Gday...

1524  -             It is prophesied that the city of London will be drowned by the Thames River on this date.

The Middle Ages are known to have been a time of great superstition. Much store was put in the prophesies of fortune tellers and astrologers, and people willingly upturned their lives to avoid predicted disasters.

One such disaster which was predicted to hit London was a massive flooding by the Thames on 1 February 1524. As early as June 1523, astrologers and soothsayers had already agreed on the fact of, and the date for, such an inundation. Many people left the doomed area or moved to higher ground and by mid-January 1524, the local population had dropped by twenty thousand.

The flood was predicted to be slow and gradual rather than sudden. From daybreak, those who had not already left found a vantage point from which to observe the river, planning to escape in plenty of time once the waters were seen to begin rising. The Thames, of course, continued on its same path without flooding, but many were afraid enough to keep watch right up until the following day. When the predictions were not fulfilled, the fortune tellers concurred to produce the story that their calculations were out by one century exactly.

Of course, the Thames did not inundate London in 1624 either.

1709  -             The "real" Robinson Crusoe is rescued by English explorer William Dampier.

Robinson Crusoe is a novel written by Daniel Defoe and first published on 25 April 1719. It is about an English castaway who has to survive for 28 years on a remote tropical island near Venezuela before being rescued, on 19 December 1686. The story is unique in that it is written in autobiographical style, seeming to give an account of actual events. This style of writing was not common in the 18th century.

"Robinson Crusoe" is believed to have been based on the true story of Scottish castaway Alexander Selkirk, who lived for four years on the remote Pacific island of Más a Tierra, although in 1966 its name was changed to Robinson Crusoe Island. Selkirk was rescued from his remote island on 1 February 1709, by Captain Woodes Rogers and English explorer William Dampier, who had become the first Englishman to visit Australia in the late 1600s.

Interestingly, it was on this journey that Dampier was introduced to numerous new words, now common in the English language. Such words included breadfruit, barbeque, cashew, avocado, chopsticks, sea-breeze, sea-lion, settlement, soy sauce and tortilla.

1811  -             The light of the Bell Rock Lighthouse, considered one of the "7 Wonders of the Industrial World", is lit for the first time.

The Bell Rock Lighthouse, in the North sea, is the world's oldest offshore lighthouse. Situated 18 kilometres off the coast of Angus, Scotland, for many years Bell Rock was notorious for the danger it posed to ships, as it lies just under the surface of the water for all but a few hours at low tide. In one storm alone during the late 17th century, 70 ships were lost. Also known as Inchcape Rock, Bell Rock received its name after the Abbot from Arbroath tried to install a warning bell during the 14th century. Within a year, the bell had disappeared, either taken by Dutch pirates or knocked from its position by the rough seas.

Renowned Scottish engineer Robert Louis Stevenson initially proposed the construction of a lighthouse on Bell Rock in 1799, but the prohibitive costs and practicalities prevented further action. In 1804, the warship HMS York was wrecked on the rocks, and all on board perished: this was enough to reignite interest in Stevenson's proposition.

Construction of the lighthouse began on 17 August 1807. The 60 workers lived on a ship moored over a kilometre from the rock for most of the day, rowing to the rock to work during the four hours it was uncovered. Finding this time-consuming, one of Stevenson's first actions was to construct a beacon house on tall wooden struts with living room for 15 men. Work was marred by an accident resulting in one worker's legs being crushed, the loss of two workers' lives and Stevenson's own personal loss of three of his children back home. Nonetheless, this incredible piece of engineering was finally completed in 1810. The beacon was first lit on 1 February 1811, and the man whose legs were crushed became the first lighthouse keeper.

2835 blocks of stone were used to construct the Bell Rock Lighthouse, whilst the total weight of masonry, the lantern and its apparatus is 2083.445 tons. The revolving light can be seen from land, 56.3km away. The lighthouse was automated in 1998.

1814  -             The final 'Frost Fair' is held in England.

Hundreds of years ago, when the British climate was much colder than it is now, it was common for the Thames River in London to freeze over completely. For this to happen, a long spell of cold, dry weather was required, during which ice patches would begin to build up at the river's edges, gradually spreading and forming larger ice surfaces as they joined up with other ice patches. The old London Bridge was supported by many more piers than the current bridge, slowing down the flow of water, and the river itself was broader and shallower. All of these factors contributed to the buildup and thickening of ice.

When the Thames froze over completely, enterprising London merchants began to set up stalls and markets along the middle of the river. The earliest recorded Frost Fair was in the winter of 1564-1565 when crowds turned out to watch a football match, archery contests and dancing. Conditions were right for another Frost Fair in 1607, during which a whole tent city was set up, with a variety of entertainment being offered, including ice bowling. In 1683-84, the Frost Fair grew to include even printing presses which offered Frost Fair memorabilia.

Britain's final Frost Fair began on 1 February 1814. It was a huge event, with herds of donkeys being led out on the waterway, and a lamb being roasted on the ice, with its meat sold as "Lapland Mutton". After this event, winters did not become so cold again. Once the new London Bridge was built with fewer supporting piers, which allowed the water to flow more freely, the Thames did not freeze over enough to allow crowds of thousands to wander about on its surface.

1858  -             The first balloon flight in Australia occurs.

The hot air balloon was developed in the 1700s by Frenchman Jacques Étienne Montgolfier, together with his brother Joseph-Michel. Montgolfier progressed to untethered flights until 1783 when he tested the first balloon to carry passengers, using a duck, a sheep and a rooster as his subjects. The demonstration occurred in Paris and was witnessed by King Louis XVI. The first manned, untethered balloon flight occurred on November 21 of that year, and carried two men.

The first balloon flight in Australia occurred on 1 February 1858. Constructed in the UK, the balloon was imported into Australia by the manager of Melbourne's Theatre Royal, George Coppin. The launch took place at Cremorne Gardens near Richmond. William Dean lifted off at 5:52pm and landed near Heidelberg at around 6:30pm. Two weeks later, Dean again lifted off, this time reaching an estimated altitude of 10,000 feet before descending onto the road between Collingwood and Brunswick Stockade.

1915  -             Opal is first discovered in Coober Pedy, Australia.

Coober Pedy is a small town located in South Australia's central north, 685kms south of Alice Springs and 846kms north of Adelaide. Figures on the town's population vary between around 1,900 people, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006 Census, and 3,500 people, a figure based on Council and Post Office records.

Coober Pedy is known as the "Opal Capital of the World", but the first opals were discovered accidentally by a gold prospecting party while making camp on the edge of the Great Victoria Desert on 1 February 1915. As word spread and opal miners moved in, the settlement was given the name of Stuart Range Opal Field, after explorer John McDouall Stuart who made the first crossing of the Australian continent from south to north and back.

Finding the extremes of summer and winter temperatures almost unendurable, miners solved the problem by digging out underground homes to help insulate them against the excessive summer daytime heat and the bitterly cold winter nights. The name of the settlement was changed to Coober Pedy in 1920: it is believed to have been derived from the aboriginal words Kupa pita meaning "White man in a hole or burrow". Coober Pedy was officially designated a town in 1960.  

1918  -             Russia adopts the Gregorian calendar, centuries after the western world.

The Gregorian calendar, widely adopted in the western world, was initially decreed by Pope Gregory XIII on 24 February 1582. The Gregorian calendar was first proposed by Aloysius Lilius because the mean year in the Julian Calendar was slightly long, causing the vernal equinox to slowly advance earlier in the calendar year.

On 5 October 1582, the Gregorian calendar was actively adopted in the western world for the first time. It required an adjustment to correct 11 accumulated days from the Julian calendar. The day following Thursday, 4 October 1582 was Friday, 15 October 1582, effective in most Catholic countries such as Italy, Poland, Spain and Portugal. Non-Catholic countries such as Scotland, Britain and the latter's colonies still used the Julian calendar up until 1752, and some Asian countries were still using the Julian calendar up until the early twentieth century. On 1 February 1918, Russia finally adopted the Gregorian calendar.

1920  -             The Royal Canadian Mounted Police force is established.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, also known as the RCMP or Mounties, is both the federal police force and the national police of Canada. The RCMP was created as the North West Mounted Police on 23 May 1873 by Sir John A Macdonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada. The distinctive red uniform was to emphasise the British origins of the force and to differentiate it from the blue American military uniforms.

During the Boer War, the force raised the Canadian Mounted Rifles, mostly from NWMP members, for service in South Africa. For the CMR's distinguished service there, Edward VII honoured the NWMP by changing the name to the Royal North West Mounted Police on 24 June 1904. On 1 February 1920 the RNWMP was merged with the Dominion Police and was renamed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, with responsibility for federal law enforcement in all provinces and territories.

2003  -             The space shuttle 'Columbia' breaks up on re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, killing seven astronauts.

Space Shuttle Columbia was the first space shuttle in NASA's orbital fleet. Its first mission lasted from April 12 to April 14, 1981, during which it orbited the Earth 36 times. Columbia was the world's first reusable space vehicle.

On its final mission, the craft was carrying the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, and the first female astronaut of Indian birth, Kalpana Chawla. Other crew members on the final flight included Rick Husband (commander), Willie McCool (pilot), Michael P Anderson, Laurel Clark, and David M Brown. Columbia re-entered the atmosphere after a 16-day scientific mission on the morning of 1 February 2003. It disintegrated 16 minutes before it was due to land at Cape Canaveral in Florida. Subsequent investigations indicated that a breach of the shuttle's heat shield on take-off caused it to break up on re-entry.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1795  -             The French Government offers a prize of 12,000 francs to whomever can invent a new way of preserving food.

On 2 February 1795, a prize of 12,000 francs was offered by the French government for the invention of a method to preserve and prevent military food supplies from spoiling. Nicolas Appert was a French chef who experimented with heating food in airtight glass jars, ultimately canning meats and vegetables in jars sealed with pitch. This opened the way for the development of canned foods. Appert's methods of food preservation involving the packaging of food in sealed airtight tin-plated wrought-iron cans was first patented by Englishman Peter Durand in 1810. Further developments and improvements followed until canned foods became a commonplace item in the late 1800s.

1829  -             Captain Sturt discovers and names the Darling River.

Captain Charles Sturt was born in India in 1795. He came to Australia in 1827, and soon after undertook to solve the mystery of where the inland rivers of New South Wales flowed. Because they appeared to flow towards the centre of the continent, the belief was held that they emptied into an inland sea. Drawing on the skills of experienced bushman and explorer Hamilton Hume, Sturt departed in late 1828 to trace the Macquarie River.

Following the Macquarie inland, they came to a smaller river which, due to the drought, was merely a series of waterholes. This was the Bogan, named after an Aboriginal word meaning "birthplace of a king". Sturt followed the Bogan downstream past the site of today's Bourke, until he arrived suddenly at what he described as "a noble river", on 2 February 1829. This was the Darling, which Sturt named after Governor Darling. The discovery of the Darling brought a new element to the mystery of the rivers: its banks clearly showed that during flood-times, it would carry huge amounts of water. It remained to be determined whether the river drained into an inland sea to the southwest, or whether it flowed elsewhere.

1852  -             The world's first public toilet for men opens.

Public toilets are a much-valued commodity throughout the western world. Travellers and shoppers would be sorely inconvenienced without the ready availability of public toilets, and it is difficult to imagine a time when they were not so easily accessed. Whilst public toilets were known to have existed in the ancient world, they did not operate on modern sewers. After the decline of the Roman empire, public facilities also declined, and with it, general sanitation. After many centuries, it became apparent that sanitation was an issue that needed to be addressed.

The Public Health Act of 1848 called for Public Necessaries to be provided to improve sanitation. As a result, the world's first modern sewer was established in London in 1850. Within two years, the first on-street public toilet to utilise modern sewers was opened. Located at 95 Fleet Street, London, next to the Society of Art, the convenience was officially opened on 2 February 1852, for the sole use of men. A similar convenience was opened nine days later, on 11 February, at 51 Bedford Street, Strand, London. The toilets consisted of water closets in wooden surrounds, and patrons were charged 2d entrance fee and extra for washing or clothes brushes.

1887  -             The tradition of Groundhog Day in North America originates.

Groundhog Day is a traditional festival celebrated in the USA and Canada on February 2 every year. Tradition states that one must observe a groundhog's burrow on this day. If the groundhog emerges and fails to see its shadow because the weather is cloudy, winter will soon end; bright clear weather in a North American winter is often associated with very cold temperatures. If, however, the groundhog sees its shadow because the weather is clear, it will return to its hole, and winter will continue for six more weeks.

The tradition of Groundhog Day originated in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania on 2 February 1887. Numerous cities and towns have mascot groundhogs, such as Punxsutawney Phil, made famous in the movie "Groundhog Day". Others include Jimmy the Groundhog in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, and Staten Island Chuck in New York City, General Beauregard Lee in Atlanta, Georgia, Wiarton Willie in Wiarton, Ontario, Shubenacadie Sam in Nova Scotia and Balzac Billy in Balzac, Alberta.

