Gday...

1725  -             John Newton, former English slave trader who wrote 'Amazing Grace', is born. [more]

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me,
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

John Newton was the self-proclaimed wretch who once was lost but then was found, saved by God's amazing grace. Newton was born in London on 24 July 1725. His father was commander of a merchant ship, and young John followed in his footsteps. After his father died, Newton joined the crew on the H.M.S. Hartwich, but deserted after he found the living conditions deplorable. He was recaptured, flogged and demoted from midshipman to common seaman.

After this, Newton spent some time on a slave-trader's ship, learning the trade, and eventually commanding his own trade in slavery. His conversion occurred during a violent storm at sea on 10 May 1748. From then on, he was a changed man, ultimately leaving his sea-going days behind him, and studying to become a minister. He was ordained by the Bishop of Lincoln and given the curacy of Olney, Buckinghamshire. "Amazing Grace" was written whilst he was at Olney, most probably between 1760 and 1770.

1897  -             Aviator, Amelia Earhart, is born.

Amelia Mary Earhart was born on 24 July 1897 in Atchison, Kansas, USA. She was the first woman to achieve the feat of flying across the Atlantic. Her first trip across the Atlantic in a Fokker F7 Friendship took 20 hours and 40 minutes. She then flew solo across the Atlantic in 1932. On 11 January 1935 Earhart became the first person to fly solo from Honolulu to California. She had departed Wheeler Field in Honolulu, Hawaii, and after a journey of over 3,800km in 18 hours, she arrived at Oakland Airport in Oakland, California.

In 1937, together with her navigator Fred Noonan, she attempted a round-the-world flight in a Lockheed Electra. Approximately five weeks after she set off, her plane disappeared, last heard about 100 miles off Howland Island in the Pacific. Speculation has been rife over the years regarding what happened to Amelia Earhart. The usual conspiracy theories and alien abduction theories have abounded but no evidence has ever been found to substantiate them, and the circumstances surrounding Earhart's disappearance remain a mystery.

1936  -             The "talking clock" service is introduced in Sydney, Australia.

The world's first ever "talking clock", whereby people could ring a telephone number to find out what the time was, commenced operations in Paris in 1933. Australia received its first talking clock on 24 July 1936 in Sydney, serviced from the General Post Office. Previously, people wishing to know the time had to connect their call through to a young woman employed specifically for the purpose of announcing the time to callers. Coincidentally, in England, the talking clock started at Holborn Telephone Exchange also on 24 July 1936.

1969  -             Apollo 11 splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean, following the successful moon-walk.

Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin successfully completed the first moon-walk on July 20 (July 21 Australian time). After some 21 hours of collecting samples, performing experiments and leaving behind the legacy of the American flag and a plaque, they returned to the "Eagle" landing module. After launching from the moon's surface, it took them six hours to dock with the command module, the Columbia, piloted by fellow astronaut Michael Collins, who had remained in orbit.

Three days later, on 24 July 1969, the Apollo 11 re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, deployed gigantic parachutes to slow their descent, and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. They underwent decontamination procedures where they splashed down, and were then transported by helicopters to the U.S.S. Hornet. After this, they were quarantined in a sealed van for several weeks to ensure they were free of "lunar germs". When they entered the quarantine trailer, they were greeted with the sign: PLEASE DON'T FEED THE ANIMALS.

1973  -             The United States Supreme Court orders President Nixon to hand over tape recordings pertaining to the Watergate affair.

The Watergate scandal was an American political scandal and constitutional crisis that led to the resignation of US President Richard Nixon. It began with a burglary at the Watergate Apartment complex. On 17 June 1972, five men were caught searching through confidential papers and bugging the office of President Nixon's political opponents, the Democratic National Committee. One of the men, James McCord, was officially employed as Chief of Security at the Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP), indicating that the burglary was linked to US President Nixon's re-election campaign.

On 17 May 1973, the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities began televised proceedings on the escalating Watergate scandal. On 24 July 1973, it was revealed that Nixon had secretly taped all conversations in the Oval Office. With this information available, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered President Richard Nixon to surrender the tape recordings. After prevaricating for three months, Nixon finally produced the tapes.

The break-in, resultant cover-up by Nixon and his aides, and the subsequent investigation ultimately led to the resignation of the President on 9 August 1974, forestalling his impeachment by the Senate. When President Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon a month later, this prevented any criminal charges from being filed against the former president.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1851  -             An uncredited diary entry describes the 'Yowie' of southeast Queensland in detail.

From the mid 1800s, writings about strange ape-like creatures in Australia abounded. One of these was a diary entry from the Connondale region of southeast Queensland, written on 25 July 1851, which stated:

"They are short, stout and of very muscular appearance. They are covered in thick black hair...Their hair and beards are long...They are completely naked...the stench of their body is unbearable...great hunters of the forests and jungles...They come and go without being seen. They can hide in the undergrowth in such a manner that one can be touched or struck without their person being visible. I am to wonder if these are the same people...who take people away when they dare enter the forests and jungles...the women made grunt-like expression during contact...the child hung to its mother on the breast in the manner of an ape. These were the Woningityan/Won-ingee-tyan - the shadow men creatures of the jungles and forests..."

Source: http://www.yowiehunters.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=68&Itemid=69

1862  -             After successfully crossing Australia from south to north, John McDouall Stuart raises the British flag at the mouth of the Mary River.

John McDouall Stuart was officially the first white man to successfully lead an inland expedition from Australia's south to the north, and return alive. 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 was determined to cross Australia from south to north. It was on his fifth expedition and third attempt to cross the continent that he succeeded. Previous attempts had been beaten back by lack of water and Aboriginal attack. On 25 July 1862, a day after sighting the northern waters at Chambers Bay, Stuart raised the British flag in triumph at the mouth of the Mary River, approximately 100km northeast of the present site of Darwin. At the time, Stuart believed it was the Adelaide River.

1973  -             The numbat is proclaimed as Western Australia's official faunal emblem.

A numbat is a small insectivorous marsupial of Australia. It is distinctive for having red-brown fur with six or seven white stripes across its back, and a relatively long, bushy tail. As it feeds mostly on termites, it is sometimes referred to as the banded anteater. Unlike most marsupials, the numbat does not have a pouch for the young. The joeys cling to the mother's underbelly fur whilst attached to a teat.

The numbat is classified as "endangered" with a population trend "decreasing". It is endangered because the introduction of non-native species to Australia such as foxes and feral cats and dogs has decimated the population. The numbat is a small and completely defenceless creature which can only protect itself by hiding in hollow logs. Numbats are also endangered due to habitat loss resulting from land clearing for industry, agriculture and expanding human habitation.

The numbat is now only found in the far southwestern corner of the mainland. Because it is restricted to Western Australia, it was adopted as the state's official faunal emblem on 25 July 1973.

1977  -             A 10 year old boy in Illinois reports being attacked by a thunderbird.

Thunderbirds belong to the field of 'cryptozoology', that is, the study of creatures such as Yowies and the Sasquatch, the existence of which has not been proven. Thunderbirds are supposedly large, birdlike creatures with enormous wingspans. On the evening of 25 July 1977, a group of three boys was playing in one of the boys' backyards in Lawndale, Illinois, USA. According to the boys, they were approached and chased by two large birds. While his friends escaped, ten-year-old Marlon Lowe claimed that one of the birds grabbed his shoulder with its claws. The strange bird then lifted him just above the surface of the ground and carried him some distance. The boy was released by the creature after fighting and struggling. Witnesses at the scene gave descriptions of the bird which match that of the Andean condor, a large, black bird with a white ring around its neck.

2000  -             113 people are killed as the Concorde crashes just north of Paris.

Supersonic airliner, the Concorde, made its first test flight on 2 March 1969, and its first supersonic flight on October 1 that year. The first commercial flights commenced from 21 January 1976, and the Concorde became a fast and efficient way to fly.

On 25 July 2000, a Concorde jet on its way from France to New York crashed just a couple of minutes after a left-hand engine caught fire during take-off. All 109 people on board were killed, as were another 4 on the ground. Following the accident, all Concorde aircraft were taken out of service until the cause of the crash could be determined. The report from France's Accident Investigation Bureau (BEA) found that a 40cm piece of metal had been lost by another plane that took off minutes earlier, puncturing one of the Concorde's tyres. Debris was subsequently flung into the fuel tank, starting the fire that downed the aircraft.

The Concorde aircraft underwent improvements and modifications, but after the accident continued to be dogged by problems. All Concorde aircraft were decommissioned by October 2003.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1790  -             Early Australian explorer, William Charles Wentworth, is born on a convict ship travelling to Australia.

William Charles Wentworth was born on 26 July 1790 on the 'Surprize', a ship in the Second Fleet transporting convicts to Australia. His mother, Catherine Crowley, had been sentenced to seven years' transportation for crime of "feloniously stealing 'wearing apparel'". The exact date of his birth is unknown. Dr D'Arcy Wentworth, who also sailed on the same ship, as well as the 'Neptune' in the Second Fleet, acknowledged William as his son, and took a major role in young William's education after his mother died in 1800. William was sent to school in Bletchley, England, where he was presented to his father's patron and kinsman, Lord Fitzwilliam.

After his education, unable to secure a place in either the Woolwich military academy or the East India Company, Wentworth returned to Sydney. Governor Macquarie appointed him as acting provost-marshal, and he was given a significant land grant on the Nepean River. Wentworth was a "Currency Lad", one of the first children born into the colony of New South Wales. He enjoyed his status as different from the "English ascendancy," and was an outspoken nationalist, determined to gain civil rights for those who, like himself, were very much in the minority. He was an advocate of Australia becoming self-governing, and well-known around Sydney for his outspoken ways.

Wentworth, along with William Lawson and Gregory Blaxland, was the first European to cross the Blue Mountains which, for twenty-five years, had prevented the expansion of the colony at Sydney Cove. Many others had tried to find a way through, but been turned back by dead-end ravines and vast expanses of impassable rocky cliffs. Discovering a way through the Blue Mountains opened up the huge interior of Australia for settlement and further exploration.

Wentworth was the only one of the three explorers to make a significant name for himself in the new colony. He commenced 'The Australian' newspaper in 1824, played a major role in establishing the first real system of state primary education in New South Wales, and was instrumental in the founding of the University of Sydney in 1850.

1858  -             Sydney and Melbourne are linked by telegraph.

Long before the telephone was invented, the telegraph was the main means by which long distance communication was undertaken. The first electrochemical telegraph was invented by Samuel Thomas von Soemmering in 1809, and improvements were made by various inventors in ensuing decades, with the technology spreading across the world. Within Australia, the first telegraph line was laid between Melbourne's city centre to Williamstown in 1854, while South Australia followed two years later with a line from Port Adelaide to Adelaide city. The Melbourne to Adelaide telegraph line was the first inter-colonial line to be completed within Australia, in 1858. A few days later, on 26 July 1858, the link between Melbourne and Sydney, the two largest cities in Australia, was also completed.

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

1908  -             The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) commences operations.

