Gday...

1846  -             The colony of North Australia is proclaimed by Letters Patent.

In the early years of European settlement of Australia, the mainland was essentially divided into two parts: New South Wales and New Holland. In 1825, the western boundary of New South Wales was extended to 129 degrees E. The first division of New South Wales occurred when the colony of South Australia was established in 1836, and its territory separated from that of New South Wales.

On 17 February 1846, Letters Patent proclaimed that all of New South Wales north of 26 degrees S would be established as the new colony of North Australia. It included what would later become the colony of Queensland. The new colony was the initiative of William Ewart Gladstone, British Secretary of State for the Colonies. The Governor of New South Wales at the time, Charles Fitzroy, was also appointed Governor of North Australia. At the same time, a new settlement was established at Port Curtis, with the intention of being a penal colony. Known as the Gladstone Colony, it was under the direction of Lieutenant Governor George Barney.

On 28 December 1847, Queen Victoria revoked the letters patent establishing the colony of North Australia, and on 16 January 1849, the Colony of North Australia was abolished.

1864  -             Australian poet and author, Banjo Paterson, is born.

Andrew Barton Paterson, or Banjo Paterson, was born on 17 February 1864, near Orange, New South Wales. He was a proficient student and sportsman, and after leaving school at 16, he took up the position of an articled clerk in a law firm: by the age of 23 he was a fully qualified solicitor.

Paterson was passionately nationalistic, popular among many Australians in a fledgling country searching for its own identity apart from Britain. In 1885, Paterson began publishing his poetry in the Sydney edition of The Bulletin under the pseudonym of "The Banjo", the name of a favourite horse. In 1890 he wrote "The Man From Snowy River", a poem which caught the heart of the nation, and in 1895 had a collection of his works published under that name. This book is the most sold collection of Australian Bush Poetry and is still being reprinted today. A "bush balladeer", he was also the author of other well known poems such "Clancy of the Overflow", "Mulga Bill's Bicycle" and, of course, "Waltzing Matilda". Unlike his contemporary, Henry Lawson, he presented a romanticised view of life in the bush, and many appreciated his larrikin wit more than Lawson's more realistic, drier view of life.

Although Paterson was a war correspondent during the Boer war, he was not embittered by his experiences. He died on 5 April 1941, but his legacy lives on in the establishment of a distinctively Australian literary culture.

1934  -             Australian actor Barry Humphries, alias Dame Edna Everage, is born.

Barry Humphries was born John Barry Humphries on 17 February 1934 in Melbourne, Australia. He studied law, philosophy and fine arts at Melbourne University before joining the Melbourne Theatre Group and embarking on an acting career.

Humphries created the character of Edna Everage in December 1955 and first brought her to the British stage in 1969 for his one-man show, "Just a Show". In 1970 Barry returned to Australia, where Edna Everage made her movie debut in John B Murray's The Naked Bunyip. The Moonee Ponds housewife, originally created as a parody of Australian suburban insularity, has developed from her earlier dowdiness to become a satire of stardom, the gaudily dressed, ostentatious, international Housewife Gigastar, Dame Edna Everage. Other alter-egos created by Humphries include Sir Les Patterson, Barry McKenzie and Sandy Stone.

1972  -             Production of the humble Volkswagen Beetle surpasses that of the Model T Ford.

The name 'Volkswagen' which translates literally as "people's car" is the name of an automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Germany. The VW Type 1, better known as the Beetle or Bug or Käfer (in German), is a small family car and probably the best known car made by Volkswagen. During the Beetle's production which commenced in 1938 and ended in 2003, over 21 million Beetles in the original design were made. One of the most affordable cars, it established a firm reputation for reliability and sturdiness.

On 17 February 1972, the 15,007,034th Volkswagen Beetle rolled out of the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, surpassing the previous production record set by the Model T Ford, to become the most heavily produced car in history.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1546  -             German theologian and Protestant Reformer, Martin Luther, dies.

Martin Luther was born in 1483, in Eisleben, Germany. At age 17 he enrolled in the University of Erfurt, gaining a Bachelor's degree in 1502 and a Master's degree in 1505. According to his father's wishes, Luther then enrolled in the law school of that university. A terrifying near-encounter with a lightning bolt in 1505 led Luther to abandon his law studies and enter a monastery, dedicated to serving God.

Luther struggled with the Roman Catholic church's demands that one could only earn favour with God through good works. Through his in-depth study of the Scriptures, he reached the realisation that salvation is a gift of God's grace, received by faith alone and by trust in Christ's death on the cross as the only means to that salvation.

It was this that led him to openly question the teachings of the Roman Catholic church, in particular, the nature of penance, the authority of the pope and the usefulness of indulgences. The Reformation of the church began on 31 October 1517, with Luther's act of posting his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The document contained an attack on papal abuses and the sale of indulgences by church officials.

Controversy raged over the posting of the 95 Theses. Luther was excommunicated several years later from the Roman Catholic church for his attacks on the wealth and corruption of the papacy, and his belief that salvation would be granted on the basis of faith alone rather than by works. In 1521, the same year in which he was excommunicated, Luther was summoned before the Diet of Worms. The Diet was a general assembly of the estates of the Holy Roman Empire that occurred in Worms, Germany, from January to May in 1521. When an edict of the Diet called for Luther's seizure, his friends took him for safekeeping to Wartburg, the castle of Elector Frederick III of Saxony. Here, Luther continued to write his prolific theological works, which greatly influenced the direction of the Protestant Reformation movement.

Luther died of natural causes on 18 February 1546 at Eisleben. The last words he ever wrote were "Know that no-one can have indulged in the Holy Writers sufficiently, unless he has governed churches for a hundred years with the prophets, such as Elijah and Elisha, John the Baptist, Christ and the apostles. Do not assail this divine Aeneid; nay, rather prostrate revere the ground that it treads. We are beggars: this is true."

1793  -             Reverend Richard Johnson commences the first church school in Sydney.

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. Johnson was a successful farmer, growing crops of lemons and oranges from seedlings obtained in Rio de Janeiro. Although the colony suffered near-starvation in its early years, Johnson was able to grow enough vegetables for himself and his wife. Apart from farming, Johnson's duties were many, and they included officiating at weddings and funerals, conducting church services and generally taking responsibility for the spiritual wellbeing of the colony. This included the education of the children of the colony. Johnson is believed to have commenced formal school lessons within eighteen months of the First Fleet's arrival in New South Wales.

Johnson campaigned for several years in an attempt to have proper church and school buildings constructed, but Governor Phillip was more concerned with ensuring proper convict and military buildings were built. Despite the absence of an official school building, on 18 February 1793 Johnson opened the first formal school in Sydney. This occurred at the location where he would later construct the first church building. This school catered for children of marines and convicts. There were no desks or other equipment, and children had to sit on the floor or basic stools. Instruction centred around the basics of the alphabet, reading and writing, and the Bible and Catechism.

By 1797, Johnson was responsible for the establishment of several more schools in the Sydney area and Parramatta.

1874  -             Explorer Giles is nearly killed by one of his horses.

Explorer Ernest Giles was born William Ernest Powell Giles on 7 July 1835 in England. He emigrated to Australia in 1850 and was employed at various cattle and sheep stations, allowing him to develop good bush skills. Giles made several expeditions into the Australian desert. The first, lasting four months, commenced in August 1872 and resulted in the discovery of an unusual oasis in the desert, the Glen of Palms, now called Palm Valley, as well as Gosse's Bluff. On this first journey he discovered Lake Amadeus, a huge saltpan in central Australia, which he named after the King of Spain, and he sighted the Olgas, named after the king's wife.

Giles commenced his next expedition in August 1873. On this expedition, he was able to approach closer to the Olgas, but his attempts to continue further west were thwarted by interminable sand, dust, biting ants and lack of water. After a two month recovery period at Fort Mueller, Giles set out north towards the Rawlinson Range, from which he again tried to penetrate westwards. On 18 February 1874, he was thrown by one of his horses and dragged along, only narrowly escaping being killed. This major mishap, however, barely compared to the tragedy which awaited the exploration party.

1930  -             Once considered the ninth planet in our solar system, planetoid Pluto, is discovered.

For many years, Pluto was considered to be the ninth planet in the solar system, named after the Roman god of the underworld, Pluto. Recently, its status has been downgraded to that of a minor planet. Its largest moon is Charon, discovered in 1978, and two smaller moons, Nix and Hydra, were discovered in 2005. It remains the only planet that has not been visited by human spacecraft, and knowledge of Pluto is limited due to the fact that it is too far away for in-depth investigations with telescopes from earth.

Pluto remained undiscovered until the twentieth century due to its small size, being smaller than the Earth's moon, and its unusual orbit. It was determined to be a planet on 18 February 1930 by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona. The non-circularity of Pluto's orbit is such that it crosses the orbit of Neptune, making it only the eighth-most distant planet from the Sun for part of each orbit; the most recent occurrence of this phenomenon lasted from 7 February 1979 until 11 February 1999.

Pluto is now considered the largest member of the Kuiper belt. Like other members of the belt, it is composed primarily of rock and ice and is relatively small: approximately a fifth the mass of the Earth's moon and a third its volume. On 24 August 2006 the International Astronomical Union defined the term "planet" for the first time. This definition excluded Pluto, which the IAU reclassified as a member of the new category of dwarf planets. After the reclassification, Pluto was added to the list of minor planets and given the number 134340.

2003  -             200 are killed in a subway fire in South Korea.

Daegu is the third largest city in South Korea, having approximately 2.5 million inhabitants. It lies in the south of the Korean peninsula, about 120 km north of Busan. Daegu has two subway lines, Daegu Subway Line 1 and Daegu Subway Line 2. Line 1 was the site of the tragic Daegu subway fire of 2003, in which around 200 people died. Exact figures are unknown because the intensity of the heat completely incinerated some of the victims.

Kim Dae-han was a 56-year-old unemployed former taxi driver who had suffered a stroke, leaving him partially paralysed, and was disgruntled and depressed about his medical treatment. On the morning of 18 February 2003, he boarded train 1079 on Line 1 in the direction of Daegok, carrying a bag which contained two milk cartons filled with a flammable liquid. Other passengers, becoming aware of his intentions, tried to stop him. In the struggle, one of the cartons spilled and its liquid contents caught fire as the train pulled into Joongang-ro station in Daegu. Kim, his back and legs on fire, managed to escape, as did many passengers on train 1079, but within two minutes the fire had spread to all six cars. The seats and flooring were composed of flammable fibreglass, carbonated vinyl, and polyethylene, and produced thick, chemical smoke as they burned.

Train 1080 entered the station alongside the burning train, as operator of 1079, Choi Jeong-hwan, failed to notify subway officials immediately of the fire. An automatic fire detector shut down the power supply to both trains, preventing train 1080 from leaving the station. Train 1080 operator Choi Sang-yeol initially advised passengers to remain seated while he attempted to reach superiors. He was then told by officials to leave the train and escape to safety. He opened the doors and fled, but in doing so he removed the master key, shutting down the onboard batteries which powered the train doors, sealing passengers inside. Investigations showed 79 passengers remained trapped inside train 1080 and died there. Inadequate emergency equipment compounded the disaster, as Daegu subway trains were not equipped with fire extinguishers, and the stations lacked sprinklers and emergency lighting.

A total of 191 bodies were found and identified through DNA analysis; 6 additional bodies were found but burned so badly that they could not be identified; and 1 person's possessions were identified but remains could not be located. Ultimately, both train operators were given prison sentences for criminal negligence, whilst Kim Dae-han, sentenced to life imprisonment, died in prison a year later.

2005  -             Fox hunting is banned in England.

