Hello rockylizard
Re 1978 - Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith pulls off the Great Sydney Harbour iceberg hoax.

Back in that particular week, I must have been in an isolated area, (of which I went to many drive in, drive out places), that had no TV, Radio, or Newspapers, as this is the first time I had heard of this hoax, which I think would have been hilarious
Thanks for that

Gday...

Your wish, as always, is my command, Douglas

It must be all that good weather you are entering and driving through ... not good ole Victorian weather which changes all the time and therefore acclimatises a person. 

cheers - John

Gday...

1800  -             Beethoven's first symphony premieres in Vienna.

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany in December 1770. One of the world's greatest composers, he was known especially for his rich and powerful symphonies. Beethoven had a talent that was recognised when he was very young, but only began to develop fully after he moved to Vienna in 1792 and studied under Joseph Haydn. This marked his "Early" composing career, when he tended to write music in the style of his mentors, Haydn and Mozart.

Beethoven's Symphony No. 1, Op. 21, in C Major was written during this period. Begun in 1799, the first of Beethoven's famous symphonies premiered at the K.K. Hoftheater nächst der Burg in Vienna on 2 April 1800. The composition was dedicated to Baron Gottfried van Swieten, one of Beethoven's early patrons. Although largely written in the Classical style, Symphony No. 1 shocked the audience with its dissonant opening chord, while its powerful use of wind instruments demonstrated Beethoven's willingness to develop a new style in orchestral music, which eventually ushered in the Romantic Era.

1844  -             The first permanent synagogue is built in Australia.

The Jewish people have been part of Australian history since the beginning of official European settlement on the continent. When the First Fleet arrived in New South Wales in January 1788, there were fourteen known Jewish convicts aboard. The first colony on the southern coast, at Sorrento, included eight Jewish convicts. When that colony failed, and the entire party moved across Bass Strait, those eight were among the first to settle on Van Diemens Land.

The first Jewish free settlers arrived in New South Wales in 1816, and up until 1817, there were an estimated 20 Jews in Australia. When one of them died, it was necessary to form the first Jewish Burial Society, Chevra Kaddisha. Initially, services were held in the home of Philip Joseph Cohen in George Street, Sydney, until they were moved to a rented room in the same street. It was not until the early 1830s that organised Judaism began in Australia, with the arrival of Aaron Levi, who became the first Rabbi in Australia. The first official synagogue in Sydney opened in Bridge Street in 1837, but was only a temporary home for Jewish worship.

On 2 April 1844, the first permanent synagogue in Australia was opened. Designed by James Hume, the synagogue on York Street had a seating capacity of 500. It served as the centre of Jewish life in Sydney until the Great Synagogue in Elizabeth Street was completed in 1878.

1874  -             A major strike is held at Moonta Mines in South Australia.

Moonta, a small mining town in South Australia, was first settled as a farming region in the 1830s. The town's name is derived from an Aboriginal word, either 'moontera' or 'moonta moontera' which translates as 'place of impenetrable scrub'. It is an inhospitable area, but the discovery of copper deposits at Wallaroo and Moonta in 1861 brought prosperity to the region. The town itself was laid out in 1863.

The Moonta Company was established soon after copper was discovered, and during its existence it produced around 5,396,146 pounds worth of copper, and became the first Australian mining company to pay more than 1,000,000 pounds in dividends to its shareholders. The Moonta Mines were worked largely by Cornish miners, with several thousand men from Cornwall migrating to South Australia to work the mines in Moonta, Wallaroo or other nearby mines.

A downturn in world copper prices led the Directors of the Moonta Mines to post warning of an impending reduction in wages at Moonta Mines on 2 April 1874. As a result, the men at Moonta mines went out on strike. Wallaroo miners joined the strikers and, following a joint meeting on 9 April, a delegation of miners travelled to Adelaide to meet with the Directors. The meeting was successful, with the Directors agreeing to maintain rates for a further two months, and to review rates after that, depending on world markets. The strikers went back to work on 21 April.

This event was a catalyst to the formation of the United Tradesmen's Society, which later became the Labor League of South Australia.

1877  -             Mordecai Ham, the man who led Billy Graham to Christ, is born.

Mordecai Ham was born on 2 April 1877 on a farm near Scottsville, Kentucky. Coming as he did from eight generations of Baptist preachers, he could not pinpoint the exact date of his conversion, as he was immersed in a deeply devotional life right from childhood. However, from about age 9 he began to have convictions that he was meant to preach. Gaining life experience in a variety of jobs, he again heard the call to preach following the 1899 death of his grandfather, who had pastored in the area for forty years. He began preaching in 1901, and his first sermon was on the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Wherever Ham preached, he was enthusiastically received, from the well-off to the down-and-out. A powerful and determined preacher, he doggedly pursued the most hardened atheists in town and often saw them saved. In his first couple of years of preaching, thousands made commitments to Christ. Later he endured much opposition and persecution, but still thousands were converted at his revival meetings. But Ham's best-known convert was a reluctant sixteen-year-old in Charlotte, North Carolina, who hid in the choir loft to escape the direct preaching of Ham. In 1934, Billy Graham, who would later become the most famous Christian evangelist of the 20th century, was convicted and converted by Ham's preaching.

1914  -             Actor Sir Alec Guinness is born.

Alec Guinness was born on 2 April 1914 in London, England. Guinness first worked writing copy for advertising before making his debut at the Old Vic Theatre in 1936 at the age of 22. After serving in World War II, he returned to acting, appearing in Great Expectations (1946), Oliver Twist (1948) and Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), in which he played 8 different roles. He became one of the most celebrated actors of the 20th century during the 1950s, gaining coveted roles in The Lavender Hill Mob, in which he gained his first Oscar nomination, Bridge On The River Kwai, in which he won the best actor Oscar, and The Horse's Mouth, for which he wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay. Further films of the '60s and '70s include Lawrence of Arabia, Dr Zhivago and Murder By Death. Younger audiences know Guinness best as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars films. Guinness died of liver cancer on 5 August 2000. His wife of 62 years died two months later, also from cancer.

2005  -             Pope John Paul II, the Pope who contributed significantly to the fall of communism in the Twentieth century, dies.

Pope John Paul was elected to the papacy on the third ballot of the 1978 Papal Conclave, but the popular man who came to be known as the "Smiling Pope" died after just 33 days in office. Pope John Paul was succeeded on 16 October 1978, by Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Poland, who took the name of Pope John Paul II in deference to his predecessor. At just 58 years old, the new Pope also became the youngest pope to be elected in the twentieth century.

In his later years, Pope John Paul II's health began to suffer, particularly after he developed Parkinson's Disease during the 1990s. He died on 2 April 2005. His reign was marked by his untiring ecumenical approach to accommodate other Christian sects as well as to forge a better understanding with the Islamic world, without compromising his own Catholic stance. A major theme of his papacy was also his fight for freedom of religion in the Communist bloc: during his term as Pope, he was significant for his contribution to the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe.

2011  -             Thousands of people in Sydney rally against the proposed "carbon tax".

A carbon tax is a pricing on carbon levied on the use of non-renewable energy sources, such as those derived from coal. It requires that businesses and companies pay a set levy for each tonne of carbon they release into the atmosphere. The then proposed legislation referred to it as a fixed carbon credit scheme, but 'Carbon Tax' is the term by which Australia's politicians and political commentators generally referred to it, and was the topic of the rally.

On 24 June 2010 Julia Gillard, member for Lalor, Victoria, was sworn in as Australia's first female Prime Minister. The previous PM, Kevin Rudd, had seen a huge decline in popularity for a variety of reasons. He was forced to stand aside after then-Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard called for a leadership ballot, gaining the support of the ALP Caucus. Immediately after this, the Opposition began calling for a Federal election, which was held in September. During the election campaign, one of Ms Gillard's key promises was that there would be no carbon tax under a government that she led. The election resulted in a hung parliament with neither party gaining a majority. Ms Gillard was only able to form government with the support of three Independent MPs and the Greens Party. A key factor in her securing Greens support was the commitment to introduce a carbon tax, in direct conflict with previous promises.

Australians from all walks of life were angered at the broken promise and fearful of the increase in cost of living which it would mean for them personally. Numerous surveys held at different times through 2011 indicated between 60% and 72% of Australians opposed the legislation.

On 2 April 2011, a huge rally was held in Sydney in which thousands of people protested the proposed carbon tax. Estimates of attendees ranged between 5000 and 8000. In Hyde Park, a petition containing 25,000 signatures was presented to Senator Eric Abetz, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and a member of the Tasmanian Liberal Senate Team. This was the first of many anti-carbon tax rallies held across Australia throughout 2011.

Interestingly, on the same date of 2 April at Belmore Park a short distance away, another large rally was held in support of the carbon tax, sponsored by the Getup organisation.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1860  -             The first successful Pony Express runs.

The Pony Express was the first fast mail line across the North American continent from the Missouri River to the Pacific coast. Messages were carried on horseback across the prairies, plains, deserts, and mountains of the western United States, usually averaging around a ten day journey. The service was founded, owned and operated by William Hepburn Russell, Alexander Majors, and William B Waddel.

The first successful Pony Express commenced on 3 April 1860 and was completed on April 13. It ran from St Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California. Later routes diverged to points north and south of the main track. The first west-bound rider out of St Joseph was Johnny Fry.

Pony Express stations were placed at intervals of about 16 km along the route, determined by the fact that it was the optimum distance a horse could travel at a gallop. The rider changed to a fresh horse at each station, taking only the mail pouch with him. There were a total of about 165 changing stations along the 3,200 km route. The Pony Express operated for around eighteen months before it was superceded by the completion of the Transcontinental Telegraph, on 24 October 1861.

1924  -             American singer and actress Doris Day is born.

Doris Day was born Doris Mary Ann von Kappelhoff on 3 April 1924, in Cincinnati, Ohio. She developed an interest in dance during her early years, and by her teens had formed a dance duo that performed locally in Cincinnati. A car accident damaged her legs and curtailed her prospects as a professional dancer. However, while recovering, she took up singing. Soon she began to take lessons and at age 17 began performing locally. It was while working for local bandleader Barney Rapp that she adopted the stage name "Day" as an alternative to "Kappelhoff".

After working with Rapp, Day worked with several other bandleaders, including Bob Crosby and Les Brown. It was while working with Brown that Day scored her first hit recording Sentimental Journey, which was released in early 1945. During her time with Les Brown, and a brief stint with Bob Hope, Day toured extensively across the United States.

Doris Day's film career began in 1948 with her starring role in "Romance on the High Seas". The success of this film established her as a popular movie personality, and provided her within another hit recording "It's Magic". She continued to make period musicals such as Starlift, On Moonlight Bay, By the Light of the Silvery Moon, and Tea For Two for Warner Bros., and in 1953 shot to stardom as Calamity Jane, winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Secret Love". She continued to star in many more films, branching out also into television. She retired from acting when her popular "The Doris Day Show" ended in 1973.

Following her acting career, Day then turned to Animal welfare activism, showing care and concern for all creatures great and small. To date, she is still heavily involved in this field. In 2006, The Humane Society of the United States merged with the Doris Day Animal League. Staff members of the Doris Day League took positions within The HSUS, and Day recorded some public service announcements for The HSUS, which is now managing Spay Day USA, the one-day spay neuter event she originated some years before.

1961  -             Leadbeater's Possum is rediscovered after it was believed to have become extinct.

The Leadbeater's Possum, faunal emblem of Victoria, 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, but on 3 April 1961, it was rediscovered by naturalist Eric Wilkinson. Wilkinson identified two possums in mountain ash forest east of the town of Marysville and alerted the authorities.

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. It is classified as "threatened" under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 of Australia.

1974  -             The largest tornado outbreak on record, known as the Super Outbreak, occurs in North America.

Tornadoes are violent spinning storms typically shaped like a funnel with the narrow end on the ground. They are extremely destructive and are almost always visible due to water vapour from clouds and debris from the ground. Tornadoes can form in storms all over the world, but they form most famously in a broad area of the American Midwest and South known as Tornado Alley.

Early in the afternoon of 3 April 1974, North America experienced the beginnings of a "Super Outbreak" of tornado activity. Over an eighteen hour period, 148 tornadoes hit in 13 states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and New York. One tornado, the only one to hit outside the United States, hit near Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The outbreak also broke the record for the most violent (F5 and F4) tornadoes, having six F5 tornadoes and 24 F4 tornadoes. Between 315 and 330 fatalities were recorded and another 5,484 people were injured. The costs of the damage reached the equivalent of $3.5 billion in 2005 figures.