The FBI is the main investigative branch of the United States Department of Justice. It originated from a force of Special Agents created on 26 July 1908. During Theodore Roosevelt's Presidency, Attorney General Charles Bonaparte ordered a force of Special Agents to take on investigative assignments in areas such as antitrust, peonage, and land fraud. The first force consisted of ten former Secret Service employees and a number of Department of Justice peonage (i.e., compulsory servitude) investigators. On 26 July 1908, Bonaparte ordered them to report to Chief Examiner Stanley W. Finch. This action is considered to be the beginning of the FBI. At this stage, the FBI did not have a name nor an official leader, apart from the Attorney General. Its first designation was the Bureau of Investigation (BOI); it became the FBI in 1935.

1978  -             The World Health Organisation announces that smallpox has been eradicated worldwide.

Smallpox is the only known major human disease to have been eradicated. It was a highly contagious viral disease unique to humans, caused by two virus variants called Variola major and Variola minor. V. major was the more deadly form, with a typical mortality of 20-40 percent of those infected. The other type, V. minor, only killed 1% of its victims. Smallpox was responsible for an estimated 300-500 million deaths in the 20th century. Survivors were left blind in one or both eyes from corneal ulcerations, and left with persistent skin scarring, or pockmarks.

On 1 January 1967, the World Health Organisation (WHO), a specialised agency of the United Nations acting as a coordinating authority on international public health, announced the Intensified Smallpox Eradication Programme, involving the extensive distribution of the vaccine. On 26 July 1978, WHO announced the eradication of the smallpox strain Variola Minor. The last natural case of the more deadly strain, Variola Major, had occurred several years earlier, in 1975.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1836  -             The first formal European settlement in South Australia is established on Kangaroo Island.

Kangaroo Island is a protected and unspoilt island off the coast of South Australia. Australia's third-largest island after Tasmania and Melville Islands, it is 112 km southwest of the state capital, Adelaide. The first European to land on the island was Matthew Flinders, doing so in 1802, and it was he who named it, after his starving crew was saved by the abundance of kangaroos they found there. The island narrowly missed becoming a French colony, as Nicolas Baudin arrived shortly after Flinders departed, and named the island LIsle Decres.

From 1803, Kangaroo Island was frequently used as a base by sealers and whalers. Escaped convicts and ship deserters also made the island their home. While farmers and other settlers established themselves on Kangaroo Island from around 1819, these were not official settlements.

The South Australia Act, enabling the founding of the colony of South Australia, was passed by British Parliament in 1834. In 1835, Scottish businessman and wealthy landowner, George Fife Angas, formed the South Australian Company to assist settlers to the new colony. The first emigrants bound for South Australia left in February 1836. On 27 July 1836, the first of the South Australian Companys ships, the Duke of York, arrived at Reeves Point on Kangaroo Islands north coast. The first official settler to step foot on the island was two-year-old Elizabeth Beare.

1850  -             The first ship carrying passengers under the Assisted Emigration Scheme arrives in Fremantle, Western Australia.

Unlike in NSW, Victoria and Tasmania, the transportation of convicts to the colony of Swan River (Western Australia) required that there be an equal number of free immigrants. It was many years after white settlement of the western territory that convicts were sent to Swan River. In an attempt to encourage more free settlement of the remote colony, and to balance the number of free settlers and convicts, free immigrants were given passage and settlement costs at the English Government's expense.

Besides the crew of 33, there were 250 free immigrants aboard the Sophia, the first ship to arrive under the Assisted Emigration Scheme. The ship departed Plymouth, southern England, on 27 April 1850 and arrived at Australia on 27 July 1850. On arrival at Fremantle, ship's surgeon Thomas Parr was tried on charges of malpractice and neglect. He was ultimately acquitted.

1940  -             Cartoon character Bugs Bunny makes his first appearance in the animated cartoon, 'A Wild Hare'.

Bugs Bunny is a creation of the Warner Brother studios, and most famous for his appearance in 'Looney Tunes' and 'Merrie Melodies' cartoons. Bob Clampett is credited with the creation of Bugs Bunny, but numerous others had a hand in his development. These include Chuck Jones, Isadore "Friz" Freleng, Arthur Davis, Robert McKimson and Mel Blanc, the latter providing Bugs's distinctive voice.

Bugs Bunny made his debut in the animated cartoon "A Wild Hare" on 27 July 1940. Prior to the release of "A Wild Hare", Bugs Bunny appeared in four earlier cartoons, but without the appearance and personality he developed later on - in particular, his signature line of, "Eh...What's up, Doc?" In 2002, the magazine 'TV Guide', as part of its 50th anniversary special edition, compiled a list of the 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time, giving Bugs Bunny the position of number 1.

1953  -             The Korean War comes to an end with the signing of the armistice between North and South Korea.

The Korean War was a conflict between North Korea and South Korea during the Cold War era. Some consider the war to have been a proxy war between the United States and its allies, and the Communist powers of the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union.

Korea, a former Japanese possession, was initially divided in the final days of World War II, on 10 August 1945. With the Japanese surrender imminent, the United States and the Soviet Union divided Korea along the 38th parallel: Japanese forces north of that line would surrender to the Soviet Union and those south of that line would surrender to the United States. Whilst the division was not considered to be permanent, in December 1945, the US and the Soviet Union agreed to administer the country temporarily. Subsequently, both countries established governments in their respective halves according to their political ideology.

In the early morning of 25 June 1950, North Korea launched a full-scale invasion of South Korea. Seoul, the capital of South Korea, was overrun three days later. The USA immediately pushed a resolution through the U.N.'s Security Council calling for military assistance to South Korea, and US troops arrived on the 1st of July to engage the enemy. American intervention prompted the arrival of communist Chinese forces in late 1950, and subsequently the war became a stalemate, spanning three years. During the war, South Korea suffered 1,312,836 military casualties, including 415,004 dead. This figure does not include the innocent civilians. 36,940 Americans were killed, and UN allies lost 3,094. A truce agreement was signed on 27 July 1953, and resulted in the continued division of North and South Korea.

2003  -             American comedian Bob Hope dies two months after celebrating his 100th birthday.

American entertainer Bob Hope was born Leslie Townes Hope on 29 May 1903. Although he achieved fame through his appearances in vaudeville, in Musicals on Broadway, and on American radio, television and movies, he was actually born in Eltham, London, England. His father was a stonemason and his mother was a light opera singer who later had to earn her living as a cleaner.

As a child, Hope did a lot of busking on the streets, doing dance and comedy patter. He entered numerous dancing and amateur talent contests, and won prizes for his impersonation of Charlie Chaplin. For a short period, Hope became a professional boxer under the name of "Packy East" before turning to the stage. During WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, he often performed for US troops, improving their morale. He starred in many Hollywood movies, and although he never won any Oscars, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honoured him with several special awards and he served as host of the Academy Awards ceremony many times beginning in the 1950s and through the 1980s.

Hope turned 100 only two months before his death on 27 July 2003. He was survived by his wife of 69 years, Dolores, and four children, adopted from an orphanage in Evanston, Illinois. A Los Angeles airport has since been renamed Bob Hope Airport in his memory.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1741  -             Composer of Baroque music, Antonio Vivaldi, dies.

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was born on 4 March 1678 in Venice, Italy. As well as becoming a priest, nicknamed Il Prete Rosso ("The Red Priest") and an accomplished violinist, he was also a composer of the Baroque Era, whose style ultimately influenced other famous composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach.

Baroque music is a style of European classical music, written during the Baroque Era, which spanned approximately 1600 to 1750. The Baroque music style followed the Renaissance style, and made more complex use of harmony and rhythm. It was typically harder to perform than Renaissance music as it was written more for virtuoso singers and instrumentalists. Vivaldi wrote 46 operas and hundreds of concertos, as well as sinfonias, sonatas, chamber music, sacred music, and one of his best known works, The Four Seasons (Le Quattro Stagioni), in which he attempted to capture the moods of the four seasons through his music. Vivaldi died on 28 July 1741 in Vienna.

1750  -             The great German composer, Johann Sebastian Bach, dies.

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

Bach is arguably one of the greatest composers of all time. His most famous works include the Brandenburg Concertos, The Well-Tempered Clavier (a collection of 48 preludes and fugues), Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Mass in B Minor, much sacred choral music, and the St Matthew Passion. He wrote Cantatas, Masses and Magnificats, Chorales, Oratorios and many other styles and forms of music. When Bach died on 28 July 1750, he left behind the legacy of a musically talented family, many of whom also composed prolifically. His style strongly influenced both Mozart and Beethoven.

1902  -             Australian Aboriginal painter, Albert Namatjira, is born.

Albert Namatjira was born Elea Namatjira on 28 July 1902. He was born into the Arrernte tribe of the Northern Territory. Namatjira was raised at the Lutheran mission school, Hermannsburg, near Alice Springs. In his early years, he learned to paint in non-traditional style, but his experience in European watercolour style was gained from painter Rex Batterbee. Namatjira held his first exhibition in Melbourne in 1938, and his work was completely sold out.

Namatjira was also the first Australian Aborigine to be granted Australian citizenship in 1957, ten years before Australian citizenship was offered to all Aborigines. The sale of his paintings brought him great wealth, but as an Australian Aborigine, he did not have the right to own land or to build a house until the law was changed.

After Namatjira's death in 1959, his painting style was denounced by many indigenous people as a mere product of being "assimilated" into western society. However, his unique desert landscapes, with their striking detail and earthy colours, are still hailed as the work of one of the greatest Australian artists of all time.

1923  -             Construction begins on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge connects the Sydney CBD with the North Shore commercial and residential areas on Sydney Harbour. It is the largest steel arch bridge in the world, though not the longest, with the top of the bridge standing 134 metres above the harbour.

In 1912, John Bradfield was appointed chief engineer of the bridge project, which also had to include a railway. Plans were completed in 1916 but the advent of WWI delayed implementation until 1922. Workshops were set up on Milson's Point on the North Shore where the steel was fabricated into girders. Granite for the bridge's construction was quarried near Moruya. Construction of the bridge began on 28 July 1923, and took 1400 men eight years to build at a cost of £4.2 million. Sixteen lives were lost during its construction, while up to 800 families living in the path of the proposed Bridge path were relocated and their homes demolished when construction started.

The Premier of New South Wales, Jack Lang, opened Sydney Harbour Bridge on 19 March 1932.

1993  -             The opal is made Australia's national emblem.

Opal is a precious stone which shows a variety of iridescent colours from reds, pinks and purples to yellows, greens and blues. The brilliant colours are produced by the diffraction of light through microscopic spheres within the opal which split the white light into all the colours of the spectrum.

Opal was first discovered in Australia in 1849 near Angaston, South Australia, by German geologist Johannes Menge. More productive fields were discovered through the decades, and Australia now produces around 97% of the world's opal. It is mined mainly in dry, outback areas such as Quilpie-Yowah in western Queensland, Lightning Ridge in north-west New South Wales, and Coober Pedy and Andamooka in the dry central north of South Australia. Australian Aborigines tell a legend that the opal was created when a rainbow fell to earth.

On 28 July 1993, the opal was officially made Australias national gemstone. Opal is also the state gem of South Australia.

