Portal:Australia/Anniversaries/April/April 17

The entrance of the Woomera IRPC.

• 1840 – John Ridley, the English-born inventor and agriculturalist, arrives in South Australia.
• 1861 – On the Burke and Wills expedition, Charles Gray dies of dysentery near Lake Massacre, South Australia, on the return journey from the Gulf of Carpentaria.
• 1935 – Australia's national airline, Qantas, operates its first overseas passenger flight, from Brisbane to Singapore.
• 2003 – The Woomera Immigration Reception and Processing Centre (pictured), near Woomera, South Australia, is closed, with detainees transferred to the Baxter Immigration Reception and Processing Centre, near Port Augusta.
• 2005 – The Bali Nine, a group of nine people later convicted of attempting to smuggle heroin from Indonesia into Australia, are arrested in Indonesia.
• 2005 – Ownership of a replica of HM Bark Endeavour is transferred to the Australian National Maritime Museum.