1895  -             Queen Victoria gives Royal assent to the Bill allowing South Australian women the right to vote.

Women in South Australia gained the right to vote in 1894, and voted for the first time in the election of 1896. It is generally recognised that this right occurred with the passing of a Bill on 18 December 1894. However, a letter from the Attorney-General advising Governor Kintore that Royal Assent would be required to enact the Bill, is dated 21 December 1894. The Bill was enacted when Queen Victoria gave Royal Assent on 2 February 1895.

South Australia was the first colony in Australia and only the fourth place in the world where women gained the vote. The issue of women voting had been discussed since the 1860s, but gained momentum following the formation of the Women's Suffrage League at Gawler Place in 1888. Between 1885 and 1894, six Bills were introduced into Parliament but not passed. The final, successful Bill was passed in 1894, but initially included a clause preventing women from becoming members of Parliament. Ironically, the clause was removed thanks to the efforts of Ebenezer Ward, an outspoken opponent of women's suffrage. It seems that Ward hoped the inclusion of women in Parliament would be seen as so ridiculous that the whole Bill would be voted out. The change was accepted, however, allowing the women of South Australia to gain complete parliamentary equality with men.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1809  -             German composer Felix Mendelssohn is born.

Felix Mendelssohn was born Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy on 3 February 1809 in Hamburg, Germany. Initially Jewish, Mendelssohn's family converted to Christianity, joining the Lutheran church. Considered to be the greatest child prodigy since Mozart, Mendelssohn was responsible for reviving the work of Johann Sebastian Bach, another gifted Lutheran, which had been largely forgotten for eighty years. Mendelssohn directed a performance of Bach's St Matthew Passion in 1829, the first performance of the work since Bach's death, and it earned Mendelssohn an international reputation at age twenty. Mendelssohn also revived much of Mozart's work, and the influence of both Bach and Mozart can be seen in his own compositions.

Mendelssohn wrote his first twelve symphonies before he was fourteen, and by the time he was seventeen, his compositions had developed maturity. He wrote incidental music for the performance of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, including the Wedding March that is played as the recessional at many weddings. Other popular works include his Violin Concerto in E Minor, Piano Concerto No 1 in G Minor and Piano Concerto No 2 in D Minor, the oratorio Elijah and the concert overture The Hebrides, otherwise known as Fingal's Cave.

Ever prone to over-working, Mendelssohn died at age thirty-eight from a series of strokes, on 4 November 1847.

1830  -             George Robinson sets off on a four-year walk around Tasmania as missionary to the Aborigines.

George Augustus Robinson was born in London in 1788, although some sources set his year of birth at 1791. It is uncertain when he arrived in Australia, but he was concerned for the well-being of the Tasmanian Aborigines. Following increased tensions between the Aborigines and white settlers, the government was intending to implement their policy entitled the Black Line, a military plan to round up Aborigines in Tasmania. In 1829, Robinson requested permission from Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur to travel around Tasmania, persuading the Aborigines that the government's plan to relocate and "civilise" them was desirable.

Robinson set out on 3 February 1830, accompanied by several Aborigines whom he had befriended, to act as cultural intermediaries for him. Robinson's journey took him almost four years, during which he travelled around almost the complete perimeter of Tasmania. Whilst he succeeded in assisting the relocation of many tribes, ultimately the government did not live up to their end of the bargain in providing suitable food, clothing and shelter. Because of this, Robinson's role in Tasmanian Aboriginal history tends to be viewed negatively.

1899  -             It is decided at the Premier's Conference that the capital city of Australia should be neither Melbourne nor Sydney.

Rivalry between Australia's two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, has been rife since the days of the goldrushes in the mid-1800s. Sydney, as the main city in New South Wales, was regarded as the logical choice for Australia's capital city. Melbourne, however, was close to the wealth of Australia's richest goldfields, and lacked the dubious convict past of Sydney. As the idea of Federation of the states gained momentum, it was decided that a new federal capital should be chosen. Thus, on 3 February 1899, at the Premier's Conference held in Melbourne, it was decided that the new capital city would be in New South Wales but situated at least 100 miles from Sydney.

Over the next nine years, numerous locations were considered, until the Yass Plains location was finally selected in 1908.

Section 125 of the Constitution of Australia provided that:

"The seat of Government of the Commonwealth shall be determined by the Parliament, and shall be within territory which shall have been granted to or acquired by the Commonwealth, and shall be vested in and belong to the Commonwealth, and shall be in the State of New South Wales, and be distant not less than one hundred miles from Sydney.

Such territory shall contain an area of not less than one hundred square miles, and such portion thereof as shall consist of Crown lands shall be granted to the Commonwealth without any payment therefore. The Parliament shall sit at Melbourne until it meets at the seat of Government."

1931  -             A magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand kills 256 people.

Hawkes Bay is a locality on the eastern coast of New Zealands North Island. A rich wine-growing region, it is home to two major urban centres, Hastings and Napier, as well as numerous smaller settlements. Last century, it was also the scene of the countrys deadliest earthquake disaster.

At 10:47 am on Tuesday, 3 February 1931, an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 hit Hawkes Bay. After an initial lull of half a minute, the shaking returned, with the entire earthquake lasting for two and a half minutes. Many buildings collapsed: the highest death tolls occurred in Roachs Department Store in Hastings; the Park Island Old Mens Home (Taradale); the Nurses Home in Napier; Napier Technical College; Marist Fathers Seminary in Greenmeadows; and the Grand Hotel in Hastings. With the cities of Napier and Hastings already devastated by the tremors, much of what remained was incinerated by numerous fires which broke out and could not be fought due to damaged waterlines and emptied reservoirs.

One of the natural features of the area was Ahuriri Lagoon, or Ahuriri Harbour which extended for several kilometres north of Napier and covered an area of about 40 sq km. The earthquake caused the sea to drain from the harbour as much of Ahuriri was uplifted, permanently exposing some 30 km of seabed, and resulting in the creation of a new land bridge between Napier and nearby Taradale. The navy sloop HMS Veronica was left grounded as the seawater receded, but the crew was quickly deployed to assist in rescue efforts. The Napier airport now stands where part of the lagoon once covered the area.

With the city decimated and further aftershocks occurring, Napier was officially evacuated the following day. 5000 people left the city, many bound for refugee camps set up on the North Island. A 7.3 aftershock ten days later did substantial further damage. The official death toll was 256, with 161 of those in Napier, 93 in Hastings and 2 in Wairoa. A monument to the tragedy, however, lists 258 names.

1954  -             Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first reigning monarch to visit Australia.

Australia was originally colonised by Great Britain, and is still a constitutional monarchy. Since Federation in 1901, when it became the Commonwealth of Australia, its independence from its founding country progressed via numerous Acts and Statutes through the 20th Century. The 1986 Australia Acts established Australia as a Sovereign, Independent and Federal Nation. This essentially ended the ability of the British Government to make laws for Australia, removing the last legal link with the United Kingdom by abolishing the right of appeal to the judicial committee of the Privy Council. Despite the Australia Acts, however, visits to Australia by members of the royal family remain popular. From 1867 up until 1854, there were six royal visits to Australia, but none of them were by a reigning king or queen. Queen Elizabeth II changed that.

Queen Elizabeth II was crowned early in June 1953. Within less than a year, she became the first reigning monarch to set foot on Australian soil. Accompanied by her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen arrived in Farm Cove, Sydney, on 3 February 1954 on the SS Gothic. During their tour, they visited each of the states of Australia, as well as the Australian Capital Territory. This visit marked the first of dozens more by various members of the royal family.

1959  -             1950s rock and roll musician Buddy Holly is killed in an aeroplane crash.

Buddy Holly was born Charles Hardin Holley on 7 September, 1936, in Lubbock, Texas. Growing up in a musically-minded family, he played the violin, piano and guitar, and debuted in country and western music. He moved into the arena of rock 'n' roll, and became one of the first to use overdubbing and double-tracking during production of his music. He is best known for the songs "That'll Be The Day" and "Peggy Sue."

Following a performance at Clear Lake, Iowa on 2 February 1959, Buddy Holly was travelling by aeroplane with fellow rock 'n' roll musicians Ritchie Valens and J P "The Big Bopper" Richardson. The performers and their road crew drew straws to decide who would fly in the aeroplane and who would ride in the unheated tour bus. The four-passenger Beechcraft Bonanza took off with Holly, Valens and Richardson in a severe snow storm and crashed into a corn field several minutes later, at 1.05am on 3 February 1959. Holly's death was recorded as 'the day the music died' in Don McLean's classic 'American Pie'.         

Cheers - John

Gday...

1902  -             Charles Lindbergh, the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic, is born.

Charles Augustus Lindbergh was born on 4 February 1902 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. Displaying an interest in machines from an early age, Lindbergh enrolled in a mechanical engineering program, but quit when he was eighteen. He then joined a pilot and mechanist training programme with Nebraska Aircraft, bought his own airplane and became a stunt pilot. In 1924, he started training as a US military aviator with the United States Army Air Corps. After finishing first in his class, he worked as a civilian airmail pilot on the St Louis line in the 1920s.

Lindbergh is most famous for being the first pilot to fly solo and non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean, flying from Roosevelt Airfield, Long Island, New York City to Paris on 20-21 May 1927 in his single-engine airplane The Spirit of St Louis. The journey took him 33.5 hours and won him the Orteig Prize of $25,000.

1906  -             Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor, theologian and participant in the resistance movement against Nazism, is born.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born on 4 February 1906 in Breslau, Germany. He became a Lutheran pastor and theologian, attaining his doctorate at the University of Berlin before doing further postgraduate study at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

Bonhoeffer was a strong opponent of Nazism, and in 1939 joined a secret group of high-ranking military officers based in the Abwehr, or Military Intelligence Office, who wanted to overthrow the National Socialist regime by killing Hitler. After assisting Jews to escape to Switzerland, money was traced back to him: he was arrested in April 1943 and charged with conspiracy. In July 1944, an attempt was made to assassinate Hitler, and Bonhoeffer was found to have connections to the conspirators in the plot. He was executed by hanging at dawn on 9 April 1945, together with his brother Klaus and his brothers-in-law Hans von Dohnanyi and Rüdiger Schleicher.

Bonhoeffer is considered a martyr for his faith, and was absolved of any crimes by the German government in the mid-1990s. His death on April 9th is commemorated in the calendar of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, and he is still considered one of the greatest, most insightful theologians of all time.

1939  -             The first ever mass strike of indigenous Australians occurs as the Yorta Yorta people protest against their deplorable living conditions.

The indigenous people of Australia were the original inhabitants of the Australian continent. Ever since Europeans first settled the continent, Australian history has been dotted with instances of injustices against the native people.

As European settlement spread, more and more Aborigines were displaced from their traditional home. They were dispossessed of their land and, due to the hostilities between whites and Aborigines, they were moved onto reserves and missions, where they were supposed to be protected. The Cummeragunja Mission in southern New South Wales was one such mission, established in 1881, primarily for the Yorta Yorta people who inhabited the land just north of the Murray River near Barmah, Victoria. Many of the Yorta Yorta had been relocated from the strictly religious Maloga Mission, and were permitted to live more self-sufficiently on Cummeragunja, establishing a farm and producing wheat, wool and dairy products.

In 1915, the New South Wales Aboriginal Protection Board took over control of Cummeragunja, disbanding the farm's committee of management, meaning that the residents no longer had control over funds they raised from their work on the farm. Conditions for the residents became far more restrictive, and a system of distributing rations was implemented. These rations were unhealthy and insufficient, other supplies were minimal, and shelter was inferior. By the 1930s, illness was rife throughout the mission.

On 4 February 1939, between 150 and 200 indigenous residents staged a mass walk-off in protest against the deplorable living conditions. They crossed the border into Victoria, which was against the rules of the New South Wales Protection Board. Many of them subsequently settled in towns such as Barmah, Echuca and Shepparton. No further action was taken on behalf of the aboriginal people's claims for compensation, and little has been taken in recent years. At most, the Yorta Yorta people have received about one tenth of 1 percent of the traditional lands they lost to European settlement.

1983  -             Singer Karen Carpenter dies at age 32 from cardiac arrest, brought on by anorexia nervosa.

Karen Carpenter, born on 4 March 1950 and her brother Richard, born on 15 October 1946, formed the singing duo "The Carpenters" in the 1970s. Known for their simple but rich and melodious popular songs, the pair gained their professional break when they were hired to perform at a party for the premiere of the 1969 film "Goodbye, Mr Chips". Here they were noticed by its star, Petula Clark, who brought them to the attention of Herb Alpert, who signed them to his label, A&M Records. The Carpenters quickly became popular for songs such as "Close to You", "We've Only Just Begun", "For All We Know", "Rainy Days and Mondays", "Top of the World" and "Sing", among others.