1945  -             A B-25 bomber, lost in fog, crashes into the Empire State Building, killing 14.

As the world was celebrating the end of WWII, tragedy occurred. On 28 July 1945 at 9:49am local time, an unarmed B-25 bomber slammed into the northern side of the Empire State Building in New York, between the 79th and 80th floors, at 322 kilometres per hour. The aircraft's wings were torn off and a 5m x 6m hole gouged in the side of the building. One engine flew right through the Empire State Building and out the other side, and crashed through the roof of a nearby building. The other engine and part of the bombers landing gear fell through an elevator shaft. When the plane hit, its fuel tanks exploded, engulfing the 79th floor in flames. The fire was doused within 40 minutes. The pilot, an experienced, decorated WWII veteran, died, along with two crew. Eleven workers in the Catholic War Relief Office on the 79th floor were also killed. A subsequent investigation found that the accident was caused by pilot error due to dense fog.

One of the more amazing survival stories involved elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver. After being treated for burns, Oliver was on her way down the elevator to the ambulance when the cable snapped, weakened by the crash. Oliver survived the elevator plummeting from the 75th floor down to the basement. The descent was slowed by cables beneath the elevator acting as coils as it neared the basement, and by the cushioning effect of the compressed air under the elevator, caused by the very tight fit of the car in the hatchway.

1976  -             Hundreds of thousands of people are killed as China is hit by an earthquake.

An earthquake measuring between 6.3 and 8.3 on the Richter scale hit China at 3:42am, local time, on 28 July 1976. The city of Tangshan, northeast of Beijing, was at the earthquake's epicentre. Chinese officials were reluctant to release details of the catastrophe, rejecting offers of help from the rest of the world. They stated that survivors had enough food and clothing, and that medical staff and facilities were sufficient to deal with the emergency. Ultimately, the Chinese government estimated that between 240,000 and 250,000 people died in the earthquake, but estimates since then have put the figure closer to half a million. Rebuilding started immediately in Tangshan, and the city is now home to over one million people.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1588  -             British General, Sir Francis Drake, defeats the Spanish Armada off the coast of Plymouth.

Sir Francis Drake, born c. 1540, was a skilled seaman, having experience in piracy, navigation and civil engineering. He was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world, doing so between 1577 and 1580.

In 1585, war broke out between England and Spain. Drake led several attacks against the Spanish and, as vice-admiral in command of the English fleet, he was instrumental in defeating the Spanish Armada as it attempted to invade England. After capturing the Spanish galleon Rosario and its crew, On the night of 29 July 1588, along with his commander, Lord Howard of Effingham, Drake organised fire-ships, causing the majority of the Spanish captains to break formation and sail out of Calais into the open sea. Thus, Drake became a folk hero to the English, and a statue commemorating his feat still stands on Plymouth Hoe. Drake died of dysentery while unsuccessfully attacking San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1596.

1907  -             Sir Robert Baden-Powell founds the Boy Scouts with a camp at Brownsea Island.

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

After some years of this and other military experience, he wrote a small manual, entitled "Aids to Scouting", which summarised lectures he had given on military scouting, to help train recruits. The lectures concentrated on training young men to think independently and with initiative, and to survive in the wilderness. Although intended for military use, the training manual soon became widely used by teachers and youth organisations. Baden-Powell consulted with the founder of the Boys' Brigade, Sir William Alexander Smith, and subsequently re-wrote the manual to suit the youth market. He held the first camp to test out his reworked ideas on 29 July 1907 on Brownsea Island, for 22 boys of mixed social background.

1938  -             The "Territory for the Seat of Government" becomes the Australian Capital Territory.

The Australian Capital Territory, or ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia, and the location of the national capital city, Canberra. The land for what was then the Federal Capital Territory was ceded to the Commonwealth by New South Wales in the Yass-Canberra district on 1 January 1911, and comprised an area of 2,360 square kilometres.

The foundations for the city of Canberra were laid in 1913, but the city only became the seat of power in Australia upon the completion of Parliament House in 1927 (now known as Old Parliament House). The land transferred from New South Wales was commonly known as the Federal Capital Territory, but its official title was "Territory for the Seat of Government". A bill was introduced into Parliament to change this name, which was seen as long and cumbersome. Further, it was widely felt that a precedent had been set by the fact that the Supreme Court was known as the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory. A Bill to change the name was introduced into Parliament, but it took several attempts before the Bill was passed, particularly as the colloquial Federal Capital Territory, or FCT, was preferred by many departments, including that of the Attorney-General.

On 29 July 1938, the territory was officially renamed as the Australian Capital Territory.

1942  -             During World War II, Japanese forces attack Kokoda on the island of New Guinea, forcing Australian troops to retreat.

During World War II, fears of a Japanese invasion of Australia increased when, in January 1942, Japanese forces landed in Rabaul, on the island of New Guinea. This began the serious Japanese offensive in the South Pacific. The first of over 100 Japanese bombings of the Australian mainland began in February, and on 8 March, the Japanese invaded the New Guinean mainland, capturing Lae and Salamaua.

In May 1942, the Japanese launched an invasion fleet to Port Moresby from Rabaul. Thus began the Battle of the Coral Sea, the largest naval battle ever fought close to Australia's shores. Australian Prime Minister John Curtin had sought help from the United States to defend the Pacific. Although a bitter campaign and one in which many troops were lost from both sides, the Battle of the Coral Sea was a successful one. Repelled by the American forces, the Japanese then sought to invade Port Moresby from the northern coast, over the rugged Owen Stanley Range via the Kokoda Trail, which linked to the southern coast of Papua New Guinea.

There were two significant engagements between Australian and Japanese troops late in July 1942. During the first engagement, the Japanese defeated the Australian forces led by Lieutenant Colonel Owen, and captured the airstrip, forcing the Australians to retreat to Deniki. However, when the Japanese did not occupy Kokoda, Lt Col Owen and his troops returned to Kokoda. Although two Allied aircraft reinforcements arrived by air, circling the field, they did not land as they did not know whether the area was occupied by Japanese. There at Kokoda, at 2:30 in the morning on 29 July 1942, the Australian troops were attacked by Japanese forces led by Captain Ogawa, commander of No. 1 Company of the first battalion of 144 Regiment. Lt Col Owen was killed early on in the fighting. Within an hour, the Australian defence line collapsed; Major Watson of the Papuan Infantry Battalion, who had assumed command, ordered the forces to retreat to Deniki. Seven Australians had been killed and six wounded, compared to the Japanese losses of 12 dead and 26 wounded.

Months later, with much assistance from the Papua New Guinean natives, dubbed "Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels", the Australian troops turned back the Japanese forces, which then retreated to bases at Buna, Gona and Sanananda. Here, the Japanese were eventually defeated in a hard-fought campaign which lasted through December 1942 to 23 January 1943 - one year after the Japanese first landed at Rabaul.

1981  -             Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer marry.

Charles Philip Arthur George Mountbatten-Windsor, eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and heir-apparent to the Throne, was born on 14 November 1948. At the time of his birth, his mother was The Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, the elder daughter of King George VI, and first in the line of succession to the British throne. In 1952, his mother ascended the throne, becoming Queen Elizabeth II. Prince Charles immediately became Duke of Cornwall under a charter of King Edward III, which gave that title to the Sovereign's eldest son, and was then referred to as HRH The Duke of Cornwall. He also became, in the Scottish Peerage, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick and Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland. From birth, Charles was also known as His Royal Highness Prince Charles of Edinburgh.

Buckingham Palace announced the engagement on 24 February 1981 of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, born 1 July 1961. When they married on 29 July 1981, it was classed as a fairytale wedding. Charles, 32, and Diana, 20, were married at St Paul's Cathedral in a ceremony attended live by 3,500 guests, and viewed by a television audience of 750 million. The ceremony was led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Robert Runcie, who was assisted by clergymen of various other denominations. A national holiday was called to mark the occasion.

Difficulties within the royal marriage were reported within a few years, in 1985. Fifteen years after the "fairytale wedding", the marriage ended in divorce. Diana agreed to relinquish the title of "her royal highness," to be known in the future as Diana, Princess of Wales.

Cheers - John

1981.....Nahhhh! Couldn't be that long ago Rocky. I remember as it was yesterday mate. My memory is not that good these days  

Gday...

1768  -             James Cook receives sealed secret orders prior to his first journey in the Endeavour.

In 1768, Lieutenant James Cook was commissioned with the task of observing the transit of Venus across the sun from the vantage point of Tahiti. This expedition was originally commissioned by the Royal Society of London as a scientific mission. However, when the British Admiralty became aware of Cooks expedition to the Southern Hemisphere, Cook was given an extra task - one which, it was hoped, would see the advancement of the British Empire and acquisition of more territory.

On 30 July 1768, shortly before HM Bark Endeavour departed England, Cook was handed his orders. They were in two parts: the second section was sealed, and could be opened only by Cook once he completed his observations of Venus. Entitled Secret Instructions for Lieutenant James Cook Appointed to Command His Majestys Bark the Endeavour 30 July 1768, the instructions commanded Cook to find the Great South Land, a Land of great extent that was believed to exist in the Southern hemisphere. Although the continent of Australia had been discovered by the Dutch in the early 1600s, it was not thought to be Terra Australis Incognita, or the mysterious Unknown Southern Land.

Cook was instructed ... to proceed to the Southward in order to make discovery of the Continent above-mentioned until you arrive in the latitude of 40º, unless you sooner fall in with it. He was then ordered with the Consent of the Natives to take possession of Convenient Situations in the Country in the Name of the King of Great Britain. In essence, Cook was awarded the power to consign any indigenous inhabitants of the Great South Land under the King of Englands authority.

1945  -             During WWII, a Japanese submarine fires two torpedoes at the USS 'Indianapolis': 880 die as a result.

The 'USS Indianapolis' was an American cruiser and the flagship of the Fifth Fleet. In the closing months of World War II, it had just delivered crucial components for the atomic bombs that would be used in the attack on Japan, and was on its way to Guam when it was torpedoed. The Japanese submarine I-58, under the command of Commander Machitsura Hashimoto, intercepted the path of the 'Indianapolis' at a quarter past midnight on 30 July 1945. The ship was split in two by the explosion.

Of the 1,196 aboard, about 900 made it into the water in the twelve minutes before she sank, leaving around 300 men who died immediately in the attack. The remainder floundered in the water without lifeboats, although some of the men had life-jackets. The next morning, shark attacks began and continued until the last survivors were picked up, five days after the attack. In the end, there were only 317 survivors. This was due largely to the fact that Americans had dismissed the Japanese transmission describing of the type and size of vessel it had sunk as exaggeration, and it was at least 84 hours before help arrived.

1967  -             Arthur Stace, the man who chalked "Eternity" on Sydney footpaths for 37 years, dies.

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

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

Arthur Stace died of a stroke at age 87 on 30 July 1967. Ten years after he died, Ridley Smith, architect of Sydney Square, set the message ETERNITY in letters almost 21cm high in wrought aluminium, near the Sydney Square waterfall. On 1 January 2000, the worldwide telecast of millennium celebrations showed the Sydney Harbour Bridge alight with the word 'Eternity' in flowing copperplate, still proclaiming Stace's message to the world.