2004  -             Islamic terrorists believed to be responsible for the Madrid explosions a month earlier commit suicide before they can be arrested.

On 11 March 2004, Madrid, Spain, became a target of terrorist attacks. A series of ten coordinated terrorist bombings which hit the city's commuter train system between 7:39am and 7:42am left 191 people dead and nearly 1,800 wounded. The attacks were the deadliest assault by a terrorist organisation against civilians in Europe since the Lockerbie bombing in 1988 and the worst terrorist attack in modern Spanish history.

Evidence strongly pointed to the involvement of extremist Islamist groups, with the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group named as a focus of investigations. This group appeared to have links to Al-Qaeda. In October 2003, Osama bin Laden had issued a public threat to carry out suicide bombings against any countries joining the US-led invasion of Iraq. At the time, Spain had approximately 1,300 soldiers stationed in Iraq. In addition, bin Laden had spoken earlier of wishing to return the southern Spanish region of Andalucia to Muslim control, reversing the Reconquista of 1492. On 3 April 2004, as police were closing in on the suspected Islamic terrorists responsible for the explosions, the terrorists committed suicide by blowing themselves up with explosives.

Cheers - John

Hello rockylizard
Re 1860 - The first successful Pony Express runs.
William Frederick Cody, known in later life as "Buffalo Bill", was a Pony Express rider at 13 or 14 years of age, (or thereabouts)

I read his book as a child, and that fact has always stayed with me.

Gday...

1820  -             The foundation stone is laid for what later becomes the magnificent Queen Victoria Building in Sydney.

The Queen Victoria Building, or QVB, is a magnificent Victorian building of neo-Byzantine architecture located in the heart of Sydney's CBD. Though an upmarket shopping centre now, it has had a varied past. In 1810, New South Wales Governor Macquarie designated the site as a market place. The foundation stone for the original two-storey building that would later become the QVB was laid on 4 April 1820.

Within a decade, the building was converted into the Central Police Court; shortly afterwards, the Governor issued a general order that the entire area be set aside as a market square. By 1869, the whole market area was roofed and the street became an arcade within the market. The QVB as it now stands was designed by George McRae and completed in 1898, replacing the original Sydney markets on the site. Deteriorating through the years, the QVB was threatened with demolition during the 1950s, but an extensive restoration project saw it restored to its original glory.

1846  -             The first payable gold discovery in South Australia, gives rise to the first Australian gold mine, five years before the official discovery of gold in Australia at Bathurst.

The first recorded gold discovery in Australia was in 1823 by James McBrien who discovered flecks of alluvial gold in the Fish River of New South Wales. Further traces of gold were discovered in areas of the Blue Mountains in the ensuing decades. Early discoveries of gold were kept secret as it was feared that the promise of easy wealth would incite riots amongst the convicts. Further, discoveries were usually made by settlers who did not want their valuable sheep and cattle properties to be degraded by the sudden influx of prospectors and lawlessness that would inevitably follow. There was little incentive to report gold finds in the early 1800s, as all gold was owned by the government, and would not provide any personal gains. However, some enterprising individuals still saw the value in prospecting, realising the benefits of minerals and metals as the Australian colonies grew.

One of the first people to recognise the likelihood of mineral wealth in the Mount Lofty Ranges of South Australia was German immigrant Johannes Menge, who was employed by the South Australian Company as their Mine and Quarry Agent and Geologist. Observing the geology of the land, the promise of mineral wealth was also noted by Captain Charles Sturt, whose charting of the Murray River was a significant catalyst to the establishment of the southern colony. The men were proven correct when silver was discovered in the Adelaide Hills, first at Glen Osmond in 1841 and both copper and gold traces at Montacute in 1842. At a public auction in December 1845 Frederick Wicksteed, acting for the Victoria Mining Company, paid 799 pounds for "section 5597" which comprised 147 acres at Montacute, to be used for copper mining.

Investors were initially slow to come on board, but within a few months of opening in 1846, the investment paid off. On what was described as "an oppressively hot day", 4 April 1846, the Captain of the copper mine, John Terrell (or Tyrrell), discovered gold at Castambul, north-east of Adelaide. Samples were shown to Captain Edward Charles Frome, Captain Charles Sturt, Thomas Burr and Dr Edward Davy (possibly Davey or Davis). Davy later signed the certificate stating that the samples surrounded and embedded in dark chocolate coloured earth or gossan, were thickish layers of a bright yellow metal which contained 94 per cent gold. The copper mine became Australias first gold mine, five years before gold was officially discovered in New South Wales.   

1848  -             Leichhardt departs Roma, Queensland, on his third and final expedition, never to be seen again.

Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt was born on October 23, 1813, in Trebatsch, Prussia (now Brandenburg, Germany). His thirst for knowledge led him to study philosophy, languages and natural sciences in Germany. Although he never received a degree, he was a passionate botanist. Leichhardt arrived in Australia in 1842, and immediately expressed an interest in exploration, although he lacked necessary bush survival skills.

Leichhardt made a total of three expeditions. In October 1844, he left from Jimbour, on the Darling Downs, on an expedition to find a new route to Port Essington, near Darwin. The 4800 km overland journey reached its destination on December 17, 1845. His second expedition, from the Darling Downs in Queensland to Perth in Western Australia, commenced in December 1846. However, wet weather and malaria forced the party to return after they had travelled only 800km.

Leichhardt's final expedition began in March 1848, picking up where his second expedition left off. The last sighting of Leichhardt, six other men, fifty bullocks, twenty mules and seven horses was made as they departed Roma, Queensland, on 4 April 1848. Somewhere in Australia's vast outback, the entire party vanished. Many theories have abounded as to what happened, and many claim to have found evidence of the remains of the expedition, but what really happened remains one of Australia's enduring mysteries.

1929  -             The only dam-burst in Australia's history to cause loss of life occurs in Tasmania.

Derby is an historic tin-mining town in the northeastern region of Tasmania. The town was built following the discovery of tin in the region in 1874-5. To service the towns of the northeast and the tin mines, two dams were constructed: the Frome in 1908 and the Briseis in 1926.

Early in April 1929, heavy rainfalls of 450mm saturated the catchment above the Briseis Dam. On 4 April 1929, another 125mm was dumped in the space of an hour and a half. The deluge broke the dam, sending a wall of water down into the valley, which swamped Derby and the Briseis Dam. Fourteen people were killed in the only dam-burst in Australia's history to date to cause loss of life. The final body was recovered early in May.

A coroner's inquest concluded that no blame for the deaths could be attached to the Briseis Company, either in the construction of the dam, or in the safety standards of the tin mine.

1968  -             African American civil rights activist, Martin Luther King, is assassinated.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on 15 January 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He became a Baptist minister, and African American civil rights activist. In his fight for civil rights, he organised and led marches for desegregation, fair hiring, the right of African Americans to vote, and other basic civil rights. Most of these rights were successfully enacted later into United States law with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Martin Luther King's life was tragically cut short when he was shot in the neck by a rifle bullet in Memphis, Tennessee, on 4 April 1968. James Earl Ray was convicted of his murder and sentenced to 99 years in prison. Ray's appeals on the basis that he was only a minor player in a conspiracy gained support from some members of King's family. Regardless, while King's life was taken from him prematurely, his legacy lives on in the equal rights now enjoyed by millions of African-Americans in the USA.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1614  -             The legendary Pocahontas, who saved Captain John Smith from execution by the Indians, marries English colonist John Rolfe.

Pocahontas was the nickname of Mataoaka, the daughter of the chief of Algonquian Indians in the Chesapeake Bay region, along the coast of Virginia. Born around 1595, Pocahontas gained fame when, as a young girl of around thirteen, her intervention saved Captain John Smith from being killed by the Indians. There remains some doubt whether Smith was indeed in danger, or whether he misunderstood the Indians' intentions; it is possible that Pocahontas intervened in a ritual that was used to accept John Smith as a "friend" of the tribe, and was only symbolic. Regardless, the story has been much romanticised in stories and film.

In 1612, Pocahontas was captured and held hostage by the Jamestown colonists, in the hope that they could ransom her for the release of some of their own people held in captivity by Pocahontas's tribe. During this time, she learned English and was baptised. She became a valuable intermediary between the settlers at Jamestown and the Indians, helping to generate peace between the two groups. On 5 April 1614, Pocahontas married English colonist John Rolfe, who established the growing of tobacco in Virginia, and her name was changed to Rebecca Rolfe. In 1616 she was taken to England to be presented to the king. On 16 March 1617, whilst returning to Virginia, she died, probably of tuberculosis, pneumonia or smallpox.

1932  -             Australia's best-known racehorse, Phar Lap, dies under suspicious circumstances.

Phar Lap, a giant chestnut thoroughbred gelding, standing 17.1 hands high, is regarded by many to be Australia's and New Zealand's greatest racehorse. A much loved Australian national icon, he was actually born and bred in Timaru, in the South Island of New Zealand, but never raced in NZ.

The name Phar Lap was derived from the shared Zhuang and Thai word for lightning. According to the Museum Victoria, medical student Aubrey Ping often visited the track in Randwick, talking with riders and trainers. He had learned some Zhuang from his father, who migrated to Australia from southern China. He reputedly suggested "Farlap" as the horse's name. Sydney trainer Harry Telford liked the name, but changed the F to a Ph to create a seven letter word, and split it into two words, so as to replicate the dominant pattern set by Melbourne Cup winners.

Phar Lap dominated the racing scene in Australia during a long and distinguished career. In the four years of his racing career, he won 37 of 51 races he entered, including the Melbourne Cup in 1930. In that year and 1931, he won 14 races in a row. For his final race in 1932, Phar Lap was shipped to Agua Caliente Racetrack near Tijuana, Mexico, to compete in the Agua Caliente Handicap, which was offering the largest purse ever raced for in North America.

Early on 5 April 1932, Phar Lap's trainer for the North American visit, Tommy Wood****, found him in severe pain, with a high temperature. Within a few hours, Phar Lap haemorrhaged to death. A necropsy revealed that the horse's stomach and intestines were inflamed, and many believed he had been deliberately poisoned. A variety of theories have been propounded through the years. In 2006 Australian Synchrotron Research scientists said it was almost certain Phar Lap was poisoned with a large single dose of arsenic 35 hours before he died, supporting the belief that Phar Lap was killed on the orders of US gangsters, who feared the Melbourne-Cup-winning champion would inflict big losses on their illegal bookmakers.

Phar Lap's heart was a remarkable size, weighing 6.2 kg, compared with a normal horse's heart at 3.2 kg. Phar Lap's heart is now held at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra. It is consistently the display visitors request most often to see, and pay their respects to the gentle, big-hearted giant of the horse racing world.

1971  -             Italy's Mount Etna erupts.

Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe, located on the eastern coast of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea. Covering an area of 1,190 km² with a basal circumference of 140 km, it is the largest of the three active volcanoes in Italy, and about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius.

Etna has erupted numerous times in recorded history, which spans about the last 2000 years. Its 1669 eruption was particularly devastating, ejecting an estimated 830,000,000 m³ of pyroclastic material, destroying the town of Nicolosi, the western side of Catania, and numerous smaller villages.

During the 20th century, eruptions occurred in 1949, 1971, 1981, 1983 and 1991-1993, and another series ensued in 2001 and 2002-2003. On 5 April 1971, lava buried the Etna Observatory, built in the late 19th century, destroyed the first generation of the Etna cable-car, and seriously threatened several small villages on Etna's east flank.

Etna has continued to erupt regularly. Most recently, the volcano erupted twice in 2007.

1999  -             Two Libyans accused of bringing down Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie are handed over for trial in the Netherlands.

In the evening of 21 December 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York crashed 38 minutes after take-off. The plane was at an altitude of 31,000 feet when a bomb hidden inside an audio cassette player detonated inside the cargo area. All 259 aboard the plane were killed, together with another 11 on the ground who died as the debris showered down. A large portion of the plane crashed into a petrol station in central Lockerbie, exploding into a 90m fireball. Aeroplane parts were scattered across 1,360 square kilometres and the impact from the crash reached 1.6 on the Richter scale.

After several years of investigation, Libyan intelligence agents Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah were identified as suspects. When Libya refused to hand over the suspects to be tried in the USA, the United Nations imposed sanctions against Libya. The sanctions were only lifted when Libyan leader Colonel Gadhafi agreed to turn the suspects over to Scotland for trial in the Netherlands using Scottish law and prosecutors. The Libyans were handed over on 5 April 1999. Following a three month trial, Abdel Basett ali al-Megrahi was jailed for life. His alleged accomplice, Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, was found not guilty.