Fox hunting is a form of hunting for foxes using a pack of scent hounds, often followed by riders on horses. It is a "blood sport", an appallingly cruel practice which has been steadfastly upheld by tradition in Britain for centuries. After years of struggle between hunters, sports people and animal welfare groups, the "Hunting Act" of November 2004 was passed, banning the hunting of foxes, deer, mink and hares using dogs. On 18 February 2005, the UK finally introduced a law banning such blood sports altogether. The ban also extended to hare coursing, which involved the hunting of hares with dogs with the sole purpose of killing the hare.

The legal battle is not yet over. Groups which maintain their right to hunt and indulge in their blood sports plan to take further action, appealing to other authorities such as the European Court of Human Rights. Currently, the Hunting Act is still in effect, but enforcing it takes a fairly low priority with police forces. Animal welfare groups such as the League Against Cruel Sports monitor hunts that they believe may be breaking the law and, in some cases, private prosecutions have ensued.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1836  -             British Parliament officially proclaims the colony of South Australia and formally defines its boundaries.

 Explorer Matthew Flinders was the first European to investigate the possibilities for settlement on South Australia's coast, doing so in 1802. The discovery and charting of the Murray River by Charles Sturt to the southern coast captured the attention of Lord Wakefield in England, who then promoted South Australia as being the ideal location for a proposed new settlement.

The South Australian Colonisation Act was passed by the British Parliament in 1834, and the first settlers arrived in 1836. South Australia is the only state in Australia not to have been populated with convicts during the colonial years. Governor John Hindmarsh arrived in the new colony on the HMS Buffalo, accompanied only by free settlers. South Australia was officially proclaimed on 19 February 1836 in England. Letters Patent were issued and attached to the 1834 South Australian Colonisation Act to legally create the Province of South Australia and to establish and define its boundaries. The Old Gum Tree at Glenelg North, South Australia, was the location of the reading of the Proclamation by Governor Hindmarsh on 28 December 1836.

1879  -             The foundation stone for Melbourne's Royal Exhibition Building is laid.

The Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton Gardens, is one of the world's oldest exhibition pavilions and an excellent example of the magnificent architecture of the time. It has featured strongly in significant Australian historical events. Designed by Joseph Reed, of the firm Reed and Barnes, the building features a round-arched architectural style, the dome of which was influenced by Brunelleschis 15th-century cathedral in Florence, Italy.

The foundation stone for the Royal Exhibition Building was laid by then-governor of Victoria, Sir George Bowen, on 19 February 1879. The Great Hall was opened to the public for the first time in May of the following year, several months prior to the first International Exhibition, which opened in October 1880. This exhibition showcased the cultural, industrial and technological achievements of over 30 nations, allowing Australians a first-hand taste of overseas. The Great Hall remains the only surviving Great Hall that once housed a 19th-century international exhibition, and which is still used for exhibitions today. In 1888, the Hall was the site of another major event when it housed the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition, celebrating the centenary of European settlement in Australia.

For several decades after it first opened, the Great Hall was the largest building in Australia. The first Australian Federal Parliament, held in the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne which was the only building in Australia large enough to house the 14,000 guests, was opened by the Duke of Cornwall and York, later King George V, on 9 May 1901. Hence, Melbourne became the seat of power for the Commonwealth of Australia until Parliament House in Canberra was built.

1937  -             3,000 Ethiopians are massacred by Italian forces.

In 1934, Abyssinia (Ethiopia) was still one of the few independent states in a European-dominated Africa. Countries such as Britain and France had conquered smaller nations in the "Scramble for Africa" the previous century. In 1896, Italy had attempted to expand in eastern Africa by adding Abyssinia to her conquests (which included Eritrea and Somaliland), but the Italians were heavily defeated by the Abyssinians at the Battle of Adowa. Italy bided her time.

In 1928, Italy signed a treaty of friendship with Abyssinian leader Haile Selassie, but Italy was already secretly planning to invade the African nation. In December 1934, a dispute at the Wal Wal oasis along the border between Abyssinia and Italian Somaliland gave Italian dictator Benito Mussolini an excuse to respond with aggression. Italian troops stationed in Somaliland and Eritrea were instructed to attack Abyssinia. Overwhelmed by the use of tanks and mustard gas, the Abyssinians stood little chance. The capital, Addis Ababa, fell in May 1936 and Haile Selassie was removed from the throne and replaced by the king of Italy, Victor Emmanuel. On 19 February 1937, Italian forces began pillaging Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia. 3,000 innocent Ethiopian men, women and children were shot or beaten to death over a period of three days.

Selassie's request for European help was largely ignored. It was not until after World War II, and the defeat of Italy, that he was returned to power.

1942  -             The Japanese bomb Darwin, Australia.

In 1942, Darwin, the town on the north coast of Australia's Northern Territory, had an official population of about 2,000. It was a strategically-placed naval port and airbase. During World War II, on 19 February 1942, the Japanese attacked Darwin, launching two waves of planes comprising 242 bombers and fighters. The first wave of 188 Japanese planes was spotted at about 9.15am by civilians on Bathurst and Melville Islands, and Darwin was warned at least twice by radio. However, the warnings were not taken seriously, and the attackers arrived at their target just before 10.00am. Just before midday, there was a high altitude attack by land-based bombers, concentrated on the Darwin RAAF Airfield: this attack lasted around 20 minutes. Although it was a less significant target, a greater number of bombs were dropped than in the attack on Pearl Harbor.

At least 250 civilians and military personnel were killed, but the real toll was probably much higher as the count did not include the many Indigenous Australians in the area; nor were the numbers among the crews in the merchant ships in the harbour fully known. Most of Darwin's essential services were destroyed, and half of the town's civilian population fled due to fears of imminent invasion. Darwin's naval base was essentially abandoned following the attack, and ships were repositioned at Brisbane, Queensland, and Fremantle in Western Australia. Admiral Osami Nagano, the Chief of the Navy General Staff, was in favour of invading Australia, but the Japanese army lacked the resources for such an undertaking, and opted for the invasion of Midway Island instead. The attacks were the first of an estimated 64 air raids against Australia during 1942-43.

1960  -             Prince Andrew, third child of Queen Elizabeth II, is born.

Prince Andrew, third child and second son of Queen Elizabeth II, was born Andrew Albert Christian Edward Mountbatten-Windsor on 19 February 1960 at Buckingham Palace, London. He was the first child born to a reigning monarch since Queen Victoria's youngest child, The Princess Beatrice, in 1857. As a child of the reigning monarch, he was styled His Royal Highness The Prince Andrew from birth. He is currently fourth in the line of succession.

Prince Andrew married Sarah Ferguson in 1986. Prior to the marriage ceremony, Queen Elizabeth II conferred upon 26-year-old Andrew the title of Duke of York. The title Duke of York is traditionally reserved for the sovereign's second son and was last held by King George VI. He was also endowed with the titles of Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh, titles previously held by both Andrew's maternal great grandfather, King George V, and his maternal grandfather, King George VI. Together the Duke and Duchess of York have two children, Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice of York, born 8 August 1988 and Her Royal Highness Princess Eugenie of York, born 23 March 1990. The Duke and Duchess of York divorced in May 1996.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1903  -             Royal approval of the new Australian flag is finally gazetted.

The Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed on 1 January 1901. Shortly after this, in April ofthat year, the Commonwealth Government announced a Federal Flag design competition. There were 32,823 entries in the competition, and most featured the Union Jack, the Southern Cross, or native animals.

Five almost identical entries were selected to share the 200 pound prize. The entries belonged to Ivor Evans, a fourteen-year-old schoolboy from Melbourne; Leslie John Hawkins, a teenager apprenticed to an optician from Sydney; Egbert John Nuttall, an architect from Melbourne; Annie Dorrington, an artist from Perth; and William Stevens, a ships officer from Auckland, New Zealand.

The first design of the flag was very similar to the current design, with differences being that the Federation Star, also known as the Commonwealth Star, had six points instead of seven, while the Southern Cross stars had between five and nine points according to their brightness in the night sky. Originally, the blue field was reserved for Government use only, so the main background of the flag was red.

The new Australian flag flew for the first time from the top of the Exhibition Building in Melbourne in September 1901, well before it was formally approved by the Imperial Authorities in England. The Australian Government was formally notified that the flag had been approved by King Edward VII late in 1902, and this approval was officially Gazetted on 20 February 1903.

1913  -             The first peg marking the start of development of the city of Canberra is driven in by King O'Malley.

Australia's two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, had been rivals since before the goldrush days. It was therefore decided that the nation's capital should be situated between the two cities. A location was chosen which was 248km from Sydney and 483km from Melbourne, and the name selected was a derivation of the Aboriginal word for 'meeting place'. It was then necessary to select someone who could design a truly unique capital city. The competition to design Australia's new capital city, Canberra, was won in 1911 by Walter Burley Griffin.

The first survey peg marking the beginning of the development of the city of Canberra was driven in on 20 February 1913. The man who drove in the peg was King O'Malley, Minister for Home Affairs and who played a prominent role in selecting the site of the future capital of Australia. O'Malley was a controversial figure and prominent in Australian politics. A teetotaller, he was responsible for the highly unpopular ban on alcohol in the Australian Capital Territory. He was instrumental in beginning the building of the Transcontinental Railway from Melbourne to Perth, and pushed for the establishment of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, a state-owned savings and investment bank. He was also the one who advocated the spelling of "Labor" in the Australian Labor Party as being more modern than "Labour".

1962  -             Astronaut John Glenn pilots 'Friendship 7' in the first U.S. manned orbital mission.

John Herschel Glenn, Jr was born on 18 July 1921 in Cambridge, Ohio, USA. After attaining a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering at Muskingum College, New Concord, Ohio, he entered the Naval Aviation Cadet Program at age twenty and was graduated from this program and commissioned in the Marine Corps in 1943. He flew combat missions in WWII and in the Korean War. In July 1957, he set a transcontinental speed record of 3 hours 23 minutes from Los Angeles to New York in the first transcontinental flight to average supersonic speed.

Glenn was selected as a Project Mercury Astronaut in 1959. On 20 February 1962, he piloted the "Friendship 7" spacecraft on the first U.S. manned orbital mission. Launched at 9:47 am on 20 February 1962 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, he completed three orbits around the earth, at a maximum altitude of approximately 260 kilometres and an orbital velocity of approximately 28,100 kph. During his historic flight, the residents of Perth, Western Australia, greeted him by switching on their house lights simultaneously.

1981  -             An inquest into the disappearance of baby Azaria Chamberlain finds that she was taken by a dingo.

Michael and Lindy Chamberlain and their three children were camping at Ayers Rock when baby Azaria disappeared. Lindy claimed that a dingo had stolen her baby. No trace of the child was ever found, although her bloodstained clothes were found a week later by another tourist. Lindy Chamberlain was regarded with deep suspicion by many among the investigating party, and also by a great deal of the media and, subsequently, the Australian public. At the first inquest into her death, on 20 February 1981, coroner Dennis Barritt found that baby Azaria had been taken by a dingo.

Police and prosecutors moved for a second inquest which was held in September, 1981. This time, the new finding was made that Azaria had been killed with a pair of scissors and held by a small adult hand until she stopped bleeding. Lindy Chamberlain was convicted of murder on 29 October 1982. Her acquittal came several years later when a British tourist fell to his death from the Rock. When his body was finally located 8 days later amid an area full of dingo lairs, Azaria Chamberlain's missing jacket was also found. New evidence was presented showing that the methods of testing previous evidence had been unreliable, and no conviction could be made on those grounds. Lindy was released, and eventually awarded AU$1.3 million in compensation for wrongful imprisonment.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1802  -             Matthew Flinders' tragic encounter with dangerous waters leads to the naming of Cape Catastrophe, South Australia.

Matthew Flinders was the sea explorer who, together with Bass, was the first to prove that Van Diemen's Land, or Tasmania, was an island and not connected to the mainland. Flinders was also the first to circumnavigate the continent, and between December 1801 and June 1803, he charted most of the coastline of Australia.

