Have any foreign carriers had to do the same?
No...because foreign carriers HAVE to carry an alternate regardless what the forecast says...for ADL it's MEL...at least in my company...non-negotiable...
This year's fog season's track record speaks for itself with its multiple incidents resulting from an inept regulator, underequipped airports and domestic airline (fuel) managers ignoring the obvious.
It is embarrasing that Oz doesn't have facilities (LVO) even 3rd world airports can afford (Delhi has full CAT3B on 2 out of 3 runways for example...Lahore, Hanoi, TPE, BKK and KUL have CAT2 - these are just a few airports which come to mind but the list goes on)...
I wasn't there but from reading 11 pages of drama I would have elected to do an autoland on rwy 23 in ADL with a confirmation from the tower that the ILS beam is not infringed by any other planes or vehicles...
Does Mildura have the pavement strength for a 737?