2001  -             A Dutch lorry driver is jailed for his part in the deaths of 58 illegal Chinese immigrants.

On 18 June 2000, 58 Chinese immigrants were found suffocated in a lorry in Dover, Britain, after they had tried to enter the country illegally. The air vent of the 18m container had been closed five hours earlier so the driver could evade detection by the authorities during the ferry journey from Zeebrugge, Belgium. The truck, registered in the Netherlands, had just crossed on the ferry from Zeebrugge when the driver was pulled over for a customs inspection. Officials opened the truck's doors to find that two men alone survived, whilst the bodies of fifty-four men and four women lay behind them.

On 5 April 2001, the 32-year-old Dutch driver, Perry Wacker, was sentenced to 14 years in prison. He was found guilty of 58 charges of manslaughter, as well as four counts of conspiracy to smuggle immigrants into the UK. A month later, the leader of the international ring behind smuggling the Chinese into Britain, Turkish-born Gursel Ozcan, was given a nine-year sentence by a Dutch court for negligence, but cleared of manslaughter charges.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1644  -             The English Parliament orders all maypoles in the country to be removed.

A Maypole is a tall, vertical pole decorated with ribbons and streamers which are held by dancers during Mayday, or Midsummer, celebrations. The tradition of dancing around a maypole goes back to 16th century Germany, when setting up the maypole and celebrating Midsummer was a whole community activity.

The tradition has its origin in Germanic paganism, but spread through many parts of Europe. Because of its pagan roots, the maypole met with some hostility in England in the 16th century, particularly when celebrations degenerated into little more than drunken festivities. The idea of mixed-gender dancing and merry-making, particularly on a Sunday, caused many to denounce maypole-dancing, especially during the Reformation of Edward VI when a preacher denounced the Cornhill maypole as an idol, resulting in it being taken out of storage, sawn into pieces and burned.

Whilst the English governments did not actively support the banning of maypoles, increasing pressure from the Protestant movement resulted in their being banned from Banbury, Bristol, Canterbury, Coventry, Doncaster, Leicester, Lincoln, and Shrewsbury between 1570 and 1630. Finally, on 6 April 1644, the British Parliament ordered that all maypoles throughout the country be removed. Long Parliament's ordinance of 1644 described maypoles as "a Heathenish vanity, generally abused to superstition and wickedness".

However, there is no evidence that all communities followed the ordinance as, following the Restoration in 1660, there were a large number of maypoles returned to service throughout the country, very quickly.

1860  -             Stuart discovers and names Chambers Pillar, in central Australia.

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 pushed beyond Lake Eyre in the first of several attempts to reach northern waters.

Stuart departed from Chambers Creek on 2 March 1860. On 6 April 1860, north of where the South Australia-Northern Territory border now stands, he sighted an unusual sandstone monolith standing out from a range of flat-topped hills. He named it Chambers Pillar which, like Chambers Creek which he had also named, was to honour the wealthy pastoralist who helped to finance his expeditions.

1895  -             Banjo Paterson's 'Waltzing Matilda' is first sung in public.

Andrew Barton Paterson, or Banjo Paterson, was born on 17 February 1864, near Orange, New South Wales. Paterson was passionately nationalistic and popular among many Australians searching for their own identity separate 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. He wrote "The Man From Snowy River", "Clancy of the Overflow" and "Mulga Bill's Bicycle".

Paterson's best-known poem, however, is arguably "Waltzing Matilda". The lyrics were written in 1895, and based on the story of a man named Samuel "Frenchy" Hoffmeister. In September 1894, on the Dagworth sheep station north of Winton, some shearers were in a strike that turned violent. The strikers fired off their rifles and pistols in the air and then set fire to the woolshed at the Dagworth Homestead, killing over a hundred sheep. The owner of Dagworth Homestead and three policemen pursued Hoffmeister who, rather than be captured, shot and killed himself at a billabong.

The poem was set to a catchy tune which a friend of Paterson's had heard at the Warrnambool races. It was first performed on 6 April 1895 at the North Gregory Hotel in Winton, Queensland. The occasion was a banquet for the Premier of Queensland.

1896  -             After 1500 years of being banned, the first modern Olympic Games opens in Athens, Greece.

The first record of the Olympic Games dates back to 776 BC, although this was not the first time they were actually held. Following the commencement of records being maintained, the Games gradually increased in cultural and religious significance for the ancient Greeks. As the Romans gained power in Greece, the Games lost their importance. When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, the Olympic Games came to be seen as a pagan festival and in discord with Christian ethics, and in 393 A.D., the emperor Theodosius outlawed the Olympics, ending a thousand year period of Olympic Games.

Some 1,500 years later, the Games were revived, thanks to the efforts of a young French baron, Pierre de Coubertin. At an 1894 conference on international sport, Coubertin proposed reviving the Olympics as a major international competition that would occur every four years. The other 79 delegates representing nine countries accepted his proposal unanimously. The first modern Olympic Games were opened on 6 April 1896 in Athens, capital city of Greece.

2004  -             The Australian territory of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands officially adopts its own flag.

The Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands is located in the Indian Ocean, approximately halfway between Australia and Sri Lanka. The territory lies about 2750 kilometres northwest of Perth, Western Australia. It comprises two atolls and 27 coral islands totalling around 14 km². With a coastline of 26 kilometres and its highest elevation at 5m above sea level, its sole cash crop is coconuts. The population of around 630 is split between the ethnic Europeans on West Island and the ethnic Malays on Home Island.

The islands were discovered in 1609 by Captain William Keeling, but remained uninhabited until 1826, when the first settlement was established on the main atoll by English settler Alexander Hare. In 1857, the islands were brought under the control of the British Empire. On 23 November 1955, the islands were transferred to Australian control under the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Act 1955. Together with nearby Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands are called Australia's Indian Ocean Territories (IOTs) and since 1997 share a single Administrator resident on Christmas Island.

As an Australian territory, Cocos (Keeling) Islands carries the Australian flag, but the territory adopted its own flag on 6 April 2004. The proclamation was made by Administrator Evan Williams. The flag features the Australian sporting colours of green and gold as a background. A coconut palm on a yellow sun sits in the upper left quadrant, while a crescent moon and the Southern Cross occupy the main part of the flag.

2012  -             The inaugural Waltzing Matilda Day is held in Winton, Queensland.

Winton is a small town in the central west of Queensland, Australia. First settled in 1875, it was originally known as Pelican Waterhole. Winton lies in the heart of Queensland's sheep country. It was at nearby Dagworth sheep station that the events occurred which inspired one of Australia's most famous poets, AB 'Banjo' Paterson, to pen "Waltzing Matilda".

"Waltzing Matilda" tells the story of a swagman who steals a sheep, then jumps into a billabong to drown himself, rather than be captured by the Troopers. Paterson wrote the words in 1895, basing his poem loosely on the story of Samuel "Frenchy" Hoffmeister who, during the violent strike at Dagworth Homestead in 1894, shot and killed himself at a billabong rather than surrender to police. The poem was set to a catchy melody which a friend of Paterson's had heard at the Warrnambool races. It was first performed on 6 April 1895 at the North Gregory Hotel in Winton, Queensland during a banquet for the Premier of Queensland.

On 6 April 2012, the inaugural Waltzing Matilda Day was held in Winton. Organisers of the day said Australians should be reminded of the song's tradition and significance, and that the anniversary of the song's first performance should be marked annually. Winton's Mayor, Ed Warren, said it was important to remember the message of Waltzing Matilda, stating that the song captured "the true spirit of the Australian character. The true meaning of it is a fair go for all."

Activities to celebrate Waltzing Matilda Day included a history lecture, poetry reciting, whip cracking displays and classes, leatherwork demonstrations, bush poets and fleece spinning. The event was especially well attended by 'Grey Nomads', the older generation of Australians who enjoy travelling the country in their caravans and motorhomes.

Cheers - John

Dougwe wrote:

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1644.....,Those members of Parliament at that time must have all been " Sticks in the mud " I reckon Rocky.

Must have been the " Old days " version of " Pole Dancing " too.

---

Gday...

yeah - prudes ! !

Cheers - John

Gday...

1780  -             Colourful character Jorgen Jorgenson, whaler, English spy and convict, is born.

Jorgen Jorgenson was born on 7 April 1780 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Although he was the son of a royal clockmaker, at the age of sixteen he persuaded his father to have him apprenticed on an English collier. After four years as a sailor, he joined a whaler, travelling to Cape Town in 1799 and Port Jackson the following year. In August 1801, he joined the 'Lady Nelson' under the name of John Johnson. It was in this role that Jorgenson was present at the founding of the Tasmanian settlements of Risdon Cove in September 1803, and of Sullivan's Cove in February 1804. He claimed to be the first to harpoon a whale in the waters of the Derwent.

He was employed as a British spy for some years after that, but after becoming involved in petty crime, returned to New Holland (Australia) as a convict in 1826. Given his previous experience he was assigned various exploration tasks to the wild central highlands and West Coast of Tasmania, after which he was pardoned. He was also a keen observer of the Aboriginal way of life, and wrote about the culture and beliefs of the Tasmanian Aborigines. Jorgenson died in Hobart on 20 January 1841.   

1835  -             Major Thomas Mitchell sets out on his second expedition, determined to discredit the discoveries made by Sturt.

Major Thomas Mitchell was born in Craigend, Scotland, in 1792. He came to Australia after serving in the Army during the Napoleonic Wars, and took up the position of Surveyor-General of New South Wales. In this capacity, he undertook numerous expeditions of exploration into the NSW interior.

Mitchell's second journey set out on 7 April 1835 from Boree Station. Its purpose was to chart the course of the Darling River which Sturt had discovered some years earlier. Mitchell was determined to prove Sturt wrong in the latter's belief that the river flowed southward into the Murray, as Mitchell believed it must flow northwest. After travelling for several months and following the Darling for almost 500km, Mitchell was forced to admit that Sturt was indeed correct.

1953  -             Dag Hammarskjöld, the man later killed for his peace-keeping efforts, is elected as UN Secretary-General.

Dag Hammarskjöld was born in Sweden on 29 July 1905. His distinguished career in public service included Swedish financial affairs, Swedish foreign relations, and global international affairs. He was elected Secretary-General of the United Nations on 7 April 1953, retaining this position until his death in 1961. An excellent diplomat, in 1954-55 he personally negotiated the release of American soldiers captured by the Chinese in the Korean War. During the Suez Canal crisis of 1956, he was instrumental in getting the UN to nullify the use of force by Israel, France, and Great Britain following Egyptian President Nasser's commandeering of the Canal.

Hammarskjöld was on a peacekeeping mission the night he was killed, 18 September 1961. His plane crashed near the border between Katanga and North Rhodesia. It was never established whether his plane was deliberately shot down or whether the crash was accidental.

1990  -             A fire breaks out aboard the ship, Scandinavian Star, killing 159.

The M/S Scandinavian Star, originally known as the M/S Massalia, was a car and passenger ferry built in France in 1971. Originally owned by Compagnie de Paqueboats, the ferry was eventually sold to Scandinavian World Cruises who renamed her the Scandinavian Star and put her on cruises between Tampa, Florida and Cozumel, Mexico. During this time, in 1988, a fire started in the engine room, causing the ship to lose power and its fire fighting oxygen system to malfunction. In 1990 the Scandinavian Star was sold to Vognmandsruten and put on DA-NO Linjen's route between Oslo, Norway and Frederikshavn, Denmark.

In the early hours of 7 April 1990, after leaving Oslo bound for Frederikshaven, the ferry was engulfed by fire, later determined to be the work of an arsonist. The ship lacked sprinkler systems or any other automatic fire fighting system except for the car deck system, and there were no automatic fire detection or alarm systems. Being of different nationalities, the crew members were unable to effectively communicate with each other to coordinate the fire-fighting operations, nor were any of them trained in the correct procedures. 159 people were killed, most of them from inhaling the deadly gas produced by the highly combustible surface lining in the narrow corridors. The survivors abandoned the ship, which was then towed to Lysekil, Sweden, where the fire was not extinguished until April 18. No one was ever charged with starting the fire.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1513  -             Florida, USA, is discovered and claimed for Spain by Juan Ponce de Leon.