1997  -             The Alpine Way above Thredbo, NSW, collapses, causing a landslide that kills 18, but ends with the amazing rescue of Stuart Diver.

The Alpine Way, which winds its way through the Snowy Mountains, was originally built as a service road during the construction of the Murray 1 and 2 hydroelectric power stations in the 1950s. After the completion of Murray 1 and 2, the Snowy Mountains Authority added landfill and upgraded the road. Around 11:30pm on the night of 30 July 1997, the road collapsed from the pressure of heavy rain, melting snow and the waterlogged landfill. The Carinya Lodge was pushed down onto the Bimbadeen Lodge, killing 18 staff.

Rescue work continued for days as emergency workers looked for survivors, but found only bodies. Their efforts were hampered by the severe instability of the area following the collapse. Flattened walls and slabs of concrete flooring made the operation dangerous. Finally, miraculously, one man was found alive. Skiing instructor Stuart Diver had been trapped between two huge concrete slabs, beside the body of his wife Sally, who had died in the accident. Amidst the tragedy of eighteen lives lost, the hope of saving this one life made all the difference to the rescue workers, and to the thousands of Australians who had stayed glued to their television sets as the saga unfolded.

1973  -             Makers of the drug Thalidomide, responsible for countless deformities in children, finally agree to compensate the victims to the amount of 20 million pounds sterling. 

Thalidomide was commonly used in the 1950s and 1960s to help pregnant women combat the symptoms of morning sickness. It was soon found to cause severe birth defects, with thousands of babies being born with shortened limbs or none at all. After the drug became available, around 12,000 babies in 46 countries were born with birth defects, with only 8,000 of them surviving past the first year of life. Over the years it became apparent that these survivors could pass on the Thalidomide legacy to their own children, perpetuating the effects down the generations.

The compensation payout marked the end of an 11-year battle, in a decision handed down on 30 July 1973. In Britain the Distillers Company, which marketed the German-manufactured drug in Britain, agreed to pay £6 million in direct claims and to set up a £14 million trust fund to secure the children's future. Interestingly, almost to the day 37 years later, on 28 July 2010, the 45 surviving Australian and New Zealand victims of Thalidomide were also promised 50 million dollars in instalments as compensation.

Whilst Thalidomide has long been taken off the market for morning sickness, it is still licensed in the US to treat a complication of leprosy.

2003  -             The final original VW Beetle automobile is produced.

The name 'Volkswagen' which translates literally as "people's car" is the name of an automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Germany. The VW Type 1, better known as the Beetle or Bug or Käfer (in German), is a small family car and probably the best known car made by Volkswagen. During the Beetle's production which commenced in 1938 and ended in 2003, over 21 million Beetles in the original design were made. On 30 July 2003, the final original VW Beetle (No. 21,529,464) was produced at Puebla, Mexico. The final car was immediately shipped off to the Volkswagen company's museum in Wolfsburg, Germany.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1703  -             Author Daniel Defoe is sentenced to the pillory for his declamation of the upper classes - but is bombarded with flowers rather than rotten food.

Daniel Defoe was born Daniel Foe in either 1659 or 1661. Best known for his novel "Robinson Crusoe", Defoe helped to popularise the concept of the novel, which was a fairly new literary form at the time. Aside from "Robinson Crusoe", Defoe wrote over five hundred books, articles and journals on topics such as politics, crime, religion, marriage, psychology and the supernatural.

Defoe added the aristocratic "De" to the front of his original surname, "Foe", and entertained high aspirations as a businessman, living with huge debts. A prolific writer and protagonist for social and economic improvement, Defoe was unafraid to satirise the higher classes, attacking them in writing with wit and flair. His writings, together with his political activism, led to his arrest on 31 July 1703. The upper classes took great exception to his pamphlet entitled "The Shortest Way with the Dissenters".

Following his arrest, Defoe was placed in a pillory. Related to the stocks, a pillory was a method of public humiliation and punishment, in which the victim was secured to a wooden frame which had holes for the head and hands. The public would then usually throw harmful objects and rotten food. Legend has it that in Defoe's case, however, his friends and audience threw flowers at him, rather than any harmful substances. He was released after three days.

1900  -             Western Australia votes to join the Commonwealth of Australia.

Australia was under British rule from the time the First Fleet landed, in 1788, until 1901. Numerous politicians and influential Australians through the years had pushed for federation of the colonies, and self-government. After not being accepted by the states the first time, the amended Commonwealth Constitution was given Royal Assent on 9 July 1900.

Western Australia held back from agreeing to join the federation, as Premier and former explorer John Forrest wanted to ensure the economic security of the state, given its distance from the more highly populated eastern states. Western Australia itself was divided over the decision to join, as the people of Albany pushed to be included as part of South Australia, rather than aligning themselves with Perth and Fremantle. Despite this, Forrest's 31 July 1900 referendum on whether the Western Australians wished to join the rest of the commonwealth was resoundly accepted throughout the state. Even in Albany, 914 voted "yes" and 67 voted "no".

1917  -             World War I's Battle of Passchendaele begins, with heavy casualties ultimately on both sides.

The Battle of Passchendaele, also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, was one of the major battles of World War I, fought by British, ANZAC, and Canadian soldiers against the Germans. It was fought for control of the village of Passchendaele (now Passendale) near the Belgian town of Ypres in West Flanders. The plan was to create a hole in the German lines, advance to the Belgian coast and capture the German submarine bases there. It would have created a decisive corridor to be opened in a crucial area of the front, and it would also have taken pressure off the French forces.

The campaign commenced on 31 July 1917 and continued through to 6 November 1917, when the Canadian Corps gained control of Passchendaele. It was a particularly difficult campaign, as the British preparatory bombardment ripped up the countryside which was already essentially reclaimed swampland. Heavy rain from August onwards produced an impassable terrain of deep "liquid mud", in which an unknown number of soldiers drowned.

Combined allied casualties reached almost a quarter of a million men, with about the same number lost by the Germans. Around 95,000 British or Australian men were not identified, and another 42,000 bodies never recovered. Known Australian losses were approximately 36,000 from its relatively small population of under five million.

1942  -             The town of Mossman in far north Queensland is bombed by the Japanese.

In WWII, the first real attack of the Japanese on an Australian base occurred with the bombing of Darwin on 19 February 1942. That attack was the first of about 90 attacks that occurred at various places in and around Australia during the war.

Shortly after this initial attack, the northwest coastal towns of Broome and Wyndham also came under fire, followed by Derby a few weeks later. It is less well known that the towm of Mossman, near Cairns, was also bombed.

On the night of 31 July 1942, Sub Lieutenant Mizukura dropped eight bombs, thinking that the lights he saw were Cairns. In fact it was Mossman, and while the other seven bombs have never been recovered, one fell on a sugar cane farm near Sal****er, Mossman. It caused a crater that measured 7 metres wide and a metre deep, and sent flying shrapnel through the window of the nearby farmhouse. Farmer Felice Zullo's two and a half year old daughter was wounded in the head from shrapnel which entered the house, although she was in her cot at the time.

The child grew up to become Mrs Carmel Emmi, and on 31 July 1991, Mrs Emmi unveiled a plaque on a memorial stone commemorating the attack and her survival. The memorial stone is situated on Bamboo Creek Road, after the turnoff to Whyanbeel.

1951  -             One of Australia's greatest tennis players, Evonne Goolagong, is born.

Evonne Fay Goolagong Cawley was born at Griffith, New South Wales, on 31 July 1951, one of eight children. As a professional tennis player, Goolagong was the first female Aboriginal Australian to achieve prominence in a sport. Goolagong's tennis career includes 92 pro tournament victories. She won the Australian Open four times, Wimbledon twice, the French Open once, and she represented Australia seven times in the Federation Cup, winning in 1971, 1973 and 1974. In 1971, she was named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year. Goolagong retired in 1982, but has still maintained her links with competition tennis in Australia, being appointed captain of the Federation Cup team for 2002.

1964  -             Ranger 7, the first successful American lunar probe, transmits the first close-up images of the moon's surface.

The Ranger series of spacecraft was designed to fly straight down towards the surface of the moon, taking photographs during descent. Ranger 7 was the first of the craft to successfully transmit pictures of the moon's surface. It was launched on 28 July 1964 and impacted the moon on 31 July 1964. Seventeen minutes before it impacted the moon, it captured its first photograph: in all, it returned 4,308 high resolution photographs. This reconnaissance was crucial to the mapping of the moon, and ultimately to the success of the first moon landing.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1831  -             New London Bridge is opened, replacing the 600-year-old London Bridge.

There have been a number of different London Bridges over the past 2000 years. In 46AD, the Romans built the first bridge across the Thames River; it was a simple wooden construction which was burnt down in 1014. The replacement bridge was destroyed by a storm in 1091, and the next bridge after that was destroyed again by fire in 1136. Forty years later, construction of a stone bridge was begun, leading to the opening of the new bridge in 1209. This bridge contained an intricate complex of houses, shops and a chapel, had 19 small arches and a drawbridge with a gatehouse at each end. It was so heavily populated that it was made a ward of the City with its own alderman. Due to the heavy population of the bridge, it suffered damage from many fires over the years, deaths from fire and deaths from drowning as the many arches produced vigorous rapids underneath. The houses were not removed from the bridge until the mid 1700s.

By the early 1800s, traffic congestion and the dangers posed by the bridge prompted the necessity for a new bridge. Engineer John Rennie started construction in 1825 and finished the bridge in 1831. The design was superior, containing only five high arches, and constructed from strong Dartmoor granite. It was opened by King William the fourth, accompanied by Queen Adelaide, on 1 August 1831. However, a necessary widening process some 70 years later weakened the bridge's foundations to the point where it began sinking an inch every eight years. In 1968, it was auctioned and sold for $2,460,000 to Robert McCulloch who moved it to Havasu City, Arizona, where it was rebuilt brick by brick, and finally opened and dedicated on 10 October 1971.

The current London Bridge was completed in 1972 and officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1973. It was built in conjunction with the careful dismantling of the previous bridge, so that a river crossing was maintained in use at the site at all times.

1872  -             George Taylor, little-known pioneer in Australian aviation, is born.

George Augustine Taylor was born in Sydney on 1 August 1872. As a child, he worked to perfect the cellular kite, or box kite. On 12 November 1984, he was lifted about 5 metres on a kite above the beach at Stanwell Park, Sydney. As a student and admirer of aviator Lawrence Hargrave, Taylor developed a keen interest in gliding. Together with Edward Hallstrom, he pioneered gliding in Australia, launching from the sandhills at the northern Sydney beach of Narrabeen on 5 December 1909. His craft was a biplane with a box-kite tail for balance, built from coachwood and covered with oiled calico. Taylor's wife also tried her hand at gliding that day.

Taylor went on to be an architect, engineer, founder and Secretary of the Australian Air League, and cartoonist for Bulletin and Punch magazines. He also founded the Wireless Institute of Australia, contributing much to the spread and development of wireless technology in Australia.

1873  -             The world's first cable car is installed in San Francisco.

