, comprising an infantry battalion of 522 men and 24 officers and an artillery battery of 212 men, sailed from Sydney for service in the war in the Sudan. 

1942 — Broome and Wyndham in Western Australia were bombed by the Japanese.  Broome was crowded with refugees fleeing the Japanese invasion of the Netherlands East Indies and about 86 were killed in the brief but intense attack.

1914 — HMA Submarines AE1 and AE2 sailed from Portsmouth for Australia. The passage took 83 days and was, at that time, the longest voyage ever undertaken by a submarine.

1943 — Battle of the Bismarck Sea. A convoy of Japanese troop ships and destroyers attempting to reinforce the Japanese garrison at Lae, was attacked by Australian and American aircraft. Over half of the 6000 Japanese troops embarked in the transports were killed.

1901 — The creation of the Australian Commonwealth Naval and Military Force, marked by the transfer of naval and military forces from the former colonies to the federal government, with the Governor-General assuming the role of Australian Commander-in-Chief.

1904 —The first Defence Act is passed by the Australian Parliament.

1914 — The first Australian military flight, by a Bristol Boxkite, from the Central Flying School at Point Cook, Victoria.

1967 — The RAN adopts the Australian White Ensign.

1942— Japan invades Java, signalling the defeat of the Netherlands East Indies. This was another in the series of Japanese victories in the opening six months of the war in the Pacific.

1991— The Gulf War ends. Coalition forces called a halt to the fighting when Iraqi forces were driven from Kuwait and defeated in the field.

1942— Battle of the Java Sea. A multinational naval strike force that suffered a disastrous defeat at the hands of the Japanese. HMAS Perth was involved in the battle and was one of the few allied ships to survive. 

1943— Fighting ended at Wau, New Guinea.  Japanese forces were defeated after weeks of heavy fighting. Australia would lose nearly 350 soldiers, while the Japanese lost over 1200.

1951— Soldiers from 3RAR capture Hill 614, Korea, an important piece of high ground, enabling UN forces to continue their advance.

1968— Australian Centurion tanks of the 1st Armoured Regiment arrive in Vietnam.

1994— HMAS Nirimba, the RAN’s Apprentice Training Establishment, was decommissioned after providing about 13,000 skilled tradesmen and women for the RAN and other Navies.

1971— Captain Joseph Smith, Australian Army Training Team Vietnam, was awarded a second Military Cross for his actions in Vietnam.

1991— Operation DESERT SABRE, a massive Allied ground assault, was launched from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, against Iraqi forces.