Juan Ponce de Leon, born around 1460, was a Spanish explorer. He sailed with Christopher Columbus on his second expedition to the Americas in 1493, but did not return to Spain with Columbus, electing to remain in Santo Domingo, now known as the Dominican Republic. He was appointed governor of the Dominican province of Higuey, but the prospect of finding gold in Puerto Rico caused him to conquer that land, claiming it also for Spain. He became governor of Puerto Rico, but was removed from office for his brutality to the Native Americans.

Ponce de Leon departed Puerto Rico in March 1513 with three ships and about 200 men. He reached the eastern coast of Florida on 8 April 1513, named it Pascua de Florida, meaning feast of flowers, and claimed it for Spain.

1802  -             Matthew Flinders meets French explorer Nicolas Baudin in South Australia, leading to the naming of Encounter Bay.

During the late 1700s and early 1800s, both France and England were seeking to expand their respective empires. Both countries claimed and colonised new lands around the world, and both countries explored lands in which the Dutch had shown little interest, such as Australia. Although James Cook formally claimed the eastern coast of Australia in 1770, this did not dissuade the French from charting the coastline, and even making a claim to the west in 1772.

Late in 1800, French explorer and naturalist Nicolas Baudin was commissioned to lead an expedition to complete a French survey of the Australian coastline, and make scientific observations, commanding two ships, 'Le Géographe' and 'Le Naturaliste'. At the same time, British explorer Matthew Flinders was also circumnavigating the continent. The French believed Terra Australis to be a single continent, while Flinders was intrigued by the possibility that Terra Australis was divided into smaller islands by straits other than the recently discovered Bass Strait.

Around 4pm on 8 April 1802, the two explorers met: Flinders was travelling east from the region known as New Holland, charting the South Australian coastline, while Baudin was heading west, having mapped from Westernport Bay. With relations tense between England and France, Flinders prepared for action, despite having knowledge of the scientific nature of the French expedition. However, Baudin signalled his peaceful intentions by flying a French ensign and the British flag. The two captains met eleven kilometres south-southeast of the mouth of the Murray River, at a point Flinders named Encounter Bay in honour of their meeting.

1817  -             Australia's first bank, the Bank of New South Wales (later Westpac) is established.

The Bank of New South Wales was founded in Sydney as the first bank in Australia on 8 April 1817 by Governor Lachlan Macquarie. Branches were initially restricted to the colony of New South Wales, but were later opened at Moreton Bay, Brisbane, in 1850, Victoria in 1851, New Zealand in 1861, South Australia in 1877, Western Australia in 1883, Fiji in 1901, and Papua New Guinea and Tasmania in 1910. In 1982, the Bank of New South Wales merged with the Commercial Bank of Australia to form the Westpac Banking Corporation, which derived its name from the fact that its major operations are in the Western Pacific.

1947  -             The largest recorded sunspot of the twentieth century is observed.

 A sunspot is a region on the Sun's surface, or photosphere, that is marked by a lower temperature than its surroundings and has intense magnetic activity. Although sunspots have temperatures of roughly 4000-4500 Kelvin, the contrast with the surrounding material at about 5800 K leaves them clearly visible as dark spots.

On 8 April 1947, the largest recorded sunspot of last century was observed. Its area was 11265 million square kilometres, or 7000 million square miles. In relation to the visible solar area, it covered 6132 millionths of that area. As a sunspot is generally considered large if it covers 300 to 500 millionths of the visible solar area, the 1947 phenomena was indeed huge.

1990  -             Teenage haemophiliac Ryan White, who received huge media attention when he was ostracised after receiving AIDS-tainted blood, dies.

Ryan White, born on 6 December 1971, was a teenager from Kokomo, Indiana, USA, who suffered from the rare blood disease haemophilia. As part of his treatment for haemophilia, he was required to receive regular blood transfusions. One of these transfusions infected him with the AIDs virus, and by December 1984, he had developed full-blown AIDS.

Upon his return to school, Ryan was bullied and ostracised by classmates, whilst parents demanded he stay away from their children. He was expelled from his school, Western School Corporation, because of the perceived health risk to other students. His situation became a controversial case in North America with AIDS activists lobbying to have him reinstated while attempting to explain to the public that AIDS cannot be transmitted by casual contact. Ryan won the case, but later transferred to Hamilton Heights School District, in nearby Cicero, Indiana, where he was received unconditionally by faculty and students who were fully educated into the nature of HIV.

Ryan received a great deal of media attention because he was a heterosexual white middle class boy, as opposed to gay men and intravenous drug users who were normally associated with the disease. Before Ryan died, he worked to educate people on the nature of HIV and AIDS, to show that it was safe to associate with people who were HIV-positive. Ryan died on 8 April 1990. His funeral was a standing-room only event held at the Second Presbyterian Church on Meridian Street in Indianapolis, Indiana.   

Cheers - John

Gday...

1865  -             Ruthless bushranger, "Mad" Dan Morgan, is shot dead.

It is unknown on which date, exactly, Dan Morgan was born, but it is believed that he was born in 1830, and adopted in 1832 by John Roberts, with whom he stayed until the age of 17. Morgan's first job was as a stockman in the Murrumbidgee River area.

Morgan's life of crime began with the theft of two horses in 1847. After moving to the Victorian goldfields, he progressed to more crimes, including further horse theft, until he was arrested in 1854. He was sentenced to 12 years' jail at Pentridge, where he underwent hard labour on the prison hulks in Port Phillip Bay.

After absconding on ticket-of-leave in 1860, Morgan moved to the Lambing Flat district of NSW, where the town of Young now stands. Between 1863 and 1865 he earned a reputation as a particularly vicious and ruthless bushranger, committing a number of murders. The reward for his capture was raised to 500 pounds in 1864.

Morgan was finally caught after he held several workers hostage at Peechelba Station. When the police party arrived on 9 April 1865, Morgan was shot through the back during a standoff. He was buried in the Wangaratta cemetery.

1867  -             Australias third Prime Minister, John Chris Watson, is born.

John Christian (Chris) Watson was Australias first foreign-born Prime Minister. Watson was born on 9 April 1867 at Valparaiso, Chile. His mother was New Zealand citizen Martha Minchin, and his father was ships officer Johan Christian Tanck. Watsons parents separated a year after his birth, and in 1869, his mother married George Thomas Watson, a New Zealand seaman, giving his name to her son.

Watson, who went by the name of Christian, or Chris, attended school in Oamaru, New Zealand, but left when he was ten. He worked as a nipper on the railways, and briefly as a printer's assistant, before serving an apprenticeship as a compositor on the North Otago Times. Always interested in the trade union movement, by the time he was 19 he had joined the local typographers' union and the New Zealand Land League. That same year, 1886, Watson lost his job in New Zealand, so moved to Sydney, where he initially worked as a stablehand at Government House. He then worked for a short time as a compositor on the Daily Telegraph and Sydney Morning Herald. In 1888, he was encouraged by William Traill, editor of the Sydney Mail, to work at the new protectionist paper, the Australian Star.

Dedicated to working on behalf of the underdog, Watson became a founding member of the New South Wales Labor Party in 1891. He continued his interest in the trade union movement, and became Vice-President of the Sydney Trades and Labour Council in 1892, and President a year later. Watson believed in trade unionism as the most pragmatic and versatile means of supporting the fledgling Labor Party through the political changes that were propelling the Australian colonies towards Federation and national government. He was a key player in the policies that shaped the emerging Australian Constitution. In July 1894, he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the Labor candidate for the seat of Young in central New South Wales, a seat he retained until 1901, when he left State parliament to enter the first Federal parliament. At the first Australian federal election which was held on 29 March 1901, Watson was elected as the Labor candidate for the House of Representatives seat of Bland, a rural seat in New South Wales which encompassed his former State electorate, and in April 1901 he became the first leader of the Labor Party in Federal Parliament.

The Federal Government under Alfred Deakin resigned on 27 April 1904, as Labor's amendment to the Conciliation and Arbitration Bill had made the governments positon untenable. Watson was then appointed both Prime Minister and Treasurer, commissioned to form what became the first federal Labor government. However, with only 26 members, the Labor Party could not retain office, and fell just over four months later, on 17 August 1904, due to an amendment being passed against the government's Arbitration Bill, which had aimed to give preference in employment to union members. Less than a year later, Watson helped bring down George Houston Reids Free Traders government, on 28 August. He then won the seat of South Sydney in the 1906 general election.

Watson resigned as Labor Party leader in 1907 due to illness, and retired from politics altogether in April 1910. He died on 18 November 1941.

1895  -             Astronomer James Keeler proves that the rings of Saturn are made up of particles, not solid as previously believed.

The gas giant Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest planet in the solar system after Jupiter. It is distinguishable by the prominent system of rings which surrounds it. The rings were first observed by Galileo Galilei in 1610, but only identified as actual rings by Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens in 1655. In 1675, Giovanni Domenico Cassini determined that what had been perceived as a single ring was actually composed of numerous smaller rings with gaps between them; the largest of these gaps was later named the Cassini Division. It was believed, however, that the rings were solid.

Scotsman James Clerk Maxwell, born in 1831, was a mathematical physicist who studied the interaction of moving particles. In 1857, he determined that Saturn's rings must consist of small particles. His 1859 paper, On the Stability of Motion of Saturn's Rings, concluded that the rings could not be completely solid or fluid. Maxwell demonstrated that stability of the rings could ensue only if the rings consisted of numerous small solid particles.

The man who proved Maxwell's theory was James Edward Keeler, an American astronomer born in 1857. On 9 April 1895, he did a spectrogram of Saturn's rings. Using light reflected from Saturn's rings, he showed that particles in the inner part of a ring moved at a different rotational speed from those in more distance parts of a ring. By this, he proved that they could not be solid objects because they did not rotate at a uniform rate; rather, they had to consist of a swarm of small individual objects.

1903  -             Australian navy ship HMQS Gayundah, previously involved in a mutiny on the Brisbane River, transmits the first wireless message received from a ship at sea to an Australian wireless station.

The development of the wireless telegraphy system, which came to be known as "radio" is attributed to Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi. Marconi first demonstrated the transmission and reception of Morse Code-based radio signals over a distance of 2 or more kilometres in England in 1896, and from this point began the development and expansion of radio technology around the world.

The HMQS Gayundah was a British gunboat which was deployed in Queensland waters under the command of British ex-Royal Navy Captain Henry Townley Wright as part of the colonial governments response to concerns about the Russian presence in the Pacific. When the Russian threat proved non-existent, the ship was anchored in the Brisbane River. Questionable conduct by Captain Wright and the attempts by the Queensland government to remove him, led to the incident known as the Mutiny on the Gayundah on 25 October 1888. During this episode, the Captain asked his gunner where the Gayundah's aft 6-inch gun should be aimed in order to hit the Queensland Parliament building. Wright was escorted from the vessel by the Queensland police.

Following this, the Gayundah served as a training ship. After Federation in 1901, the Gayundah became part of the Commonwealth Naval Forces, and was involved in experiments with ship-to-shore wireless telegraphy. On 9 April 1903, the Gayundah transmitted the first wireless message received from a ship at sea to an Australian wireless station. She was later used as a guard ship in Australian waters during World War I. Upon formation of the Royal Australian Navy in 1911, the Gayundah was redesignated HMAS Gayundah, and put into service patrolling Australia's water borders along the north-west coast of the continent. The vessel was decommissioned in 1921, becoming a gravel carrier for private company Brisbane Gravel Pty Ltd. In the 1950s, she was sold for scrap, although her hull was later sold to Redcliffe Town Council. In 1958, the Gayundah was beached as a breakwater near the cliffs at Woody Point, Redcliffe, where she remains as a rusty skeleton.

1945  -             Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor, theologian and participant in the resistance movement against Nazism, is executed.

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

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

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

1947  -             The Ghost of Point Hicks legend is spawned when a newspaper reports on the mysterious disappearance of a lighthouse keeper from Cape Everard, Victoria.

Point Hicks, near the Victoria-New South Wales border on Australia's southeastern coast, was the first part of mainland Australia sighted by James Cook in 1770. On 19 April 1770, officer of the watch, Lieutenant Zachary Hicks, sighted land and alerted Captain Cook. Making out low sandhills, Cook named the cape Point Hicks, but the name was changed to Cape Everard during the mid 1800s after its original name fell into disuse. The name "Point Hicks" was reinstated as part of the bicentenary celebrations of Cook's journey up the eastern coast. A lighthouse was built on this remote location on the Wilderness Coast in far east Gippsland in 1887-88, and began operations in 1890.