The Californian city of San Francisco, on the west coast of America, is notable for its steep streets. Horse-drawn carriages could become dangerous in wet conditions, as the cobblestone roadways provided insufficient grip for the horses' hooves.

In 1873, British inventor Andrew Smith Hallidie devised a system for overcoming the problem of public transport in the hilly city. Using wire ropes, pulleys, tracks, and grips, he invented the first cable car, based on a system he had already implemented in cable drawn ore cars for use in mines. On 1 August 1873, the first cable car cruised down Clay Street, San Francisco, and was able to return back up the steep grade, a distance of 853 metres, rising 93 metres.

1944  -             The Polish Home Army begins an uprising to free Warsaw, captured by the Nazis in September 1939.

In the final months of WWII, the German army had begun to retreat in a number of its former strongholds. The "Red Army", the Russians, had been steadily advancing, and had forced the Nazis out of the Baltic states, Belorussia and Poland's west. As the Red Army approached, the Polish Underground Home Army, led by General Tadeusz 'Bor' Komorowski, saw the opportunity to take the Germans by surprise, instigating open battle.

The Polish Home Army had approximately 40,000 troops, including 4,000 women, but only enough arms for about 2,500, and most of those were simple rifles and tommy guns. The Germans had about 15,000 men, but there were another 30,000 stationed nearby, and they had far superior weaponry. The battle began on 1 August 1944 and continued for 63 days, spreading to all parts of the city and involving innocent civilians. Ultimately, the Polish army surrendered, on 3 October 1944. Estimates put the number of Polish losses at 150,000, against German losses of 26,000.

1944  -             WWII diarist Anne Frank makes the final entry in her famous diary.

Anne Frank was born on 12 June 1929. As persecution of the Jews escalated in WWII, she was forced to go into hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands. She, her family and four other people spent two years in an annex of rooms above her fathers office in Amsterdam. After two years of living in this way, they were betrayed to the Nazis and deported to concentration camps. At the age of 15, Anne Frank died of typhus at Bergen-Belsen. The date was March, 1945, just two months before the end of the war.

Anne Frank's legacy is her diary. It was given to her as a simple autograph/notebook for her thirteenth birthday. In it she recorded not only the personal details of her life, but also her observations of living under Nazi occupation until the final entry of 1 August 1944.

1949  -             The Australian government sends in army troops to work the mines during the extensive Coal Miner's Strike, effectively ending the strike.

The Australian coal miners' strike of 1949 was sparked by a clash between the miners' basic rights and concerns, and the government's interest in supporting business and mining interests. Coal mining had a high fatality rate, with around 25 miners being killed at work annually, so miners sought the implementation of essential safety policies, as well as a 35-hour week, long service leave, and a 30 shilling a week pay rise. To counter the control of the unions, some of which were led by members of the Communist Party of Australia, the Chifley government brought in strong anti-union laws. Thus, beginning on 27 June 1949, 23 000 coal miners, primarily in New South Wales and Queensland, went on a strike that lasted for seven weeks.

Because so much industry was forced to shut down, unemployment increased. Electricity supply was severely restricted and laws were brought in to prevent wastage of the limited supplies. Attorney General, Dr Herbert Vere Evatt and Prime Minister Ben Chifley together introduced the National Emergency (Coal Strike) Bill into federal parliament, putting it into immediate effect. the bill froze any trade union funds intended to assist the strike, and made it illegal for anyone to offer financial aid or support to any of the striking miners. Several officials of the Miners' Federation, Federated Ironworkers' Association and the Waterside Workers' unions were arrested and imprisoned for failing to hand over union funds to the Arbitration Court.

The strike finally ended when, on 1 August 1949, Chifley sent in 2,500 army troops to operate coal mines at Minmi, near Newcastle in New South Wales, Muswellbrook and Ben Bullen. Two weeks later, miners returned to work, without their demands being met. This was the first time the Australian military was sent in during peacetime to end a strike, and it became the precedent for numerous later incidents in which defence force troops were used to end strikes.

1949  -             The Snowy Mountains Authority comes into being, initiating Australia's greatest feat of engineering in the 20th century.

The Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Scheme is a hydroelectricity and irrigation scheme in Australia, covering about 5,124 square kilometres in southern New South Wales. Considered to be one of the wonders of the modern engineering world, it involves sixteen dams, seven power stations, a pumping station, 145 km of underground tunnels and 80 km of aqueducts. The scheme generates enough electricity to meet roughly 10% of the needs of New South Wales, depending on seasonal rainfall and melting snow.

The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme was first proposed in 1918, driven by the needs of farmers who wanted to be able to divert the waters of the Snowy River inland for irrigation, rather than having it all simply flow out to sea at the river's mouth. In 1946, the Federal government, together with the state governments of Victoria and New South Wales, co-operated to investigate the possibilities of such a Scheme. The Government accepted a proposal in 1949 and the Snowy Mountain Hydro-Electric Power Act was passed in Federal Parliament in July 1949. Led by prominent New Zealand engineer Sir William Hudson, the Snowy Mountains Authority came into being on 1 August 1949.

Construction on the massive undertaking began in October 1949. Together with Governor General Sir William McKell and Prime Minister Ben Chifley, Sir William Hudson, then first Commissioner of the Snowy Mountains Scheme, fired the first blast at Adaminaby. The scheme took 25 years to complete and was built at a cost of $1 billion - well under budget. During construction, over 100,000 men and women from over 30 countries worked on the Scheme, whilst Australians made up most of the workforce. These immigrants contributed significantly to the post-war boom. 121 people died whilst working on the project, but given the size of the scheme, it maintained a high safety record.

Apart from the obvious benefits provided by the electricity and the numerous dams, the Snowy Mountain Hydro-Electric Scheme was significant for raising Australia's profile as a technologically advanced country. In 1967 and 1997, the American Society of Civil Engineers ranked the Scheme as one of the great engineering achievements of the twentieth century.       

Cheers - John

Gday...

1870  -             Tower Subway, the first tube railway in the world, is opened under the Thames River in London.

The London Underground is a public electric railway system that runs underground in central London and emerges above ground in the city's suburbs. It was the world's first underground network. Prior to its construction, London trains terminated a long way from the central city, as building them closer would necessitate damaging historic buildings. Buses were still required to bring commuters into the city, and London soon became gridlocked. In 1854, a short underground railway was implemented between Paddington and Farringdon, but was constructed using a simple cut-and-cover method of digging a trench and recovering it with a roof, using supporting beams.

Shortly after this, deep-level tunnels, or "tube lines" were developed. They ran about 20 metres below the surface, and the tunnels were reinforced with cast-iron rings. On 2 August 1870, the Tower Subway became the first tube railway to be opened, and it ran beneath the River Thames in central London, close to the Tower of London, entering at Tower Hill and exiting at Vine Lane. It was designed and built by James Henry Greathead in 1869-1870 using a cylindrical wrought-iron tunnelling shield he designed with Peter W. Barlow. Initially, a steam engine powered a 12-seat carriage shuttled from end to end by wire rope, in a 70 second journey. However, it was not popular or cost-effective and was closed down after three months.

1922  -             Scottish inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, dies.

Alexander Graham Bell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 3 March 1847. It was whilst living in Canada, from 1870, that Bell pursued his interest in telephony and communications. He moved to the US shortly afterwards to continue developing his inventions. On 7 March 1876, he was granted US Patent Number 174,465 for "the method of, and apparatus for, transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically ... by causing electrical undulations, similar in form to the vibrations of the air accompanying the said vocal or other sound", i.e. the telephone. Bell and others formed the Bell Telephone Company in July 1877.

Bell also collaborated with other inventors to produce such items as the phonograph, photophone (a device enabling the transmission of sound over a beam of light), metal detector and hydrofoil. Bell died on 2 August 1922, and two days later, his death was marked by a minute's silence from the ringing of telephones all over his adopted country.

1997  -             After three days, skiing instructor Stuart Diver is pulled alive from the rubble of the collapsed Thredbo resorts.

For three days after the collapse of the Alpine Way in Australia's high country in 1997 (see July 30), Stuart Diver, 27, lay trapped between two concrete slabs, under mud, rubble and snow. The rescue operation was made all the more dangerous by the instability of the debris and the land. Heavy rain, melting snow and landfill had resulted in 2000 square metres of liquefied soil rushing down the mountainside. 1350 volunteers and specialists in rescue operations worked in shifts around the clock to clear the rubble and find survivors. The focus changed for the rescue workers when Stuart Diver was found alive.

Michael Featherstone, 52, was the paramedic who stayed beside Diver through the twelve hour rescue ordeal. Diver had been buried for 66 hours, and was suffering severe hypothermia and poor circulation. Internal injuries had caused his body to release toxins into his bloodstream, and workers had to ensure that each step of the rescue was taken slowly and carefully: even moving Diver from a prone to vertical position was delicate and life-threatening as it could have caused a toxic shock. When Diver was finally lifted from his concrete and rubble prison on 2 August 1997, a resounding cheer rang across the mountainside, and probably also from the tens of thousands of Australian viewers who had been watching the rescue on television.

1990  -             Iraq invades Kuwait, initiating the Gulf War.

In the early hours of 2 August 1990, 100,000 Iraqi troops backed by 300 tanks invaded Kuwait, in the Persian Gulf. US economic aid to Iraq had inadvertently allowed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to amass weaponry which was then deployed for the invasion. Hussein's motivation for the invasion was that it was a response to overproduction of oil in Kuwait, which had cost Iraq an estimated $14 billion a year when oil prices fell.

The United Nations acted immediately to implement economic sanctions against Iraq. Iraq, however, would not retreat. In January of the following year, a coalition force of armies from 34 nations, led by the United States, set out to free Kuwait. The Gulf War lasted around 6 weeks, and resulted in a decisive victory for the coalition forces.     

Cheers - John

Gday...

1492  -             Christopher Columbus departs on the voyage that would lead him to discover the Americas.

Christopher Columbus is believed to have been born on or around 30 October 1451: there is some doubt as to his actual country and region of birth, but he was believed to have been born in Genoa, Italy. Like many boys of his time and region, he went to sea at a young age, most likely learning his skills whilst sailing in the Mediterranean Sea.

Up until Columbus's time, sea traders favoured a route eastwards to China, India, and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia. However, Columbus was determined to pioneer a western sea route. On 3 August 1492 Columbus set sail from Palos, Spain, with three small ships, the Santa Marýa, the Pinta, and the Niña. During his journeys, Columbus explored the West Indies, South America, and Central America. He became the first explorer and trader to cross the Atlantic Ocean and sight the land of the Americas, on 12 October 1492, under the flag of Castile, a former kingdom of modern day Spain. It is most probable that the land he first sighted was Watling Island in the Bahamas.

Columbus returned to Spain laden with gold and new discoveries from his travels, including the previously unknown tobacco plant and the pineapple fruit. The success of his first expedition prompted his commissioning for a second voyage to the New World, and he set out from Cýdiz in September 1493. He explored Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and various smaller Caribbean islands, and further ensuing explorations yielded discoveries such as Venezuela. Through all this, Columbus believed that he was travelling to parts of Asia. He believed Hispaniola was Japan, and that the peaks of Cuba were the Himalayas of India.

