Hello rockylizard

A good read as always so thanks for that

Re 1957 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.

No one saw that coming as the USSR was being portrayed as a backward country, as compared to the USA

Back in that time there was a song called Catch a Falling Star.
Us kids soon changed the words to

Catch a Falling Sputnik
Put it in a matchbox
Send it to the USSR

Gday...

1582  -             Pope Gregory decrees that October 5 will become October 15.

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

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

1789  -             Australia's first ferry service begins operation.

Australia was colonised by the English in January 1788, and the colony of Sydney quickly grew. Although remote and isolated from the rest of the world, life in New South Wales promised new opportunities for people who had lost employment in England's industrial revolution. As business, farms, trades and the population expanded, so did the need for efficient transportation of goods and people. The roads were well-utilised, but the Parramatta River was also a useful avenue for transportation.

During the first eighteen months of the colony, water transport comprised small rowboats from the First Fleet vessels. In response to the need for better water transport, the first locally-built ferry was launched, on 5 October 1789. The "Rose Hill Packet", commonly known as 'the Lump', was Australia's first ferry service. A wooden hoy, 'the Lump' weighed 12 tons and could navigate the journey from Sydney Cove to Rose Hill (now Parramatta) in just 2 days.

1857  -             The first leg is opened of what later becomes the Adelaide to Darwin transcontinental railway line.

Victoria is generally accepted as the first place in Australia to have had a completed railway line. The first steam train in Australia made its maiden voyage on 12 September 1854, running between Flinders Street and Sandridge, now Port Melbourne. However, the first railway ever to run in Australia was actually in South Australia.

South Australia was the only Australian state to remain completely convict-free, and it quickly grew, fed by immigrants and free settlers in search of a better life or escaping religious persecution. South Australia was the site where Australia's first paddlesteamer was launched. It was the site from which both the first east to west crossing and successful south to north crossing of the continent was undertaken. It was also the first colony to implement a railway.

South Australia began operations of horse-drawn trains in May 1854. The line ran from Goolwa, on the Murray River, to the harbour at Port Elliot, and was used to move supplies between craft navigating the Murray River, and coastal and ocean-going vessels. From these humble beginnings, greater things grew. In 1856, the first steam-train ran between Adelaide and Port Adelaide. The following year, the first track was lain of what would ultimately become the Adelaide to Darwin transcontinental railway line, or the Ghan. Opened on 5 October 1857, this line ran the 30km from Adelaide to Gawler, and served the agricultural and mining industries of the area.

1889  -             Inventor Thomas Edison shows his first motion picture.

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

He began selling newspapers on the railroad at age 12, and learned how to operate a telegraph. In 1868, his first invention was an electric vote-recording machine. The invention which first gained Edison fame was the phonograph in 1877, but in 1876 he had moved his laboratory to Menlo Park, New Jersey, where he invented the first prototype of a commercially practical incandescent electric light bulb, in 1879.

By the late 1880s he started experimenting with moving pictures. In his laboratory he produced the Kinetograph, a motion picture camera, and the Kinetoscope, which was a peephole motion picture viewer. On 5 October 1889, he showed his first motion picture. Edison was a prolific inventor, and he became known as "The Wizard of Menlo Park".

1974  -             American David Kunst completes his circumnavigation of the world on foot.

Thirty-year-old American David Kunst left the town of Waseca, Minnesota, on 20 June 1970, to set out on his round-the-world journey by foot. Two of David's brothers accompanied him at different times on his journey. Initially he was joined by his 23-year-old brother John, but John was killed and David wounded by thieves in Afghanistan in 1972. David only survived by playing dead.

Kunst returned to his home town to recover before resuming his journey back in Afghanistan with his brother Peter. Kunst completed his circumnavigation on 5 October 1974, having trekked across four continents. His journey covered more than 23,000km.

1989  -             The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Tenzin Gyatso was the fourteenth Dalai Lama. He was born Lhamo Thondup on 6 July 1935 in the village of Taktser which is in the northeastern province of Amdo, Tibet. He came from a humble farming family, and began his monastic education when he was only 6 years old.

As well as being Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama is also the Head of State. In this position, he appealed to the United Nations to improve Tibet's relations with China, after China encroached upon Tibetan territory in the 1950s. The Dalai Lama's aim was to gain China's respect for the human rights of Tibetans and their wish to be able to determine their own governmental forms and structure free from outside influence. In the 1980s, he proposed a Five-Point Peace Plan at the Congressional Human Rights Caucus held in the USA in 1987. This plan cemented his further proposals for Tibetan autonomy from Chinese influence and domination. The Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on 5 October 1989.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1862  -             Australia's first zoo opens in Melbourne.