As their fame grew and their concert schedule became more gruelling, both Karen and Richard developed health problems. Richard developed an addiction to tranquillisers, a habit which he overcame following his admission to a drug rehabilitation facility in Kansas. Karen suffered an ongoing battle with anorexia nervosa and bulimia, dieting excessively and abusing syrup of ipecac. These elements ultimately damaged her heart, and on 4 February 1983, Karen suffered cardiac arrest at her parents' home in Downey, Los Angeles, and was pronounced dead at Downey Memorial Hospital. She was only 32.

1998  -             Microsoft founder Bill Gates is hit in the face with a custard pie.

Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation, is known for being one of the world's richest men. Popularity is not necessarily linked to wealth, as Gates found out when he was visiting Belgium on 4 February 1998. Whilst in Brussels to visit European Union officials, he was entering a building to meet with Belgian government officials when he was struck in the face with what is believed to have been a custard cream pie. The perpetrator was Noel Godin, a known Belgian prankster with a penchant for targeting the rich and famous with custard pies. Gates and the Microsoft Corporation declined to press charges.

2004  -             Social networking site Facebook is founded.

Facebook is the worlds largest social networking site, with over one billion active users, as of late 2012. The site was launched on 4 February 2004 by a young American student of computer science named Mark Zuckerberg. The name Facebook originated from the Face Book of Zuckerbergs high school, Phillips Exeter Academy: the book was distributed to every student to help them get to know their classmates for the following year. Zuckerberg took the idea and developed it as a digital medium.

Facebook was originally established as a network exclusively for students of Harvard College. However, its popularity expanded so rapidly that, within just a few weeks, numerous other Boston schools were requesting a Facebook network as well. With the help of his college room-mates Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes, and other Harvard University students Eduardo Saverin and Andrew McCollum, Zuckerberg continued to build Facebook and, within months, had added 30 more college networks.

The first major investor was Peter Thiel, cofounder of PayPal, who invested $500,000 into Facebook. In 2005, Facebook was expanded to include high school students, and became even more popular with the addition of a photo sharing feature. The following year, the site was opened up to work networks and, by the end of 2006, was available to anyone who held an email address. Since then, the growth of Facebook has been exponential.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1803  -             Early Australian sea-explorer, George Bass, disappears.

George Bass, together with Matthew Flinders explored and charted much of the coastline south of Sydney in the early days of the New South Wales colony, adding valuable information to charts of the Australian coastline. Bass and Flinders each completed significant voyages in their own right. In 1797, Bass sought sponsorship from Governor Hunter to determine whether a navigable strait existed between Van Diemen's Land and the Australian continent. It was on this journey that Bass discovered the strait that is now named after him.

Bass left the Navy to become a South Pacific trader, and on 5 February 1803, he departed Sydney Harbour in the cargo ship 'Venus', bound for Tahiti. Bass was never heard of again, and his fate remains unknown.

1869  -             The world's largest recorded gold nugget is found in Victoria, Australia.

The world's largest recorded gold nugget is the "Welcome Stranger", found in Australia on 5 February 1869. The Welcome Stranger measured 61cm by 31cm and was discovered by prospectors John Deason and Richard Oates at Moliagul, about half-way between Maryborough and St Arnaud in western Victoria, Australia. No scales of the time could handle the weight of the nugget, so it was broken into three pieces by a blacksmith in order to be weighed: it weighed in at over 2300 ounces, or 70 kilograms. Deason (Deeson) and Oates were paid £19,068 for their nugget which became known as "Welcome Stranger". It is not the same as the "Welcome Nugget" found in Ballarat in 1858.

1869  -             The first permanent white settlers arrive in Darwin, Australia.

The city of Darwin, capital of the Northern Territory, Australia is located on Darwin Harbour. The land was originally occupied by the Larrakia people of the Top End who had already been trading with the Macassans for many years before European settlers came. The first Europeans to the area were Dutch traders who visited Australia's northern coastline in the 1600s, charting the first European maps of the region.

Darwin Harbour was first discovered by Captain of the "Beagle", John Lort Stokes, on 9 September 1839 and named "Port Darwin" after British naturalist Charles Darwin. It was initially not settled, as Port Essington, 300 kilometres north, was regarded as a more strategic site for settlement and a better prospect to offset any intended French colonisation of Australia's far north coast. Like other settlements along the northern coastline which preceded it, Port Essington floundered for some years, eventually being abandoned. It enjoyed fame briefly when explorer Ludwig Leichhardt appeared there, after being thought lost during his arduous trek to the north coast, but it was not enough to sustain the remote population.

After John McDouall Stuart made the first successful crossing of Australia in 1862, this opened the way for the construction of the Overland Telegraph Line from Adelaide to the north coast, enabling Australia to have direct and immediate communication with the rest of the world. Thus, the settlement of Darwin was more successful than previous incursions into settling the north coast as it was to serve a very important link in this communication. The site of Darwin was surveyed by George Goyder, a surveyor in South Australia while the Northern Territory was part of South Australia. Goyder arrived to establish the new settlement on 5 February 1869.

The town was initially named Palmerston after the Prime Minister of Britain, Lord Palmerston, Henry Temple. However, all shipping to the area was consigned to "Port Darwin". In 1911, when South Australia handed control of its northern half to the Commonwealth of Australia, the name Darwin was officially adopted.

1922  -             The first issue of the Readers Digest is published.

The Readers Digest is a monthly magazine with a global circulation of 10.5 million. Now published in 21 languages as well as Braille, it began as a simple collection of condensed magazine articles on a wide range of topics, designed to appeal to a variety of readers.

William Roy DeWitt Wallace was an American soldier who, while recovering in France from injuries he sustained during World War 1, spent his time reading American magazines. Upon his return to the USA, he started researching articles and stories suitable for abridging into a single magazine. He showed his collection to the sister of a college friend, whose positive and enthusiastic response led not only to their marriage, but to the public debut of a new magazine. In October 1921, the pair were married. Four months later, they decided to publish their collection under the name of Readers Digest. Due to lack of interest from commercial publishers and retailers, they opted to market it by direct mail.

The first edition of the Readers Digest appeared on 5 February 1922. Its projected net income was an estimated $5,000. By 1929, thanks to Wallaces ongoing research into the nature of what his reading audience wanted, the journal had acquired 290,000 subscribers, giving a gross income of $900,000 a year. The Readers Digest has continued to appeal to the wider public, with its circulation continuing to increase; it has also embraced modern technology, now being offered in a digital format.

1947  -             Australia's first cloud-seeding experiment resulting in artificially produced rain is carried out at Bathurst, New South Wales.

Cloud seeding is a technique for artificially producing rain by dropping chemicals or small objects into clouds, thereby allowing water droplets or ice crystals to form more easily. It is commonly used to increase precipitation in areas experiencing drought. There is some dispute as to whether the first successful experiment of cloud seeding occurred in Australia or the United States, as precipitation produced in US experiments did not reach the ground.

The Australian experiment was undertaken by scientists from the CSIRO's Division of Radiophysics on 5 February 1947 at Bathurst, New South Wales. Dry ice was used in the initial experiment, but later experiments used silver iodide more effectively. In the early 1950s the CSIRO team, now known as the Division of Cloud Physics, pioneered the highly successful silver iodide seeding technique.

2002  -             It is reported that the remains of a Tasmanian tiger have been found on the Eyre Peninsula.

The Thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian tiger, was a carnivorous marsupial living in Australia, specifically the island of Tasmania, up until the twentieth century. Although sometimes known also as the Tasmanian wolf, this animal was neither a wolf nor a tiger, but a marsupial. It stood about 60cm tall, with a body length of up to 130cm, not including its tail, up to 66cm long.

European settlement spelt doom for the Thylacine. Early settlers, fearing the Thylacine was a threat to their livestock, campaigned for the colonial government to offer a bounty for killing the animal. The last known Thylacine died in the Hobart Zoo in September 1936, a victim of exposure and the fact that the needs of these animals were simply not understood.

Fossil evidence has shown that, besides being found in Tasmania, the Thylacine once existed on the Australian mainland as well as the island of New Guinea. Remains have been located on the Nullarbor Plain, in South Australias mid north and around Adelaide, as well as in parts of Western Australia. On 5 February 2002, it was reported that scientists had uncovered two teeth from a Thylacine in a sink hole near Coffin Bay on South Australias Lower Eyre Peninsula in South Australia - the first ever found on Eyre Peninsula.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1832  -             The Swan River colony is officially renamed Western Australia.

The first official, recorded sighting of Australia's western coastline occurred in 1611, when Dutch mariner Hendrik Brouwer attempted a different route to the Dutch East Indies. Dutch captain Dirk Hartog sailed too far whilst trying out Brouwer's route from the Cape of Good Hope to Batavia, via the Roaring Forties. Reaching the western coast of Australia, he became the first European to set foot on the western shores, landing on what is now known as Dirk Hartog Island, at Cape Inscription, in 1616. Further Dutch sightings of Australia followed as the route became more popular: hence the early name of "New Holland".

Although the northwest was forbidding and inhospitable, the southwestern corner held more promise. In 1697, Dutch captain Willem de Vlamingh sailed down a wide river which he named the Swan River because of the black swans he saw in abundance there. The name remained even after the English took possession of the western half of the Australian continent. When Captain Charles Fremantle raised the Union Jack on the south head of the Swan River in 1829, he claimed the territory for Britain: thus was the Swan River colony born.

The Swan River colony thrived, and within three years, had a population of around 1500 British settlers. On 6 February 1832, the Swan River colony was officially renamed as Western Australia.

1840  -             The Treaty of Waitangi is signed, protecting Maori land interests in exchange for recognition of British sovereignty in New Zealand.

The Treaty of Waitangi effectively signalled the founding of New Zealand by white settlers, and made New Zealand a British colony. The Treaty was signed on 6 February 1840 by over 500 Mori chiefs of New Zealand and the British Governor William Hobson, representing the British Government. It was intended to protect Mori land interests in exchange for recognition of British sovereignty. The Mori agreed to hand over ownership of their land to Queen Victoria and in return, were to retain the right to occupy their land as long as they wished, and to be protected in so doing.

Major issues concerning the original translation of the treaty from English to Mori resulted in the terms of the Treaty being in dispute. The most critical difference revolved around the interpretation of two Mori words, kawanatanga (literally governorship) which is ceded to the Queen in the first article and rangatiratanga (literally chieftainship) which is retained by the chiefs in the second. Many Mori at that time had little understanding of either 'sovereignty' or 'governorship' and because of this translation difficulty, some questions have arisen as to whether they fully understood what they were signing. The Treaty subsequently remains the topic of much controversy and political debate.

1926  -             The South Australian nickname "crow-eater" is first explained in the Adelaide newspaper, the Register.

South Australians have long been referred to as "crow-eaters", but most people do not know the origin of the nickname. Several explanations for the term have been made through the years, the first being published in the newspaper, the 'Register', on 6 February 1925. On this day, the paper reported the following:

"[It] was first applied to some of the original settlers at Mount Barker who - whether from necessity or a desire to sample strange native fauna - killed, cooked and ate some crows disguised under the term "Mount Barker pheasants"... Later the term... was applied generally to all."

On 15 March 1927, another report suggested the term originated as early as the 1850s. A reader recounted how, when his father and grandfather arrived at the gold diggings in Bendigo, upon being discovered as coming from South Australia they were accused of being "crow eaters". This was because their arrival had been preceded by another group of South Australians who had run out of food during their journey across from their home state and had been forced to shoot crows to eat. When they recounted their experience, they were dubbed "crow-eaters", a term which was henceforth applied to all new arrivals from South Australia.

1928  -             A woman claiming to be the youngest daughter of the murdered czar of Russia arrives in America.

Czar Nicholas II, full name Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov, was the last crowned Emperor of Russia. He ruled from 1894 until he was forced to abdicate in 1917 amidst civil war. A year later, on 17 July 1918, he and his wife, together with their five children, the family doctor and three attendants, were taken to the cellar of a house in Yekatarinburg. They were told to line up for a family portrait, but instead a detachment of Bolsheviks led by Yakov Yurovsky burst in and began firing, killing the family and servants. Attempts were made to hide the evidence of the bodies, disposing of them down a mine-shaft. As rumours of what had happened began to surface, most of the bodies were removed and buried in a sealed, concealed pit.

On 6 February 1928, a woman claiming to be the youngest daughter of the murdered czar of Russia arrived in New York City. The woman, bearing numerous ugly scars and evidence of broken bones, underwent various investigations to prove whether or not she was the Czar's child Anastasia. Whilst she gained many supporters for her cause, ultimately she was proven not to be a Romanov, and her claims to the fallen throne of Russia were dismissed.

1938  -             Hundreds of swimmers are washed out to sea at Bondi Beach, and four drown, on Black Sunday.