The South Australian coastline is notorious for its shipwrecks, with approximately 800 ships having come to grief off the coastline in the two hundred years since Flinders circumnavigated the continent. The first recorded victim of the region was one of Flinders' own vessels. Flinders had two small cutters which travelled with his ship 'Investigator', which was used for landing parties. On 21 February 1802, the cutter's captain was sent to the mainland with a crew of eight to search for water. Not a single man returned.

After the cutter was noted beginning its return journey, sight of it was then lost. The other cutter was sent to search for the first vessel, but all that was found of it was broken pieces on the shoreline. Despite searching the coastline extensively, no survivors from the cutter were found: hence Flinders' naming of the headland Cape Catastrophe.

1802  -             John Murray discovers Corio Bay, site of present-day Geelong in Victoria.

Port Phillip is a large bay in southern Victoria, Australia, on the northern end of which is situated the Victorian capital city of Melbourne. Port Phillip is dotted by numerous smaller bays; one of these is Corio Bay, in the southwest. The first non-aboriginal person to visit the Geelong region was Lieutenant John Murray, who commanded the brig Lady Nelson. On 14 February 1802, Murray manoeuvred the Lady Nelson through the narrow, treacherous entrance to Port Phillip, now known as the Rip, in order to explore the bay.

Murray discovered Corio Bay on 21 February 1802, but made no particular recommendations for settlement, although he formally took possession of the area for Great Britain. At this time, Corio Bay was known by the local indigenous Wathaurong people as "Jillong", while the surrounding land was known as "Corayo". Further surveys of the area later that year failed to reveal the Barwon River which, flowing into the ocean and not the bay, passes through present day Geelong on the inland side of a ridge. Matthew Flinders entered Corio Bay in April, and charted the entire bay. This was followed by further mapping of the area in January 1803 by Surveyor-General Charles Grimes aboard the "Cumberland".

Errors by subsequent explorers and surveyors resulted in the names being swapped: Corayo became known as Geelong while Jillong became Corio Bay. In 1824, explorers Hume and Hovell believed they were actually at Westernport Bay, and returned with glowing reports of good land and water. However, when a party was sent to settle Westernport, they found only poor water and poor soil, forcing the abandonment of the settlement. Finally, in March 1836, three squatters by the names of David Fisher, James Strachan and George Russell arrived to settle the area. By 1838, when Geelong was first surveyed, the population was 545.

1947  -             The first Polaroid camera is demonstrated by Edwin Land.

Edwin Herbert Land, born 12 May 1906, was an American scientist who was best known for inventing inexpensive filters for polarising light, and instant polaroid photography. He did not complete the science degree he began at Harvard, but set up the Land-Wheelwright Laboratories in 1932 with his Harvard physics professor. He established the Polaroid Corporation in Boston in 1937 to further develop and produce the sheet polarisers under the Polaroid trademark, with the intention of applying them to sunglasses and science. During WWII, he worked on military tasks developing dark-adaptation goggles, and target finders.

On 21 February 1947, Land demonstrated the first instant image camera and self-developing film to a meeting of the Optical Society of America in New York City. Called the Land Camera, it produced a black and white photograph in 60 seconds using developer and fixer chemicals sandwiched in pods with the photographic paper and film. After exposure, developing was initiated by turning a knob that squeezed open the pod of chemicals. It was on sale commercially less than two years later.

2001  -             British milk, meat and livestock exports are banned in the wake of the UK's first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease for 20 years.

Foot and mouth disease is an extremely contagious viral disease of cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and other cloven-hoofed animals. Symptoms include fever, loss of appetite and weight, and blisters on the mucous membranes, especially those of the mouth, feet, and udder. Though the disease is rarely fatal in itself, saliva, milk, urine, blister discharge and other secretions from the affected animal are heavily infected with the virus. Thus, quarantine, slaughter and complete disposal of infected animals, and disinfection of contaminated material are necessary to contain outbreaks. Effective quarantine measures have meant the disease has been excluded or eliminated from North and Central America, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

In February 2001, Britain experienced its first outbreak of foot and mouth disease for twenty years. The disease was found at an abattoir near Brentwood, Essex. On 21 February 2001, the European Commission was forced to ban export of all British milk, meat and livestock products in an attempt to control the outbreak and prevent it from spreading. Further cases followed: in all, there were 2,030 confirmed cases of foot and mouth in the UK and Northern Ireland, resulting in the slaughter of about six million animals.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1792  -             The first land grant to convict James Ruse is officially added to the NSW colonial records.

James Ruse was born on a farm in Cornwall around 1759. At age 22, he was convicted of burglary and, due to severe over-crowding in British gaols, spent over four years on the prison hulks in Plymouth Harbour. He was one of the convicts who was transported in the First Fleet to New South Wales, sailing on the 'Scarborough'. By the time he arrived in New South Wales, his seven-year sentence was almost over.

Governor Phillip was aware of the need to build a working, farming colony as soon as possible. Thus, in November 1788, Phillip selected Ruse to go to Rose Hill (now Parramatta), west of Sydney Town, and try his hand at farming. Ruse was allocated one and a half acres of already cleared ground and assisted in clearing a further five acres. He was given two sows and six hens and a deal was made for him to be fed and clothed from the public store for 15 months. In return, if he was successful, he was to be granted 30 acres. Ruse's farming venture was indeed successful, and in February 1791, he declared that he was self-sufficient. Late in March 1791, Governor Phillip rewarded Ruse with the first permanent land grant in the new colony, consisting of thirty acres, including the area he was already occupying. However, the first land grant was only officially added to the New South Wales colonial records almost a year later, on 22 February 1792.

1857  -             Sir Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scout movement, is born.

Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell was born on 22 February 1857 in Paddington, London. He was a keen outdoorsman who enjoyed hunting, canoeing and yachting. Baden-Powell's military career offered him opportunities to develop skills that would later become the essence of the Boy Scout movement, and he impressed his superiors enough to be transferred to the British Secret Service, where he continued to work as an intelligence officer.

After some years of this and other military experience, he wrote a small manual entitled "Aids to Scouting", which summarised lectures he had given on military scouting exercises to help train recruits. The lectures concentrated on training young men to think independently and with initiative, and to survive in the wilderness. Although intended for military use, the training manual soon became widely used by teachers and youth organisations. Baden-Powell consulted with the founder of the Boys' Brigade, Sir William Alexander Smith, and subsequently re-wrote the manual to suit the youth market. He held the first camp to test out his reworked ideas in July 1907 on Brownsea Island, for 22 boys of mixed social backgrounds.

1879  -             Norman Lindsay, one of Australia's best-known artists, is born.

Norman Alfred William Lindsay was born on 22 February 1879 in Creswick, Victoria, Australia. After leaving home at age 17, he began working as principal cartoonist for the Australian Bulletin in Melbourne, whilst developing his skills as an artist. His paintings were controversial for their time, concentrating on nudes, often incorporating pagan themes of gods and goddesses, nymphs and satyrs, in an Australian bush setting. Much of his work, which includes watercolours, lithographs, and etchings, can be found at his former home at Faulconbridge, New South Wales, now the Norman Lindsay Gallery and Museum.

As well as his prolific output of paintings, Lindsay was a writer who completed eleven novels between 1913 and 1950. His best known work is possibly "The Magic Pudding", a children's classic about a sarcastic and bad-tempered walking, talking pudding that can be whatever food it wants to be, and eaten without ever running out. Lindsay died on 21 November 1969.

1879  -             Frank Woolworth opens the first Woolworth store.

Franklin Winfield Woolworth was born on 13 April 1852 in Rodman, New York. Although he was the son of a farmer, Woolworth aspired to be a merchant, working for six years in a drygoods store. He noticed that leftover items were priced at five cents and placed on a table. Capitalising on the idea, he borrowed $300 to open a store where all items were priced at five cents. Woolworth opened his first five-cent store in Utica, New York, on 22 February 1879.

This first store was unsuccessful, so at his second store which was established in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in April 1879, Woolworth expanded the concept to include merchandise priced at ten cents. The second store succeeded, and Woolworth and his brother, Charles Sumner Woolworth, opened a large number of five-and-ten-cent stores. In 1911, the F.W. Woolworth Company was incorporated, uniting 586 stores founded by the Woolworth brothers and others. Although the Woolworth name has largely disappeared from the United States, it is still known in parts of the Commonwealth. However, the "Woolworths" chain operates under separate ownership and has no connection to the original American Woolworth.

1928  -             Bert Hinkler becomes the first person to fly solo from the United Kingdom to Australia.

In 1919, when the Australian Federal Government announced a race in which it was offering £10,000 prize for the first Australians to fly from England to Australia within 30 days, this signalled a new era of firsts in Australian aviation. The race was won by brothers Ross and Keith Smith, while would-be competitors W Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness were motivated to start the air service that became Qantas when funding for their place in the race fell through. There were yet two more major players in Australian aviation history in the 1920s: Charles Kingsford-Smith and Bert Hinkler.

Herbert John Louis (Bert) Hinkler was born in Bundaberg, Queensland on 8 December 1892. His father was a sugar mill worker, but Berts interests lay elsewhere. By the time he was 20 years old, he had already successfully built and tested his own gliders capable of carrying a man, flying them along the beach at Mon Repos, near Bundaberg. Hinkler left for England to work for the Sopwith Company the year before World War I broke out. He then served in the air force during the war, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. After the war he joined AV Roe & Co in Southampton and was Chief Test Pilot from 1921 -1926. It was from England that Hinkler launched his attempts to be the first to fly solo from the UK to Australia.

War in Egypt and Syria forced Hinkler to abandon his first serious bid to fly to Australia. On his second, successful attempt, he departed England in his Avro Avian (G-EBOV) on 7 February 1929. After a trip lasting 16 days, he touched down in Darwin, Northern Territory on 22 February 1929, beating the previous record of 28 days which had been set by Ross and Keith Smith.

Hinkler was killed in Italy in January 1933 while attempting another solo flight from England to Australia. His life and achievements are commemorated in the Hinkler House Memorial Museum in his home town of Bundaberg.           

1962  -             Australian icon, the 'Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin, is born.

Stephen Robert "Steve" Irwin was born on 22 February 1962 in Essendon, Melbourne, Victoria. He moved to Queensland when he was still a child, where his parents developed and ran the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park. In 1991, Irwin took over the running of the park, which was later renamed "Australia Zoo".

As a passionate environmentalist, Irwin became known for the television program "The Crocodile Hunter", an unconventional wildlife documentary series which he hosted with his wife Terri Irwin. Irwin's outgoing personality, energetic vitality and outrageous antics in the series made him an international celebrity. He also starred in Animal Planet documentaries, including The Croc Files, The Crocodile Hunter Diaries, and New Breed Vets.

Australia lost one of its most popular icons and ambassadors in the early afternoon of 4 September 2006. Steve Irwin was filming an underwater documentary off the Great Barrier Reef, when he was fatally pierced in the heart by a stingray barb. He is survived by his wife Terri, daughter Bindi, born in 1998 and son Robert (Bob), born in 2004.

1965  -             Australia's Royal Mint, built for the purpose of producing new decimal currency, is opened.

Australia relied on currency sent from England during the first decades of its establishment as a British colony. Both the NSW Legislative Council and Victorias Legislative Council petitioned Her Majesty Queen Victoria in 1851 and 1852 respectively to establish a branch of the Royal Mint (London). NSW was successful, and a branch of the Royal Mint began operations in Sydney on 14 May 1855. It was not until Victoria's extensive growth and wealth ensuing from the goldfields that another petition was successful. The Melbourne branch of the Royal Mint commenced operations on 12 June 1872.

With the planned introduction of decimal currency in the 1960s, the Commonwealth Government decided to establish a Mint in Canberra. This new Mint would supersede the London branches of the Royal Mint in Sydney and Melbourne. As it was commissioned to produce Australias decimal coinage, the Royal Australian Mint was therefore the first mint in Australia not to be a branch of the Royal Mint, London. The Royal Australian Mint, Canberra, was officially opened by His Royal Highness, The Duke of Edinburgh, on 22 February 1965.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1455  -             The Gutenberg Bible, the first western book printed from movable type, begins its print run.