When still known as Cape Everard, it was the scene of a mystery. Former police trooper and World war II Prisoner-of-war, Robert Grace Christofferson (or Kristoferson) had sought seclusion following his discharge from the Army in 1945, and been assigned as assistant lighthouse-keeper at the Cape Everard Lightstation. Early in the morning of 3 April 1947, Christofferson went to check on crayfish pots on the rocks at the base of the lighthouse. He never returned. It was believed he must have been washed off the rocks. Although police searched for six days, no trace of his body was ever found.

On 9 April 1947, the Snowy River Mail reported the strange disappearance from Cape Everard, giving rise to what became known as the legend of the ghost of Point Hicks. It is said by those who like a romantic ghost story that Christofferson's hob-nailed boots can be heard climbing the magnificent spiral staircase to the top of the lighthouse, or in the pantry of his cottage. Apparently, he has even been known to shine brass door knobs and vents inside the lighthouse...

2003  -             Iraqis and US troops pull down a massive statue of Saddam Hussein in a show of contempt for the dictator.

Saddam Hussein, born 28 April 1937 in Tikrit, Iraq, was dictator of Iraq from 1979 until 2003. He led Iraq through a decade-long war with Iran. He was also responsible for the invasion of Kuwait in 1990 which led to the Gulf War the following year. Following the terrorist attacks on New York's Twin Towers in 2001, Hussein, though not directly responsible for the attacks, came under renewed pressure from the United States, which sought to remove the dictator from power.

Early in April 2003, US tanks rolled into Baghdad, the capital city of Iraq, in preparation for the battle which would topple Hussein's regime. On 9 April 2003, Iraqis unhappy with a leader who squandered millions whilst ignoring the plight of the poverty-stricken, scaled the enormous statue of Hussein which stood in the central square of Baghdad, and attempted to bring it down with a rope. They were joined by US troops who used an armoured vehicle to help pull down the statue. One US soldier draped an American flag over the face of the broken statue, but after the crowd showed their disapproval of the gesture, the flag was replaced with an Iraqi one.

Hussein disappeared, but he was captured by US forces on 13 December 2003 after being located hiding in a small underground pit on a farm near the town of Tikrit. His trial occurred over many months during 2006, and on 5 November 2006, Hussein was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging. Saddam Hussein was executed on 30 December 2006 at approximately 06:10 local time, at Camp Justice, an Iraqi army base in northeast Baghdad.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1633  -             Bananas first arrive in Britain.

Bananas have been cultivated in southeast Asia for thousands of years. It is believed that banana cultivation originated in Papua New Guinea, possibly as early as 3000 BC. In 1502, Portuguese colonists started the first banana plantations in the Caribbean and in Central America. Bananas first arrived in Britain on 10 April 1633, when a bunch shipped over from Bermuda was exhibited in the shop window of herbalist Thomas Johnson of Snow Hill, London. They were not regularly imported into Britain until the late 1800s when tea merchant Edward Wathen Fyffe discovered they were readily available in the Canary Islands. He then began importing the fruit, introducing Fyffes blue label in 1929.

In 1999, a banana skin was found at an archaeological site dating back to the Tudor period, circa 1500, on the banks of the Thames River. This suggests that bananas possibly appeared in Britain some 150 years earlier than official records indicate.          

1710  -             The first copyright law is passed.

The purpose of copyright law is to protect the manner and medium by which ideas are expressed, for example, in written, artistic, musical, electronic or digital forms.

The world's first known copyright law was passed in England by the British Parliament on 10 April 1710. Known as the Queen Anne Statute, it was passed as 'An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by vesting the Copies of Printed Books in the Authors or purchasers of such Copies, during the Times therein mentioned'. It was the first act to protect the written form of authors, and has since been expanded to include all media. Modern copyright laws have evolved from this original act of parliament.

1815  -             92,000 people are killed as a result of the eruption of Mt Tambora, Indonesia.

Mount Tambora is a volcano on the island of Sumbawa, Indonesia. Although there are few accurate records, evidence indicates that Tambora was 4,000 metres high and 60 kilometres in diameter at sea level. By the 18th century it was believed to be dormant. Approximately 140,000 natives lived in safety on Sumbawa, while 12,000 people lived in a few villages and towns clustered on the Sanggar Peninsula, where Tambora lay.

The first sign of trouble began on 6 April 1815, when light ash began falling over Batavia, and there were rumblings from within the earth, although Tamboar was not the volcano identified as the likely source of the activity. On 10 April 1815, numerous loud explosions could be heard, whilst small rocks and ash began falling. In the late afternoon, the volcano erupted with devastating force. The eruption affected the Maluku Islands (Molucca Islands), Java, and parts of Sulawesi (Celebes), Sumatra, and Borneo. Heavy ash rained down upon the islands of Bali and Lombok. The explosive force had around 4 times the energy of the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa and it ejected an estimated 100 cubic km of melted rock. The resultant caldera was 7km in width. After the eruption, Mt Tambora was reduced to only 2851m in height.

It has been estimated that 10,000 people were killed because of ash and rockfall and pyroclastic flows, whilst starvation and disease in the aftermath caused the deaths of another 82,000. All vegetation on the surrounding islands was razed. 1816 became known as "the Year Without a Summer" because of the extreme weather conditions the eruption caused. The effects extended as far as the northeastern United States and eastern Canada.

1811  -             Australia's first toll road opens.

Toll roads and toll bridges are public roadways and thoroughfares which drivers must pay to use. They are believed to have existed in a variety of forms for around 2700 years, with the earliest known toll road thought to be the highway connecting Susa and Babylon. Toll roads and bridges continued to be used through the Middle Ages, in the Holy Roman Empire, as well as across Asia.

As continents were colonised, the practice of implementing toll roads continued. When Governor Lachlan Macquarie arrived in New South Wales in 1810, he upheld high standards for the development of New South Wales from penal colony to free settlement, including improved infrastructure. Macquarie ordered the construction of roads, bridges, wharves, churches and public buildings and introduced a building code. Funds for road construction were to come from Government funds, public subscription and the establishment of toll roads. Private operators were permitted to construct roads and maintain them for ten years, under the colony's new, strict standards; in return, they collected the tolls to pay for their own costs.

Australias first toll road was a newly constructed turnpike road from Sydney to Parramatta. It opened on 10 April 1811, with one toll bar positioned in George St, Haymarket and the other at the Boundary Road end in Parramatta. This was a successful arrangement, as a profit of $930 was made in 1815 alone from the tolls on the Sydney to Parramatta road.

1829  -             William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, is born.

William Booth was born on 10 April 1829 in Sneinton, Nottingham, England. Though his father was wealthy when he was born, financial mismanagement saw the family plunged into poverty, and young William was apprenticed to a pawnbroker at the age of thirteen. He became the family's chief provider when his father died later that same year. Several years later, Booth was converted to Christianity, studying and teaching himself in order to be a Methodist lay preacher, whilst supplementing his income with pawn-broking. Lack of work for lay preachers led him to open-air evangelising in the streets and on Kennington common. In 1851 Booth joined the Wesleyan Reform Union, and on 10 April 1852, his 23rd birthday, he left pawnbroking and became a full-time preacher at their headquarters at Binfield Chapel in Clapham.

Booth still sought to evangelise, and when his repeated requests for more time for evangelistic campaigns were refused by his church, he resigned from the ministry and became a full time evangelist. He became known for preaching the gospel to the poor and underprivileged. When William Booth preached the first of nine sermons in a tattered tent on an unused Quaker cemetery in London on 2 July 1865, the East London Christian Mission was born. Booth and his wife held meetings every evening and on Sundays, to offer repentance, salvation and Christian ethics to the poorest and most needy, including alcoholics, criminals and prostitutes. He and his followers practised what they preached, performing self-sacrificing Christian and social work, such as opening Food for the Million shops (soup kitchens), not caring if they were scoffed at or derided for their Christian ministry work.

In 1878, the organisation became known as the Salvation Army. They adopted a uniform and adapted Christian words to popular tunes sung in the public bars.

1858  -             Big Ben, the bell in the Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster in London, is cast.

Big Ben is the name of the largest bell, properly called the Great Bell of Westminster, in the Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster in London. Whilst the name Big Ben is often used to describe the clock tower as a whole, it actually refers specifically to the principal bell within the tower.

The bell was cast in London at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry on 10 April 1858, which was where America's Liberty Bell was also cast in 1753. Contrary to popular belief, Big Ben is not the heaviest bell in Britain: that honour goes to Great Paul, at 17.002 t, found at St Paul's Cathedral. The second heaviest is Great George, found at Liverpool Cathedral, and weighing 15.013 t. Big Ben is third heaviest, and weighs 13,762 t.

The bell originally intended for the tower was cast by John Warner and Sons in Stockton-on-Tees in 1856. However, it cracked under test. The current bell, cast by Whitechapel, also began to crack after use, and was out of commission for two years. Eventually, the 300 kg hammer was replaced with a 200 kg hammer, and the bell was turned 90° so the crack would not develop any further. However, the crack, which has now been filled, and the turn means that it no longer strikes a true E.

1912  -             The RMS Titanic departs on its maiden voyage.

The RMS Titanic was the largest passenger steamship in the world at the time of its launching. It was a White Star Line ocean liner built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland and, along with its sister ships Olympic and the soon to be built Britannic, was intended to compete with rival company Cunard Line's Lusitania and Mauretania. The interior of the luxury ship was completed in January 1912, and the finishing touches were completed by early February. the Titanic was considered the pinnacle of naval architecture and technological achievement, and reported by The Shipbuilder magazine to be "practically unsinkable.

The Titanic underwent sea trials near Belfast for a total of 30 minutes in the opening days of April, and the trials were deemed successful. The ship then departed on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, bound for New York City, New York, the day after the sea trials, Wednesday, 10 April 1912, with Captain Edward J Smith in command.

On 14 April 1912, the Titanic sank. Captain Smith, in response to iceberg warnings received via wireless over the previous days, had altered Titanic's course about 20 km south of the normal shipping route. At 1:45pm, a message from the steamer Amerika warned that large icebergs lay in Titanic's path, but this warning, and others, were never relayed to the bridge. The ship hit an iceberg shortly after 11:40pm on the 14th, buckling the hull in several places and popping out rivets below the waterline over a length of 90 metres. The watertight doors closed as water started filling the first five watertight compartments, one more than Titanic could stay afloat with. The huge volume of water weighed the ship down past the top of the watertight bulkheads, allowing water to flow into the other compartments. While some passengers were able to access the lifeboats quickly, third-class passengers, many of whom were immigrants hoping to find a better life in America, were unable to navigate their way to the lifeboats through the complex of corridors. All first- and second-class children save one survived the sinking, but more third-class women and children were lost than saved. In all, 1517 people were lost in the disaster, whilst 706 survived.       

2015  -             Australian cricket great, Richie Benaud, dies.

The sport of cricket is regarded as synonymous with Australia. Although Australia has no official sport, cricket is considered the countrys unofficial sport, and many great cricketers have become heroes to generations of Australians. Richard Richie Benaud is one such cricketing legend whose contribution to cricket not only improved national interest in the game, but made him a household name. Benaud was born in Penrith, New South Wales, on 6 October 1930. He was a Test Cricket all-rounder and later Australian Test captain whose career began at age 18, when he was selected to play for the New South Wales Colts, the state youth team. During his extensive career, Benaud played 63 Tests for Australia. He was the first Australian player to score 2,000 Test runs and take 200 Test wickets, and as Captain, he never lost a series.

After Benaud retired from Test cricket in 1964, he became a full time cricket journalist and commentator. As with all things cricket, he distinguished himself in this capacity as well, being regarded as a top caller and analyst of cricket. With his distinctive speaking style and his trademark cream jacket, Benaud was a recognisable figure. Benaud became part of Australian cricket folklore not only for his presence in the cricketing world, but also for his numerous awards. In 1961, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to cricket. In 1985, he was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985, while in 1999 he was awarded a Logie Award for Most Outstanding Sports Broadcaster. In 2007, he was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame at the Allan Border Medal award evening and in 2009 he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. Benaud died, aged 84, on 10 April 2015 after a battle with skin cancer.

Cheers - John

Hello rockylizard
Re 1912 - The RMS Titanic departs on its maiden voyage.

Two lessons were learned from the Titanic sinking disaster, it was made compulsory:-
For each ship to carry enough lifeboats, for all who were aboard
And to have trained seamen, keep a 24 hour radio watch (Morse Code)

In 1933 my father, (his family), had to pay to learn Morse Code, for him to become a 14 year old, radio room watch man.
He told me that people were lucky to obtain employment back in the good old days

Gday...