Swimming in the ocean in Australia began to take off as a popular pastime from the early 1900s. Soon, Bondi Beach in Sydney was recognised as an ideal swimming spot, and crowds thronged this popular location on the weekends. Amidst concerns about water safety, in 1906 Lyster Ormsby of the Bondi Surf Bathers Lifesaving Club modelled a design for a simple surf lifesaving reel that could be used to rescue swimmers in trouble. Over time, this humble invention developed into the surf lifesaving reel that was eventually used by clubs around Australia.

The surf lifesaving reel showed its worth on Sunday, 6 February 1938. Australia had been celebrating its 150th anniversary and a parade through Sydney called "Australias March to Nationhood had enhanced the air of festiveness. Although rough seas pounded the coast, with up to 74 rescues within one hour being carried out during the morning, Waverley Council beach inspectors decided to keep the beach open. Temperatures were soaring and approximately 35 000 people had gathered at Bondi to celebrate, with hundreds in the water. As the tide ebbed, many swam out to a sandbar that ran parallel to the beach, where they could still remain in waist-deep water some distance from shore. Around 70-80 Surf Lifesaving Club members were present, equipped with 8 reels, preparing for a race. These volunteers were constantly trying to direct swimmers back to safer zones between the flags.

Witnesses stated afterwards that the surf did not follow its usual pattern but seemed 'strange', particularly when an eerie lull came over the beach, at around 3 oclock in the afternoon. Suddenly, the lull broke and a quick succession of three or four freak waves washed in to the beach with no time in between for the water to recede. This created a huge buildup of water close to the beach. When the mass of water finally retreated, it created a strong backwash that blew away the sandbank and dragged up to 300 swimmers into the channel where a powerful undertow pulled them out further. The lifesavers immediately got to work, using the reels attached to beltmen with surf boats, surf skis and any other equipment they could find to bring people back to shore. Their efforts were hampered by panicking swimmers who

And my baby brother was born - 65 years ago!!!!!!

Gday...

1478  -             Sir Thomas More, the man executed after refusing to recognise King Henry VIII as Supreme Head of the Church in England, is born.

Sir Thomas More, scholar, lawyer, diplomat and Christian humanist, was born in London on 7 February 1478. More initially served as personal secretary to King Henry VIII, but gradually became entrusted with more responsibilities, eventually rising to the position of Chancellor. However, he resigned from this position the day after Henry VIII manipulated Parliament to remove the freedom of the Church that had been written into English law since the Magna Carta. More was imprisoned in the Tower of London before being executed fifteen months later for refusing to acknowledge King Henry VIII as the Supreme Head of the Church in England.

1788  -             The Colony of New South Wales is formally proclaimed.

In 1786, semi-retired naval officer Arthur Phillip was appointed Governor-designate of the proposed British penal colony of New South Wales in 1786. He was authorised to establish the colony under Commissions dated 12 October 1786 and 2 April 1787. Australia was first officially settled by the First Fleet of convicts, which left England in May 1787 and arrived in Port Jackson on 26 January 1788. At Port Jackson, the British flag was raised as Captain Arthur Phillip took formal possession on behalf of the British Crown.

Almost two weeks later, on Thursday 7 February 1788, the colony of New South Wales was formally proclaimed. In an official ceremony presided over by Judge-Advocate David Collins, Captain Arthur Phillip assumed the Office of Governor. The convicts were forced to stand in line and observe the formal proceedings while the declaration was read. Collinss reading of Phillips Commission revealed to those present the tremendous extent of the new Governors powers and responsibilities in the colony. It was noted by one of the officers, Ralph Clark, that he had never heard of any one single person having so great a power invested in him as the Governor has by his Commission.

This date marks the effective commencement of the first British colony in Australia.

1812  -             English novelist Charles Dickens is born.

English novelist Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on 7 February 1812 in Landport, Hampshire, England. Dickens spent a carefree childhood reading and roaming outdoors, but that changed when his father was imprisoned for outstanding debt when young Charles was only twelve. The boy was thrust into working 10 hours a day in Warrens boot-blacking factory in London. The money he earned supported himself and his family who then lived in Marshalsea debtor's prison. When an inheritance from his father's family paid off the family's debt and freed them from prison, Dickens' mother insisted Charles stay working in the factory which was owned by a relative. Dickens' resentment of his situation and the conditions under which working-class people lived coloured his later writings.

When in his early twenties, Dickens became a journalist. His writings were very popular and read extensively. His novella "A Christmas Carol" was first published on 19 December 1843, and thousands of copies were sold before Christmas Eve that year. Other popular novels followed, such as 'Oliver Twist', 'Great Expectations', 'David Copperfield', 'The Pickwick Papers', 'Nicholas Nickleby' and 'A Tale of Two Cities'. The themes of social injustice and poverty are obvious throughout many of Dickens's novels, and his social commentaries are as popular today as they were when he penned his works.        

1863  -             Naval vessel HMS Orpheus sinks in Manukau Harbour, killing 189.

Manukau Harbour is located on the Awhitu Peninsula on the far north of New Zealand. With a water surface area of 394 square kilometres, it is the countrys second largest harbour. However, the entrance to the harbour is quite narrow, at 1800 metres wide, and because of this, tidal flow is rapid. Coupled with the presence of sandbars at the entrance, navigating through the harbour mouth can be treacherous.

The HMS Orpheus was built in 1861 and commissioned as a vessel of the Royal Navy. It was a Jason-class corvette, 69 metres in length and 12 m at the beam. The ship departed Sydney, Australia on 31 January 1863, under the command of Commodore W Farquharson Burnett CB, to deliver naval supplies and troop reinforcements to Auckland for the New Zealand land wars, a series of conflicts between the New Zealand government and Mori that ran for several decades. The Manukau Harbour entrance had been charted twice between 1836 and 1856, but later evidence indicated that one of the sandbars had shifted and grown. Despite a navigational signal from nearby Paratutae Island indicating the presence of the sandbar, the Orpheus made a course correction too late. As the vessel approached the mouth of Manukau Harbour at around 1:30pm on 7 February 1863, the vessel ran aground. The steamship Wonga Wonga, which was being guided out of the harbour at the time, swung around to assist, picking up any crew who had climbed up on to deck. When the masts began to break at 8:30pm, the remaining survivors were killed.

Out of the crew of 259, 189 died, including Commodore Burnett and the Captain, Robert Heron Burton. This was the highest ever casualty rate for a shipwreck in New Zealand waters.

1967  -             The 'Black Tuesday' bushfires devastate Tasmania.

Australian summers are often marred by bushfires, and many lives and livelihoods have been destroyed when bushfires have roared across the countryside, out of control. Black Saturday, Black Friday, Ash Wednesday, Canberra, Eyre Peninsula - these have all been major bushfires which have claimed lives.

Although Tasmania has a more temperate climate during summer, it is still prone to bushfires. One of the worst of Australia's natural disasters occurred on what is known as "Black Tuesday" - 7 February 1967. Fanned by 110-kilometre winds and 39 degree temperatures, around 120 different fire fronts swept through southern Tasmania, including the city of Hobart itself. 62 people died, 1400 buildings were destroyed and tens of thousands of stock animals and native animals were killed. An inquiry later found that 88 of the fires had been deliberately lit by arsonists, or were the result of breakaways from rubbish dumps or incinerators, or property owners burning off without permission.

Even today, evidence of the bushfires can be seen in the pale skeletons of burnt trees, present in the bushland on the slopes of Mt Wellington.

2001  -             A blind cod, which has been caught by the same fisherman 35 times, is sent into retirement in a marine park.

Harald Hauso is a fisherman who frequents the Hardanger fjord in Norway. In the year 2000, a blind cod first swam into Hauso's nets seeking tiny crabs and starfish. Because it was so thin and in poor condition, Hauso let it go. The same cod continued to return until Hauso estimated he had caught it 40 times, letting it go each time because he felt sorry for it. A marine park in Aalesund offered to house the fish in its own private pool with a short-sighted halibut as a room-mate, so on 7 February 2001, Hauso caught the fish for the last time. The fish was nicknamed "Balder" after a handsome god in Norwegian mythology. There were concerns Balder would not survive the journey, as he was swollen from being frequently caught and released. He underwent an operation to release the gases, and made a full recovery after aquarium staff fed him through a tube into his stomach. A month after the operation, Balder began to eat on his own.

Balder eventually died in May 2005.

2009  -             Today marks the start of the horrific Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, which eventually kill 173.

Australia is a country well familiar with natural disasters, particularly bushfires. But no-one could have predicted the horror of the inferno which started as the Black Saturday bushfires and ultimately became Australia's worst ever natural disaster.

The date was 7 February 2009. Southern Australia had been in the grip of a heatwave for several weeks, which intensified in the leadup to Black Saturday. Temperatures in Victoria exceeded a record-breaking 47 degrees for several days and this, together with the tinder-dry countryside, provided the catalyst to the bushfires.

One of the worst of the fires started near Kinglake, a rural settlement north of Melbourne. The fire raged and quickly spread, wiping out the town and killing dozens who had no warning and no time to flee. Over the ensuing days, dozens more were killed in bushland towns such as Marysville, Strathewen and others. The death toll steadily climbed, peaking finally at 173 after police combed burnt out houses and discovered bodies under rubble and ruins. Police, together with sniffer dogs, were sent from New Zealand to help search for bodies.

Apart from the weather, several other factors contributed to the fires. Arson was a major factor: one arsonist was charged, a former firefighter with a reputation as a loner. Faulty, arcing power lines caused several of the fires while in Bendigo, to Melbourne's northwest, the fires began with a cigarette tossed from a vehicle's window. Findings of the coronial inquest handed down a year later placed the blame for the Kinglake fire on faulty power lines.

Black Saturday will long live in people's minds as the day entire towns - houses and populations - were decimated.

Cheers - John

Dougwe and I was doing some reminiscing today and February 16th is Ash Wednesday ,boy is that clear in both our memories, two different stories but so clear.

Gday...

1587  -             Mary, Queen of Scots, is executed on suspicion of conspiracy to murder Elizabeth, heir to the throne of England.

Mary, Queen of Scots, also known as Mary Stuart, was born on 8 December 1542, daughter of Mary de Guise of France and James V of Scotland. When her father died on December 14, the baby Mary became Queen of Scotland but James Hamilton, Duke of Arran, served as regent for Mary. Mary's mother wished to cement an alliance with France, so arranged a betrothal for the young Mary to France's dauphin, Francois. At age 6, Mary was then sent to France to be groomed for her future role as Queen of France, which she took up in 1559.

As the granddaughter of Margaret Tudor, the older sister of Henry VIII of England, Mary Stuart was considered to be the rightful heir to the English throne. This was over Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, whose marriage was not recognised by many Catholics in England because Henry had unlawfully divorced Catherine of Aragon. Mary Stuart, in their eyes, was the rightful heir of Mary I of England, Henry VIII's daughter by his first wife.

Francois died on 5 December 1560, and Mary's mother-in-law, Catherine de Medici, became regent for his brother Charles IX. Mary Stuart then returned to Scotland to rule as Queen, but did not recognise Elizabeth's right to rule in England. Years of plotting and controversy followed as Mary tried to assert her right to the throne, with many conspirators on either side of Mary or Elizabeth being killed as they obstructed the way of the other. Ultimately, the attempt to place Mary on the Scottish throne resulted in her trial, which commenced on 11 October 1586. Mary Queen of Scots was executed on 8 February 1587, on suspicion of having been involved in a plot to murder Elizabeth.

1829  -             Science fiction writer, Jules Verne, is born.

Jules Verne was born in Nantes, France, on 8 February 1828. He initially studied law, but then became interested in the theatre and wrote librettos for operettas. He soon realised his talent lay in writing extraordinary and imaginative stories of voyages and adventures which allowed him a creative outlet for his fascination with science and geography.

Verne is best known for such science-fiction classics as 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth', 'From the Earth to the Moon, '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea', 'The Mysterious Island' and 'Around the World in Eighty Days'. Verne had unusual foresight of the future, implementing creative ideas which included the submarine, aqualung, television and space travel. In 1863, he wrote a novel entitled 'Paris in the 20th century', which described the life of a young man who lived in a world of glass skyscrapers, high-speed trains, gas-powered automobiles, calculators, and a worldwide communications network, yet could not find happiness, and came to a tragic end. Verne was advised that such a pessimistic novel would ruin his literary career, and was advised to put it aside for twenty years. Placed in a safe, the manuscript was discovered by his great-grandson in 1989, an uncanny portent of life in the late 20th century.

Verne died on 24 March 1905. According to UNESCO statistics, he remains the most translated novelist in the world, having been translated into 148 languages.

1879  -             Ned Kelly and his gang converge upon the small town of Jerilderie prior to robbing the bank.

Edward Ned Kelly was Australia's most notorious bushranger. He was still a teenager when he embarked on his life of crime, which began with petty theft from wealthy landowners. Once he formed his gang, consisting of himself, his brother Dan, Joe Byrne and Steve Hart, the bushrangers gradually progressed to crimes of increasing violence, including armed robbery and murder.

