Portal:Australia/Anniversaries/February/February 16

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• 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 - 22 Australians captured by the Japanese following the sinking of SS Vyner Brooke are killed at the Banka 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.