Although passionate about converting the world to Christianity, Columbus fell out with the Spanish King and Queen, as he repeatedly suggested slavery as a way to profit from the new colonies. These suggestions were all rejected by the monarchs, who preferred to view the natives as future members of Christendom. Columbus was stripped of his governorship of Hispaniola for mismanagement and his treatment of rebellious settlers and Indians. Thus, although he became wealthy as a result of his explorations, he was not given the rewards he felt he was due. Columbus died in 1506, still believing that he had found the route to the Asian continent.

1811  -             Elisha Otis, inventor of the automatic safety brake for elevators, is born.

Elisha Graves Otis was born in Halifax, Vermont, USA, on 3 August 1811. As a young man, circumstances caused Otis to change jobs many times. It was while he was working for a New York bed factory that he determined there was a need for a safety elevator to move people and equipment safely to the upper floors of the building. Otis built the first modern passenger elevator which used his invention of a safety device which prevented the car from falling if the cables broke.

His invention was demonstrated in front of a large crowd at the Crystal Palace Exposition in New York in 1854. After ascending in his new elevator, Otis called for the elevator's cable to be cut with an axe. The elevator platform did not fall, but held, secured by a brake using toothed guiderails in the elevator shaft and a spring-loaded bar that automatically caught in the toothed rail of the elevator car if the cable failed. Today, the Otis Elevator Company is the worlds largest company in the manufacture and service of elevators, escalators, moving walks and people-moving equipment.

1856  -             Alfred Deakin, Australia's second Prime Minister, is born.

Alfred Deakin was born on 3 August 1856 in Fitzroy, Melbourne. In 1879, Deakin gained a seat in the colonial Parliament of Victoria, and after holding office in several ministries, he began to turn his efforts towards the push for Federation. Following Federation in 1901, he was elected to the first federal Parliament as MP for Ballarat, becoming Attorney-General in Prime Minister Edmund Barton's government.

Deakin succeeded Barton as Prime Minister in 1902 when the latter retired. Deakin's own Protectionist Party did not hold a majority in either house, and he was unwilling to accept aspects of Labor's legislation, so he retired in 1904. Watson and Reid succeeded him, but when they proved unable to maintain a stable ministry, Deakin returned to office in 1905. He was pushed out by the Labor Party in 1908, but after forming a coalition with Reid, Deakin again returned as Prime Minister in 1909 heading up a majority government, a position he held until his defeat at the polls in 1910. Deakin retired from politics altogether in 1913, and died in 1919.

1990  -             The highest temperature ever known in Britain is recorded in Leicestershire... at 37 degrees C.

In mid 1990, England endured a run of unusually hot weather. Firemen battled around the clock to fight blazes in the North Yorkshire countryside, while penguins at Bristol Zoo had to be dosed daily in cold water to prevent dehydration. Coastal areas and the roads leading to them were packed with people hoping to cool down, and even reservoir levels were falling, although there was no immediate likelihood of water restrictions being implemented. The highest temperature ever recorded in Britain - 37 degrees Celsius - was reached on 3 August 1990. The new record was broken thirteen years later when 38.1 degrees C was recorded at Gravesend, Kent on 10 August 2003.

In context: the hottest recorded temperature in Australia to that date was 53 degrees C at Cloncurry, Queensland, on 16 January 1889. The world heat record goes to Marble Bar in Western Australia, which recorded maximum temperatures equalling or exceeding 37.8°C on 161 consecutive days, between 30 October 1923 and 7 April 1924.

2004  -             The Statue of Liberty Pedestal in New York City opens for the first time since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

On 11 September 2001, New York City, USA was hit by two of four terrorist strikes carried out across the US. At around 8:45am local time American Airlines Flight 11, which had been hijacked, crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Centre. At 9:03am, United Airlines Flight 175, which was hijacked within minutes of the first plane, was flown into the south tower. The impact of each plane and subsequent explosions killed hundreds immediately and trapped many more people on higher floors.

The south tower of the World Trade Centre collapsed an hour after being hit, and was followed shortly afterwards by the north tower, compounding the loss of life. 365 fire-fighters and police who were assisting with the evacuation were also killed in the collapse. Over three thousand people were killed in the terrorist attacks that day in September. When the organisation called al-Qaeda claimed responsibility, the US declared a War on Terror and invaded Afghanistan where al-Qaeda had been harbouring, in order to depose the Taliban.

Apart from the obvious damage to infrastructure, the destruction of the World Trade Centre had numerous long-term effects, while security was tightened in many key US locations. Liberty Island, where the Statue of Liberty had stood since 1886, was closed for 100 days. It opened in December of that year, with all visitors being screened before boarding the ferry to the island. The statue itself, however, remained closed to the public.

On 3 August 2004, the Statue of Liberty pedestal reopened to the public for the first time since the 9/11 attacks. It had undergone $20 million worth of improvements to ensure fire safety, security and evacuation routes were compliant with new standards. At the reopening, Governor George Pataki proclaimed, "This beacon of hope and liberty is once again open to the public, sending a reassuring message to the world that freedom is alive in New York and shining brighter than ever before." Liberty's crown was finally reopened in 2009.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1845  -             Australias worst civil maritime disaster occurs when the barque Cataraqui is wrecked off King Island, Bass Strait.

Bass Strait is the body of water that lies between Victoria, on the southeastern mainland of the Australian continent, and the island state of Tasmania. It was discovered by Matthew Flinders when he circumnavigated Van Diemen's Land, now Tasmania, in 1798-99. Named after George Bass, who accompanied Flinders, the straits discovery reduced shipping time between west of Van Diemens Land and Sydney by one week, and was a catalyst to the settlement of Port Phillip Bay, where Melbourne now stands. However, the waters of Bass Strait are notoriously dangerous, and during the 19th century, many ships were wrecked whilst passing through.

The Cataraqui, also known as the Cataraque, was a British barque, built in Quebec, Canada in 1840. Purchased and registered in England to William Smith & Sons, for the purpose of transporting assisted emigrants to the fledgling city of Melbourne, the Cataraqui departed Liverpool on 20 April 1845. On board were 367 migrants under the care of surgeons Charles and Edward Carpenter, and 41 crew under the command of Captain Christopher William Finlay.

After a relatively uneventful voyage, the ship entered Bass Strait in the early hours of 4 August 1845. A severe storm pushed the barque onto sharp rocks about 130 metres off Fitzmaurice Bay on King Island, off the north-western coast of Tasmania. Although the crew had brought the passengers up from below decks where water was beginning to fill the hold, large waves swept many of the emigrants overboard. By daylight, around 200 survivors still clung to the sinking ship, but as it began to break up, more were cast into the waters where they drowned or were killed after being thrown onto the jagged rocks. By dawn of the next day, just 30 survivors remained. The few survivors who made it to shore on King Island were found by castaway David Howie, who had been wrecked on the island five weeks earlier, and was awaiting rescue. Howie and the survivors dug four mass graves to bury 342 bodies that washed ashore.

1860  -             The 'Sydney Morning Herald' reports that gold has been found at Lambing Flat, later the scene of Australia's largest anti-Chinese riots.

The region surrounding present-day town of Young in the central southwest of New South Wales was first settled by pioneers seeking good grazing land for their stock. "Burrangong Station", owned by J.White, was the first station beyond Sydney and the Bathurst area to be included on a colonial map. Burrangong Station included a large area for sheltering ewes during lambing: this became known as Lambing Flat.

Towards the end of June 1870, a stockman camped at Lambing Flat noted how the countryside resembled the gold-bearing geography of established goldfields. Washing a few shovelfuls of dirt in a billy, he was rewarded with numerous gold flecks. The Lambing Flat goldfields were subsequently announced in the Sydney Morning Herald on 4 August 1860.

At the height of its popularity, the rich alluvial gold deposits attracted a population of around 20 000. While most of the diggers were from other parts of Australia, many migrants came from Europe and North America. Around 1000 miners were Chinese, and they soon became the target of violence from the white diggers. Due to unfounded suspicion and mistrust of the Chinese miners, within one year, Lambing Flat was to become infamous, not so much for the gold, but for being the scene of violent anti-Chinese riots.

1906  -             Central Railway Station in Sydney is opened.

The Sydney Railway Company, established for the purpose of constructing the first railway line in New South Wales, was incorporated in October 1849. The first railway line in the state opened in September 1855, and ran a distance of 22km from Sydney to Parramatta. Fifty-one years later, what is now the largest railway station in Australia opened in Sydney.

Sydneys Central Railway Station, at the southern end of the CBD, was built on land formerly occupied by the Devonshire St Cemetery after cemetery plots were exhumed and the remains relocated to other cemeteries. The land had also been used by a convent, a female refuge, police barracks and the Benevolent Society. The station was opened on 4 August 1906. The following day, the first train arrived at the new station - the Western Mail train, which arrived at 5:50am.

1914  -             World War I begins.

Through the centuries, wars have been started for a variety of reasons. The desire for domination, revenge, the push for more territory, differences in religion, ethnic cleansing these are all common causes of war. However, it took a senseless assassination to launch the worlds first global war.

His Imperial and Royal Highness Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este was heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. The Archduke was one of the leading advocates of maintaining the peace within the Austro-Hungarian government during both the Bosnian Crisis of 1908-1909 and the Balkan Wars Crises of 1912-1913. When he accepted the invitation of Bosnia's governor to inspect army manoeuvres outside Sarajevo, he and his wife were assassinated by "The Black hand", a secret nationalistic Serb society, on 28 June 1914.

Consequently, the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia. The following month, Russia, which had a treaty with Serbia, called for restraint from Germany whilst partially mobilising their own troops; Germany, allied to Austria-Hungary, responded with similar warnings, and began mobilisation themselves. When Austrian warships attacked the Serbian capital of Belgrade on 30 July, Russia began full mobilisation of its defence forces. Germany declared war on Russia, and France, bound by treaty to Russia, mobilised its troops. When Germany invaded Belgium, which was neutral, Britain issued Germany with an ultimatum to withdraw. The ultimatum was ignored, and Britain formally declared war on Germany, on 4 August 1914. British colonies and dominions were bound to ally themselves with the "Mother Country". As countries allied themselves with either side, war on a global scale broke out, as even Japan, honouring a military agreement with Britain, declared war on Germany. This was the beginning of World War I.

1929  -             The first passenger train departs Adelaide on the Ghan railway line to Alice Springs.

Early settlements in central Australia were isolated by more than distance. Tracks were rough and unsuitable for standard coaches. For many years, outback sheep and cattle stations and other remote settlements such as mining outposts relied on camel trains to bring them necessary goods, supplies and news from settled areas. Not being native to Australia, camels were imported from India, and they required handlers to be brought from India, Afghanistan and Persia. They followed the route taken by explorer John McDouall Stuart, the first recorded European to successfully cross central Australia from south to north, and to return alive.