One of the Kelly gangs most famous robberies took place in Jerilderie, a small town in southern New South Wales. On the morning of 8 February 1879, the gang rode into Jerilderie, first taking captive Constables Devine and Richards and locking them in their own cell. They then donned the police uniforms and informed the townsfolk they were there to protect the town pounds. The following day, the gang captured and imprisoned the staff of the Royal Mail Hotel, then went next door to the Bank of New South Wales, from which they stole over two thousand pounds.

The Kelly gang caused further havoc in town, removing part of the telegraph line and ordering the local bootmaker to start cutting down wooden telegraph poles. They stole many loan and mortgage documents from the bank and proceeded to burn them in an effort to protect struggling property owners from being in debt to the bank. It was also on this occasion that the famous Jerilderie letter was written.      

1983  -             A vast dust storm sweeps across Melbourne, Australia.

Australia is regarded as the driest hot continent on the Earth, and dust storms are common in its interior. Occasionally, particularly in times of prolonged drought, dust storms will also affect coastal areas. 1982 was the driest year on record for the Mallee and northern Wimmera district in Victoria, and as vegetation was killed off by the heat and lack of water, the topsoil was exposed and loosened. By early 1983, Victoria had reported numerous smaller dust storms in its northwest.

On 8 February 1983, a strong, dry cold front began crossing Victoria, preceded by hot, gusty northerly winds. The wind picked up the loose topsoil and, raising a dust cloud 320m deep, advanced towards Melbourne, already suffering a record February maximum temperature of 43.2°C. The dust storm hit the city around 3pm, dropping the temperatures dramatically, whilst wind squalls uprooted trees and unroofed houses. Visibility dropped to around 100m as the storm dumped approximately 1,000 tonnes of topsoil on the city.

The total mass of the 1983 Melbourne dust storm was estimated to be about two million tonnes: at its height, it extended across the entire width of Victoria, and was several kilometres deep. The cost of the damage of drought and dust storm combined was ultimately tens of millions of dollars.

2001  -             South Australia adopts the Leafy Seadragon as its marine emblem.

The Leafy seadragon (Phycodurus eques) is a member of the fish family, and related to the seahorse. It is a unique creature with leaf-like appendages which serve very effectively to camouflage the fish from predators, giving it the appearance of seaweed. The effect is enhanced by the animal's green to yellow-brown colouring, which can be altered, depending on stress, diet, location, temperature and other external factors. A quite defenceless creature, the Leafy seadragon averages around 30 cm in length, but is equipped with a number of long sharp spines along the side of its body, believed to be used as defence against attacking fish. It is found primarily through the coastal waters of South Australia, although its range extends as far as Geraldton in Western Australia, and east to Wilson's Promontory in Victoria.

Not all of Australia's states or territories have a marine emblem. However, the leafy seadragon was adopted as the marine emblem of South Australia on 8 February 2001. The year 2005 saw the introduction of the biennial Leafy Seadragon Festival by the District Council of Yankalilla in the southern Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1830  -             Captain Sturt discovers Lake Alexandrina, near the mouth of the Murray River.

Captain Charles Sturt was born in India in 1795. He came to Australia in 1827, and soon undertook to solve the mystery of where the inland rivers of New South Wales flowed. Because they appeared to flow towards the centre of the continent, the belief was held that they emptied into an inland sea. Drawing on the skills of experienced bushman and explorer Hamilton Hume, Sturt first traced the Macquarie River as far as the Darling, which he named after Governor Darling.

Pleased with Sturt's discoveries, Governor Darling then sent Sturt to trace the course of the Murrumbidgee River, and to see whether it joined to the Darling. In November 1829 Sturt and his party reached the Murrumbidgee. Sturt followed the river in a whaleboat and discovered that the Murrumbidgee River flowed into the Murray (previously named the Hume), and that the Darling also flowed into the Murray.

Sturt continued to trace the course of the Murray southwards. On 9 February 1830, the whaleboat sailed into what Sturt described as "a beautiful lake ... a fitting reservoir for the noble stream that had led us to it". He had discovered Lake Alexandrina, from which he could see the open sea of the southern coast. Sturt's discoveries were significant, for they allowed for the development of paddle-steamer transportation of goods and passengers along Australia's inland waterways.

1884  -             Arthur Stace, the man who chalked "Eternity" on Sydney footpaths for 37 years, is born.

Arthur Stace was born in Balmain, Sydney, on 9 February 1884. Growing up in a family of alcoholics, he ultimately turned to drink also. He returned from WWI shell-shocked, turning to a life of petty crime and a drinking habit that included cheap methylated spirits. One night, lured by the offer of a free cup of tea and something to eat up at a nearby Church Hall, he found himself at a meeting being conducted by Archdeacon R.B.S. Hammond of St Barnabas' Church on Broadway. Stace was immediately captivated by the message of Christianity and the model offered by the man proclaiming the message. He was converted that very night.

Shortly after his conversion, Stace was listening to the evangelist John Ridley at the Burton Street Baptist Church. Ridley told of a man who was converted in Scotland through Eternity being written on a footpath. Ridley called for someone to write Eternity on the footpaths of Sydney, and Stace knew that this was something he could do for God, to alert people to the condition of their own souls. For 37 years, he chalked 'Eternity' on footpaths throughout Sydney in a uniquely copperplate style, vastly different from his own usual scrawled style of writing.

Arthur Stace died on 30 July 1967. Ten years after he died, Ridley Smith, architect of Sydney Square, set the message ETERNITY in letters almost 21cm high in wrought aluminium, near the Sydney Square waterfall. On 1 January 2000, the worldwide telecast of millennium celebrations showed the Sydney Harbour Bridge alight with the word 'Eternity' in flowing copperplate, still proclaiming Stace's message to the world.

1897  -             Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith is born.

Charles Edward Kingsford Smith, nicknamed 'Smithy', was born on 9 February 1897 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Passionately interested in flying and mechanics from an early age, he became one of Australia's best-known aviators. He completed the first non-stop crossing of the Australian mainland and the first flight from Australia to New Zealand. In 1930 he flew 16 000 kilometres single-handedly and won the England to Australia air race.

Kingsford Smith is perhaps best known for being the first to cross the Pacific from the United States to Australia. On 31 May 1928, he and his crew left the United States to make the first Trans-Pacific flight to Australia in the Southern Cross, a Fokker FVII-3M monoplane. The flight was in three stages, from Oakland, California to Hawaii, then to Suva, Fiji, and on to Brisbane, where he landed on 8 June 1928. On arrival, he was met by a huge crowd at Eagle Farm Airport, and was feted as a hero. Fellow Australian aviator Charles Ulm was the relief pilot, and the other two crew members were Americans James Warner and Captain Harry Lyon, who took the roles of radio operator, navigator and engineer for the trans-Pacific flight.

Kingsford Smith disappeared in 1935 in the Bay of Bengal whilst flying from England to Australia in the Lady Southern Cross. Wreckage from the aircraft was located off the south coast of Burma eighteen months later, but no evidence of the crew was ever found. Sydney's major airport was named Kingsford Smith International Airport in his honour. A federal electorate, for the federal parliament of Australia, which encompasses the airport is called Kingsford Smith. His original aircraft, the Southern Cross, is now preserved and displayed in a memorial at the International Terminal at Brisbane Airport. Kingsford Smith Drive in Brisbane passes through the suburb of his birth, Hamilton.

1942  -             The SS Normandie burns and sinks in New York Harbor.

The Normandie, the largest and most luxurious ocean liner on the seas in the 1930s and 40s, was a French ocean liner built in Saint-Nazaire, France. It was launched in 1932 and made its first transatlantic crossing in 1935. Two years later, it was reconfigured with four-bladed propellers, meaning it could cross the Atlantic in under four days.

The breakout of WWII caused the Normandie to be stuck in New York Harbor, placed in custody to protect it from possibly being captured by the Germans, as France had surrendered to Germany. After Pearl Harbor catapulted the USA into the war, the Navy seized the liner and began converting it into a troop ship. On 9 February 1942, during the conversion, sparks from a welding torch ignited a fire in a stack of thousands of life-vests that had been stored in the first class dining room. The fire quickly spread, and water being poured from fireboats caused the ship to capsize. Fire damage was too great to salvage the Normandie: in 1946, the once grand and elegant ship was cut up for scrap metal.           

2012  -             Kodak announces that it will cease producing digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames.

Kodak is a company with a long association with cameras and photography. Established by George Eastman in 1889, its full name is Eastman Kodak Company. Throughout the 20th century, Kodak dominated the production and sales of photographic film. However, as digital photography expanded in the 1990s, Kodak began to suffer significant declines in its photographic film sales. Competition from Japanese company Fujifilm, together with its strong marketing campaign, also began to impact on Kodaks market share. Kodak had been somewhat slow to embrace digital photography. Although Kodak itself had invented the core technology used in digital cameras, and had diversified its production line to accommodate new technology, the effect of this decline was so great that, early in 2012, the company filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, which allows businesses to reorganise while still in control of its business operations. On 9 February 2012, as a cost-saving measure, Kodak announced that it would stop producing digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames, and instead turn its focus to the corporate digital imaging market.

Further measures were undertaken to pull the company from bankruptcy, such as the sale of commercial scanners and kiosk operations. In January 2013, financing was approved by court for the company to emerge from Bankruptcy by mid 2013.

Cheers - John

Gday...

60  -     The apostle Paul is shipwrecked on Malta.

The apostle St Paul was an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin, a tent-maker and a Pharisee. The Pharisees were an ancient Jewish religious group who interpreted and practised strict adherence to the law of Moses. Prior to his conversion, Paul (then Saul) was responsible for the persecution of many Christians, and for trying to stamp out the fledgling Christian group. He is mentioned in the Biblical book of Acts as being present and approving at the stoning of Stephen, Christianity's first martyr. Saul underwent a spectacular conversion while travelling along the road to Damascus. He was blinded by a brilliant light, accompanied by the voice of Jesus, rebuking him for his persecution and instructing him to continue on to Damascus. Here, he was tended by a Christian named Ananias.

Upon the completion of Saul's conversion, his sight was returned to him, and he became Paul, one of Christendom's most avid missionaries, enduring hardship, torture and imprisonment for the sake of his Lord. 10 February 60 A.D. is, in Christian tradition, the day when the apostle Paul was shipwrecked on the island of Malta. The story is told in Acts chapters 27 and 28. During Paul's three-month stay in Malta, he converted many Maltese to Christianity, one of them being Publius, whose father Paul cured of illness. Publius was later appointed Bishop of Malta. By the 3rd Century A.D., Christianity had become the accepted religion among most of the Maltese people.

1788  -             Reverend Richard Johnson officiates at the first marriage ceremonies in the New South Wales colony.

The First Fleet of convicts to New South Wales consisted of eleven ships. One of these was the 'Golden Grove' which carried Reverend Richard Johnson, the first chaplain to the New South Wales colony. The Fleet departed Portsmouth, England on 13 May 1787 and arrived in Port Jackson on 26 January 1788.

Within two weeks of the arrival of the First Fleet on Australia's shores, Johnson was called upon to officiate at the weddings of five couples. The marriage ceremonies were performed on 10 February 1788.

Two of the most notable couples were Henry Kable and Susannah Holmes, and William Bryant and Mary Brand. Making an impression on Governor Arthur Phillip, Henry Kable was promoted to several positions of responsibility, including eventually becoming chief constable. Later he established a successful sealing and whaling business.

The Bryants, on the other hand, became notorious for their daring escape from the colony. Stealing away into one of the ships bound for the new Norfolk Island colony, the Bryants then acquired a compass and maps, stole one of the longboats and sailed for Timor, along with their young son Emmanuel and daughter Charlotte. After being handed over to an English captain and sent to Java, William and his son eventually died from tropical fever, and Charlotte died after she and her mother were sent on a ship back to Sydney. Mary Bryant's story was reported back in England and, due to extensive public sympathy, Mary was pardoned.

1840  -             Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert.

England's Queen Victoria was born on 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace in London, the daughter of Edward, duke of Kent (fourth son of George III), and Princess Mary Louise Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Although christened Alexandrina Victoria, from birth she was formally styled Her Royal Highness Princess Victoria of Kent. Victoria's father died when she was less than a year old. Her grandfather, George III, died less than a week later. Princess Victoria's uncle, the Prince of Wales, inherited the Crown, becoming King George IV. When George IV died in 1830, he left the throne to his brother, the Duke of Clarence and St Andrews, who became King William IV.

Victoria was recognised as heiress-presumptive to the British throne, and she succeeded her uncle, William IV, to the throne at the age of 18. Three years after her succession, on 10 February 1840, she married her cousin Prince Albert, the son of Ernest I, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who was of Wettin lineage. Albert was deeply devoted to his wife and children. Although he was initially unpopular, being regarded as an outsider, he soon won over the English people with his diplomacy and measured response to crises. The marriage lasted 21 years, until Alberts death in 1861.