Australia has a large number of zoos. Many of these are to show exotic animals from around the world; many others have the purpose of helping to provide a sanctuary for Australia's own endangered and threatened native species.

The first zoo in Australia was Melbourne Zoo, which opened on 6 October 1862. Modelled after the London Zoo, it featured formal Victorian-era gardens and just a few specimens of monkeys, as well as a limited display of native animals. The zoo began to change in character with the appointment of Albert le Souef as Director in 1870. He began to acquire a wider variety of exotic animals such as black bears, lions and tigers. As the zoo gained in popularity, the gardens were extended, more animals added and, in 1881, an entry fee introduced. Once elephants were added to the displays, elephant rides were even offered to the patrons.

The modern Melbourne Zoo has come a long way since the early years. Animals are housed in more natural settings where they are seen less as 'showpieces', and features unique to their native habitat are incorporated into the display. The grounds feature an extensive Australian native animals display area.

1890  -             Jacob Schweppe demonstrates his process for manufacturing the world's first artificially carbonated mineral water.

Jean Jacob Schweppe was born in 1740 in Witzenhausen, Germany. Although Schweppe was a jeweller, he had an interest in science, and his experiments led him to try infusing water with carbon dioxide. In 1783, he invented an efficient system for the manufacture of carbonated mineral water. Initially he gave away the carbonated water for free, but as it gained popularity he began charging for the privilege.

Schweppe then sought a way in which to keep the bubbles in the water. This led to the development of a bottle that could retain the carbonation, thus starting the Schweppes soft drink business. Schweppe founded the Schweppes Company in Geneva in 1783 to sell carbonated water. In 1792, he moved to London to develop the business there. On 6 October 1890, Schweppe demonstrated for the first time his process for manufacturing carbonated water.

1898  -             Catherine "Kate" Kelly, sister of bushranger Ned Kelly, goes missing. 

Ned Kelly is regarded as Australia's most notorious bushranger, but less is known about his family.

Ned Kelly had five sisters, two half-sisters, two brothers and one half-brother. His sisters were Maggie, who was born in 1857, three years after Ned, and Catherine, variously nicknamed Kate or Kittie, who was born in 1863. In addition, there were Mary, who died as a baby, Anne and Grace. Ned Kelly's two brothers were Daniel, who joined Ned in the Kelly gang, and James. Some time after Ned Kelly's father died, his mother remarried, and bore another two daughters, Ellen and Alice and a son, John, also known as Jack.

Kate Kelly was perhaps the best known of Ned Kelly's siblings. Legend claims that she was the fiancee of Aaron Sherritt, notorious for betraying the Kelly gang to the police, and being shot for his trouble. Kate also had another admirer, Alexander Fitzpatrick, who attempted to ingratiate himself into the Kelly family. After making unwelcome advances towards young Kate, he was attacked by Ned's mother, beaten by one brother and allegedly shot by Ned, although the doctor who attended Fitzpatrick did not confirm a gunshot wound. The event resulted in Ned's mother being arrested, and the brothers being hunted further by police. Kate was a central catalyst to these circumstances.

After helping hold the family together following the arrest of their mother, at the age of 25, Kate married William Henry Foster of Forbes. She was a skilled and respected horsewoman, and perpetuated the family line by bearng six children, three of whom survived to adulthood.

Kate's colourful life ended tragically when she was just 35 years old. Some two years after her sister Maggie died, Kate went missing, on 6 October 1898. Eight days passed before her body was located in a lagoon at Condobolin Road near Forbes. Initial indications were that she died of drowning, but the Magisterial inquiry that was held into her death on 15 October did not indicate how or why this could have occurred. Kate's death certificate stated there was no evidence, but family and friends believed her depression following Maggie's death contributed to her own death.

1914  -             Thor Heyerdahl, the Norwegian explorer who led the Kon-Tiki expedition, is born. [more]

Thor Heyerdahl, born on 6 October 1914 in Larvik, Norway was an anthropologist and marine biologist who developed an interest in the origins of settlement in the islands of the south Pacific. In 1947, he proposed an expedition to prove that people from South America could have settled Polynesia in the south Pacific before European exploration made any impact in the area. He and a crew of 5 sailed on the Kon-Tiki, a simple balsawood raft made in a design similar to that used by South American natives. Heyerdahl 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.

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.

1962  -             Joseph Charles, California's famous "waving man", begins his waving ritual which would continue for 30 years.