The concept of a railway line to replace the camel trains was proposed largely as a result of Stuart's exploration, which was instrumental in the building of the Overland Telegraph Line. The first sod marking the beginning of construction of the original Ghan track was turned at Port Augusta in 1878 by the then premier of South Australia, Mr William Jervois. The first section of the railway reached Government Gums in 1881. Government Gums is now known as Farina. The next stage of the line was extended to Marree in 1882, then Oodnadatta in 1891. Premier Jervois envisioned the line eventually reaching Darwin, something that he certainly did not see in his lifetime. It was several decades before the next stage of the railway was begun, in 1926. This was to be the section that would connect Oodnadatta to Alice Springs. It was finally completed in 1929.

The original Ghan train was called the Afghan Express, a name which was soon shortened to just "The Ghan". It was named The Ghan because it followed the tracks of the Afghan camel teams which used to make the trek across central Australia. The first train trip of the Ghan pulled out of Adelaide station on 4 August 1929, with 120 passengers on board. The train now travels through the centre of Australia, between the cities of Adelaide, in the south, and Darwin, in the north, a total journey of 2979 kilometres, as the section between Alice Springs and Darwin was completed in 2004.

1984  -             The African nation of Upper Volta is renamed Burkina Faso.

Burkina Faso is a landlocked nation in western Africa. During the spread of colonialism, it was incorporated into French West Africa and was originally administered as part of the Côte d'Ivoire colony. It became a separate colony,Upper Volta, in 1919, but thirteen years later was broken up between Côte dIvoire, Mali and Niger. Fifteen years later again, in 1947, the boundaries were recreated, and the colony of Upper Volta was reborn. Twelve years later it achieved self-government, and became a republic and member of the Franco-African Community, but became fully independent in 1960.

The country suffered a good deal of instability, enduring military coups in 1966, 1980, 1982, 1983 and 1987. Captain Thomas Sankara became President following the 1983 counter-coup, and it was he who renamed Upper Volta as Burkina Faso on 4 August 1984. The name "Burkina Faso" means "upright land", or "the land of upright people" in the main native languages. Sankara himself was killed in the 1987 coup.

2000  -             The Queen Mother celebrates her centenary.

The Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (Elizabeth Angela Marguerite) was born on 4 August 1900. Later Queen Elizabeth, she was the Queen Consort of George VI of the United Kingdom from 1936 until his death in 1952. After her husband's death, she was known as Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, in relation to her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II.

On 4 August 2000, the Queen Mother became the first member of Britain's Royal Family ever to reach her 100th birthday. She even received a hand-written telegram from Buckingham Palace congratulating her on reaching her centenary. The day was marked with celebrations throughout the United Kingdom: Scotland celebrated the occasion with the firing of a 21-gun salute from Edinburgh Castle and a special bagpipe rendition at Glamis Castle where the Queen Mother had spent much of her childhood. A 21-gun salute was also fired from Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland and from Cardiff City Hall in Wales.

The Queen Mother died at the age of 101, on 20 March 2002.

2001  -             Adventurer Steve Fossett makes his fifth attempt to circumnavigate the world in a balloon, launching from Northam, Western Australia.

American adventurer Steve Fossett made a total of six attempts to fly around the world non-stop in a balloon, finally succeeding on his sixth attempt. His fifth bid began on 4 August 2001, at 7:06am, Western Australian time. Weather conditions were calm at the launch site in Northam, Western Australia. He had tried to launch from Kalgoorlie in June, but a freak gust of wind ripped the Solo Spirit's balloon envelope and damaged helium containers while it was being inflated.

His fifth attempt lasted thirteen days: On August 17, he was forced down by bad weather in Brazil. He had travelled 20,430 kilometres.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1862  -             Joseph Merrick, the 'Elephant Man', is born.

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.

1884  -             The cornerstone of the pedestal upon which the Statue of Liberty stands is laid.

The Statue of Liberty stands on Liberty Island, formerly Bedloe's Island, in New York Harbor. Its full title is "Liberty Enlightening the World". Gustave Eiffel was the Structural Engineer of the Statue of Liberty and its Sculptor was Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. The Statue was completed in Paris in June 1884, and presented to America by the people of France in recognition of the friendship established during the American Revolution.

Although France assumed responsibility for construction of the statue and assembling of the pieces in the USA, America was responsible for building the pedestal upon which the Statue of Liberty stands. The pedestal was designed by American architect Richard Morris Hunt. Hunt's initial design of granite was rejected as too costly, so an alternative concrete design with a granite façade was suggested by engineer and project chief General Charles P Stone.

On 5 August 1884, William A Brodie, Grand Master of Masons in New York state, laid the cornerstone of the pedestal upon which the Statue of Liberty now stands. The pedestal was completed in 1886.

1850  -             A British Act of Parliament separating Victoria from New South Wales is signed by Queen Victoria.

Some years after the arrival of the First Fleet in New South Wales in 1788, Britain sought to expand its claim on the continent. In 1803, the British Government instructed Lieutenant-Governor David Collins to establish a settlement on the southern coast. This settlement was not a success and the site was abandoned, but expeditions continued to be mounted to explore the land between Sydney and Port Phillip. Thanks to the initiative of John Batman, Melbourne was settled in 1835, and despite being regarded as an "illegal" settlement, the foundling colony thrived. Governor Bourke formally named Melbourne in 1837.

The Port Phillip Colony encompassed Melbourne and "Australia Felix", which was the fertile western district discovered by Major Thomas Mitchell. The first petition for formal separation of the colony from New South Wales was drafted by Henry Fyshe Gisborne who had been appointed Commissioner for Crown Lands of the Port Phillip District in 1839. Although Governor Gipps had initially been in favour of separation from New South Wales, he rejected the petition. Further campaigning yielded a change in opinion, and on 5 August 1850, the British Act of Parliament separating Victoria from New South Wales was signed by Queen Victoria. The New South Wales Legislative Council subsequently passed legislation formalising Victoria's separation a year later, on 1 July 1851.

1914  -             Australia enters World War I.

The assassination by Serbian Nationals of His Imperial and Royal Highness Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in June 1914 caused a chain reaction, as countries throughout the world allied themselves with either Serbia or Austria-Hungary. World War I broke out as Britain formally declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914. As a result, its colonies and dominions around the globe were also drawn into the war. Canada, India, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa were among those countries that offered military and financial assistance.

Although Australia had achieved Federation in 1901, this did not mark independence from Great Britain: it was merely the first step in a process of independence that would take another eight decades. While Federation gave Australia the right to govern itself, the newly formed country was still allied to Britain. On 5 August 1914, Australian Prime Minister Joseph Cook pledged support, offering Britain 20 000 troops, and stating that "...when the Empire is at war, so also is Australia." Cook's offer was accepted by the British government, which requested that the troops be sent "as soon as possible".

1930  -             Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, is born.

Neil Alden Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, on 5 August 1930. He catapulted to international fame as the first man to walk on the moon, in the Apollo 11 mission on 29 July 1969. His first words upon landing on the moon were, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." However, he is best remembered for his enduring words, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". A small crater on the Moon near the Apollo 11 landing site was named in his honour. Only another ten people followed in Armstrong's footsteps during the next four years of moon landings.

Armstrong was a Navy pilot during the Korean War, and later joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (which later became NASA) as a civilian test pilot. He was the first civilian to enter the astronaut-training programme. Prior to Apollo 11, he was command pilot of the Gemini 8 mission, which achieved the first docking of two orbiting spacecraft. After the moon landing, Armstrong became Professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati in 1971, remaining there until 1979.

1944  -             Japanese prisoners at Cowra, New South Wales, stage a breakout: 4 Australians and 234 Japanese are killed.

During WWII, by August of 1944 there were around 2,223 Japanese prisoners of war being held in camps around Australia. One of these was at the midwestern town of Cowra, in New South Wales. Japanese prisoners in Australia were housed and treated far better than their Australian counterparts being held in Japanese prisons. The No. 12 Prisoner of War Compound near Cowra was a complex of four smaller camps, each one being allocated in turn to Japanese, Italians, Koreans and Indonesians. At the time of the Japanese breakout, there were 1,104 Japanese prisoners being contained.

On Friday, 4 August 1944, the Japanese prisoners were informed they would be transferred to the prison complex at Hay, in western New South Wales. Around 2am on 5 August 1944, an unauthorized bugle was heard in the Japanese camp, which was a signal for the Japanese prisoners to rush from their huts and attack the fences of the compound. Around 900 Japanese joined in the attack, and those who did not were killed by their compatriots, or they committed suicide. They stormed the outer barbed wire fence using blankets and baseball gloves for protection, armed with knives, baseball bats, clubs studded with nails and hooks, wire stilettos and garotting cords.

Over the next week or so, 309 prisoners were recaptured alive from the surrounding districts and towns. A number of Japanese had been killed in the gunfire immediately after the breakout, or were burnt after prisoners set fire to many of the huts. 25 were found hanged from trees outside the compound, where they had apparently committed suicide, and two had been killed by trains. In all, 234 Japanese died and 108 were wounded. 4 Australian military personnel were killed.

1962  -             Famous actress Marilyn Monroe is found dead in her bed.

Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jean Mortensen on 1 June 1926, in Los Angeles, California. She changed her name after signing a studio contract with 20th Century Fox in 1946. She became one of Hollywood's most famous seductive stars, appearing in movies such as 'How to Marry a Millionaire' (1953), 'Bus Stop' (1956), 'Some Like It Hot' (1959) and 'The Misfits' (1961). She was married to baseball star Joe DiMaggio (1954) and playwright Arthur Miller (1956-61). Scandal surrounded her life as she hobnobbed with the rich and famous, and she was also linked to American President John F Kennedy.

Monroe was found dead of a sleeping pill overdose on 5 August 1962. Her death was officially ruled as probable suicide, but conspiracy theorists have sought to find various motives for powerful people to have instigated her death.

1991  -             Queensland Police Commissioner, Sir Terrence Lewis, is found guilty of corruption and sentenced to 14 years in jail.

Terrence Lewis was born in 1928, and joined the police force at age 20. He won a George Medal for bravery whilst at the Brisbane CIB, and established the Juvenile Aid Bureau in 1963. Lewis was an inspector by the time he was 45, serving for awhile in the western Queensland town of Charleville. He was made assistant police commissioner in 1976, a move which attracted negative attention as he did so over the heads of 122 equal or more senior officers. Ray Whitrod, Police Commissioner at the time, resigned in protest over Lewis's appointment, and Lewis was subsequently promoted to his position.

In the late 1980s, the Fitzgerald inquiry into police corruption was instigated. This was a judicial inquiry presided over by Tony Fitzgerald QC, in response to media reports alleging high-level corruption involving both the police force and the Queensland government under Premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen. The inquiry revealed that Lewis had been deeply involved in protection of illegal brothels and had accepted more than $600,000 from self-confessed Queensland Police bagman Jack Herbert. Evidence indicated that Lewis was regularly accepting up to $10,000 per month in bribes.

As a result of the inquiry, Sir Terrence Lewis was found guilty of corruption on 5 August 1991, stripped of his knighthood, and sentenced to fourteen years in jail. He has since been released from jail, and survives on an age pension.