1890  -             Joseph Merrick, the 'Elephant Man', dies.

Joseph Carey Merrick was born on 5 August 1862 in Leicester, England. He began showing signs of deformity when he was only two. Merrick's mother died when he was eleven, and after no relatives wanted him, he was forced to earn his living selling shoe polish. He was nicknamed the "Elephant Man" because of the abnormal masses of flesh which developed on his face and body. Other employment doors were closed to him, so in desperation, he offered himself as a sideshow attraction. Recent studies have suggested that Merrick suffered either from neurofibromatosis type I, a genetic disorder also known as von Recklinghausen's disease, or Proteus syndrome, which affects tissue other than nerves - or even a combination of the two.

Merrick was only treated decently when he was befriended by Dr Frederick Treves, a surgeon at London Hospital. Treves often referred to him as "John", so it is a common misconception that the Elephant Man's name was John Merrick. Merrick became something of a celebrity in High Victorian society, eventually becoming a favourite of Queen Victoria. He was well cared for at the hospital, and immersed himself in writing both prose and poetry. Merrick died on 11 April 1890 after the weight of his malformed head suffocated him in his sleep.

1961  -             The trial of Adolf Eichmann, 'Chief Executioner of the Third Reich', begins.

  Adolf Eichmann was a member of the Austrian Nazi party in World War II. After his promotion to the Gestapo's Jewish section, he was essentially responsible for the extermination of millions of Jews during the war. He is often referred to as the 'Chief Executioner' of the Third Reich. After the war Eichmann escaped to Argentina in South America, but was located and captured by the Israeli secret service in 1960.

Eichmann's trial in front of an Israeli court in Jerusalem started on 11 April 1961. He faced fifteen criminal charges, including crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people and war crimes. As part of Israeli criminal procedure, his trial was presided over by three judges instead of a jury, all of whom were refugees from the Nazi regime in Germany. Eichmann was protected by a bulletproof glass booth and guarded by two men whose families had not suffered directly at the hands of the Nazis. Eichmann was convicted on all counts and sentenced to death on 15 December 1961. He was hanged a few minutes after midnight on 1 June 1962 at Ramla prison, the only civil execution ever carried out in Israel.

1965  -             271 people are killed in the third deadliest tornado outbreak in US history.

Tornadoes are violent spinning storms typically shaped like a funnel with the narrow end on the ground. They are extremely destructive and are almost always visible due to water vapour from clouds and debris from the ground. Tornadoes can form in storms all over the world, but they form most famously in a broad area of the American Midwest and South known as Tornado Alley.

On Palm Sunday, 11 April 1965, six Midwest states experienced an outbreak of 47 confirmed tornadoes which left a total of 271 people dead and 3,400 injured. The worst-hit state was Indiana, in which 137 people died and 1,700 were injured as ten tornadoes cut a swathe of destruction in the late afternoon and early evening. Property damage exceeded $30 million. Some warnings were not received in time because many people were attending church, being Palm Sunday, an important day in the Christian calendar.

1992  -             It is reported that a tiny tooth has changed beliefs about the origins of Australian marsupials.

The scientific world has long upheld the belief that marsupials are an inferior species, only surviving in Australia due to the absence of placental mammals. For years, it was believed that, when the Australian continental land mass broke away from the Antarctic, marsupials were the only mammals present. They were then able to thrive, in the isolation of an island continent.

On 11 April 1992, Science News reported that an ancient tiny fossil tooth from a placental mammal had been discovered in New South Wales. This discovery overturned traditional belief that marsupials dominated the continent by default. The presence of the tiny tooth has proven to the scientific world that marsupials were forced to compete with placental mammals, resulting in the eventual extinction of the latter.

2008  -             It is reported that a perfectly preserved baby woolly mammoth has given scientists the most detailed information regarding mammoth physiology.

Mammoths were ancient relatives of elephants. Distinctive for their long curved tusks, they are velieved to have died out around 4,500 years ago.

On 11 April 2008, newspapers and scientific publications reported that the discovery of a perfectly preserved baby mammoth a year earlier had given new insights into the physiology of woolly mammoths. "Lyuba" was a female baby mammoth so named after the wife of the nomadic reindeer tribesman who found it. The mammoth calf was found in the remote Yamalo-Nenetsk region in May 2007. One hundred and thirty centimetres long, 90 centimetres tall and weighing only 50 kilogrammes, the creatures was estimated to have been between three and four months old at the time it died.

The body of the mammoth was so perfectly preserved that it still had its trunk intact, eyes inplace and small tufts of fur on its skin. Using computer tomography (CT) scans, scientists were able to gain 3-D images of Lyuba's innards, including her heart, liver, and other organs. The presence of silt and mud in its trunk, mouth, and digestive tract indicated the mammoth had died by drowning.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1861  -             The US civil war begins.

The US civil war began over the issue of slavery. The first African slaves arrived in North America in 1526, and though the practice of slavery took many years to become popular, it thrived under British colonialism. On 1 January 1808 American Congress voted to ban further importation of slaves, but children of slaves automatically became slaves themselves. There was no legislation against the internal US slave trade, or against the involvement in the international slave trade and the outfitting of ships for that trade by US citizens.

Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, was not in favour of abolition of slavery, but he opposed its expansion into new territories and states in the American West. It was this issue that led to the secession of the southern states to form the Confederate States of America, and ultimately also led to the Civil War. Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor had caused tension between the Union and Confederacy for several months, as the Union could not allow it to fall into the hands of the Confederacy, and it was a stronghold which the latter wished to capture. When Confederates fired on the fort on 12 April 1861, it signalled the beginning of the US civil war.

1895  -             The Spotswood Sewer Disaster occurs in Melbourne, killing 6.

Westgate Memorial Park located in Spotswood, Melbourne, Australia, is a tribute to some of the Australian workers who have lost their lives in work-related accidents. The Memorial Park opened on 15 October 2004, and is particularly dedicated to those who were killed and injured in the collapse of the Westgate Bridge, Melbourne, and the Spotswood Sewer disaster.

The construction of the Melbourne Sewer system, begun in 1892, was a huge civil engineering undertaking. Its design involved a network of gravitational sewers which would bring sewerage from throughout Melbourne to a central pumping station at Spotswood. From there, it would be pumped to a treatment plant at Werribee, on the western side of Port Phillip Bay.

In order to tunnel underneath the Yarra River, a special Gateshead tunnelling shield was imported from Britain. The shield incorporated a sharp steel lip on the leading edge of a 3.4m wide tunnelling cylinder, designed to cut into the rock as the shield moved forwards. Because the tunnel was below the water level of the river, pumps were employed to continually drain water from the work area. Eventually, an airlock consisting of two 1.5m thick brick walls set 4.5m apart in the tunnel, each with a thick steel door containing a small glass peephole, was constructed to reduce the water flow through the tunnel.

By Good Friday, 12 April 1895, construction of the tunnel had almost reached the centre of the river, where it was just 3.3m below the riverbed. Around 8:00pm that evening, water burst through the tunnel at the leading edge of the Gatehead Shield. Five men working the nightshift and an engineer were all drowned as water swamped the workings. All men were local residents. Their deaths are commemorated in a monument which was unveiled on 18 October 1996, and is now incorporated into the Westgate Memorial Park.

1929  -             Missing aviator Charles Kingsford-Smith is located, but would-be rescuers Bobby Hitch**** and Keith Anderson die in the process.

Charles Edward Kingsford Smith, nicknamed 'Smithy', was born on 9 February 1897 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Passionately interested in flying and mechanics from an early age, he became one of Australia's best-known aviators.

Late in March 1929, Charles Kingsford-Smith, Charles Ulm and their crew departed from Sydney in the 'Southern Cross' to fly across Australia. A day later, they transmitted the radio message, "We are about to make a forced landing in bad country". No further word was heard, and the worst was feared. A rescue mission was mounted, but no trace could be found of the aircraft or her crew.

On April 4th, aviator Keith Anderson and his mechanic, Bobby Hitch****, departed Sydney in the aircraft 'Kookaburra' on a privately sponsored search. Preparation of the Kookaburra was inadequate, as the craft had no radio, little food and water, and a limited tool kit. It also carried 180 kilograms of excess weight in fuel. Anderson ignored a telegram from the Department of Civil Aviation advising against continuing with the flight. Further engine trouble caused a forced landing 128 km from Wave Hill, and damage from the landing prevented Anderson from taking off. Navigational problems had caused the Kookaburra to be east of its proposed course, and rescue parties were unable to locate the machine.

On 12 April 1929, the missing 'Southern Cross' was located, to the relief of the nation. The crew had waited unhurt, though with limited supplies, on mud flats near the Glenelg River in Western Australia's north-west. However, Hitch**** and Anderson were still missing. The Kookaburra and its crew were not found until April 21st, when Captain Lester Brain, piloting a Qantas aircraft, spotted the wreck in the Tanami Desert and dropped water. A ground crew reached the plane eight days later, to find the crew had all died of starvation and thirst. The bodies were initially buried in the desert, but eventually returned for proper funeral services. Costs of recovering the Kookaburra proved too prohibitive, and it was not until Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith located the aircraft in 1977 that plans were made for its retrieval. The remains of the plane were set up on permanent display at Alice Springs in 1982.

1961  -             Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person to be launched into space.

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was born on 9 March 1934 in Klushino near Gzhatsk, which was later renamed Gagarin in his honour. Flying light aircraft became a hobby for him until he entered military flight training at the Orenburg Pilot's School in 1955. In 1960 Gagarin was selected for the Soviet space program, where he was subjected to a punishing series of experiments designed to test his physical and psychological endurance, as well as training relating to the upcoming flight. He excelled in all areas, and his height of only 157cm made him an ideal choice as the first to launch into space.

Gagarin was launched into space in Vostok 3KA-2, or Vostok 1, on 12 April 1961. Soviet authorities did not expect him to survive the descent back through Earth's atmosphere, so in-flight, he was promoted from Senior Lieutenant to Major. Gagarin did survive, and he became an instant, worldwide celebrity, touring widely to promote the Soviet achievement.

Gagarin died on 27 March 1968 when he was killed in a crash of a MiG-15 on a routine training flight near Kirzhach, together with his instructor. A 1986 inquest suggested that the turbulence from an Su-11 interceptor aeroplane using its afterburners may have caused Gagarin's plane to go out of control. Weather conditions were also poor at the time.

1981  -             Space Shuttle Columbia, the world's first reusable space vehicle, is launched into space.

Space Shuttle Columbia, the world's first reusable space vehicle, was the first space shuttle in NASA's orbital fleet. Columbia was named after the Boston-based sloop Columbia, captained by American Robert Gray, which explored the Pacific Northwest and became the first American vessel to circumnavigate the world. Space Shuttle Columbia's first mission launched on 12 April 1981 and lasted until April 14, during which it orbited the Earth 36 times. The mission commander was John W Young, with pilot Robert Crippen.

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

2010  -             Nine people are killed in Italy as a mudslide knocks a train from its tracks.

The town of Merano, Italy is a town in the provence of Bolzano-Bozen, a region known for its spa resorts. The town lies in a valley surrounded by tall mountains at the far northern end of Italy, on the Austrian border.

On the morning of 12 April 2010, a small diesel train was travelling along one of the region's newest rail lines, the Val Vensota line, when it was knocked from its tracks by a mudslide. The derailment occurred in a gorge and rescuers were forced to use cables to secure the train when its front carriage was left hanging over the river Adige. A broken irrigation pipe was believed to have caused the landslide, and resulted in mud flowing into one of the carriages, killing nine of the passengers and injuring another 28.

Cheers - John

Hello rockylizard
Re 1961 - Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person to be launched into space.
Soviet authorities did not expect him to survive the descent back through Earth's atmosphere, so in-flight, he was promoted from Senior Lieutenant to Major.

This is the first time I had read that he was not expected to survive, as they certainly did not mention this back in the day

It now appears that he did not exactly land with his spacecraft. He jumped out at around 7 kilometres from the ground, with his own parachute, while the spacecraft also had its own parachute.
It appears that this was a state secret for a few decades.

In any case it certainly was an historic step for mankind.

Gday...

1570  -             Guy Fawkes, conspirator in the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, is born.