Joseph Charles was an unassuming employee of the Oakland Naval Supply Centre who brought joy to complete strangers through his ritual of waving to them, often with a cheery greeting. Charles began his routine on the morning of 6 October 1962 when a neighbour waved to him, and he reciprocated. Returning the wave the next day began an institution that extended to friends and strangers as they passed by, and lasted thirty years.

Every morning until October 1992, a period of thirty years, Charles waved from his front yard on the corner of Martin Luther King Jr Way and Oregon St in Berkeley, California. He donned bright yellow gloves for his waving, and called out cheery greetings, such as "Have a good day!"

Charles died a decade after he stopped waving, on 14 March 2002. At his funeral, which was attended by over 200 people, he was honoured by mourners waving at his casket as it left McGee Avenue Baptist Church. Mayor Shirley Dean encouraged others to continue Charles's legacy of bringing joy by showing kindness and goodwill to all in such a simple but effective way.

1981  -             Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is assassinated.

Anwar Sadat, born 25 December 1918, was President of Egypt from 1970 to 1981. Sadat was the first Arab leader to recognise Israel since its re-creation in 1948, becoming the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel when he met with Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin in 1977. This visit - an attempt to broker peace between Egypt and Israel - was unpopular with much of the Arab world. However, it did result in Israel's agreeing to gradually withdraw from the Sinai peninsula, returning the entire area to Egypt by 1983.

On 6 October 1981, President Sadat was shot by gunmen as he watched an aerial display at a military parade. Two grenades exploded nearby, also killing and wounding a number of other foreign diplomats. More gunmen then opened fire with automatic weapons in front of the presidential reviewing stand, killing ten others. Security guards returned fire, killing two of the gunmen and seizing the rest.

The nature of the attack led to suspicion that the gunmen had information from high-level intelligence. 700 people were subsequently detained and interviewed; 25 of these were placed on trial, and 5 ultimately executed for their part in the assassination. It transpired that Sadat was assassinated by army members who were part of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organisation, who opposed his negotiations with Israel, and felt that he was not acting within the interests of the Arab and Muslim people.

Cheers - John

jules47 wrote:

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re 1862 - Melbourne Zoo - my godmother took me to the Melbourne Zoo when I was about four, and I had a ride on an elephant - it was a long way up, I remember, and we rocked around a bit - but I was very excited at the time.

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Gday...

It would have been an exciting time for you Jules for sure

I must admit that you have certainly kept your age well ... must be the constant travelling ... or Billeeeeeee's influence?

Cheers - John

Gday...

1798  -             Sea explorers Flinders and Bass set out to prove that Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) is an island.

Matthew Flinders and George Bass were early sea explorers who charted sections of Australia's coastline, adding valuable information to the current charts. In 1798, Bass explored along the southern coast of what would later become the colony of Victoria. His journeys led him to the belief that Van Diemen's Land (later Tasmania) was separate from the mainland. Governor Hunter wished for this theory to be proven conclusively, so he commissioned Flinders and Bass to circumnavigate Van Diemen's Land.

The two men set out at dawn on 7 October 1798. By January of the following year, they had completed their circumnavigation of the island. Governor Hunter subsequently named the stretch of water between the mainland and Van Diemen's Land as "Bass's Strait", later to be known as Bass Strait.

1854  -             Scottish gold miner James Scobie dies, a catalyst to events that will eventually result in the Eureka Stockade.

James Scobie was an unassuming gold miner who came to Australia from Scotland to make his fortune on the Ballarat goldfields. After becoming involved in a fight at the Eureka Hotel, also known as Bentley's Hotel, Scobie died on 7 October 1854.

An inquest into his death absolved the hotel owner, Bentley, and his staff of any wrongdoing. The miners, however, felt that justice had been thwarted, and held a meeting outside the hotel on October 17. Tempers flared, a riot ensued and the hotel was burnt to the ground. As a result of this, more troopers were sent from Melbourne, and miners were subjected to more frequent licence checks, and more frequent clashes between miners and troopers.

Another inquest into Scobie's death was held on 18 November 1854, during which Bentley and two of his staff were found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to three years' hard labour in the road-gangs. The general dissatisfaction generated by these events was a catalyst in the events leading up to the Eureka stockade of December 3.

1949  -             East Germany is formed after Germany is split, following WWII.

Following Germany's defeat in World War II, Germany was split into two separately controlled countries. West Germany, also known as the Federal Republic of Germany, was proclaimed on 23 May 1949, with Bonn as its capital. As a liberal parliamentary republic and part of NATO, the country maintained good relations with the Western Allies. East Germany, or the German Democratic Republic, was proclaimed in East Berlin on 7 October 1949. It adopted a socialist republic, and remained allied with the communist powers, being occupied by Soviet forces.

