11.00am (AEDT) – Requiem mass and private burial service held for the late Cardinal George Pell at St Mary’s Cathedral – Sydney

ABS Data Release – Building Approvals, December

The Green Comet passes closest to Earth when it will be about 43 million km away – but the experts say the best night for Aussies to look for it will be on Saturday 11 February

World Read Aloud Day

World Wetlands Day

Crêpe Day

Groundhog Day in the US and Canada

The Whale premieres in Aussie cinemas

Anniversary of:
• New Amsterdam (later known as New York) becoming incorporated as a city (1653)
• the Australian Premiers’ Conference deciding to locate Australia’s capital (Canberra) to the coldest place they could find between Sydney and Melbourne (1899). Ok, we might have added the ‘cold’ bit…