The original Gutenberg Bible is an incunabulum, that is, a book, single sheet, or image that was printed on a printing press, not handwritten, before the year 1501 in Europe. It was printed by its namesake, Johann Gutenberg, in Mainz, Germany, beginning on 23 February 1455. The production of the Gutenberg Bible marked the beginning of the mass production of books in the West. About 180 copies of the Bible were produced, 45 on vellum and 135 on paper. This was a phenomenal number in a society where, previously, books were written out and copied by hand, and a single copy of a massive tome such as the Bible could easily take three years.

Despite being produced by printing, each Gutenberg Bible is completely unique. Following the printing process, each one was rubricated and illuminated by hand. Rubrication usually refers to the addition of red headings to mark the end of one section of text and the start of another. Illumination meant the addition of decoration or illustration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniatures. As of 2003, the number of known extant Gutenberg Bibles includes eleven complete copies on vellum, one copy of the New Testament only on vellum, and 48 substantially complete integral copies on paper, with another divided copy on paper. The country with the most copies is Germany, which has twelve. London has three copies while Paris, New York, Leipzig, and Moscow each have two copies.

1685  -             The great Baroque composer, Georg Händel, is born.

Georg Friedrich Händel was born on 23 February 1685, in Halle, Saxony. Already skilled on the harpsichord and organ at age 7, he began composing music when he was 9. His father wanted him to study law, but Händel abandoned his law studies when his father died. He visited London in 1710 and settled there permanently in 1712, becoming a naturalised British subject in 1726. He then anglicised his name to George Frideric Handel.

Handel was a prolific composer. During his composing career, he wrote around fifty operas, twenty-three oratorios, much church music and numerous outstanding instrumental pieces, such as the organ concerti, the Opus 6 Concerti Grossi, the Water Music, and the Fireworks Music. His best known work is probably the oratorio, "Messiah", written within a 24-day period, and completed on 14 September 1741. An oratorio is a large musical composition for orchestra, vocal soloists and chorus, telling a sacred story without costumes, scenery, or acting. "Messiah" is the story of the prophecy of the coming Messiah as told in the old Testament, and the life and death of Jesus, set to texts from the King James Bible. Originally conceived as an Easter oratorio, it has become popular to perform it at Christmas, particularly as it culminates with the powerful "Hallelujah" chorus.

Handel's style of composition influenced many composers after him, including Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. In 1751 he became blind, and died eight years later, on 14 April 1759, in London. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.           

1885  -             John Lee escapes execution when the gallows malfunction three times.

John Lee was a nineteen year old footman, servant to the wealthy Ellen Keyse in London. When Miss Keyse was found murdered, Lee was the prime suspect, as he had a reputation as a petty criminal. Circumstantial evidence also seemed to point to Lee, although he had a logical explanation for each piece of evidence which, today, could be checked through forensic testing. Lee was pronounced guilty and sentenced to execution by hanging, although he continued to vehemently declare his innocence, even announcing, "I am innocent. The Lord will never permit me to be executed!"

Lee was sent to the gallows in Exeter on 23 February 1885. The noose was placed around his neck and the lever pulled, but the trapdoor did not open. The equipment was tested several times, pronounced functional, and Lee again took his place on the trapdoor - which again did not open. After this happened a third time, Lee was returned to prison. The inexplicable malfunction of the trapdoor was attributed to an "act of God", and Lee's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He was released after 22 years in prison, and emigrated to America after marrying his childhood sweetheart. Until he died in 1933, Lee continued to maintain that his reprieve was not due to mechanical failure, but due purely to divine intervention.       

1955  -             Floods begin in the Hunter Valley, Australia, ultimately claiming 25.

Australia, a country subject to devastating drought and bushfires, was hit by floods in 1955. In the latter months of 1954, heavy rainfall had already saturated the eastern coast of Queensland and New South Wales, while the countryside was still recovering from flooding in 1949 and the early 1950s. On 23 February 1955, an intensifying monsoon depression moved south from Queensland, and with it came torrential rainfall. The Hunter River was most affected, particularly the town of Maitland, where about 15,000 people were evacuated. Flooding also hit nearby Singleton, causing the evacuation of another 1600.

The floods extended down the Macquarie River to towns such as Dubbo, where 4000 were evacuated, and as far west as Warren and Narromine. Flooding of the Namoi and Gwydir Rivers caused devastation in Moree and Narrabri. The Castlereagh River was also flooded, causing the destruction of many buildings in the town of Gilgandra. According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, "a hole torn in the main street was later found to contain two large semi-trailers".  Ultimately, twenty five people were killed in the floods.

1994  -             Jimmy Tambo, an indigenous Australian exploited by Barnum's Travelling Circus, is finally laid to rest, 110 years after he died.

Jimmy Tambo was an indigenous Australian who was taken from his home on Palm Island, along with eight others, to 'perform' as part of Barnum's Travelling Circus that toured America and Europe from 1883 to 1898. He performed under the name of Tambo Tambo and was exhibited as an untamed cannibal. Besides the indigenous Australians, native Americans, Fijian 'cannibals', a Zulu and other "exotic indigenous people" were put on display. A year later, Tambo died of pneumonia, but his companions were not allowed to give him the proper funereal rites. His body was sold to the owner of a dime museum, who mummified it and put it on display. Somewhere through the years, the display was lost, and not discovered until 1993, in the basement of a funeral parlor in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Three representatives from his Palm Island home travelled to the USA to bring him home. On 23 February 1994, 110 years after he died, Tambo was finally laid to rest.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1802  -             Flinders discovers and names Port Lincoln in South Australia.

Matthew Flinders was born on 16 March 1774 in Lincolnshire, England. He became a sea explorer, and arrived in Australia in the 1790s. The western half of Australia was previously known as New Holland, and the eastern half was known as New South Wales: Flinders first proposed the name "Terra Australis", which became "Australia", the name adopted in 1824. Flinders, together with George Bass, did much sea exploration around Australia, adding to the knowledge of the coastline, and producing accurate maps.

Between December 1801 and June 1803, Flinders charted the entire coastline of Australia. On 24 February 1802, Flinders and his crew discovered Port Lincoln, on the southern end of what later became known as the Eyre Peninsula. Flinders wrote that he named it in honour of his native province. When the area was settled some years later, many of the pioneers lobbied to have Port Lincoln named the capital of South Australia, but the lack of fresh water prevented this from occurring. Even sinking wells did not yield enough drinkable water.

1875  -             The steamship SS Gothenburg is wrecked off the north Queensland coast, with the loss of over 100 lives.

The SS Gothenburg was constructed at Lungley's building yards in Millwall, London and commissioned in 1855. Weighing 501 tons, she was 60 metres in length and had a 120-horsepower coal-burning engine. Originally owned and operated by the North of Europe Steam Navigation Company, she was purchased by the Union Castle Line and renamed as RMS Celt. She made her way to Australia after being acquired by Melbourne trading company McMerkan, Blackwood and Co. in 1862, and worked both along the coastline of Australia, and across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand. The vessel underwent modifications in 1873 to allow her to carry more cargo and passengers, and her original name of SS Gothenburg was restored.

Following the successful overland expedition of explorer John McDouall Stuart from Adelaide to the north coast in 1862, ownership of the northern central part of Australia was transferred from New South Wales to South Australia. Thus, as settlement in the north developed following the discovery of gold at Pine Creek, and as Port Darwin became an increasingly important trading post with the Dutch East Indies, northern banks relied on shipping to send their money, gold, mail and important documents to Adelaide. In November 1874, a number of ship-owners were contracted by the South Australian government for this purpose, with an assured payment of 1000 pounds sterling per successful delivery.

The Gothenburg departed Port Darwin on 17 February 1875 under the command of experienced captain James Pearce. Varying records suggest the ship carried around 98 passengers, including government officials and a number of prisoners being sent to Adelaide, and 37 crew. After travelling some 1500km in fine conditions, the vessel encountered bad weather at Cape York, worsening as she headed south. With visibility reduced to just a few metres, the Gothenburg hit the Great Barrier Reef while sailing in more sheltered passage between the coast and the reef around 7pm on 24 February 1875.

A disastrous attempt to refloat the Gothenburg by reversing the engine hard failed when a huge hole was created and she was displaced in an even more precarious position on the reef. Because of the weather, the lifeboats could not be boarded or launched. By the next morning, approximately 100 passengers had drowned, many of them because they refused to relinquish their gold and money belts, the weight of which made it impossible for them to swim to safety. Others were taken by sharks. Two days later, some of those aboard had managed to salvage three of the lifeboats, making it to nearby islands at the entrance to Whitsunday Passage, where they were rescued by other ships. The Gothenburg was completely destroyed. Records vary, with some showing that between 98 and 112 people drowned, including a large number of high-profile public servants, dignitaries and diplomats. Only 22 people survived - 12 crew and 10 passengers. All 25 women and children aboard were killed, along with all of the officers. Three survivors - passengers James Fitzgerald and John Cleland and crewman Robert Brazil - were hailed as heroes for their selfless attempts to assist others, and subsequently awarded medals for bravery.

1942  -             The US Army defends southern California from a weather balloon.

Tensions were high along the Pacific coast of the United States early in 1942. The attack on Pearl Harbor had occurred two months earlier, and the US had entered fully into WWII. On 23 February 1942, a Japanese submarine shelled an oil field in southern California. The following day, naval intelligence issued an alert, stating that an attack was imminent.

Shortly afterwards, an unidentified radar signature was detected approximately 190km off the coast of Los Angeles, California. Panic ensued when the unidentified object, looking like a weather balloon, came within sight. During the night of 24 February 1942, the US Army fired several thousand anti-aircraft shells at the unidentified target. By the time dawn came on the 25th, damage on the ground was determined to have been caused by US artillery, not by Japanese bombs. At least seven people died in the fray; three from being trampled in panic by others, three in car accidents and one known death from heart failure. The Japanese denied they had launched any attack in the area, and the target was later officially determined to be a lost weather balloon, although this was never confirmed.

1984  -             Australia's first completely successful heart transplant operation is performed, under the direction of Dr Victor Chang.

The twentieth century saw amazing advances in medical technology. The world's first heart transplant was performed in South Africa in 1967, by Christian Barnard. The patient lived for 18 days after the procedure before dying of pneumonia.

In Australia, the first heart transplant occurred under the direction of Dr Harry Windsor. The patient died within just a few days after his body rejected the new organ. The era of successful heart transplants in Australia can be attributed largely to the influence of Dr Victor Chang.

Victor Peter Chang Yam Him was born in Shanghai, China, on 21 November 1936. Chang's mother died of cancer when he was just twelve years old, and this was a deciding factor in his choice to become a doctor. He came to Australia to complete his secondary schooling in 1953, then studied medicine at the University of Sydney, graduating with a Bachelor of Medical Science with first class honours in 1960, and a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in 1962. After further study in England, and becoming a Fellow of both the Royal College of Surgeons and American College of Surgeons, he joined the cardiothoracic team at St Vincent's Hospital in 1972.

Chang was instrumental in raising funds to establish a heart transplant programme at St Vincent's. The first successful transplant under the programme was performed on a 39 year old shearer from Armidale on 24 February 1984, who survived several months longer than he would have otherwise.

Arguably, Chang's best-known success was when he operated on Fiona Coote, a 14-year-old schoolgirl, on 7-8 April 1984. Over the next six years, the unit at St Vincent's performed over 197 heart transplants and 14 heart-lung transplants, achieving a 90% success rate for recipients in the first year. To compensate for the lack of heart donors, Chang developed an artificial heart valve and also worked on designing an artificial heart.

