Excel Report Date format problem?

My client sends me an automated spreadsheet with one column being date and time a ticket is created. The date is listed as Australians would do it (ie day before month) but excel does not recognize it as a date. So when I try to extract just the month or day, or to sort, it doesn't work.

If I try to format it as a date, if the day is less than 12 excel makes that the month, the rest it ignores. Even if I format it as Australian dates, excel switches them aroundHow do I tell excel this is a date written in Australian format and I do not want it changed.