Cheers - John

1930.....Mmmmm, interesting Rocky cos he landed on the moon before he was born, does that mean he is he man from the moon 

Edit....You told us about him walking on the moon last week.

Gday...

sometimes ya even too quick for yerself

Cheers - John

Gday...

1881  -             Bacteriologist and discoverer of penicillin, Alexander Fleming, is born.

Alexander Fleming was born near Darvel in Ayrshire, Scotland, on 6 August 1881. He was educated at St Mary's Hospital medical school in London until World War I, when he gained further experience in a battlefield hospital in France. After seeing the effects of infections in dying soldiers, he increased his efforts to find an effective means of fighting infection.

It was Fleming's untidiness as a worker which led to his greatest discovery. In the summer of 1828 he went away for a holiday, but left a clutter of plates growing various bacteria lying about his desk. After his return, whilst working on an influenza virus, he noticed that mould had developed on a staphylococcus culture plate, and that the mould had created a bacteria-free circle around itself. Further experimentation proved that even a weaker-strength mould culture prevented growth of staphylococci. Thus, Fleming initiated the development and practice of antibiotic therapy for infectious diseases.

Practical difficulties with creating and isolating the discovery which he named Penicillin prevented Fleming from continuing his research. However, after 1939, two other scientists, Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain, continued to work to develop a method of purifying penicillin to an effective form. The 1945 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was shared between the three men. Fleming died on 11 March 1955.

1911  -             American actress and comedienne, Lucille Ball, is born.

Lucille Désirée Ball was born in Jamestown, New York, on 6 August 1911. At the age of fourteen, she enrolled in the John Murray Anderson School for the Dramatic Arts, where after just a few weeks, she was told she was too shy and had no future as a performer. Ball persisted with her dream, and in 1930 she gained success as a fashion model for designer Hattie Carnegie and as the Chesterfield cigarettes girl. Three years later she moved to Hollywood, gaining many small film parts, but no real fame.

Ball's fame in 'I Love Lucy' came about as a result of her being cast in a CBS radio programme. The programme was 'My Favourite Husband', and she was cast as wacky wife Liz Cugat, later Liz Cooper. The program's subsequent success resulted in its development as a television program, which eventually became 'I Love Lucy'. Lucille Ball died on 26 April 1989.

1915  -             The August Offensive at Gallipoli commences.

Gallipoli, on the Turkish Aegean coast, marks the site of a long and drawn-out campaign against enemy troops during World War 1. Every year, Australians and New Zealanders celebrate ANZAC Day to commemorate the ANZAC troops landing on 25 April 1915 at Gallipoli. Hundreds were killed on the first day of the campaign, and by the time the troops withdrew eight months later, around 8700 had died at Gallipoli.

6 August 1915 saw the beginning of the August Offensive. At 5:30pm, units of the 1st Australian Division attacked Turkish trenches at Lone Pine, and within half an hour, the Turkish front line had fallen. The Turkish troops retaliated with aggressive counter-attacks. At 8:30pm, the regiments of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles mounted a successful assault through the valleys leading up the Sari Bair Range on the peninsula. This opened the way for a combined attack by the New Zealand Infantry Brigade, the 4th Australian Infantry Brigade and the 29th Infantry Brigade of Sikhs and Gurkhas upon the range heights.

The August Offensive continued for 5 days, but strong Turkish counter-attacks prevented the troops from making any real headway.

1945  -             The first atomic bomb is dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

On the morning of 6 August 1945, the "Enola Gay", an American B-29 Superfortress dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima in Japan. Hiroshima was targeted as it was one of the chief supply depots for the Japanese army. 70 000 Japanese were killed immediately. Radiation from the ensuing mushroom cloud killed thousands more and radiation-related diseases affected families for generations. The final death toll was around 140 000. 48 000 buildings were flattened within the 13 square kilometres destroyed by the bomb, and fires continued for days afterwards. President Truman issued the order to drop the bomb after Japan failed to act upon the Potsdam Declaration. The declaration had been issued 10 days previously, calling for the unconditional surrender of Japan.

Another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki three days later, killing 74 000 immediately. However, the real death toll from the impact and the effects of the two bombs was closer to 300 000, not including the effects on generations to come.

Japan surrendered to the Allies on 14 August 1945.

2009  -             Sam the koala, rescued from backburning operations in Victoria, is euthanased due to the effects of chlamydia.

Sam the koala was one of many native animals rescued during backburning operations just prior to the devastating Black Saturday bushfires in February 2009. Several weeks of heatwave conditions in Victoria and southern Australia had resulted in the need to conduct controlled burnoffs. Volunteer firefighter David Tree approached the koala with a bottle of water, from which the animal drank. This was unusual, given that koalas rarely drink water. A mobile phone video of the event was broadcast worldwide, creating an instant celebrity in the koala.

Sam was subsequently taken to the Southern Ash Wildlife Centre in Rawson where she was treated for second-degree burns. She was rehabilitated, and lived there happily for several months after being placed with a young male koala named Bob, who had been rescued from the Victorian bushfires. However, like many wild koalas, Sam was stricken with the disease chlamydia, and had to be euthanased on 6 August 2009 when it was discovered her condition was inoperable. Sam's body was subsequently preserved and moved to the Melbourne Museum as a symbol of the bushfires.

Cheers - John

Gday...

I forgot to include these in yesterday's post ...

Cheers- John

Gday...

44  -     Herod Agrippa, persecutor of the Christian apostles, dies.

Herod Agrippa, born about 10 BC, was a Jewish king who ruled from 37-44 AD. He was also known as Agrippa I, and originally called Marcus Julius Agrippa. He was the grandson of Herod the Great, and was the Herod named in the book of Acts in the Bible. Agrippa was a shrewd politician of his time, always out for self-advancement. He found favour with the cruel Roman emperor Caligula, who appointed Herod Agrippa as governor of the territories of Batanaea and Trachonitis, then of the tetrarchy of Lysanias, whereupon he was given the title of king. In AD 39 he was granted the tetrarchy of Herod Antipas, who was banished.

When Caligula was assassinated in 41 AD, Agrippa was instrumental in securing Claudius's accession to the position of Emperor. He was subsequently given Judaea and Samaria as part of his realm. He was, however, ruthless in attempting to stamp out the growth of Christianity, executing James, one of Jesus's followers, and the brother of the apostle John. He also imprisoned the apostle Peter for spreading the teachings of Jesus. Ultimately however, Agrippa received his just reward: Acts 12:22-23 states that "They shouted, 'This is the voice of a god, not of a man.' Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died." The date traditionally set down for this is 7 August AD 44.

1928  -             Dingo hunter Frederick Brooks is killed, sparking the Coniston Massacre of Australian Aborigines.

Coniston Station is a large cattle station in central Australia, about 300 km northwest of Alice Springs. Covering 2178 sq km, it is bordered by the Tanami Desert to the west. The cattle station was founded by pastoralist Randall Stafford in 1923 and named after a town in his native England.

On 7 August 1928 the body of white dingo hunter, Frederick Brooks, was found on the property. Traditional aboriginal weapons lay nearby, implicating the local indigenous people. Constable William Murray, officer in charge at Barrow Creek, investigated and came to the conclusion that the killing had been done by members of the Warlpiri, Anmatyerre and Kaytetye people.

Within a few days, Constable Murray began to take matters of 'white justice' into his own hands, instigating a series of revenge killings.. This was the last known massacre of Australian Aborigines.

Between 14 and 30 August, Murray shot at least 17 members of the Aboriginal tribes he believed were responsible, and claimed his actions were made in self-defence and that each tribal member he had killed was in possession of some item belonging to Brooks.

Over a period of months and at a number of sites, more than 60 Aboriginal men, women and children were shot and killed. Collectively these incidents became known as the Coniston Massacre.

Murray was never punished for his actions. On the contrary, the Board of Enquiry members were selected to maximise damage-control. It was believed at the time that Murray's actions were appropriate for the circumstances. The Central Land Council organised the seventy-fifth anniversary of the massacre, commemorated near Yuendumu on 24 September 2003.

1947  -             The voyage of Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl ends after the 'Kon-Tiki' crashes into a reef off the Polynesian Islands.

Thor Heyerdahl was a Norwegian anthropologist and marine biologist who developed an interest in the origins of settlement in the islands of the south Pacific. The purpose of the Kon-Tiki expedition was to prove that people from South America could have settled Polynesia in the south Pacific before European exploration made any impact in the area. The Kon-Tiki was a simple balsawood raft made in a design similar to that used by South American natives. The craft carried modern communications equipment, but no food, as Heyerdahl planned to live off food from the ocean. Heyerdahl and his 5 companions sailed the Kon-Tiki for 101 days over a distance of nearly 7,000km across the Pacific Ocean before crashing into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands on 7 August 1947.

Because of the direction in which he had sailed with the ocean currents, Heyerdahl believed this proved his theory of the origins of the south Pacific peoples, and the subsequent documentary he produced received wide acclaim. However, more recent research and DNA testing has shown that the natives of the area bear more similarities to the people of southeast Asia than to the people of South America.

1987  -             American woman Lynne Cox becomes the first person to swim from the United States to the Soviet Union.

It was an exercise which found favour with the Russians but went largely unnoticed by her fellow Americans. On 7 August 1987, Lynne Cox, 30, became the first woman to swim the Bering Strait, the channel forming the boundary line between Alaska in the United States and Siberia, in the Soviet Union. The swim across the 4.3km strait opened the U.S.-Soviet border for the first time in forty-eight years. Cox swam without a shark cage, wet suit, or lanolin grease to protect her from the 5 degrees Celsius waters. Weighing in at over 82 kilograms proved an advantage to Cox, as her 36% body fat insulated her effectively. Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev later said, "She proved by her courage how closely to each other our people live." US President Ronald Reagan had no idea about whom Mr Gorbachev was speaking.

Cox had a history of endurance swimming. At ages 15 and 16, she broke the men's and women's world records for swimming the English Channel, swimming 53km in nine hours and thirty-six minutes. At 18, she swam the 32km Cook Strait between the North and South Islands of New Zealand. She was also the first to swim the Straits of Magellan, considered to be the world's most treacherous stretch of water, though only 4.8km, and she was the first to swim the Cape of Good Hope.

1998  -             200 people are killed and 1000 injured as bombs explode at the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

The al Qaeda terrorist network headed by Osama bin Laden first drew international attention in August 1998. Al Qaedas list of grievances against the West included American participation in the first Gulf War, military operations in Somalia, military involvement in Yemen and US presence in Saudi Arabia by way of permanent US military installations. Osama bin Laden believed that the Americans were infidels and their garrisons propped up a corrupt, insufficiently Islamic Saudi elite. Thus, al Qaeda sought to target US interests abroad.

At approximately 10:30 local time on 7 August 1998, car bombs exploded outside the US Embassy buildings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya in eastern Africa. 207 Kenyans and 12 US citizens died in Nairobi and 11 people died in Dar es Salaam. 4000 more were injured. No-one claimed responsibility for the bombings at the time, but following investigations, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation placed bin Laden on its Ten Most Wanted list. In May 2001, four men linked to al-Qaeda were convicted and sentenced to lifetime in jail. 

Cheers - John