Victor Chang was murdered on 4 July 1991, after an extortion attempt on his family. The murder was related to transplant waiting lists. Within less than two weeks, Chiew Seng Liew was charged with the murder, and Jimmy Tan was charged as an accessory. The Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, to enable research into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart muscle diseases, was launched in honour of Victor Chang on 15 February 1994.

1991  -             The Gulf War ground offensive of the Allied forces against Iraq begins.

In the early hours of 2 August 1990, 100,000 Iraqi troops backed by 300 tanks invaded Kuwait, in the Persian Gulf. US economic aid to Iraq had inadvertently allowed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to amass weaponry which was then deployed for the invasion. Hussein's motivation for the invasion was that it was a response to overproduction of oil in Kuwait, which had cost Iraq an estimated $14 billion a year when oil prices fell. The United Nations acted immediately to implement economic sanctions against Iraq. Iraq, however, would not retreat.

On 17 January 1991, a coalition force of armies from 34 nations, led by the United States, set out to free Kuwait. The initial operation was nicknamed 'Operation Desert Storm'. The initial offensive involved aerial bombing of Iraq and its armed forces. On 24 February 1991, the Gulf War ground offensive began. Iraq lacked the weaponry and equipment to maintain its defences, and within four days, Kuwait had been liberated and most of Iraq's armed forces either destroyed, surrendered, or retreated.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1798  -             Bass returns to Sydney after discovering Bass Strait.

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.

After determining that there was indeed a strait between the southern Australian coast and Van Diemen's Land, Bass and his crew faced a gruelling six-week voyage home, alternating between sailing and rowing. The expedition party rowed into Port Jackson, exhausted, at 10:00pm on 25 February 1798.

1834  -             English newspaper 'The Leeds Mercury' reports that a secret expedition to Australia has located a large settlement of descendants of Dutch survivors from shipwrecks of the late 1600s.

It is generally accepted that the Dutch were the first Europeans to step foot on Australia's shores. When Willem Jansz stepped ashore at the Pennefather River in Cape York in 1606, his was the first of several Dutch expeditions to determine whether the "Great southern land" was worth pursuing as a possible trade interest. Dirk Hartog's explorations of Australia's western coast were followed up in 1622 by plans by the Governor General of Dutch East Indies, Jan Pieterszoon Coen, for more intensive exploration of the continent. Further charting of the coastline was conducted by Francois Thijssen, Pieter Nuyts and Abel Tasman.

It is also generally accepted that the Dutch were disinclined to colonise Australia, and that the first European settlement occurred with the convicts, marines and officers of the First Fleet. This, however, is not entirely the case. The first prisoners in Australia were Dutch seamen Wouter Loos and Jan Pellegrimsz de Beye who were abandoned on the mainland for their part in the murders of the passengers of the wrecked ship 'Batavia' in June 1629. This was not the only time that Dutch made Australia their home.

It is estimated that, between 1629 and 1727, around 300 Dutch passengers and crew linked to the Dutch East India Company occupied parts of Western Australia as a result of the many shipwrecks which occurred off the coast of what was then known as "New Holland". On 25 February 1834, English newspaper 'The Leeds Mercury' reported on the findings of a secret English expedition to Australia which had taken place in 1832. Led by Lieutenant Nixon, the expedition claimed to have discovered a settlement of several hundred Europeans who were descendants of Dutch survivors from shipwrecks between the mid 1600s and early 1700s, such as the Vergulde Draeck (1656), the Concordia (1708), the Zuytdorp (1712), and the Zeewijck (1727). The survivors were said to have established a colony some 1500 km from the coast, in central Australia's Palm Valley.

However, although Palm Valley exists as a desert oasis in the Red Centre, no evidence of, or artifacts from, such a colony have ever been located.

1890  -             In Australia, Robert Louis Stevenson begins writing his famous defence of Father Damien, missionary in Molokai, Hawaii.

One of the most well-read adventure writers of the eighteenth century, Robert Louis Stevenson is best known for novels such as 'Kidnapped', 'Treasure Island' and 'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'. In 1889, he settled in Western Samoa, where he was regarded with affection by the natives, who called him Tusitala, meaning "teller of tales".

In 1890, whilst on a visit to Australia, Stevenson felt compelled to answer charges against Belgian missionary, Father Damien De Veuster, who had worked with native lepers in Molokai, Hawaii, and recently died from leprosy himself. Following his death, he was subject to much criticism from the Congregational and Presbyterian churches in Hawaii, who derided Father Damien as a "false shepherd" and openly questioned his morality. Stevenson, with his great interest in fostering harmony with the islander peoples of the Pacific, had visited Molokai intending to uncover the truth about Father Damien: instead he had heard only stories of the man's courage, compassion and resourcefulness which contradicted rumours that the priest had contracted leprosy through intimacy with female patients.

The most famous treatise published against Damien was by a Honolulu Presbyterian, Reverend C M Hyde, to a fellow pastor in a letter dated 2 August 1889. It was this letter which Stevenson set out to challenge, writing it in the foyer of the Union Club in Sydney, Australia, on 25 February 1890 and finally publishing it on the front page of 'The Australian Star' on 24 May 1890. Stevenson's letter, entitled "Father Damien: An Open Letter to the Reverend Dr Hyde of Honolulu", accused Hyde of meanness, cowardice, and jealousy of Father Damien's work. Fortunately for Stevenson, Hyde dismissed his letter as that of a "crank" and did not sue for libel. Careful examination of published and unpublished criticisms against the missionary's life and work proved that Father Damien was, indeed, a hero, and that the criticisms were unjustified.

1943  -             Former Beatles member, George Harrison, is born.

George Harrison was born on 25 February 1943 in Liverpool, England. His mother had always stated that he was born at ten minutes after midnight, and that is the date officially recorded on his birth certificate; in his later life, however, he discovered that he had, in fact, been born at 11:40pm on the 24th, and from then on always dated his birthday as being February 24.

Harrison tended to be a loner at his school, the Liverpool Institute. In the mid-1950s he knew Paul McCartney, also a Liverpool Institute student, and in February 1958 began playing lead guitar in the band (initially called the Quarry Men) that eventually became the Beatles. He was a creative and highly accomplished lead and rhythm guitarist and soloist, although under the direction of Paul McCartney, he did not get many opportunities to ad lib. Whilst he composed songs, he was limited to contributing only one song per album, and tended to miss the accolades awarded to the other Beatles members. Consequently, he had a more fulfilling career once the Beatles disbanded, writing and producing for musical groups and film.

George Harrison died in Los Angeles, California, on 29 November 2001, at the age of 58. His death was ascribed to lung cancer that had metastasized to the brain.

2001  -             Sir Donald Bradman, rated the greatest player in the history of cricket, dies.

Donald George Bradman was born on 27 August 1908 in Cootamundra, New South Wales, Australia. One of Australia's most popular sporting heroes, he is often regarded as the greatest batsman of all time. The Bradman Museum and Bradman Oval are located in the New South Wales town of Bowral, where Bradman grew up, spending many an hour practising his cricket using a stump and a golf ball. Bradman developed his legendary split-second speed and accuracy by practising batting into a water tank on a brick stand behind the Bradman home: when hit into the curved brick stand, the ball would rebound at high speed and varying angles. Bradman's batting average of 99.94 from his 52 Tests was nearly double the average of any other player before or since.

Bradman was drafted in grade cricket in Sydney at the age of 18. Within a year he was representing New South Wales and within three he had made his Test debut. In the English summer of 1930 he scored 974 runs over the course of the five Ashes tests, the highest individual total in any test series. Even at almost forty years of age - most players today are retired by their mid-thirties - Bradman returned to play cricket after World War II. On 12 June 1948, he scored 138 in the First Test Cricket at Trent Bridge. In his farewell 1948 tour of England the team he led, dubbed "The Invincibles", went undefeated throughout the tour, a feat unmatched to date. It has been said of Bradman that, for the Australian public, he became a hero at a time when heroes were sorely needed.

Bradman was awarded a knighthood in 1949 and a Companion of the Order of Australia, the country's highest civil honour, in 1979. In 1996, he was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame as one of the ten inaugural members. After his retirement, he remained heavily involved in cricket administration, serving as a selector for the national team for nearly 30 years. Sir Donald Bradman died on 25 February 2001.

Cheers - John

Gday...

No probs regarding the ribbon mate - I always carry a few spares.

The biggest problem is the high Amps it draws and plugging the thing into the inverter - the adaptor is getting very worn.

I might have to get a pedal-generator to keep it going.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1606  -             Dutch explorer Willem Jansz becomes the first recorded European to land on Australia's shores.

Willem Janszoon, often known as Willem Jansz, is believed to have been born in 1570, in the Netherlands. He worked for one of the trading companies which preceded the Dutch East India Company. He sailed for the Dutch East Indies first in 1598 and again in 1601.

Willem Jansz departed on his third trip to the East Indies on 18 December 1603, commanding the "Duyfken". His task was to seek other trade possibilities. He reached the coast of western New Guinea on 18 November 1605, then crossed the Arafura Sea into the Gulf of Carpentaria. On 26 February 1606, Jansz became the first recorded European to step foot on Australia's shores at the Pennefather River, near where the Queensland town of Weipa now stands, on the western shore of Cape York Peninsula.

Encountering hostility from the indigenous people, Jansz lost ten of his crew during visits to the shore. He was uncomplimentary of the land, finding it swampy, but still charted 320 kilometres of the shore before returning to the Netherlands. However, he was of the opinion that his landing point was part of New Guinea, and Dutch maps reflected this error for many years.

1852  -             John Harvey Kellogg, inventor of the corn flake, is born.

John Harvey Kellogg was born on 26 February 1852 in Tyrone, New York. He graduated from New York University in 1875 with a medical degree, and became a medical doctor in Battle Creek, Michigan. Here, he set up a sanitarium using holistic methods, with a particular focus on nutrition (advocating vegetarianism), enemas and exercise. The development of the corn flake came about as Kellogg sought to improve the vegetarian diet of his hospital patients. Whilst boiling wheat to try to produce an easily digestible substitute for bread, Kellogg accidentally left a pot of boiled wheat to stand and become tempered. When it was put through a rolling process, the grains of wheat emerged as large, thin flakes. When the flakes were baked, they became crisp and light, creating the corn flake, which he patented on 31 May 1884.

With his brother, Will Keith Kellogg, he started the Sanitas Food Company to produce their whole grain cereals around 1897. The brothers argued over the addition of sugar to the cereals, so in 1906, Will started his own company called the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, which eventually became the Kellogg Company. Meanwhile, John established the Battle Creek Food Company to develop and market soy products, but did not invent the concept of the dry breakfast cereal. That was invented by Dr James Caleb Jackson who created the first dry breakfast cereal in 1863, which he called "Granula". Dr John Kellogg died on 14 December 1943.

1870  -             Early American attempt at a subway, the Beach Pneumatic Transit, is opened to the public.

It is generally believed that the Interborough Rapid Transit subway was the first subway in New York. However, it was preceded three decades earlier by the Beach Pneumatic Transit System.

Alfred Ely Beach was an inventor and the editor of Scientific American. He had designed a pneumatic, or air-driven, transit system which he first demonstrated at the American Institute Fair in 1867. Believing it could be adapted for transit operation in underground tunnels, he applied for a permit to build such a system, but his application was denied, although he was permitted to construct two smaller tunnels. He then elected to build his original, longer design in secret.

The Beach Pneumatic Transit tunnel ran for a length of 300 feet along Broadway and took 58 days to complete. It began under Warren Street and Broadway, while the station was positioned under the south sidewalk of Warren St, just west of the corner of Broadway.

The tunnel opened to the public on 26 February 1870. It operated as a demonstration line and a curiosity between 1870 and 1873, but was not extended further, as the technology was soon superseded by the development of electric multiple-unit traction and electric locomotives.

1872  -             The brig 'Maria' sinks off the coast of Queensland, Australia, with the loss of 21 by drowning and 14 by Aborigines.