The Soviet powers began to dwindle in the late 1980s, and the Communist Party in East Germany began to lose its grip on power. On 18 March 1990, the first and only free elections in the history of East Germany were held, producing a government whose major mandate was to negotiate an end to itself and its state. The German "Einigungsvertrag" (Unification Treaty) was signed on 31 August 1990 by representatives of West Germany and East Germany. German reunification took place on 3 October 1990, when the areas of the former East Germany ceased to exist, having been incorporated into The Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany.

1959  -             The far side of the moon is photographed for the first time.

The far side of the moon is sometimes called the "dark side" of the moon. There is no true "dark side" of the Moon as all parts of the Moon get sunlight half the time, except for some deep craters near its poles. Up until 1959, however, the far side of the moon, the side which is always facing away from the Earth, was completely unknown.

The Russian probe, Luna 3, was launched on 3 October 1959. It was launched on a figure-8 trajectory bringing it to within 6,200 km of the Moon and around to the far side, which was illuminated by the sun at the time. The first photographs of the far side of the moon were taken on 7 October 1959. Although the pictures were indistinct and of poor resolution, they clearly showed features on the far side, including a mountainous region.

2001  -             The USA , assisted by Britain, commences a series of military strikes against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Following the terrorist attacks in the USA on 11 September 2001, in which over 3,000 people were killed, America acted quickly to determine who was responsible. The attacks were linked to al-Qaeda, the Islamic militant group headed by Osama Bin Laden.

Beginning on 7 October 2001, British and American forces carried out a sustained attack on a number of Afghanistan targets where Bin Laden was presumed to be hiding. Around 50 cruise missiles were launched from submarines in the Arabian Sea, whilst B2 Stealth bombers were also flown in. Within three months, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan fell, assisted by the Northern Alliance, an army of rebel Afghan factions. Bin Laden himself, however, remains at large, though rumours of his reputed death resurface from time to time.

Cheers - John

rockylizard wrote:

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jules47 wrote:

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re 1862 - Melbourne Zoo - my godmother took me to the Melbourne Zoo when I was about four, and I had a ride on an elephant - it was a long way up, I remember, and we rocked around a bit - but I was very excited at the time.

---

Gday...

It would have been an exciting time for you Jules for sure

I must admit that you have certainly kept your age well ... must be the constant travelling ... or Billeeeeeee's influence?

Cheers - John

-- Edited by rockylizard on Friday 7th of October 2016 08:03:44 AM

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 ThanksJohn!

Fords last Falcon comes of the line today. very sad day. Lot's of people now out of work again.

Jules will never grow old. She's like a good Shiraz wine. Improves as it gets older.

DougF wrote:

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Jules will never grow old. She's like a good Shiraz wine. Improves as it gets older.

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Gday...

  quite possibly very true Doug.

However, I doubt if a Shiraz would last long enough in the Conquest for it to 'age'

cheers - John

Gday...

1361  -             A duel occurs between a dog and the Frenchman who murdered his master.

A most unusual duel took place on 8 October 1361.

Aubry de Montdidier was a French gentleman who was travelling through the forest of Bondy, when he was murdered and buried at the foot of a tree. His dog stayed at the makeshift grave for several days, then proceeded into Paris, where he presented himself at the house of a longtime friend of his master's. Persuaded by the dog's insistent behaviour, the friend followed the dog back to the grave, where the friend found Montdidier's body.

It seemed that the murderer would get away with his crime until, some time later, the dog happened to be confronted with an individual named the Chevalier Macaire. He flew at the man's throat in an uncharacteristic display of aggression which was repeated on numerous subsequent occasions whenever the two met. Naturally, this aroused suspicions, even capturing the attention of the king of France, who ordered the dog to be brought to him. The dog was well behaved until it saw Macaire among a group of noblemen, and again flew at his throat. The king then ordered that a duel should take place between the dog and Macaire on 8 October 1361. During the duel, the dog attacked Macaire repeatedly, until the man confessed to the murder. Macaire was later beheaded on a scaffold in the Isle of Notre Dame.

1818  -             Oxley discovers and names Port Macquarie.

John Oxley's expedition into the interior in 1818 was for the purpose of following and charting the Macquarie River. His experience in following the Lachlan River the previous year had left him disappointed with the countryside. It had been a flood year, and much of the Lachlan overflowed into marshy tracts, with Oxley declaring the land useless and unusable. This was repeated with the Macquarie. Floods and marshes blocked his way, and he was returning to Sydney when he discovered the rich and fertile Liverpool Plains.

