21st of October

1942

• Two-time Bathurst 1000 winner, Allan Grice, was born on the 21st of October 1942 in Maitland, New South Wales. Apart from winning the race in 1986 and 1990, he also had four second-places and one third.

1944

• Seven officers and twenty-three sailors were killed on this day in 1944 when a kamikaze attacked HMAS Australia at the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

1962

• Australian representative Rugby Union player, David Campese, was born in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, on the 21st of October 1962. He played for Australia 101 times from 1982 to 1996.

1978

• Pilot Frederick Valentich vanished over Bass Straight on the 21st of October, 1978, during a training flight.

2014

• Edward Gough Whitlam, the 21st Prime Minister of Australia, passed away on the 21st of October 2014 aged 98. He was Prime Minister from the 5th of December 1972 to the 11th of November 1975.