In the early 1870s, Australia was still in the grip of "gold fever". Visitors to New Guinea had also sent back reports of gold being found on its southern coast, while geologists declared that New Guinea was prime prospecting country. With this in mind, the New Guinea Prospecting Association was formed in Sydney in 1871. Its purpose was to buy a ship to sail to New Guinea, settle along the coast and prospect their way to fortune. The brig 'Maria' was an ex coal-trading ship, old and possibly not suited to the purpose of such an extended journey as from Sydney to New Guinea. It departed Sydney Harbour on 25 January 1872 with many of the members of the Association on board.

The 'Maria', which was found to leak, was unable to withstand a tropical storm which hit the brig off the coast of Queensland between February 17th and 25th. Pumps were insufficient to keep up with the water intake sustained by the vessel, and when the Barrier Reef was sighted, the captain made for it, knowing something of the bays and safe passages within. Despite his confidence, however, the ship ran aground on Bramble Reef on the morning of 26 February 1872.

There were insufficient boats to carry the passengers ashore, especially after the captain deserted in one. Rafts were quickly constructed as it was evident the Maria was breaking up. Of the estimated 75 people on board, 35 people were killed, some by drowning and some by a hostile group of Aborigines. One of the survivors was Lawrence Hargrave, the Australian who would later become the inventor of the box kite.

1935  -             RADAR is first demonstrated by Robert Watson-Watt.

Robert Alexander Watson-Watt, born 13 April 1892 in Scotland, was not the inventor of RADAR (RAdio Detection And Ranging) but played a significant role in its development in defence. In 1915, Watson-Watt joined the staff at Aldershot Wireless Station of Air Ministry Meteorological Office, who were interested in his theories on the use of radio for the detection of thunderstorms. Lightning gives off a radio signal as it ionizes the air, and he planned on detecting this signal in order to warn pilots of approaching thunderstorms. Whilst working on developing radio-wave detection, Watson-Watt realised it could be used to track enemy aircraft for air defence. He first demonstrated his method on 26 February 1935 to the Air Ministry.

Watson-Watt was granted a patent for radar on April 2 of that year. By June his method was detecting aircraft at 27 kilometres, and by the end of the year the range was up to 100 kilometres. By the time WWII broke out in 1939, the military had installed a chain of radar stations along the east and south coasts of England, a vital strategy for war defence.

Cheers - John

Gday...

272  -   Constantine I, first Christian Emperor of Rome, is born.

Gaius Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus was born on 27 February 272 at Naissus, today Ni, in Upper Moesia. His father was Greek general Constantius I Chlorus. Constantine served at the court of Diocletian in Nicomedia, after the appointment of his father as one of the two caesares (junior emperors) of the Tetrarchy in 293. In 305, Augustus Maximian abdicated, and Constantius succeeded to the position. However, Constantius fell sick during an expedition against the Picts of Caledonia, and died on July 25, 306. Constantine was at his deathbed where General Chrocus and the troops loyal to his father's memory proclaimed him Emperor. Over the next eighteen years, he fought a series of battles that first obtained him co-rule with the Eastern Roman Emperor, and then finally leadership of a reunified Roman Empire.

Constantine was the first Roman Emperor to freely allow Christianity. It is said that his conversion occurred as the result of a vision of a cross he had prior to his victory in the Battle of Milvian Bridge on 28 October 312. In his vision, he was instructed to make a new standard which displayed the first two Greek letters of the word Christ - Chi () and Rho, () which came to be known as the labarum. Following this event, Constantine removed penalties for professing Christianity, under which many were martyred in previous persecutions of Christians, and he returned confiscated Church property. Christians were permitted to compete with pagan Romans in the traditional "cursus honorum" for high government positions and greater acceptance into general civil society. New churches were allowed to be constructed.

Debate continues among historians as to whether Constantine was actually a Christian himself, or whether it was just a new political angle as he was only baptised when he was close to death. Nonetheless, Constantine allowed new freedoms for Christians which they had previously been denied, and fought for their rights in a society hostile to Christianity.

1788  -             The first convict is hanged in the colony of New South Wales.

The First Fleet of convicts to New South Wales assembled in Portsmouth, England, and set sail on 13 May 1787. They arrived in Botany Bay on 18 January 1788. After determining that Botany Bay was unsuitable for settlement, Captain Arthur Phillip led the Fleet northwards to Port Jackson, arriving on 26 January 1788.

Conditions in the new colony were tough. The English tools could not stand up to the hard work of tilling the Australian soil, and they broke easily. The convicts were disinclined to work hard, many of them not being used to manual labour, and the heat and humidity of the Australian climate only added to their discomfort and lack of motivation to work. In addition, rations had to be meted out very carefully until farms could start producing crops. Many convicts were hungry enough to steal food, and punishment for theft was severe, ranging from lashing with a cat o' nine tails, or even death by hanging. Governor Phillip could not afford for any rations to be lost to theft, so he felt compelled to enforce harsh disciplinary measures.

The first convict to be hanged in New South Wales was seventeen year old Thomas Barrett. Less than a month after the colony was established, Barrett was found stealing "butter, pease and pork". In a ceremony which all convicts were forced to witness, Barrett was hanged, on 27 February 1788.

1964  -             Italy seeks advice on how to save the Leaning Tower of Pisa from collapse.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is the bell tower, or campanile, of the cathedral in Pisa's Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles). The tower took nearly 200 years to complete, being finished in 1372. It began leaning shortly after construction started on 9 August 1173. Recent studies have determined that the tower's lean is caused by the remains of an ancient river estuary located under the building. The ground is made up in large part of water and silty sand, and one side of the heavy marble building began gradually sinking into the ground as soon as the foundation was laid. Construction was halted for 95 years while the building settled: when it recommenced, the new chief engineer sought to compensate for the tower's visible lean by making the new stories slightly taller on the short side. The tower was in serious danger of toppling completely by 1964; on 27 February 1964, the Italian government announced it was accepting suggestions and seeking aid and advice to preserve its famous icon.

Following decades of consultation and preparatory efforts, the tower was closed to the public on 7 January 1990. Its lean was 4.9 metres off the perpendicular; in the preceding century, the belfry atop the tower had moved as much as almost 25cm. Restorative reconstruction finally began in 1999. The Tower remained closed until December 2001 while corrective reconstruction and stabilisation work was implemented.

1997  -             The Gang-gang ****atoo is adopted as the faunal emblem of the Australian Capital Territory.

The Gang-gang ****atoo is a stocky ****atoo endemic to southeastern Australia. It is striking in appearance, with the male having a slate grey body and bright red head and crest, whilst the female is mostly grey with pink and yellow edging on its chest and belly.

The Gang-gang ****atoo was adopted as the faunal emblem of the Australian Capital Territory on 27 February 1997. Although widespread throughout southeastern country New South Wales, the only city it inhabits is Canberra; hence, its adoption as the official faunal emblem for the ACT. It also features on the logo of the Australian Capital Territory Parks and Conservation Service.

2002  -             57 Hindu pilgrims die as their train catches fire in a suspected Muslim attack.

On 27 February 2002, a train carrying 2500 Hindu activists, known as Kar Sevaks, returned from a pilgrimage to a disputed religious site in the northern town of Ayodhya, India. The fire began as the train, bound for Ahmedabad, was pulling out of Godhra station in the western state of Gujarat. Initially, it was believed that Muslims had started the fire after religious insults were traded as the train passed through Godhra railway station. However, the January 2005 report on the interim inquiry, presided over by Supreme Court judge Umesh Chandra Banerjee, found it had not been started by Muslims at all but had started accidentally. Yet, initial evidence at the site of the fire indicated kerosene had been poured into four of the train's carriages. The Hindu Nationalist opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), claimed the report was politically motivated.

15 children, 26 women and 18 men were killed, but that was only the beginning. The fire incited several days of rioting by Hindus in Gujarat state, resulting in the deaths of about 1000 Muslims. Another 60,000 Muslims fled their homes to refugees camps. To date, a further inquiry by the Justice Nanavati Commission is investigating the Gujarat riots, and will have the power to recommend legal action.

Cheers - John

272.......bugga, I don't remember that happening Rocky   

Gday...

corse ya do .... that woz the night we snuck out of Naissus and bought that slab and headed down to the date palm grove.

.... CORSE ya 'member ...SURELY ! ! !

Cheers - John

Gday...

1574  -             In conjunction with the Spanish Inquisition, three people are burned at the stake in Mexico, convicted of espousing "Lutheran heresies".

During the period of the Spanish Inquisition which lasted from the late 15th century to the 17th century, thousands of Jews and Muslims were executed for their "heretical" beliefs amidst a predominantly Roman Catholic population. Many people sought to escape the persecution, fleeing to the Americas. They were assisted by numerous explorers and "conquistadors" of the New World. Because of this, the Inquisition travelled over to the Americas, and on 27 June 1535, Brother Juan de Zumárraga, the first bishop of Mexico, was the named the Chief Inquisitor of New Spain. This resulted in the "Mexican Inquisition", which was also directed at the suppression of heresy.

The Mexican Inquisition was not limited to persecution of Jews: any heretical books, especially those referring to the "Lutheran heresy", were banned from entering the territory. The first victims of the Mexican Inquisition were two Englishmen and an Irishman, who were pronounced guilty of "Lutheran Heresies" and burned at the stake in Mexico City on 28 February 1574.

1790  -             John Irving becomes the first convict to be freed in the New South Wales colony.

John Irving, sometimes written as Irwin or Irvine, was born around 1760, exact date unknown. He came to the penal colony of New South Wales with the First Fleet, after being sentenced in 1784 to seven years for stealing a silver cup. Originally interred on the 'Scarborough', he was later transferred to the 'Lady Penrhyn' for transportation.

Irving proved an able surgeon's assistant, both on the voyage to New South Wales, and once the settlement was established. His hard work and "unremitting good conduct and meritorious behaviour" earned him an early reprieve from his sentence. Governor Phillip signed his Warrant of Emancipation on 28 February 1790, making Irving the first convict to be freed. He accompanied surgeon Dennis Considen to Norfolk Island, where he remained as surgeon's assistant for over a year before returning to Port Jackson in May 1791. He was then awarded 30 acres of land at Parramatta.

1944  -             Nazi soldiers arrest Dutch Christian Corrie ten Boom and her family for harbouring Jews.

Corrie ten Boom was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on 15 April 1892. She was instrumental in assisting Jewish refugees to safety during the WWII holocaust, and her family was very active in the Dutch underground, hiding refugees. Although Corrie's family was Christian, they helped Jews unconditionally, even providing Kosher food and honouring the Sabbath. During any given time in 1943 and into 1944, the ten Boom family averaged 6-7 people illegally living in their home, usually 4 Jews and 2 or 3 members of the Dutch underground. It is estimated that the family saved around 800 Jews during the holocaust.

On 28 February 1944, Nazi soldiers arrested the entire ten Boom family. They were sent first to Dutch prisons, where they were interrogated. Corrie's father died ten days after the family's arrest, and other family members were sent to different prisons. After being shunted around various prisons, Corrie and Betsie were interred at the notorious Ravensbrück concentration camp, which held around 35,000 women, in September 1944. There, Betsie actively led daily Bible studies with the women, bringing hope in a place where torture and death was commonplace. Betsie died a week before Corrie was released, and it was years later that Corrie discovered her release was due to a "clerical error", and should not have been permitted. A week after her release, all women of her age were executed.

The story of Corrie ten Boom's family and their work during World War II is told in the book 'The Hiding Place'. Corrie actively used the rest of her life to aid others after the war, and to spread the ministry of the gospel of Christ around the world. She died on 15 April 1983, on her 91st birthday.

1986  -             Swedish Prime Minister, Olof Palme, is assassinated.