Buoyed by the discovery of good land at last, Oxley continued east, crossed the Great Diving Range and came upon the Hastings River. He and his party followed the river to its mouth, traversing what Oxley described as "excellent and rich country". On 8 October 1818 Oxley reached the seashore at an excellent harbour and river estuary. Oxley named the region Port Macquarie. His discovery was significant for it opened up the interior of New South Wales right through from the coast to the Macquarie River.

1871  -             The Great Chicago Fire begins.

The Great Chicago Fire was a devastating blaze which began on the evening of Sunday, 8 October 1871. Rumours abound that it was started when a cow in a shed kicked over a lantern, but a reporter for the 'Chicago Republican' newspaper later admitted making up the story. How the fire really began remains unknown.

It had been a hot, dry summer. Chicago's buildings were mostly made of wood, providing the tinder for the fire to quickly spread. Due to a series of misunderstandings, the fire department was slow to respond. As a result, the fire quickly grew out of control, consuming residences, mansions, hotels, churches, commercial and industrial buildings in its path. When the city's waterworks were destroyed, the fire department could no longer fight the blaze. Martial law was declared when the fire jumped the river and continued on the north side.

The fire eventually burned itself out when the winds dropped and a light rain moved in a day later. It had cut a swathe through the city six kilometres long and one kilometre wide. 17,500 buildings were incinerated, along with 120km of roads, while the fire left 90,000 homeless. Damage was estimated at $222 million. The death toll was never determined exactly: 125 bodies were recovered, but another 75 to 175 were missing.

1939  -             Australian actor and comedian, Paul Hogan, is born.

Paul Hogan was born on 8 October 1939, in the north-western New South Wales town of Lightning Ridge. Initially he worked as a rigger on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but during the 1970s he developed his own television comedy sketch programme. "The Paul Hogan Show" ran for 60 episodes between 1973 and 1984, and was popular amongst Australians for its larrikin "Aussie" humour. In 1986, Hogan co-produced and starred in "Crocodile Dundee" as a down-to-earth hunter travelling from the Australian Outback to New York City. It remains Australia's most successful film to date.

1952  -             112 are killed as three trains crash at Harrow, London.

On 8 October 1952, Harrow, in London's northwest, became the scene of Britain's worst peacetime rail crash. The express express train from Perth to London was already thirteen minutes late when relief driver RS Jones and Fireman C Turnock took over at Crewe. Attaching the "City of Glasgow", an LMS Coronation Class 4-6-2 tender engine to the train added another 16 minutes, but Jones was an experienced and careful driver, and Turnock conscientious in his position as Fireman, so there was little to indicate the disaster that lay ahead.

It is unknown why the train from Perth failed to stop, particularly as Jones knew the line well. The train came speeding towards the Harrow and Wealdstone station on the London Midland region line at 60 mph, and it was only when detonators on the track warned Jones that he applied the brakes with force. However, it was too late: just before 8:19am the train crashed into the back of a stationary Tring-Euston commuter train carrying 800 passengers, just as it was about to depart the station. Despite Signalman Armitage trying to signal an incoming Manchester express from Euston which had also been trying to make up lost time, it then crashed into the wreckage. The locomotives left the railway track, slamming into the station platforms, whilst the forward momentum carried its carriages over the top of the two wrecked trains, which were crushed between the wreckage and the stations footbridge overhead.

112 passengers and 4 railway crew were killed, while another 340 people were injured. An inquiry into the disaster found that the driver of the train from Perth went through two signals at danger, then ran into the Tring-Euston commuter at about 100kph. Although Signalman Armitage was found to have acted completely appropriately, giving all due care and necessary warning, the accident at Harrow & Wealdstone was a catalyst to both the implementation of a national Automated Warning System (AWS) and the establishment and regular testing of Civil Disaster Plans by local councils in the UK.

Cheers - John

Hello rockylizard

A good read as always

Re 1361 A duel occurs between a dog and the Frenchman who murdered his master.

First time I heard of this one

Tongue in cheek
If Lassie was still around, it would have made a good action movie, something like the Three Musketeers

Thanks Rocky, Paul Hogan along with Strop and Delvene Delaney had one of the most loved comedy shows on TV back in the late 70s and early 80s - I also remember Hoges for his cigarette commercials Winfield (I think). If I recall correctly Tony Barber (before Temptation) also rose to fame around that time as the whistler for another well known cigarette brand, harmless ads but in hindsight probably influenced a lot of impressionable young people to start smoking.

Gday...

