key Commemorative Dates
JANUARY
1 January – Commonwealth of Australia proclaimed (1901)
11 January – Official cessation of hostilities in Vietnam by Australian forces (1973)
31 January – Tet offensive commences, Vietnam (1968)
February
10 February – HMAS Melbourne/HMAS Voyager Collision (1964)
14 February– National Serviceman Day
15 February – Fall of Singapore (1942)
16 February – Radji Beach Massacre, Dutch East Indies (1942)
19 February – Bombing of Darwin (1942)
24 February – National Day for War Animals
28 February – Sinking of HMAS Perth (1942)
march
1 March – Formation of Australian Army (1901)
1 March – Formation of Australian Navy (1901)
2 March – Battle of Bismark Sea (1943)
19 March – Iraq War commenced (2003)
31 March – Formation of Royal Australian Air Force (1921)
april
2 April – RAN Sea King crash, Nias Island Indonesia (2005)
10 April – Siege of Tobruk commences, North Africa (1941)
22 April – Battle of Kapyong commences, Korea (1951)
25 April – Gallipoli Landing, Turkey (1915). Anzac Day
may
4 May – Battle of the Coral Sea commences (1942)
8 May – Victory in Europe (1945)
12 May – First attack on FSB Coral (1968)
13 May – End of the North Africa Campaign (1943)
14 May – Hospital Ship Centaur sunk (1943)
26 May – First attack on FSB Balmoral
29 May – International Day of UN Peacekeepers
31 May – Japanese submarines attack Sydney Harbour (1942)
31 May – Boer War ends (1902)
june
6 June – D Day, Liberation of Europe commences (1944)
6 – 7 June – Battle of Long Khanh (1971)
10 June – Battle of Shah Wali Kot commences, Afghanistan (2010)
12 June – Black Hawk helicopter tragedy (1996)
july
1 July – Reserve Forces Day / Montevideo Maru (1942)
4 July – Battle of Hamel (1918)
19 July – Battle of Fromelles (1916)
23 July – 3 September – Battle of Pozières (1916)
24 July – Arrival of RAMSI forces in the Solomon Islands (2003)
27 July – Korean Veterans’ Day (Armistice signed 1953)
August
5 August – Cowra Breakout by Japanese prisoners of war (1944)
15 August – Victory in the Pacific (1945)
18 August – Vietnam Veterans’ Day
31 August – Malaya & Borneo Veterans’ Day
September
1 September – Battle of Mont St Quentin (1918)
2 September– Battle for Australia Day
3 September – Merchant Navy Day
14 September – Australian Peacekeepers Day
15 September – Battle of Britain
20 September – Arrival of INTERFET in East Timor (1999)
26 September – Operation Jaywick (1943)
29 September – Breaking the Hindenburg Line (1918)
october
3 October – Vietnam Forces Welcome Home Parade, Sydney (1987)
31 October – Charge of Beersheba (1917)
November
1 November – AIF first convoy sails from Albany (1914)
10 November – Selective conscription introduced (1964)
11 November – Remembrance Day / Great War Armistice signed (1918) / Australian War Memorial opened, Canberra (1941)
18 November – Battle of Berlin (1943)
19 November – Sinking of HMAS Sydney (II)
December
7 December – The ‘Rats of Tobruk’ succeed in forcing the German and Italian forces to abandon their siege of Tobruk after a heavy 242 day battle (1941)
10 December – ‘Operation Fauna’ 1RAR (1952)
31 December – Conclusion of Operation SLIPPER, Afghanistan (2014)