Sven Olof Joachim Palme was born on 30 January 1927 in Östermalm, Stockholm, Sweden. He became leader of the Social Democratic Party from 1969 to 1986 and was Prime Minister of Sweden with a Privy Council Government from 1969 to 1976 and with a Cabinet Government from 1982. Palme was known as a controversial politician, outspoken against the US involvement in the Vietnam war, campaigning against nuclear weapons proliferation, and condemning apartheid and advocating economic sanctions against South Africa.

Late in the evening of 28 February 1986, Palme and his wife were shot as they left a cinema. Palme was rushed to hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival, whilst his wife, who was shot in the back, made a full recovery. More than a year and a half after Palme's death Christer Pettersson, a petty criminal, drug user and alcoholic, was arrested for the murder in December 1988. Identified by Mrs Palme as the killer, Pettersson was tried and convicted of the murder, but was later acquitted on appeal to the High Court, which succeeded mainly because the murder weapon had not been found. Pettersson died in September 2004, and reportedly confessed to the killing before his death. The police file on the investigation cannot be closed until the murder weapon is found.

1993  -             Federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms raid the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.

The Branch Davidians were a religious group which split from the Seventh-day Adventist church. In 1981 a young man named Vernon Wayne Howell moved to Waco, Texas where he joined the Branch Davidians. He became leader at the cult's Mt Carmel complex, located some fifteen kilometres out of Waco, and in 1990 changed his name to David Koresh. He declared himself to be the incarnation of the Second Coming of Christ, began filling the cult member's heads with apocalyptic warnings and insisted that they arm themselves.

On 28 February 1993, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms raided the Branch Davidian cult compound in Waco. As the agents attempted to enter the complex, a gun battle erupted, ultimately leaving four ATF agents and six Davidians dead. The standoff between the Branch Davidians and the FBI continued for 51 days. Negotiations stalled, as the Davidians had stockpiled years' worth of food and other necessities prior to the raid. When federal agents moved in to end the siege at dawn on 19 April 1993 with tear gas, a fire broke out that killed approximately eighty cult members. Koresh was shot by his right-hand man, Steve Schneider, but the reasons for this remain unknown. Only eight Branch Davidians escaped with their lives.

Cheers - John

rockylizard wrote:

---

Gday...

corse ya do .... that woz the night we snuck out of Naissus and bought that slab and headed down to the date palm grove.

.... CORSE ya 'member ...SURELY ! ! !

Cheers - John

---

You are correct as usual Rocky. Although thinking back I think it was actually red wine. 

Gday...

704  -   Today is February 29th, which occurs only once every four years, in a leap year.

February is the shortest month in the Gregorian calendar, and the only month with 28 days. February has 29 days in leap years, when the year number is divisible by four, except for years that are divisible by 100 and not by 400. January and February were the last two months to be added to the Roman calendar, since the Romans originally considered winter being the northern hemisphere, a monthless period. The change was made by Numa Pompilius some time after 700 BC in order to bring the calendar in line with a standard lunar year. Numa's Februarius contained 29 days (30 in a leap year). Augustus is alleged to have removed one day from February and added it to August, (renamed from Sextilis to honour himself), so that Julius Caesar's July would not contain more days. However there is little historical evidence to support this claim.

1528  -             Patrick Hamilton becomes Scotland's first martyr for following the doctrines of Martin Luther.

Martin Luther provided the catalyst to the Protestant Reformation. Luther, a Roman Catholic monk, struggled with the church's demands that one could only earn salvation through good works. Through his in-depth study of the Scriptures, he realised that salvation is a gift of God's grace, received by faith alone and by trust in Christ's death on the cross as the only means to that salvation. This led him to question the teachings of the Roman Catholic church. The Reformation of the church began on 31 October 1517, with Luther's act of posting his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The document contained an attack on papal abuses and the sale of indulgences by church officials.

Luther was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic church for his attacks on the wealth and corruption of the papacy, and his belief that salvation would be granted on the basis of faith alone rather than by works. However, his ideas spread to other countries that had previously been dominated by Roman Catholicism.

One such country was Scotland, where the authorities decided to take a firm stand against the spread of "Lutheran heresies". Patrick Hamilton had studied theology in Europe where he first encountered Luther's ideas. He was arrested for preaching Protestant ideas in Scotland, and was burned at the stake on 29 February 1528, becoming Scotland's first Protestant martyr.

1784  -             John Wesley issues the "Deed of Declaration", the charter of the Wesleyan Methodist Church.

John Wesley was born on 17 June 1703 in Epworth, Lincolnshire, England. In 1720 he entered Christ Church College, Oxford, and received his Master of Arts in 1727. However, it was through his readings of Thomas a Kempis and Jeremy Taylor that he began to truly apply his Christianity to his life, seeking holiness of heart and life. Through a seemingly legalistic approach to the teachings of the Bible, he was able to discover how to truly practise and apply his Christian faith.

After his return from serving two years as missionary to the native Americans, Wesley turned to the Moravians, a Protestant denomination founded in Saxony in 1722. It was while attending a Moravian meeting in London in 1738 that John Wesley's conversion moved beyond the purely practical and theoretical to a deeper understanding. Whilst listening to a reading of the preface to Luther's commentary on Romans, Wesley felt his heart "strangely warmed"; shortly after this, he preached several enlightened sermons on salvation by faith, and God's grace "free in all, and free for all."

Soon after this, he took to preaching at open-air services, wherever he was invited. On 29 February 1784, Wesley issued a "Deed of Declaration" which acted as a charter of the Wesleyan Methodists, and which was the document by the Methodist societies became legally constituted.

Although Wesley died on 2 March 1791, many follow Wesley's teachings today. He continues to be the primary theological interpreter for Methodists the world over; the largest Wesleyan body being The United Methodist Church.

1792  -             Italian composer, Rossini, is born.

Gioacchino Antonio Rossini was born on 29 February 1792 in Pesaro, a small town on the Adriatic coast of Italy. Rossini's parents were both musicians, as his father was town trumpeter (and inspector of slaughterhouses), and his mother was a talented singer.

Rossini received his first formal musical education at the Liceo Comunale of Bologna, where one of his early cantatas was performed. As he later developed his own style, he wrote in both opera types of the Classical music period: 'opera buffa', i.e. comic opera, and 'opera seria', a more formal, serious form of composition. Rossini was a master at opera buffa, and a popular example of this is 'The Barber of Seville'. He developed a technique which came to be known as the "Rossini Crescendo", in which he built excitement by repeating a passage over and over, gradually making it not just louder (as in a simple crescendo) but faster and often higher in pitch, with more and more singers or instruments joining in.

Rossini was a prolific writer in his early years, easily turning out an overture in a matter of hours. However, once he began writing in the grand opera style, as in 'William Tell', he did not return to his former opera buffa style, and his output dwindled to mainly piano music and songs. Rossini died on 13 November 1868.

1952  -             The island of Heligoland is returned to German authority.

Heligoland is a small, triangular-shaped island in the North Sea, belonging to Germany. Situated 70 km from the German coast line, Heligoland actually consists of two islands: the populated 1.0 km² main island of Hauptinsel to the west and the Düne ("dune") to the east, which is somewhat smaller at 0.7 km². The two islands were connected until 1720, when a storm flood washed away the land connecting them.

The islands became a major naval base for Germany during the First World War, and the civil population was evacuated to the mainland. The islanders returned in 1918, but during the Nazi era the naval base was reactivated. The civilians remained, but in April 1945, over one thousand Allied bombers attacked Heligoland and obliterated all dwellings. 128 people, all members of anti-aircraft crews, were killed, whilst the civilians remained protected in rock shelters. The civilian population was evacuated the next day, and the islands remained uninhabited for many years.

From 1945 to 1952 the islands were used as a bombing range, and in April 1947, the Royal Navy detonated 6800 tons of explosives in a concerted attempt to destroy the main island. The military installations were destroyed, but most of the island remained. On 29 February 1952, the islands were restored to the German authorities. After clearing a huge amount of undetonated ammunition, the German authorities redeveloped Heligoland as a holiday resort.

1964  -             Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser sets a new world record in the 100m freestyle.

Dawn Fraser was born on 4 September 1937 in Balmain, New South Wales. She was fifteen years old when coach Harry Gallagher noted her exceptional swimming talent and took wher under his wing, preparing her for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

Fraser was the first female swimmer to win Gold in three consecutive Olympic Games, doing so in 1956, 1960 and 1964. Her career spanned some fifteen years, during which she broke and held 41 World records, and remained undefeated in the 100 metres freestyle. Between 1956 and 1964, Fraser broke the womens world record for the 100 metre freestyle nine successive times.

On 29 February 1964, Fraser set a new world record of 58.9 seconds at North Sydney. This record remained unbroken until 8 January 1972, when fellow Australian Shane Gould established a new record of 58.5 seconds.

In 1999, Fraser was awarded World Athlete of the Century at the World Sport Awards in Vienna. In the same year, she was also inducted into the Australian Sports Hall of Fame when she was awarded Athlete of the Century.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1901  -             The Postmaster-General's Department in Australia is put into effect.

In the early years of settlement in Australia, there was no official postal service. It was only after the arrival of Governor Macquarie that Australia's first postmaster, Isaac Nichols, was appointed. This occurred in 1809, and the first official post office was opened by Governor Macquarie in Sydney in June 1810. Over the next ninety years, each of the colonies of Australia instituted their own postal services, and by 1844, every town was serviced by a post box.

It was not until after Federation that Australia's various postal services were all centralised under one name: the Postmaster-General's Department. The PMG became effective on 1 March 1901. It controlled all postal services in Australia, and later also controlled the telecommunications services. All stamps being used by the states at the time were still current until 1913, when the Commonwealth's standard stamp series was adopted.

The PMG was disaggregated in July 1975 into the Australian Postal Commission, which traded as Australia Post, and the Australian Telecommunications Commission, or Telecom (later Telstra).

1942  -             Japanese forces sink the HMS Perth, resulting in the loss of over 350 men.

The 'Perth' was originally laid down by HM Dockyard at Portsmouth in June 1933 and launched on 26 July 1934. After the Australian government purchased it, it was commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy as HMAS Perth at Portsmouth on 29 June 1939. By February 1942 Perth was one of very few major Allied warships in what was known as the ABDA area, or the combined Australian, British, Dutch and American theatre in south-east Asia. Late that month, the ABDA squadron moved in from Surabaya in eastern Java to intercept and oppose the Japanese forces approaching from the Makassar Strait. This resulted in the Battle of the Java Sea, which saw the loss of three Allied destroyers and the withdrawal of the heavy cruiser HMS Exeter, due to damage. No Japanese ships were lost.

The remaining Allied cruisers, HMAS Perth and USS Houston, were ordered to sail through Sunda Strait to Tjilatjap. On the night of 1 March 1942, they encountered a Japanese amphibious landing force including aircraft carriers, battleships, three cruisers and ten destroyers, near Batavia. The two Allied cruisers managed to sink two Japanese destroyers and four loaded troop transports before being overwhelmed and sunk. Of the 680 men aboard the Perth, 357 were lost. Survivors were gradually picked up by Japanese warships and became prisoners of war, where they were ultimately sent to labour on the Burma-Thailand railway. Of the 320 who were captured, 105 or nearly one-third died before they were liberated in 1945.

1975  -             Colour television begins broadcasting in Australia.

The history of colour television goes back to an early patent application in Russia in 1889 for a mechanically-scanned colour system. John Logie Baird, instrumental in the development of television, demonstrated the world's first colour transmission on 3 July 1928. It was not until after WWII, however, that experimental colour television broadcasts were transmitted in various locations around the world; 1953 in the USA and 1967 in Europe.

In Australia, colour transmissions began to be tested on the commercial television networks on 19 October 1974. Colour television was officially implemented on 1 March 1975 and proved to be so popular that by 1978 two-thirds of Australian viewers had bought a colour set.

1978  -             Actor Charlie Chaplin's grave is ransacked, the coffin removed and held for ransom.