1769  -             Explorer James Cook first sets foot on New Zealand.

Captain James Cook was not the first to discover New Zealand, as he was preceded by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman. He was, however, the first to circumnavigate the coastline when he was sent to observe the transit of Venus across the sun from the vantage point of Tahiti. The transit of Venus occurs when the planet Venus passes directly between the Earth and the Sun, and its unlit side can be seen as a small black circle moving across the face of the Sun. Transits of Venus occur in pairs, eight years apart, approximately once every 120 years. Cook's ship, the 'Endeavour', departed England, on 25 August 1768. Cook reached Tahiti in time for his crew and scientists to set up their instrumentation necessary to observe and report on the transit, which occurred on 3 June 1769.

After observing the transit of Venus, Cook went on to search for Terra Australis Incognita, the great continent which some believed to extend round the pole. It was shortly after observing the transit of Venus that Cook came across New Zealand, which had already been discovered by Abel Tasman in 1642. Early in October 1769, a 12-year-old cabin boy named Nicholas Young first sighted New Zealand, and two days later the 'Endeavour' anchored in Poverty Bay, which Cook originally named as Endeavour Bay. The next day, 9 October 1769, Cook and two botanists, Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, went ashore at the future site of Gisborne.

Cook went on to spend some months in New Zealand, charting the coastline. His initial encounters with the people of New Zealand was marred by incidents which resulted in the deaths of several Mori, but he was later able to establish friendly trading relations with them.

1799  -             The 'HMS Lutine' is wrecked, killing 270, and spawning a legend of Lost Gold.

The 'HMS Lutine' was a warship at a time when tensions were high between the Dutch and the British, and there was constant fear of invasion and plundering from either side. The Lutine was commissioned by a group of London merchants, concerned with the unsettling conditions in Europe, to ship a cargo of between half a million and £2 million in gold and silver to the European continent. On the night of 9 October 1799, exceptionally rough weather caused the ship to crash on a sandbank off the Dutch coast, and 269 lives were lost.

Despite many attempts, the valuable cargo of the Lutine has never been recovered. It was insured by Lloyd's of London underwriters who took an enormous loss and paid the claim in full. In 1858, the bell of the Lutine was recovered and installed at Lloyd's of London, where it is now rung for ceremonial occasions and before important announcements.

1803  -             Lieutenant - Governor Collins arrives in Port Phillip Bay on Australia's southern coast to establish a new settlement.

Long before John Batman made his treaty with the Aborigines to lease land at Port Phillip for a new settlement, the British Government instructed Lieutenant-Governor David Collins to establish a settlement on the southern coast. The purpose was to offset French interests in the region. At that stage, the area was still part of New South Wales. Two ships, the HMS Calcutta and the Ocean, carried around 300 convicts, 50 marines, 17 free settlers, 12 civil officers, and a missionary and his wife.

On 9 October 1803 Collins and his expedition entered Port Phillip Bay. After several days of seeking a suitable site, Collins ordered the Calcutta to land at Sullivan Bay, the site where Sorrento now stands on the Mornington Peninsula. The Governor of New South Wales at the time, Phillip Gidley King, was unaware of the expedition or of the British Government's orders.

The settlement was not a success, as fresh water was in short supply. The local timber was unsuitable for many uses, and the treacherous entrance to Port Phillip Bay made the site unusable as a whaling base. Hearing of better land and timber in Van Diemen's Land, Collins moved most of the settlement across Bass Strait. Unimpressed with Lieutenant Bowen's choice of a site at Risdon Cove, Collins established Hobart on the Derwent River early in 1804.

1908  -             The Yass-Canberra area is named as the site for the new Federal Capital Territory of Australia.

On 1 January 1901, federation of the six colonies in Australia was achieved and the Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed. With the establishment of a new nation came the need to build a federal capital. It was decided that the national capital would not be one of the existing state capitals, in order to prevent rivalry between the cities. It would, however, be positioned between Australias two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne. Section 125 of the Constitution of Australia provided that:

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

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

Numerous sites were evaluated by members of Parliament. The site for the national capital could not be on the coast, as this could cause it to be susceptible to enemy bombardment. The necessity for a naval port was satisfied by the acquisition of federal land at Jervis Bay. The climate needed to be bracing, to ensure clear minds for political decision-making. There could be no established urban development or industry already, and access to sufficient water was a necessity. It needed to be in an elevated position, preferably surrounded by picturesque mountains.