1879  -             Ned Kelly's famous Jerilderie letter is penned.

Early in February 1879, Ned Kelly and his gang rode into the small town of Jerilderie, located in the Riverina area of southern New South Wales. After robbing the bank of some two thousand pounds, Ned Kelly then dictated a letter to gang member Joe Byrne, which became the infamous "Jerilderie letter", one of just two surviving original documents from Ned Kelly. Kelly sought to have the letter published as a pamphlet by the local newspaper editor, so that others could see how he had apparently been mistreated.

The Jerilderie letter outlined a number of Ned Kelly's concerns and grievances about the way he had been treated by police, and what he believed were injustices in how his actions had been perceived. In the letter, Kelly tried to justify his criminal activity, and outlined his own version of events leading to the murder of three policemen at Stringybark Creek the previous October. He also alleged police corruption, outlining evidence for his argument, and called for justice for families struggling with financial difficulties - as his own had done. The letter began:

"I have been wronged and my mother and four or five men lagged innocent and is my brothers and sisters and my mother not to be pitied also who has no alternative only to put up with the brutal and cowardly conduct of a parcel of big ugly fat-necked wombat headed big bellied magpie legged narrow hipped splaw-footed sons of Irish Bailiffs or english landlords which is better known as Officers of Justice or Victorian Police"

In essence, the missive was an expansion of a letter Ned Kelly had written previously to Victorian parliamentarian Donald Cameron and Victorian police in December 1878, also outlining his version of the events at Stringybark Creek. Kelly's pleas for understanding were dismissed: thus, Kelly sought to elicit sympathisers among a new audience. The Jerilderie letter contained some 8000 words, and went on for 56 pages. A copy was made by publican John Hanlon, and another by a government clerk: the original and both handwritten copies have survived. It was first referred to as the 'Jerilderie Letter' by author Max Brown in his biography of Kelly, "Australian Son", written in 1948.

1964  -             82 men are killed as the HMAS Melbourne and HMAS Voyager collide off the New South Wales coast.

The HMAS Melbourne was the lead ship of her class of aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy. Originally named the HMS Majestic, she was launched on 28 February 1945, and renamed the HMAS Melbourne on 28 October 1955. The HMAS Voyager was a Daring class destroyer, launched on 1 May 1952. On the night of 10 February 1964, both Melbourne and Voyager were conducting flying operations about 30 kilometres off Jervis Bay in southern New South Wales. Voyager was acting as a rescue ship in order to pick up the crew of any aircraft which might fall into the sea during landing on or taking off from the Melbourne. Voyager was just under a kilometre astern of Melbourne so that when the latter reversed her course it was necessary for Voyager to transfer her position from ahead to astern. In doing so, Voyager cut across the bows of Melbourne and was cut in half, with the forward half sinking almost immediately. Whilst there was no loss of life on the Melbourne, Voyager lost 82 personnel.

Cheers - John

1964, nah, can't be right  Stop it Rocky, you make me feel old mate. 

Gday...

AW Giddout Doug .... I remember you and me at Malta rescuing young Paul when he was shipwrecked.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1847  -             Thomas Edison, the American inventor who, singly or jointly, held a world record 1,093 patents for inventions, is born.

Thomas Alva Edison was born on 11 February 1847 in Milan, Ohio, USA. Childhood illness meant that he was a slow starter and easily distracted in his schooling. After his teacher described him as "addled", his mother, a former schoolteacher herself, took charge of her son's education, stimulating his curiosity and desire to experiment.

He began selling newspapers on the railroad at age 12, and learned how to operate a telegraph. In 1868, his first invention was an electric vote-recording machine. In 1869, he made improvements on the stock-ticker. The invention which first gained Edison fame was the phonograph in 1877, but in 1876 he had moved his laboratory to Menlo Park, New Jersey, where he invented the first prototype of a commercially practical incandescent electric light bulb, in 1879. By the late 1880s he made motion pictures. Edison was a prolific inventor, and he became known as "The Wizard of Menlo Park". In addition, he created the world's first industrial research laboratory, and developed electric power from central generating stations. By the time he died in 1931, he had registered 1093 patents.

1861  -             Burke and Wills reach the northern coast but are unable to actually reach the sea, due to mangrove swamps.

Robert O'Hara Burke and William Wills led the expedition that was intended to bring fame and prestige to Victoria: being the first to cross Australia from south to north and back again. They left from Melbourne in August 1860, farewelled by around 15,000 people. The exploration party was very well equipped, and the cost of the expedition almost 5,000 pounds. Because of the size of the exploration party, it was split at Menindee so that Burke could push ahead to the Gulf of Carpentaria with a smaller party. The smaller group went on ahead to establish the depot which would serve to offer the necessary provisions for when the men returned from the Gulf. In November 1860, Burke and Wills first reached Cooper Creek. From here, they made several shorter trips to the north, but were forced back each time by waterless country and extreme temperatures. It was not until December 16 that Burke decided to push on ahead to the Gulf, regardless of the risks.

On 11 February 1861, a small party consisting of Burke, Wills, King and Gray finally reached the northern coast. Crossing extensive marshes, they came to a salt tidal channel surrounded by mangroves, which prevented them from either seeing or reaching the sea. The group immediately turned around and began the long and arduous trip back to Cooper Creek - a trip which Gray never completed. Burke and Wills themselves perished in mid 1861, and only King survived to tell the tale of their journey.

1867  -             The ship Zanoni capsizes in the relatively sheltered waters of Gulf St Vincent.

In the middle of Gulf St Vincent, South Australia, not far from Ardrossen on the Yorke Peninsula, lies a shipwreck. Covered by about 18 metres of water, the Zanoni is regarded as one of the best-preserved sailing shipwrecks in Australian waters. It capsized so suddenly that the crew had no time to salvage any possessions or equipment.

The Zanoni was a 338 ton, three masted barque, not yet two years old. She had been built in Liverpool, England, and made her maiden voyage to South Australia, with a load of sugar from Mauritius. On the morning of 11 February 1867, she departed Port Wakefield in fine weather, bound for London with a cargo of 15 tons of bark and 4025 bags of wheat. Mid-afternoon, the barque was hit by a sudden squall which came over the gulf from the west. Zanoni was tossed on her beams and overturned, sinking within five minutes. The crew swam to the lifeboat which had been thrown clear, and no lives were lost.

It has remained something of a mystery why a solid ship could have been so easily sunk in the fairly sheltered waters of Gulf St Vincent. What is even more intriguing is why the Marine Board and other searches conducted failed to find any trace of the vessel when its approximate location was known. It was only in April 1983 that the shipwreck was finally located.

1990  -             Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid campaigner and the first democratically-elected President of South Africa, is freed after 27 years in jail.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on July 18, 1918. Rolihlahla Mandela was seven years old when he became the first member of his family to attend school: it was there that he was given the English name "Nelson" by a Methodist teacher.

In his university days, Mandela became a political activist against the white minority government's denial of political, social, and economic rights to South Africa's black majority. He became a prominent anti-apartheid activist of the country, and was involved in underground resistance activities. Although interred in prison in South Africa from 1962 to 1990 for his resistance activities, including sabotage, Mandela continued to fight for the rights of the South African blacks. On 11 February 1990, Mandela gained his freedom, thanks to sustained campaigning by the African National Congress, and subsequent international pressure. He and State President F.W. de Klerk shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. Mandela was elected to the Presidency of South Africa in 1994 and retired in 1999.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1809  -             Charles Darwin, the man who split the scientific community in two with his theory of evolution, is born.

British naturalist Charles Robert Darwin was born on 12 February 1809 in Shrewsbury, England. Darwin's claim to fame is his publication of "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life". The book put forth Darwin's theory of evolutionary selection, which expounded that survival or extinction of populations of organisms is determined by the process of natural selection, achieved through that population's ability to adapt to its environment. Ultimately, by following Darwin's theory of evolution to its conclusion, the book suggested that man evolved from apes. "The Origin of Species" was first published in November 1859.

It is worth noting that Darwin's theory of evolution was not original. Although Darwin is given the credit for the theory of evolution, he developed the theory out of the writings of his grandfather Erasmus. Large sections from Erasmuss major work, Zoonomia or the Laws of Organic Life are repeated in Darwins Origin of Species. There is evidence to suggest that many of the other ideas Charles proposed, such as the concept of modern biological evolution, including natural selection, were borrowed from ideas that had already been published by other scientists. Charles De Secondat Montesquieu (16891755), Benoit de Maillet (16561738), Pierre-Louis Maupertuis (16981759), Denis Diderot (17131784) and George Louis Buffon are just some whose ideas are believed by historians to have been plagiarised by Darwin, without due credit.

1851  -             The first payable gold is discovered in Australia.

Gold was discovered in Australia as early as the 1820s, but discoveries were kept secret, for fear of sparking off unrest among the convicts. The discoveries were usually made by farmers who did not want to subject their sheep and cattle runs to a sudden influx of prospectors and lawlessness that would inevitably follow. However, as more people left the Australian colonies to join the gold rush in California, it became apparent that the outward tide of manpower would need to be stemmed. The government began to seek experts who could locate gold in Australian countrysides.

Gold was first officially discovered in Australia on 12 February 1851, not far from Bathurst, New South Wales. Edward Hammond Hargraves had carefully studied the geology of the area and, convinced that it was similar to that of the California goldfields, from where he had just returned, went prospecting. He enlisted the assistance of John Lister, a man who had already found gold in the region. Of particular note was the use of the cradle, or rocker, a technology which Hargraves had brought back from California. This device allowed prospectors to search a greater volume of soil at any given time.

Lister, accompanied by William Tom and his brother James, found four ounces of gold using the cradle. They led Hargraves to the location at Summerhill Creek, at a site which Hargraves named "Ophir" after the Biblical city of gold. After reporting his discovery, he was appointed a 'Commissioner of Land', receiving a reward of £10,000 plus a life pension. The New South Wales government made the official announcement of the discovery of gold in May 1851. Lister and the Tom brothers, however, were not given any credit or reward for their part in the discovery.

1977  -             The largest lobster on record is caught: it weighs nearly 20.2kg and is around a metre long.

A lobster is edible marine crustacean which has stalked eyes, long antennae, and five pairs of legs, the first pair of which is modified into large pincers. The average adult lobster weighs between 800 grams and 1.4 kilograms. Lobsters grow throughout their lives, however, and are long-lived, so particularly large specimens have been caught. The largest lobster on record to date was caught on 12 February 1977 in Nova Scotia, Canada, and weighed 20.14 kg, making it the world's heaviest known crustacean. Its length was estimated to be between 90cm and 120cm. It was estimated to have possibly been one hundred years old.

1993  -             The world is shocked when two ten-year-old boys abduct and murder toddler James Bulger in England.

Three-year-old James Bulger was on a shopping trip with his mother on 12 February 1993. That same day, two ten-year-old boys, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, had decided to skip school and spend the day in Bootle Strand Shopping Centre. James's mother was being served in a butcher's shop when the two older boys took James from where he waited outside, and led him away. During the next couple of hours they tortured the boy in an horrific manner, finally weighing him down across a railway track, where he was eventually hit by a goods train.

When James's body was found two days later, events surrounding his death were reconstructed, and at least 38 people reported having seen the two boys walking with him, alternating between hurting and distracting him. Some of the witnesses challenged their treatment of James, but were powerless to act when the boys claimed they were looking after their younger brother. Venables and Thompson were arrested within days. Their trial was conducted in the same format as an adult trial, with the accused sitting in the dock away from their parents and with the judge and court officials dressed in full legal regalia. They were found guilty and were sentenced to imprisonment at a young offenders institution until such time as they were deemed to no longer be a threat to the public.

On 22 June 2001, the British authorities announced that Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, both then 18, would be released. They were given new homes and identities to protect them from a public that was still horrified at what two children had been capable of doing.

2001  -             The first ever descent of a spacecraft onto an asteroid occurs.

The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous - Shoemaker (NEAR Shoemaker), renamed after its launch in honor of planetary scientist Eugene M Shoemaker, was an unmanned spacecraft designed to study the near-Earth asteroid Eros from close orbit over a period of a year. Launched on February 17 1996, it was the first spacecraft to go into orbit around an asteroid. Software problems prevented the spacecraft from completing the first of four scheduled rendezvous burns, which would allow its approach and eventual descent to the asteroid. The remainder of the mission was completed successfully, and the NEAR-Shoemaker achieved touchdown on Eros's surface on 12 February 2001 at 3:01pm EST. Much data was collected before the spacecraft was shut down upon completion of its mission. At 7pm EST on 28 February 2001 the last data signals were received from NEAR-Shoemaker before it was shut down.

2002  -             The war crimes trial of former Yugoslav president, Slobodan Miloevi, begins.

