Portal:Australia/Anniversaries/February/February 16

1804 – David Collins becomes the first Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen’s Land and decides on Sullivan Cove, now Hobart, as a settlement site.
1914 – Charles Heydon of the New South Wales Industrial Court finds that a "living wage" for a family of four would be 48 shillings a week but more than a living wage should be paid.
1942 – Twenty two Australians captured by the Japanese following the sinking of SS Vyner Brooke are killed at the Bangka Island massacre.
1983 – The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claim the lives of 71 people in Australia's worst ever fires.
2002 – Steven Bradbury wins Australia's first Winter Olympics gold medal in the 1,000 meters short-track speed-skating event.