Locations raised for consideration were Albury, Armidale, Bathurst, Bombala, Dalgety, Delegate, Goulburn, Lake George, Lyndhurst, Orange, Queanbeyan, Tumut, Wagga Wagga and Yass. Bombala was the choice selected by a ballot in the House of Representatives in 1903. Following a change of government in 1904, Dalgety was named as the site of Australias future Federal Capital Territory. When the government changed again in 1905, the question of the most suitable site was resurrected yet again, and in 1906, the choice was narrowed down to Dalgety, Yass-Canberra and Lake George. Another ballot was held on 9 October 1908, and the Yass-Canberra site won by six votes. The territory was defined as a triangle, with Yass in the top corner, the Murrumbidgee River forming the western border and Lake George being in the east. The land was formally transferred from New South Wales in January 1911.          

1940  -             Singer, songwriter and former member of "The Beatles", John Lennon, is born.

John Lennon was born John Winston Lennon on 9 October 1940. His father walked out on his mother when Lennon was very young, leading his mother to hand the young Lennon over to her sister to care for. Lennon lived with his Aunt Mimi at Mendips throughout his childhood and adolescence, though his mother taught him to play the banjo, retaining an interest in her son's life until she was killed in an accident in 1958.

Lennon was a non-conformist who dropped out of school to devote his time to developing his musical talents. He joined up with Paul McCartney and George Harrison to form a band, taking the name "Johnny and the Moondogs", followed by "The Silver Beetles", which was later shortened to "The Beatles". Lennon is considered to be one of the most influential singer-songwriter-musicians of the 20th century, profoundly affecting the direction of rock 'n' roll music.

Lennon was assassinated by a deranged fan on 8 December 1980, as he and his wife Yoko Ono returned to their apartment in New York city.

1957  -             The final major British atomic bomb test is conducted at the remote South Australian site of Maralinga.

Australia's remoteness made it a choice for Britain to conduct testing of its atomic weapons in the 1950s. In October of 1952, the Montebello islands, off north-west Western Australia, became the site for testing of the first British atomic bomb. This was followed a year later by Britain's first atomic test on the Australian mainland, at Emu Field, in the Great Victoria Desert of South Australia. Further tests of nuclear weapons at the site were not undertaken, as it was considered too remote an area.

Maralinga is a remote area of South Australia, and was the home of the Maralinga Tjarutja, a southern Pitjantjatjara Aboriginal group. "Operation Buffalo" involved four open-air nuclear test explosions at Maralinga, and commenced on 27 September 1956, continuing through to October 22. The next series of tests at Maralinga was codenamed "Operation Antler" and involved three tests the following year. The final major test at Maralinga was conducted on 9 October 1957. However, many more minor tests were carried out in complete secrecy at Maralinga, up until 1963.

The tests at Maralinga left a legacy of radioactive contamination. Cleanup operations were insufficient to combat radiation poisoning among Australian servicemen and Aborigines who were at Maralinga during the tests. The site was formally handed back to the Maralinga people under the Maralinga Tjarutja Land Rights Act in 1985. In 1994, the Australian Government made a compensation settlement of $13.5 million with Maralinga Tjarutja, in relation to the nuclear testing.

Cheers - John

Hello rockylizard

Re 1940 - Singer, songwriter and former member of "The Beatles", John Lennon, is born.

As the post says, he was killed by a man, who wanted to become famous, for killing a famous person

His killers ninth parole hearing was on August 16 2016, and his next parole hearing will be in August 2018
I am led to believe that at one parole hearing they said that he would never be set free, but the do goodies are still batting for his team

Gday...

1774  -             Captain Cook discovers Norfolk Island.

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

Following the arrival of the First Fleet in New South Wales, Lieutenant Philip Gidley King led a party of fifteen convicts and seven free men to take control of the island and prepare for its commercial development. They arrived on 6 March 1788. Neither the flax nor the timber industry proved to be viable, and the island developed as a farm, supplying Sydney with grain and vegetables during the early years of the colony's near-starvation. More convicts were sent, and many chose to remain after they had served their sentences. The initial Norfolk Island settlement was abandoned in 1813, but a second penal colony was re-established in 1824, as a place to send the very worst of the convicts. The convicts were treated accordingly and the island gained a reputation as a vicious penal colony. It, too, was abandoned in 1855, after transportation to Australia ceased.

The third settlement was established by descendants of Tahitians and the HMAV Bounty mutineers, resettled from the Pitcairn Islands which had become too small for their growing population. The British government had permitted the transfer of the Pitcairners to Norfolk, which was established as a colony separate from New South Wales but under the administration of that colony's governor. After the creation of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901, Norfolk Island was placed under the authority of the new Commonwealth government to be administered as an external territory. Norfolk Island was granted self-government in 1979.