Guy Fawkes (later also known as Guido Fawkes) was born on 13 April 1570, in Stonegate, York, England. He embraced Catholicism while still in his teens, and later served for many years as a soldier gaining considerable expertise with explosives; both of these events were crucial to his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

From 1563, legislation evolved which demanded citizens recognise the King as Supreme Governor of the Church. Refusal to submit was punishable by death. The Gunpowder Plot was an attempt by a group of Catholic extremists to assassinate King James I of England, his family, and most of the Protestant aristocracy in one hit by blowing up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening. A group of conspirators rented a cellar beneath the House of Lords and filled it with 2.5 tonnes of gunpowder. However, one of the conspirators, who feared for the life of fellow Catholics who would have been present at parliament during the opening, wrote a letter to Lord Monteagle. Monteagle, in turn, warned the authorities. Fawkes, who was supposed to have lit the fuse to explode the gunpowder, was arrested during a raid on the cellar early on the morning of 5 November 1605. Fawkes was tortured into revealing the names of his co-conspirators. Those who were not killed immediately were placed on trial, during which they were sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered in London. Climbing up to the hanging platform, Fawkes leapt off the ladder, breaking his neck and dying instantly.

November 5 came to be known as Guy Fawkes Day. At dusk, citizens across Britain light bonfires, set off fireworks, and burn effigies of Guy Fawkes, celebrating his failure to blow up Parliament and James I.

1888  -             Alfred Nobel reads his own obituary, which inspires him to leave the legacy of the Nobel Prizes.

Alfred Bernhard Nobel, born in Stockholm in 21 October 1833, was a Swedish chemist, engineer armaments manufacturer and the inventor of dynamite. Although a dramatist and poet, he became famous for his advances in chemistry and physics, and by the time he died on 10 December 1896, he held over 350 patents and controlled factories and laboratories in 20 countries.

Eight years prior to his death, on 13 April 1888, Nobel opened the newspaper to discover an obituary to himself. Although it was his brother Ludwig who had actually died, the obituary described Alfred Nobel's own achievements, believing it was he who had died. The obituary condemned Nobel for inventing dynamite, an explosive which caused the deaths of so many. It is said that this experience led Nobel to choose to leave a better legacy to the world after his death. On 27 November 1895 at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris, Nobel signed his last will and testament and set aside the bulk of his enormously wealthy estate to establish the Nobel Prizes, to be awarded annually without distinction of nationality. Nobel died of a cerebral haemorrhage on 10 December 1896.

The Nobel Prize is considered one of the most prestigious awards in the world and includes a cash prize of nearly one million dollars. The fields for which the awards can be given are physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and toward the promotion of international peace. In 1968 the prize field was extended to include economic science.

1964  -             A New Zealand shearer sets a new record for sheep-shearing.

New Zealand, like Australia, is known for having a higher population of sheep than people. Sheep were first introduced to the country by Reverend Samuel Marsden of the Anglican Church Missionary Society, when he arrived at Rangihoua at Oihi Bay in December 1814. By 1868, New Zealand had developed its own breed of sheep, the Corriedale.

Prior to the establishment of the World Sheep Shearing Records Committee in 1982, the world shearing record belonged to New Zealand shearer Colin Bosher. Bosher, of Awakino, Taranaki, sheared a record of 565 sheep in one day on 13 April 1964.

1969  -             The last tram to operate in Brisbane, Australia, completes its final run.

A tram is a rail-borne vehicle, lighter than a train, for the transport of passengers. Brisbane, capital city of Queensland, Australia, once ran an extensive tram network. Brisbanes first trams were drawn by horse and were introduced in 1885. Electric trams followed in 1897 and by the 1950s, the New Farm powerhouse and eight substations supported the city's tramway network. However, as with several other Australian cities, buses began to gradually replace trams in Brisbane. The last tram to operate in Brisbane completed its final run on 13 April 1969. A single disused tramline runs through the suburb of Carina, a final legacy of this once popular form of transport.

Trams still run extensively in Melbourne, capital of Victoria, as its wide streets and geometric street pattern makes trams more practicable than in other cities. In Adelaide, capital of South Australia, one tramline operates, originating from the city centre and terminating at Glenelg, and some trams still run in the old goldrush city of Bendigo in rural Victoria.

1990  -             The Soviet government admits to the massacre of 5,000 Polish army officers in Katyn Forest, western Russia.

The Katyn Forest Massacre was a mass execution of Polish citizens by the Soviet Union in World War II. Between 3 April and 19 May 1940, about 22,000 Polish prisoners were rounded up and placed in internment camps, from where they were executed. Of these, nearly 5,000 Polish military reserve officers were taken to the Katyn Forest outside of Smolensk, where they were massacred and thrown into a mass grave. The incident was covered up until 1943, when the Germans announced that they had unearthed thousands of corpses in the Katyn Forest. This precipitated a rupture of diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and the Polish government-in-exile in London. For years, the Soviet Union denied all responsibility for the massacres.

Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev promoted a policy of openness in its politics. On 13 April 1990, the government acknowledged that the NKVD had in fact committed the massacres and the subsequent cover-up, expressing "deep regret over the tragedy" and assessing it as "one of the worst Stalinist outrages".        

Cheers - John

Hello rockylizard
Re 1888 - Alfred Nobel reads his own obituary, which inspires him to leave the legacy of the Nobel Prizes.

Before Alfred Nobel invented Dynamite, two main types of explosives were used, in the hard rock mining industry

Gunpowder, which is known as a low explosive, as it deflagrates, was not really suitable for blasting hard rocks.
Nitroglycerine which was more suitable to blasting hard rock, as it detonates, was also very, very sensitive, and therefore very dangerous to use, and/or transport. Any sort of propagating shock, even shaking it in the hand, would make it explode.

One of Alfred brothers was killed in a Nitroglycerine factory explosion, and that is why Alfred invented Dynamite.

When some people realised that this new explosive called Dynamite, was safe to handle, easy to detonate, and had the same explosive force as Nitroglycerine, they wanted Alfred to stop making it, in case it fell into the wrong hands.

Alfred thought that Dynamite would put an end to war, as it would be much too powerful to use
Quote
The Day When Two Army Corps Can Annihilate Each Other In One Second, All Civilized Nations, It Is To Be Hoped, Will Recoil From War And Discharge Their Troops
Unquote

He died knowing that Dynamite was not going to stop wars
Quote
I Intend To Leave After My Death A Large Fund For The Promotion Of The Peace Idea, But I Am Sceptical As To Its Results
Unquote

Gday...

70  -     Nearly 1,000 Jewish Zealots commit mass suicide at the desert fortress of Masada, rather than be captured by the Romans.

Masada is an ancient mountaintop fortress in Israel, located atop a high mesa at the edge of the Judean Desert and on the western shore of the Dead sea. The name Masada comes from the Hebrew word "metzude", which means "the mountain castle" or the "stronghold". It was transformed into a fortress palace by Herod the Great who, in 40 B.C., sought to escape from Mattathias Antigonus, who had been made king by the Parthians.

For centuries, the Jews had revolted against Roman rule in their land, and the Romans became increasingly violent in their suppression of Jewish revolt. Jewish Zealots took control of Masada, which had been occupied by the Romans after Herod's death in 4 B.C., dispensing with the garrisons of Roman soldiers there in a surprise attack. The Zealots then fortified themselves against Rome. In 70 AD, the Romans conquered Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple, but Masada remained a fortification of the Jewish Zealots. Three years later, Roman General Flavius Silva marched on Masada with between 10,000 and 15,000 soldiers who, after failed attempts to breach the fortress's wall, built a circumvallation wall and then a rampart against the western face of the plateau, using thousands of tons of stones and beaten earth, whilst the Jews held siege in the fortress. On top of this ramp, a siege tower was erected from which the fortress was attacked with flaming torches, missile-throwing machines called ballistae, and a battering ram.

Jewish historian Josephus records how, on 14 April AD 73, leader Eleazar addressed the Jewish defenders, urging the mass suicide of over 960 men, women, and children rather than their surrender to the encroaching Roman legion, which would have resulted in capture and enslavement. Lots were drawn to choose ten men to kill all the others, and from these, one was chosen to kill the other nine, set fire to the palace, and then kill himself. Two women and five children hid in the underground aqueducts and, being later released unharmed by the Romans, related their story to Josephus.

1860  -             George Robertson, co-founder of Australia's largest bookseller, Angus and Robertson, is born.

George Robertson was born on 14 April 1860 in Scotland. At age 21 he emigrated to Australia, arriving in February 1882, and within four days had secured himself a position working at a Sydney bookshop. Within a year he was joined by fellow Scotsman David Angus, who also worked at the bookstore until he decided to open his own bookstore in Market Street, Sydney, in 1884. Robertson joined Angus in 1886, investing his savings into the bookshop, and thus began the great partnership of Angus & Robertson.

Within ten years the bookstore had grown into a thriving enterprise, and it moved into larger premises in Castlereagh St, Sydney, where it branched out into publishing as well. Robertson had an intuitive flair for recognising talent, and was largely responsible for the surging careers of such Australian writers as Henry Lawson, AB 'Banjo' Paterson, Norman Lindsay, May Gibbs and CJ Dennis. Robertson continued alone with the business after partner Angus retired in 1900. In 1907 the partnership was converted into the public company of Angus & Robertson Limited, which was spearheaded by Robertson until he died in 1933.

1865  -             US President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated.

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from 1861 to 1865, and the first president from the Republican Party. He is notable for opposing the expansion of slavery into federal territories, and for the ramifications of his stand. His victory in the 1860 presidential election further polarised an already divided nation. Before his inauguration in March of 1861, seven Southern slave states seceded from the United States, formed the Confederate States of America, and took control of US forts and other properties within their boundaries. These events soon led to the American Civil War.

Lincoln was a diplomatic and strategic wartime leader. He had to negotiate between Radical and Moderate Republican leaders, who were often far apart on the issues, while attempting to win support from War Democrats and loyalists in the seceding states. He personally directed the war effort, which ultimately led the Union forces to victory over the Confederacy. Lincoln is most famous for his roles in preserving the Union and ending slavery in the United States with the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Lincoln was assassinated whilst attending a performance of the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre on 14 April 1865. He was shot at close range by John Wilkes Booth, a sympathiser of the defeated Confederacy. Nine hours later, Abraham Lincoln died. Booth was hunted down by a military posse twelve days later and shot by Boston Corbett, near Bowling Green, Virginia. Four co-conspirators were convicted and hanged, while three others were given life sentences.

1866  -             Annie Sullivan, teacher of deaf-blind student Helen Keller, is born.

Annie, or Anne, Sullivan was born on 14 April 1866 in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts, the daughter of Irish farmers who left Ireland in 1847 because of the Irish Potato Famine. When Annie was eight, her mother died from tuberculosis, and when she was ten her father deserted her and her siblings, leaving them at the Massachusetts State Infirmary in Tewksbury. Annie was partially blind as a result of contracting the eye disease trachoma at age five. In 1880, she entered the Perkins School for the Blind where she underwent surgery and regained some of her sight. After graduating as class valedictorian in 1886, she began teaching Helen Keller.

Helen Keller lost her senses of sight and hearing as a result of a fever, possibly scarlet fever or meningitis, in February 1882 when she was 19 months old. Her loss of ability to communicate at such an early developmental age was very traumatic for her and her family. Subject to severe tantrums, Helen was a challenge for Annie Sullivan, then merely 20 year old. Her first task was to instil discipline in the spoiled girl. Annie's big breakthrough in communication with Helen came one day when Helen realised that the motions Annie was making on her palm, while running cool water over her palm from a pump, symbolised the idea of "water". From that point on, Helen nearly exhausted Sullivan by demanding the names of all the other familiar objects in her silent, dark world.

Annie was able to teach Helen to think intelligibly and to speak using the Tadoma method, which involved touching the lips and throats of others as they spoke, feeling the vibrations, and spelling of alphabetical characters in the palm of Helen's hand. She also learned to read English, French, German, Greek, and Latin in Braille. In 1888, Keller and Sullivan attended the Perkins Institution together, then New York City's Wright-Humasen School, the Cambridge School for Young Ladies, and Radcliffe College. Keller graduated from Radcliffe in 1904, after which the two moved together to Wrentham, Massachusetts, and lived on a benefactor's farm. After a short, unhappy marriage to Harvard University instructor John A Macy, Sullivan returned to live with Keller. Annie Sullivan died on 20 October 1936, having left the legacy in Helen Keller of a deaf/blind author, activist and lecturer who inspired many others to success.

1870  -             Gold is discovered near the present-day town of Gulgong, sparking a major goldrush.