Slobodan Miloevi, born 20 August 1941, was the President of Serbia and of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during a time of growing nationalism. Communist governments throughout eastern Europe had collapsed in the early 1990s, and many smaller countries which had been incorporated into Yugoslavia were demanding their autonomy. Whilst Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Slovenia embraced their independence, Serbia and Montenegro chose to stay on in the federation.

As a fiercely nationalistic Serb, Miloevi 's aggressive attacks on ethnic Albanians in the province of Kosovo, during which over half of the province's Albanian population fled and several thousand people died. A NATO campaign of air strikes (Operation Allied Force) eventually forced Miloevi to back down.

In June 2001, Miloevi was handed over to the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal and taken to The Hague to be tried for

Gday...

1601  -             The first ships under the East India Company leave England.

The East India Company was an early English company formed for the purpose of developing trade with the East Indies. Not to be confused with the Dutch East India Company, the EIC was established as Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading with the East Indies after being granted a Royal Charter by Queen Elizabeth I in December 1600. The charter gave the company a monopoly on trade with the East Indies, specifically, all countries east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan. This was to safeguard the profits of the 125 initial shareholders and the Governor, Sir Thomas Smythe.

The first voyage under the banner of the new company left England on 13 February 1601. Four British ships sailed to the Spice Islands of Sumatra and Java under the command of James Lancaster. The ships carried wool and iron to trade, neither of which was of interest to the islanders. In order to ensure the trade would take place, Lancaster captured a Portuguese ship, stealing the gold, silver and Indian textiles, which he was then able to trade for pepper. The ships returned to England in 1603, all loaded with pepper. Lancaster eventually established a factory in the city of Bantam on the island of Java, and within the following decade, another eleven voyages were undertaken between England and the East Indies. Despite opposition from the Dutch-based United East India Company, the British established themselves firmly in the East Indies, achieving a balance of power by the end of the 17th century.

1743  -             Sir Joseph Banks, British naturalist and botanist on Cook's first voyage, is born.

Joseph Banks was born on 13 February 1743 in London, England. He developed his passion for botany whilst studying at Oxford University. After establishing his name through scientific publication, he was appointed to a joint Royal Navy/Royal Society scientific expedition to the south Pacific Ocean on HMS Endeavour, from 1768 to 1771. This was the first of Captain Cook's voyages of discovery into that region.

This voyage went to Brazil, where Banks made the first scientific description of bougainvillea, and to other parts of South America. The expedition moved on to Tahiti (where the transit of Venus was observed, the primary purpose of the mission), New Zealand, and finally to the east coast of Australia. Here Cook mapped the coastline and made landfall at Botany Bay near present-day Sydney and at Cooktown in Queensland, where the crew spent almost 7 weeks ashore while their ship was repaired after foundering on the Great Barrier Reef. While in Australia, Banks, and the Swedish and Finnish botanists Daniel Solander and Dr Herman Spöring made the first major collection of Australian flora, describing many species new to science.

Banks was a passionate advocate of British settlement and colonisation of the Australian continent, as suggested by the name of Botany Bay. Banks' legacy lives on through the 75 species which bear his name. He is credited with the classification and description of eucalyptus, acacia, mimosa, and the genus named after him, Banksia. The Canberra suburb of Banks and the Sydney suburb of Bankstown are also named after him. Banks died in London at the age of 77.      

1923  -             Charles Yeager, the first person to travel two and a half times the speed of sound, is born.

Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager was born on 13 February 1923 in Myra, West Virginia. After joining the army at age 16 and training as an aircraft mechanic, he was then selected for flight training. His service record during WWII was impeccable, becoming an "ace-in-a-day" after shooting down five enemy aircraft in a single mission. Yeager remained in the Air Force after the war. He became a test pilot and was ultimately selected to fly the rocket-powered Bell X-1 in a NACA program to research high-speed flight. On 14 October 1947 he broke the sound barrier in the technologically advanced X-1.

Yeager continued to work with experimental craft, achieving faster and faster speeds. He piloted the X1-A, a longer and more powerful version of the X-1, to a speed of mach 2.4 on 12 December 1953. This was almost two and a half times the speed of sound and the fastest of any human being for that time. Yeager currently resides in Grass Valley, California, where he is a local hero.

1945  -             Between 35,000 and 135,000 civilians are killed as the Allies bomb Dresden, Germany.

By February 1945, the end of WWII was in sight. Hitler's counteroffensive against the Allies in Belgium had failed and the German air force, the Luftwaffe, was a mere skeleton. The Red Army had captured East Prussia and reached the Oder River, less than 50 miles from Berlin and the Allies were bombing Germany daily. The Allies aimed to demoralise Germany in much the same way as the latter had attempted to demoralise Britain with the Blitz - with a sustained, heavy bombing campaign. Thus, the bombing of Dresden stands out as one of the most controversial and unnecessary acts of WWII.

Before World War II, Dresden was known as "the Florence of the Elbe" and was regarded as one of the world's most beautiful cities for its architecture and museums. Dresden's contribution to the war effort was minimal compared with other German cities. But on the night of 13 February 1945, around 800 British RAF bombers descended on Dresden in two waves, dropping 1,478 tons of high-explosive bombs and 1,182 tons of incendiaries on the city. This action created a great firestorm that destroyed most of the city and killed tens of thousands of civilians. Later that same day, another 300 US bombers targeted Dresden's railways, bridges, and transportation facilities, killing tens of thousands more. Between 35,000 and 135,000 civilians were ultimately killed in the campaign which lasted three days. Dresden, a city of beautiful art and architecture, was reduced to mere rubble.

2000  -             Charles M Schulz, creator of Snoopy and the 'Peanuts' comic strip, dies.

Charles Monroe Schulz was born in St Paul, Minnesota, on 26 November 1922. As a teenager he was shy and introverted, and when he created his comic strip 'Peanuts', he based the character of Charlie Brown on himself. Charlie Brown first appeared in the comic strip "Li'l Folks", published in 1947 by the St Paul Pioneer Press. In 1950, Schulz approached the United Features Syndicate with his best strips from "Li'l Folks", and "Peanuts" made its debut on 2 October 1950.

"Peanuts" ran for nearly 50 years, appearing in over 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries. In 1999, Schulz had a stroke, and it was then discovered that he had colon cancer. Two months after announcing his retirement from drawing "Peanuts", he died, on 13 February 2000. After his death, comic strips all over the world paid tribute to Schulz and Peanuts within their own formats. The Charles M Schulz Museum was opened on 17 August 2002, for the purpose of preserving, displaying, and interpreting the art of Charles M Schulz.

2008  -             The Australian Government formally apologises to the Stolen Generations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The Stolen Generation refers to a very dark period in Australia's history when children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage were removed from their families under acts of the parliament. Many of the Stolen Generation were not full-blooded Aborigines and/or Torres Strait Islanders: most of them were mixed race children of aboriginal women who became pregnant to white stockmen and stationhands.

From the mid to late 1800s to the mid 1900s, influential factions within the Australian Government sought to decimate all traces of the indigenous Australian culture by separating the children from the elders who could teach them about their traditions. Children were removed and placed in white missions, church missions and white foster families. This was done under the guise of stating that "white man's ways" were better, less abusive, and offered more opportunities to the children. However, the effect was the loss of around two-thirds of the aboriginal languages, along with many aboriginal stories and other rich aspects of their culture.

During the latter half of the twentieth century, the issue of Aboriginal Rights gained prominence, along with recognition of the injustices perpetrated upon the members of the Stolen Generation. With the dawning of the new millennium, the Australian Government began to come under increasing pressure to formally acknowledge these injustices by way of an official apology. Finally, on 13 February 2008, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd issued a public, formal apology to the Stolen Generation and their descendants.

During the speech, which was read out to Parliament, Mr Rudd stated, "We apologise for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians. We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country. For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry. To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry. And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry."    

Cheers - John

Gday...

496  -   St Valentine's Day is first declared.

Valentine's Day falls on February 14 each year, and is the traditional day on which lovers in some cultures declare their love by sending Valentine's cards, which are often anonymous. Valentine's Day is the second largest card-sending holiday of the year after Christmas. St Valentine himself is believed to have been Valentinius, a candidate for Bishop of Rome in 143. In his teachings, the marriage bed assumed a central place in his version of Christian love, which contrasted sharply with the asceticism of mainstream Christianity.

The feast of St. Valentine was first declared by Pope Gelasius I to be on 14 February 496. In Ancient Rome, the day of February 15 was Lupercalia, the festival of Lupercus, the god of fertility, but there was initially no connection between romantic love and the declaration of St Valentine's Day. The first recorded association of St. Valentine's Day with romantic love was in the 14th century in England and France, where February 14 was traditionally the day on which birds paired off to mate. By the 17th century, it had become common for lovers to exchange notes on this day and to call each other "Valentines". By the latter half of the 20th century, the practice of the giving of gifts, usually from the man to the woman, had become common, and that is how many cultures know Valentine's Day today.

1779  -             Captain James Cook is killed by natives in Hawaii.

James Cook was born at Marton in North Yorkshire, on 27 October 1728. At age 17 he was taken on as a merchant navy apprentice. Here he was educated in algebra, trigonometry, navigation, and astronomy, which later set Cook up to command his own ship. He completed three major voyages of discovery. On his first, departing in 1768, he commanded the 'Endeavour' on an expedition to chart the transit of Venus. He returned to England in 1771, having also circumnavigated the globe, including exploring and charting New Zealand and Australia's eastern coast. On his second journey which lasted from 1772-1775, he commanded the 'Resolution' and the 'Adventure' on an expedition to the South Pacific, disproving the rumour of a great southern continent, exploring the Antarctic Ocean, New Hebrides and New Caledonia.

On his third journey, commencing in 1776, Cook visited and named the Sandwich Islands, now known as Hawaii, and unsuccessfully sought a northwest passage along the coast of North America. Returning from this journey, he stopped at Hawaii again. After a boat was stolen by natives, he and his crew had an altercation with the Hawaiians. On 14 February 1779, Cook was speared by Hawaiian natives. It was an horrific end for one of the world's greatest navigators, and a man who contributed so much to charting previously unknown areas of the Pacific.

1788  -             Lieutenant Philip Gidley King leaves Sydney to establish a settlement on Norfolk Island.

Norfolk Island lies approximately 1,500 km northeast of Sydney, and forms one of Australia's seven external territories. The first known European to discover Norfolk Island was James Cook, on 10 October 1774. Cook's reports of tall, straight trees (Norfolk pines) and flax-like plants piqued the interest of Britain, whose Royal Navy was dependent on flax for sails and hemp for ropes from Baltic sea ports. Norfolk Island promised a ready supply of these items, and its tall pines could be utilised as ships' masts. Thus, Governor Arthur Phillip, Captain of the First Fleet to New South Wales, was ordered to colonise Norfolk Island, before the French could take it.

After the First Fleet arrived at Port Jackson in January 1788, Phillip Gidley King was appointed Superintendent and Commandant of the proposed settlement at Norfolk Island. King led a party of fifteen convicts and seven free men to take control of the island and prepare for its commercial development. King departed on 14 February 1788. The group arrived early in March. Neither the flax nor the timber industry proved to be viable, and the island developed as a farm, supplying Sydney with grain and vegetables during the early years of the colony's near-starvation. More convicts were sent, and many chose to remain after they had served their sentences. By 1792, four years after its initial settlement, the population was over 1000.     

1936  -             The Walter Taylor Bridge, which crosses the Brisbane River, is opened.

The Walter Taylor Bridge is a suspension bridge crossing the Brisbane River between the suburbs of Indooroopilly and Chelmer. Several signifying points distinguish the bridge. Its support cables were actually surplus support cables used to hold up the incomplete halves of the Sydney Harbour Bridge during its construction. It is also unique among Brisbane bridges in that the two towers of the bridge house residential accommodation, and are still occupied. It operated as a toll bridge up until the 1960s. The Walter Taylor Bridge was opened on 14 February 1936 by the Governor of Queensland, Sir Leslie Orme Wilson, and named after the local contractor who built it.

1966  -             Decimal currency is introduced in Australia, and the Australian dollar makes its debut.

Decimal currency was first introduced in Australia on 14 February 1966. The new Australian dollar replaced the Australian pound (different from the Pound Sterling) as the nominal currency of Australia, and introduced a decimal system. Australian Prime Minister at the time, Robert Menzies, a devout monarchist, wished to name the currency "the Royal", and other names such as "the Austral" were also proposed. Menzies's influence meant that the name "Royal" prevailed, and trial designs were prepared and printed by the printing works of the Reserve Bank of Australia. The name "Royal" proved unpopular, and it was later shelved in favour of "Dollar".