Charlie Chaplin was an actor, writer, director, producer, composer and choreographer, whose main legacy was some 80 mostly silent films. He is best remembered for his "Little Tramp" character, with his toothbrush moustache, bowler hat, bamboo cane and his idiosyncratic walk.

Chaplin died on 25 December 1977 in Vevey, Switzerland, where he had lived for decades, and was buried in Corsier-Sur-Vevey Cemetery. On 1 March 1978, his body was stolen in an attempt to extort money from his family. While his wife refused to pay the $600,000 in ransom, saying it was not important where his body lay, other family members worked with police to negotiate, via telephone calls, the return of the body for $250,000. Police traced the calls to a public phone box and set up a dragnet. The robbers, a 24-year-old Polish mechanic and his Bulgarian accomplice, were captured. Chaplin's body was recovered in its unopened coffin, 11 weeks after it was initially taken, near Lake Geneva. After Chaplin's coffin was returned to Vevey, it was reinterred, sealed in concrete.

Cheers - John

Gday...

Yeah I bought a Rank Arena 21inch in a flash wooden cabinet ....

the best thing about colour TV was I could FINALLY watch my favourite show Pot Black in COLOUR .....

Cheers - JOhn

Gday...

1713  -             Johann Sebastian Bach is promoted to Concert Master at Weimar.

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany on 21 March 1685. He was a German composer and organist of the Baroque Era. The Baroque Era spanned approximately 1600 to 1750, and followed the Renaissance style. Baroque Music was typically harder to perform than Renaissance music as it was written more for virtuoso singers and instrumentalists, and made more complex use of harmony and rhythm.

Bach is arguably one of the greatest composers of all time. His most famous works include the Brandenburg Concertos, The Well-Tempered Clavier (a collection of 48 preludes and fugues), Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Mass in B Minor, much sacred choral music, and the St Matthew Passion. He wrote Cantatas, Masses and Magnificats, Chorales, Oratorios and many other styles and forms of music. On 2 March 1713, Johann Sebastian Bach was promoted to Concert Master at Weimar, which is where he composed his "Toccatas" and some of his finest organ music.

When Bach died on 28 July 1750, he left behind the legacy of a musically talented family, many of whom also composed prolifically. His style strongly influenced both Mozart and Beethoven.

1860  -             Stuart departs Chambers Creek on the first of his expeditions to cross from the south to the northern coast.

John McDouall Stuart was born in Dysart, Fife, Scotland, on 7 September 1815. He arrived in South Australia in 1839. He had a passion for exploration and gained experience when he was employed as a draughtsman by Captain Charles Sturt on an expedition into the desert interior. Following his experience with Sturt, Stuart led a number of expeditions west of Lake Eyre. When the South Australian government offered a reward of two thousand pounds to the first expedition to reach the northern coast, Stuart chose to push beyond Lake Eyre in the attempt to reach the north.

Stuart led a total of five expeditions to attempt to be the first to cross the continent from south to north. On his first attempt, he departed from Chambers Creek on 2 March 1860. Stuart finally succeeded on his fifth attempt, reaching the northern waters at Chambers Bay in July 1862.

1904  -             Children's author, Dr Seuss, is born.

Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka Dr Seuss, was born on 2 March 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. As a young boy, he enjoyed drawing, but his teachers discouraged him from planning to make a living from it, telling him he lacked talent. Geisel attended Dartmouth College, where he studied writing. Again, he was discouraged from making a career out of it. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1925, after being voted "Least likely to succeed" by his college class. He then entered Lincoln College, Oxford, intending to earn a doctorate in literature. However, he met his future wife there, married her in 1927 and returned to the USA.

Geisel continued writing stories and humorous articles, accompanied by strange illustrations, submitting them to a variety of magazines. Of the 27 publishers to whom he sent his work, 27 turned him down. Finally, the 28th publisher accepted his work, and after six months, he began signing his work as "Dr Seuss".

Dr Seuss began writing children's books before WWII, but much of his time was spent drawing to support the US government's war effort. He initially drew posters for the Treasury Department and the War Production Board. In 1943, he joined the Army and was sent to Frank Capra's Signal Corps Unit in Hollywood, where he wrote films for the US Armed Forces, including "Your Job in Germany," a 1945 propaganda film about peace in Europe after World War II, "Design for Death," a study of Japanese culture that won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1948, and the Private Snafu series of army training films. While in the Army he was awarded the Legion of Merit.

After the war, Dr Seuss returned to writing children's books. After reading a report on declining literacy levels among children, he endeavoured to make his books quirky and appealing. Such books as "The Cat in the Hat" and "Green Eggs and Ham" remain very popular today. Seuss died on 24 September 1991.

1959  -             Stage One of the building of the Sydney Opera House commences.

The Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia, sits on Bennelong Point in Sydney Harbour. Designed by Danish architect Joern Utzon in 1955, it has become one of the most famous performing arts venues in the world. Utzon arrived in Sydney to oversee the project in 1957 and work commenced on the Opera House in 1959. The ceremony marking Stage One of the Sydney Opera House was held on 2 March 1959. The Premier of New South Wales, Hon JJ (Joe) Cahill, laid a bronze plaque at the site marking what would be the first step of the podium, and declared the project underway.

The Opera House, famous for its geometric roof shells, was completed in 1973, at a cost of $102 million. It was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 20 October 1973. The opening was celebrated with fireworks and a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. Prior to this, however, Sergei Prokofiev's 'War and Peace' was played at the Opera Theatre on 28 September 1973. The following day, the first public performance was held, with a programme performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Charles Mackerras and with accompanying singer Birgit Nilsson.

1969  -             Supersonic airliner, the Concorde, makes its test flight.

The concept of supersonic aircraft was conceived in the 1950s. During the 1960s, Britain's Bristol Aeroplane Company and France's Sud Aviation were simultaneously working on designs, but the anticipated costs of the project were too great to be developed by an individual company: hence, France and Britain decided to work cooperatively. An international treaty between Britain and France was negotiated for the development of the project. The first test flight took place from Toulouse, France, on 2 March 1969, and lasted for 27 minutes before its first pilot, Andre Turcat, made the decision to land.

The test flight reached 3,000m in altitude, but the airliner's speed did not exceed 480kph. Concorde completed its first supersonic flight on 1 October 1969, while the first commercial flights took place on 21 January 1976.

1971  -             Leadbeater's Possum is proclaimed the official animal emblem of Victoria, Australia.

The Leadbeater's Possum, 'Gymnobelideus leadbeateri McCoy', is a small marsupial, 30-40cm in length, believed to live only in the tall eucalypt forests of central Victoria, from Healesville and Marysville to Mt Baw Baw. First recorded in 1867, sightings decreased and the last recorded sighting for many decades was in 1909. The possum was believed to be extinct, until it was rediscovered near Marysville in 1961.

Like many Australian animals, Leadbeater's Possum is endangered because of habitat loss. It nests in the hollows of old trees, preferably those over 150-200 years old, but fewer of these trees are available due to drought, timber production and frequent bushfires in recent years. Leadbeater's possum was placed on the IUCN Red list of endangered species in 2004. While estimates suggest there are around 1200 adult animals remaining, its elusiveness means no accurate figures exist. There could be as many as 1500 or fewer than 1000 left. Leadbeater's possum is classified as "threatened" under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 of Australia.

Leadbeater's possum was proclaimed as Victoria's official faunal emblem on 2 March 1971, and added to the Government Gazette No 20, dated 10 March 1971.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1818  -             Hamilton Hume and James Meehan set out to find an overland route from Sydney to Jervis Bay.

One of Australia's few native-born explorers, Hamilton Hume, was born at Parramatta in New South Wales on 18 June 1797. Living in the young colony and working with his father on his farm at Appin, Hume developed excellent bush skills. Thus he was one of a small party sent by Governor Macquarie in 1818 to find an overland route south from Sydney to Jervis Bay. With him was ex-convict James Meehan, who had been transported to New South Wales for his part in the Irish uprising of 1798. Meehan's skills became apparent when he was assigned to the Survey Department, and he was pardoned and appointed Deputy Surveyor-General. Also in the party was prominent pastoralist Charles Throsby.

Hume and Meehan, together with a party of convict helpers, set out from the Liverpool area on 3 March 1818. They measured the distance they travelled by having a convict push a 'perambulator', or measuring wheel. The party split along the way, and Throsby headed south, fording the Shoalhaven River west of where Nowra now stands, and arriving at Jervis Bay a month later. Meehan and Hume headed upstream along the Shoalhaven Gorge, but were forced further southwest to Lake Bathurst, south of today's Goulburn. Returning to Sydney, they discovered the rich, fertile land of the Goulburn Plains, named by Meehan after Henry Goulburn, Colonial Under-Secretary.

1837  -             The city of Melbourne, Australia, is named.

The first settlers to Australia's southern mainland coast were Lieutenant David Collins and a group of officers, convicts and free settlers who, in 1803, first landed where Sorrento now stands. Lack of fresh water and suitable timber doomed the colony to a short-lived existence, and within a few months, Collins had transferred the entire settlement across Bass Strait to Van Diemen's Land, and established Hobart on the Derwent River.

The next settler in the district was John Batman. On 6 June 1835, Batman signed a 'treaty' with the Aborigines, giving him free access to almost 250,000 hectares of land. In August that year, Governor Bourke declared Batman's treaties invalid, and issued a proclamation warning off him and his syndicate as trespassers on crown land. Despite the attempts at government intervention, the foundling settlement of Melbourne remained, and flourished.

The new township was surveyed and named as Melbourne on 3 March 1837, in honour of the British Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne.

1847  -             Inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, is born.

Alexander Graham Bell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 3 March 1847. It was whilst living in Canada, from 1870, that Bell pursued his interest in telephony and communications. He moved to the US shortly afterwards to continue developing his inventions. On 7 March 1876, he was granted US Patent Number 174,465 for "the method of, and apparatus for, transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically ... by causing electrical undulations, similar in form to the vibrations of the air accompanying the said vocal or other sound", i.e. the telephone. Bell and others formed the Bell Telephone Company in July 1877. He also collaborated with other inventors to produce such items as the phonograph, photophone (a device enabling the transmission of sound over a beam of light), metal detector and hydrofoil.

Bell died on 2 August 1922, and two days later, his death was marked by a minute's silence from the ringing of telephones all over his adopted country.

1854  -             Australia's first telegraph line is opened.

Canadian-born Samuel Walker McGowan is credited with bringing the telegraph technology to Australia. Lured by the opportunities opened up by the discovery of gold in Victoria, McGowan arrived in Melbourne in 1853. Although isolated from telegraph technology in America, and limited by lack of equipment and suitable component manufacturing firms in Australia, McGowan succeeded in opening up the first telegraph line in Australia on 3 March 1854. It ran from Melbourne to Williamstown.

1942  -             Japanese bomb the quiet coastal towns of Broome and Wyndham, in Australia's northwest.

In WWII, the first real attack of the Japanese on an Australian base occurred with the bombing of Darwin on 19 February 1942. That attack scattered the naval base at Darwin and demoralised Australians. Darwin was bombed by the Japanese a total of sixty times between 19 February 1942 and 12 November 1943.

Shortly after this initial attack, the northwest coastal towns of Broome and Wyndham also came under fire. On 3 March 1942, a squadron of nine Japanese Zero Fighter planes swept over Broome, opening fire at the busy harbour and the aerodrome. At the time, the port in Broome was crowded with Dutch refugees fleeing the Japanese invasion of the Netherlands East Indies. Most of these were women and children who had been evacuated to Broome and were preparing to fly south to safety.

It is estimated that over one hundred people were killed and forty wounded in the Broome attack, a significant loss in a small town. Very low tides at the Broome jetty still reveal remains of Dutch sea planes bombed by the Japanese, and the wrecks of the flying boats can be seen on the muddy floor of Roebuck Bay. At the same time Broome was being bombed, eight Japanese fighters hit Wyndham, but the air raid was focused on the town's aerodrome.

Cheers - John