Gulgong is a small town in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales. Its name is believed to be derived from the Wiradjuri word for deep waterhole. The earliest European forays into the Gulgong region occurred within a few years after William Cox completed the first inland road to Bathurst, following the successful expedition of Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth across the Blue Mountains. Coxs own sons expanded their property from the Mudgee region into Gulgong, establishing Guntawang cattle station in 1822. Although conflicts with the Wiradjuri caused problems, white settlement continued to expand.

Gold was first discovered in the Gulgong region in 1866, but early discoveries were not promising. However, a significant find was made on 14 April 1870 by shepherd Tom Saunders, from Guntawang station. A major goldrush in Gulgong ensued, with the regions population swelling by 500 within a few weeks. When the town of Gulgong was officially gazetted in 1872, the population was around 20000.

In the decade between 1870 and 1880, an estimated 15000 kg of gold was extracted, but the diggings were being exhausted. Gulgongs population had dropped to 1212 by 1881, after which it relied on wheat and sheep to sustain the local economy.

1912  -             The luxurious and unsinkable 'Titanic' hits an iceberg, eventually sinking, killing 1517 people.

The RMS Titanic was the largest passenger steamship in the world at the time of its launching. It was a White Star Line ocean liner built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland and, along with its sister ships Olympic and the soon to be built Britannic, was intended to compete with rival company Cunard Line's Lusitania and Mauretania. For its time, the ship was unsurpassed in its luxury and opulence. The ship offered an onboard swimming pool, gymnasium, a Turkish bath, library and squash court. Its ornate interior design, elaborate wood panelling, expensive furniture and other elegant decorations placed it in a class of its own. Further, it was considered the pinnacle of naval architecture and technological achievement, and reported by The Shipbuilder magazine to be "practically unsinkable.

The Titanic departed on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, bound for New York City, New York, on Wednesday, 10 April 1912, with Captain Edward J. Smith in command. On 14 April 1912, the temperatures had dropped to near freezing. Captain Smith, in response to iceberg warnings received via wireless over the previous days, had altered Titanic's course about 20 km south of the normal shipping route. At 1:45pm, a message from the steamer Amerika warned that large icebergs lay in Titanic's path, but this warning, and others, were never relayed to the bridge. The ship hit an iceberg shortly after 11:40pm on the 14th, buckling the hull in several places and popping out rivets below the waterline over a length of 90 metres. The watertight doors closed as water started filling the first five watertight compartments, one more than Titanic could stay afloat with. The huge volume of water weighed the ship down past the top of the watertight bulkheads, allowing water to flow into the other compartments.

Some first- and second-class passengers were able to access the lifeboats quickly, but third-class passengers, many of whom were immigrants hoping to find a better life in America, were unable to navigate their way to the lifeboats through the complex of corridors. While all first- and second-class children save one survived the sinking, more third-class women and children were lost than saved. In all, 1517 people were lost in the disaster, whilst 706 survived. Most of the deaths were caused by victims succumbing to hypothermia in the -2°C water.

1986  -             The winning entry is selected for the design of a flag for the Australian territory of Christmas Island.

The Territory of Christmas Island is a small, non self-governing Territory of Australia located in the Indian Ocean, 2,360 km northwest of Perth in Western Australia and 500 km south of Jakarta, Indonesia. It was named by Captain William Mynors of the East India Ship Company vessel, the Royal Mary, when he arrived on Christmas Day in 1643. Following the discovery of nearly pure phosphate of lime caused the island to be annexed by the British Crown in 1888. After World War II, the United Kingdom transferred sovereignty to Australia: the first Australian Official Representative arrived in 1958 and was replaced by an Administrator in 1968. Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands together are called Australia's Indian Ocean Territories (IOTs) and since 1997 share a single Administrator resident on Christmas Island. As of 2011, the population of Christmas Island was approximately 2000.

In 1986, a competition to design a flag to represent Christmas Island was held. The winning entry was selected on 14 April 1986, and former resident of Silver City and Rigging Supervisor with the Phosphate Mining Company of Christmas Island, Tony Couch, was awarded the prize money of $100. However, the flag was not designated as the official flag of Christmas Island until Australia Day 2002. As a territory of Australia, Christmas Island still carries the Australian flag as well.

The flag is divided into two triangles: blue for the sea and green for the vegetation. The Southern Cross features in the blue half, while the image of a Golden Bosun Bird, endemic to Christmas Island, is seen in the green triangle. A green map of Christmas Island on a gold disc is positioned in the centre of the flag.

1999  -             A supercell dumps hail and wreaks havoc on Sydney, Australia.

Large hail is not an uncommon phenomenon in New South Wales, and during the summer months, Sydney, the capital city of New South Wales, is often beset by wild thunderstorms, although they are less likely in Autumn. On the evening of 14 April 1999, a supercell of a ferocity previously unparalleled in the city's records, hit Sydney. Hailstones hit at over 200 kph, damaging over 35,000 buildings, destroying roofs and damaging thousands of cars. There were reports of hailstones up to the size of cricket balls. Within a few hours of the storm hitting, the Government declared a state of emergency. The total insured damages bill exceeded AUD$1.4 billion, making it the most costly natural disaster in Australian history at the time, surpassing the cost of the 1989 Newcastle earthquake and the cost incurred when Tropical Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin in 1974.   

Cheers - John

Gday...

1452  -             Renaissance painter, architect, engineer and scientist, Leonardo da Vinci, is born.

Leonardo da Vinci was born 15 April 1452 in Vinci, Italy. His name means "Leonardo from the town of Vinci", so he is generally referred to in short as "Leonardo" rather than as "da Vinci". He is perhaps best known for paintings such as the "Mona Lisa", which took three years to paint and was completed in 1506, and "The Last Supper".

Leonardo was also a sculptor, architect, musician, engineer, and scientist. He was actually employed as a military engineer: thus, his notebooks contain several designs for military machines, including machine guns and an armoured tank powered by humans or horses. Other inventions include a submarine, a cog-wheeled device that has been interpreted as the first mechanical calculator, and a car powered by a spring mechanism. He is known for designing many inventions that anticipated modern technology, such as flying machines. On 3 January 1496 he unsuccessfully tested a flying machine he had constructed. PBS (America's Public Broadcasting Service) aired a special about the building and testing of a glider based on Leonardo's design. The glider was completely successful. He also advanced the study of anatomy, dissecting bodies and drawing intricately detailed sketches in notebooks, though not many of these have survived. His study of human anatomy led to the design of the first known robot in recorded history. The design, which has come to be called Leonardo's robot, was probably made around the year 1495 but was rediscovered only in the 1950s.

Leonardo died on 2 May 1519. His legacy, besides his paintings, lies in his extensive notebooks filled with engineering and scientific observations that were often centuries ahead of their time.

1823  -             Allan Cunningham departs Bathurst to find an easier overland stock route to the Liverpool Plains.

Allan Cunningham was born on 13 July 1791 in Wimbledon, England. As a botanist who came to Australia suffering from tuberculosis, he found that Australia's climate helped him regain some of his health, and he was anxious to discover more of the country he came to love. Initially, he explored as part of John Oxley's expeditions to follow the Lachlan and Macquarie Rivers in 1817.

By the 1820s, the pastoral industry in the young colony of New South Wales was growing, and there was greater need for more grazing land. On 15 April 1823, Cunningham departed from Bathurst on the orders of Governor Brisbane to find an easier route north between the settlements around Bathurst and the Liverpool Plains which Oxley had discovered five years earlier. On this expedition, Cunningham discovered the only point where sheep and cattle could easily cross the mountain barriers, at the junction of the Warrumbungle and Liverpool Ranges. This gap became known as Pandora's Pass.

1873  -             Colonel Warburton sets out to cross the continent from central Australia to Perth.

Peter Egerton Warburton was born on 15 August 1813, at Northwich, Cheshire. He joined the navy at the tender age of 12, initially serving as a midshipman on the HMS Windsor Castle. He then served for many years in India before retiring in 1853. He then came to Australia, whereupon he was appointed to command the Police Forces of the Colony of South Australia, an office he held until 1867. It was during this time that he developed his love of exploring.

Warburton undertook numerous smaller expeditions, but his goal was to complete the first crossing of the central Australian continent from east to west. In 1872, he was selected by Sir Thomas Elder, a Member of the Legislative Council to lead an expedition in an attempt to find a route from central Australia to Perth, and to report on what sort of country lay in between. On 21 September 1872, Warburton departed Adelaide with his son Richard, two white men with bush knowledge, two Afghan camel drivers and a black-tracker. His purpose was to attempt to find an overland route from Alice Springs to Perth and determine the nature of the country in between. Warburton's expedition departed Alice Springs on 15 April 1873.

The expedition was particularly hard-going. The men endured long periods of extreme heat with little water and survived only by killing the camels for their meat. After finally crossing the Great Sandy Desert, they arrived at the Oakover River, 800 miles north of Perth with Warburton strapped to one of the two remaining camels. Warburton received a grant of £1000 and his party received £500 from the South Australian parliament for the expedition.

1892  -             Dutch Christian, Corrie ten Boom, who helped to save hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust, is born.

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.

1984  -             Tommy Cooper, famous British comic, dies while performing on stage.

British comedian and skilled magician Thomas Frederick "Tommy" Cooper was born in Caerphilly, South Wales on 19 March 1921. At age three, his family moved to Exeter, Devon, where he acquired the West Country accent that later became an integral part of his act. Cooper's interest in magical illusions developed when he was eight, and his aunt bought him a magic set. He perfected numerous magic tricks, which helped him to develop his comedy acts later on. Some accounts say his great sense of comedy grew out of the many conjuring tricks that failed when Cooper was performing to various audiences: despite the failures, his acts gained plenty of laughs. He soon learned that adding the occasional trick that worked added to the winning formula. Respected by traditional magicians and illusionists, Cooper became a member of The Magic Circle. His trademark was his red fez.

Cooper enjoyed a successful career as both magician and comedian for almost four decades. However, he was a heavy drinker and smoker, and suffered from declining health during the 1970s. He suffered his first heart attack in 1977, and his professionalism suffered from his alcoholism. He continued to make guest appearances on television shows, but even these were fraught with problems: whilst appearing on Michael Parkinson's show, he forgot to set the safety catch on the guillotine illusion in which he had convinced Parkinson to participate. Fortunately, a last-minute intervention by the floor manager saved Parkinson from serious injury.

Cooper was midway through an act on the live television variety show Live From Her Majesty's when he collapsed and died of a heart attack while on 15 April 1984. His legacy as one of the greatest comedians of all time can be seen in the fact that, in a 2005 poll The Comedians' Comedian, Cooper was voted the sixth greatest comedy act ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.

1989  -             96 soccer fans are killed in a crush at Hillsborough, England.

Britain's worst sporting disaster to date occurred on 15 April 1989, during the FA Cup semi-final between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool at Hillsborough football stadium, Sheffield. When the match commenced at 3pm, up to 5,000 Liverpool supporters remained outside. The gates were opened to allow them to enter, as the policemen in charge of crowd control believed the potential crush outside represented a greater danger. Thousands of fans poured in through a narrow tunnel at the rear of the standing section and into the already overcrowded central two sections, causing a crush at the front where people were pressed against the fencing that separated them from the field.

The distress of those at the front was not immediately apparent, and the game was not stopped until 3:06. 95 people died as a result of suffocation or injuries received in the crush; the 96th victim remained in a vegetative state for four years before he died. 766 others were injured. A subsequent inquiry found that the disaster occurred primarily because of overcrowding and inadequate police control. As a result of the inquiry, fences in front of fans were removed and stadia were converted to become all-seated.   

2009  -             It is reported that Russian surgeons find a fir tree growing inside a man's lung.

On 15 April 2009, newspapers across the world picked up on an unusual story coming out of Russia: that of a fir tree being found inside a man's lung.

28 year old Russian man Artyom Sidorkin was believed to have lung cancer when he began coughing up blood and experiencing excruciating chest pain. X-rays showed what looked like a tumour, so surgeons prepared to operate. A biopsy was performed prior to removal of a major part of Sidorkin's lung, and surgeon Vladimir Kamashev was stunned to find a 5cm fir tree in the lung tissue.

It is believed that Sidorkin must have inhaled a fir seed sometime, which then sprouted and grew inside his lung. The miniature pine needles would have pierced capilliaries, causing Sidorkin to cough up blood. The patient was most relieved that he did not have cancer.  

Cheers - John