An extensive advertising campaign was implemented to assist the Australian public in making the transition to decimal currency. The Dollar Bill Decimal Currency Jingle, with lyrics written by Ted Roberts, was sung to the tune of Click go the Shears. The jungle was as follows:

In come the dollars and in come the cents
to replace the pounds and the shillings and the pence.
Be prepared folks when the coins begin to mix
on the 14th of February 1966.

Clink go the cents folks, clink, clink, clink.
Changeover day is closer than you think.
Learn the value of the coins and the way that they appear
and things will be much smoother when the decimal point is here.

Initially, the Australian dollar was introduced at a rate of two dollars per pound, or ten shillings per dollar. The Australian dollar, AUD or A$, is the official currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including the Australian Antarctic Territory, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu.

Cheers - John

What about Tassie and the $ Rocky 

No good looking for me cos I am now in protective custody  

Gday...

1564  -             Italian scientist and astronomer Galileo Galilei is born.

Galileo Galilei was an Italian astrologer, physicist and astronomer. He was born on 15 February 1564 in Pisa, Italy. He is best known for his improvements to the telescope, and his own subsequent celestial observations. He pioneered the use of quantitative experiments, analysing results mathematically - a legacy passed on to him through the influence of his father, a renowned mathematician of his time. Many of Galileo's experiments have been reconstructed and authenticated in modern times.

Galileo's achievements in the field of astronomy include his discovery of Jupiter's four largest moons - Io, Europa, Callisto and Ganymede. He was also one of the first Europeans to observe sunspots, and the first to report lunar mountains and craters, deduced from the patterns of light and shadow on the Moon's surface. He concluded that the surface of the Moon was rough and uneven, rather than the perfect sphere that Aristotle claimed. Galileo observed the Milky Way, previously believed to be nebulous, and found it to be a multitude of stars, packed so densely that they appeared to be clouds from Earth. He also located many other stars too distant to be visible with the naked eye.

1796  -             Australia's first bushranger, John 'Black' Caesar, is shot.

John Caesar, nicknamed "Black Caesar" was Australia's first bushranger. Most likely born in Madagascar, he was a slave on a sugar plantation until he escaped and headed for London. The theft of 240 shillings resulted in his transportation on the First Fleet, and he one of the first black people to be part of Australia's colonisation.

Due to difficulties with establishing farms and the limited supplies purchased during the journey of the First Fleet, Governor Arthur Phillip was forced to reduce convict rations in the early part of the penal settlement. This meant that hunger was rife. 'Black' Caesar was a big man and powerfully built, and like many convicts, resorted to theft to feed his hunger. He was tried and punished in April 1789. Two weeks later, he escaped to the bush, taking stolen food supplies and a musket with him.

Caesar apparently had difficulty hunting native wildlife, and began stealing food from both free settlers and convicts' supplies. He was caught on 6 June 1789, and following his trial, was sent to Garden Island to work. He managed to escape yet again, on 22 December, but survived for only a short while before giving himself up on 31 December.

Governor Phillip pardoned Caesar, but sent him to Norfolk Island as a free settler, where Caesar fathered a child. Three years later he returned to Sydney and took up his life of bushranging once more. He was captured several months later. He enjoyed brief recognition when he directly assisted the capture of the Aborigine Pemulwuy, who had led numerous attacks against Europeans and their occupation of aboriginal land. In 1795, Caesar escaped once more, but on 15 February 1796 was shot and killed by a bounty hunter.

1876  -             The current state flag of New South Wales is adopted.

New South Wales was the name given to the first colony in Australia. Originally, the name encompassed territory in the entire eastern half of the continent, until the colony of South Australia was established, and its territory separated from that of New South Wales. The separation of other colonies followed. In 1869, Queen Victoria proposed that each of the colonies in Australia adopt a flag, which should consist of a Union flag with the state badge in the centre.

The current state flag of New South Wales was adopted on 15 February 1876. The badge was designed by Colonial Architect James Barnet and retired Royal Navy officer Captain Francis Hixson. It comprised a silver background with a red St George's Cross bearing a golden lion in the centre, with four 8-pointed golden stars, one on each of the lions limbs. The lion is believed to represent the vice-regal authority of the Governor.

1934  -             Australian radio and television personality, Graham Kennedy, is born.

Graham Cyril Kennedy was born on 15 February 1934 in Melbourne, Australia. Because his parents divorced when he was very young, he was raised by his grandmother. He left school prematurely, working first as a news runner for the Australian Broadcasting Commission on their Radio Australia shortwave service, then working in the record library at radio station 3UZ. Later, after being panel operator for radio personality "Nicky" (Cliff Nicholls), Nicholls put Kennedy to air with him as his sidekick in 1950. Kennedy first worked with popular personality Bert Newton on 3AK morning radio in 1961-1962.

When television debuted in Melbourne in 1957, Kennedy was chosen to present the evening show, In Melbourne Tonight, for GTV-9. This was the beginning of his 40-year career, throughout which he held the unofficial title of the "King" of Australian television.

Kennedy's last programme was 'Graham Kennedy's Funniest Home Videos' which was broadcast in 1990 on the Nine Network. He retired in 1991 and moved to a rural property near Bowral, New South Wales. A diabetic, and a heavy smoker and drinker, his health declined during the 1990s. Kennedy died on 25 May 2005 from complications from pneumonia.

1942  -             The Battle of Singapore reaches its conclusion as Singapore falls to the Japanese.

The Battle of Singapore was a battle of the South-East Asian theatre of World War II fought between Imperial Japan and the Allies, from 7 February 1942 to 15 February 1942. The fall of Singapore represented the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history. About 80,000 Indian, Australian and British troops became prisoners of war. At 8.30pm on February 8, Australian machine gunners opened fire on vessels carrying the first wave of 4,000 Japanese troops towards Singapore island. Many more such battles were fought over the ensuing days, but the Japanese held the upper hand in numbers as well as in weaponry and military intelligence. By the morning of February 15, the Japanese had broken through the last line of defence, and the allies were beginning to run out of food and ammunition. The Allied forces formally surrendered to the Japanese shortly after 5.15pm on 15 February 1942.

The Japanese were particularly brutal to the prisoners they took. Many of the Allied soldiers taken prisoner remained in Singapore, at infamous Changi Prison. Thousands of others were shipped on prisoner transports known as "Hell Ships" to other parts of Asia, including Japan itself, to be used as slave labour on infamous projects like the Siam-Burma Railway and Sandakan airfield in North Borneo. Most of these men never saw their homelands again.

1989  -             After a ten-year war, the Soviet Union officially announces that all of its troops have left Afghanistan.

Afghanistan has a long history of violence and unrest. The catalyst to the Soviet invasion of 1979 was the growth of the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), which had close ties to the Soviet Union. Following years of coups and seizing of power by various parties, the PDPA imposed a Marxist-style "reform" program, which led to revolts and unrest among the various classes of Afghans. In December 1978, Moscow signed a bilateral treaty of cooperation with Afghanistan, which meant that the current regime became dependent on Soviet military equipment and advisers. Soviet advice to stabilise government in Afghanistan met with resistance and tensions between the two countries increased.

On 27 December 1979 700 KGB spetsnaz special forces troops dressed in Afghan uniforms stormed the Presidential Place in Kabul, killing President Hafizullah Amin. On that day, Soviet ground forces also invaded from the north. It was intended that such action would end the factional struggles within the PDPA. However, the Afghans mounted a resistance movement which ultimately meant that the Soviet-Afghan war continued for ten years. The war did not end until Soviet troops finally withdrew from the area on 2 February 1989. This move was announced on 15 February 1989.  

Cheers - John

Gday...

590  -   Pope Gregory the Great declares that people should say 'God bless you' when someone sneezes.

Pope Saint Gregory I, or Gregory the Great, was Pope of the Catholic Church from 3 September 590 until his death in 604. He was an able and determined administrator and a skilled and clever diplomat, after whom the Gregorian chant, a musical style of the Middle Ages, was named. Pope Gregory ascended to the Papacy just in time for the start of the plague, and is thus known as the patron saint of plague. He believed that constant repetition of litanies and unceasing prayer for God's help and intercession would ward off sickness. On 16 February 590 A.D., Pope Gregory decreed that when someone sneezed, others should say "God bless you" in response. The blessing was endowed by others in the hope that the one who sneezed would not subsequently develop the plague. Interestingly enough, the plague of 590 A.D. dissipated very quickly.

1793  -             The first free settlers arrive in New South Wales.

The first European settlers in Australia were primarily convicts from England, along with the officers and marines who guarded them. The only free settlers aboard the First Fleet were an estimated 46 wives and children of the marines. For the first few difficult years, while the colony was being established, subsequent fleets were also made up almost entirely of more convicts.

Prior to leaving England, Governor Arthur Phillip had suggested that convicts with experience in farming, building and crafts be included in the First Fleet, but his proposal was rejected, and this made the establishment of a workable colony difficult in the early years. Phillip maintained his campaign for more farmers, as the colony faced near-starvation in the early years, due to difficulties with growing crops.

In response to Governor Phillip's repeated requests to the British Authorities for farmers, the first free settlers arrived in New South Wales on 16 February 1793, lured by the promise of land grants. The settlers, who arrived on the ship Bellona, were described in the Secretary of States Despatch of 14 July 1792, as Thomas Rose, aged 40, farmer from Blandford, his wife, Mrs. Jane Rose, and their children, Thomas, Mary, Joshua and Richard, also Elizabeth Fish, aged 18, related to the family. They were awarded land grants in the Strathfield Municipality.

1804  -             Lieutenant-Governor David Collins takes command of the first settlement on the Derwent River, Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania).

Long before John Batman made his treaty with the Aborigines to lease land at Port Phillip for a new settlement, the British Government instructed Lieutenant-Governor David Collins to establish a settlement on the southern coast. At that stage, the area was still part of New South Wales. The expedition included two ships, 308 convicts, 51 marines, 17 free settlers, 12 civil officers, and a missionary and his wife. In October 1803 Collins and his expedition landed at the site where Sorrento now stands on the Mornington Peninsula, naming it Port King. The Governor of New South Wales at the time, King, was unaware of the expedition or of the British Government's orders.

The settlement was not a success, as fresh water was in short supply. The local timber was unsuitable for many uses, and the treacherous entrance to Port Phillip Bay made the site unusable as a whaling base. Hearing of better land and timber in Van Diemen's Land, Collins moved most of the settlement across Bass Strait, and established Hobart on the Derwent River on 16 February 1804. He originally named the settlement 'Sullivan Cove' after John Sullivan, Under-Secretary of the Colonial Office.

1923  -             The door to the burial chamber of Egyptian King Tutankhamun is opened.

Egypt's King Tutankhamun was the son of King Akhenaten, also known as Amenhotep IV, who lived from 1353 to 1337 BC. He was born between 1341 BC and 1347 BC and died in his late teens. His tomb lay undiscovered for over 3300 years until a team of British archaeologists, led by Howard Carter, discovered a step leading to the tomb on 4 November 1922. The step was hidden in the debris near the entrance of the nearby tomb of King Ramses VI, in the Valley of the Kings. Twenty-two days later, Carter and his crew entered the tomb itself.

After discovering the tomb had been left completely unplundered by thieves, the archaeologists continued exploring. The door of the burial chamber behind the ante-chamber was opened on 16 February 1923. This led to the discovery of the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun. The outer layer was a stone sarcophagus containing three coffins, fitted within each other, and stuck together wuth black resin. Inside the final coffin, which was made out of solid gold, was the mummified body of King Tutankhamun. Much remains unknown about Tutankhamun's life, but the golden death mask which covered his mummy is now a famous relic of the ancient world.

1983  -             The Ash Wednesday bushfires start in Victoria and South Australia.

Between April 1982 and January 1983, Victoria experienced severe drought conditions and little rainfall, resulting in its driest period on record. On 8 February 1983, hot gusty winds and a severe dust storm hit Melbourne, already experiencing temperatures above 40°C, and exacerbated the intense heat and dry conditions.

16 February 1983 was, ironically, "Ash Wednesday" in the Christian calendar. On that day, eight days after the dust storm, approximately 180 bushfires broke out around the state. A number of factors contributed to the fires, among them arson, and wind gusts which either caused electric wires to clash or tree branches to hit the wires, sparking fires. The largest bushfires started at various sites around Victoria, including Cudgee, Branxholme, Mount Macedon, and areas of the Dandenong Ranges and the Otways. Around 200,000 hectares of land were destroyed, the equivalent of twice the size of Melbourne. 47 people were killed, including seventeen volunteer firefighters, over 2000 homes were destroyed and farmers experienced huge stock losses.

South Australia was also hit by fires which broke out in the Adelaide Hills and Mt Lofty, and the Clare Valley, destroying 208,000 hectares of land in farming country and another 21,000 hectares of pine forests in the state's south-east. Another 28 people died in the South Australian fires, and 380 homes were destroyed. The emotional and mental cost of the fires was equally devastating, and the Ash Wednesday fires are still remembered as one of Australia's worst natural disasters.

Cheers - John