1780   - The deadliest Atlantic hurricane of all time strikes Barbados, killing 4000, before reaching other areas and causing a much higher death toll.

Hurricane is the name of a violent tropical storm which develops in the northern hemisphere. The equivalent weather phenomenon in the southern hemisphere is known as a cyclone. A particularly destructive force, a hurricane has the capacity to cause extensive damage when it hits the coast, precipitating mudslides, flash floods, storm surges, and wind and fire damage.

The Great Hurricane of 1780 made landfall first at Barbados on 10 October 1780. 4,000 people were killed as the hurricane almost levelled the island on its first day. In the next three days, the Caribbean islands of Martinique and St Eustatius were also hit. As it was the middle of the American Revolution, large numbers of naval personnel were killed when American, British and French fleets were destroyed. It is estimated that around 22,000 people in total died, although the figure could be as high as 30,000.

1844  -             On Sturt's final attempt to find the inland sea he still believes exists, he reaches Menindee before heading northwest.

Explorer Charles Sturt's discovery and traversing of the Murray River filled in crucial information about the nature of the inland rivers. For years after Australia was first settled, men believed the rivers flowed into an inland sea. When Sturt discovered that the Lachlan River led to the Murrumbidgee and the latter to the Murray River which then emptied out at the southern coast, he seemed to solve the mystery of the inland rivers. That is, he solved it to the satisfaction of everyone but himself.

Dissatisfied with Eyre's reports of salt lakes and arid desert in central Australia, Sturt determined to settle the question and find out for himself. He was given permission to explore as far north as latitude 28 degrees, and thus he departed Adelaide in August, 1844. Avoiding the salt lakes north of Adelaide, Sturt headed northeast first, and arrived at Lake Cawndilla, near Menindee in far western New South Wales, on 10 October 1844. From here, he headed northwest again. Sturt discovered no inland sea; he did, however, find much forbidding countryside and desert, and his name lives on in Sturt's Stony Desert.

1891  -             Australian bushranger Harry Power, mentor to a young Ned Kelly, dies from drowning in the Murray River.

Harry Power, born Henry Johnstone, was a notorious Victorian bushranger. He was born in Waterford, England, in 1819, and transported to Van Diemen's Land in 1841 for stealing shoes. During the 1850s and 1860s, he found himself in trouble with the law a number of times for horse stealing and other crimes. His bushranging career began after he escaped from Pentridge Gaol in 1869. Initially he worked alone, but as he set his sights on higher goals of bushranging, he decided he needed an assistant. A friend, Jack Lloyd, told Power of Lloyd's nephew, Ned Kelly, who was just 15 at the time. Power served as mentor to Ned Kelly, taking him on as an apprentice in 1870 and teaching him the finer arts of bushranging.

Jack Lloyd was the one who finally betrayed Power to the local constabulary. Enticed by the 500 pound reward, Lloyd led the police to Power's hideout at the back of Glenmore Stations homestead. Power was apprehended and, as his crimes were non-violent, he was sentenced to 15 years' gaol. Six years after his release, Power drowned when he fell into the Murray River near Swan Hill, on 10 October 1891.

1944  -             In the WWII Holocaust, 800 gypsy children are murdered.

Gypsies are an ethnic group originating in India. During medieval times they took to wandering beyond their homeland, spreading to and throughout Europe. As with the Jewish people, Gypsies were singled out for racial persecution by the Nazis. Whilst they conformed physically to the "Aryan" ideal favoured by the Nazis, suspicion of the nomadic race prevailed, and the Gypsies came under the same attack as the Jews. In all, about 250,000 Gypsies were sent to Auschwitz and other extermination camps, where they were either treated as guinea-pigs for experimental medicines, or executed. On 10 October 1944, about eight hundred Gypsy children were murdered at Auschwitz.

1967  -             The Outer Space Treaty comes into effect.

The Outer Space Treaty is more formally known as the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies. The Treaty was opened for signature in the USA, United Kingdom and the Soviet Union on 27 January 1967, and came into force on 10 October 1967. As of January 2008, 99 countries were states-parties to the treaty, while another 26 had signed the treaty but had not completed formal ratification.

The Outer Space Treaty forms the basis of international space law. Included among its principles are:

- That no state or party to the Treaty may claim territory for occupation or exploitation in space or on any celestial body.
- That no state or party to the Treaty may place nuclear weapons or any other weapons of mass destruction in orbit of Earth, on the Moon or any other celestial body, or elsewhere in outer space.
- That outer space remain free for all parties to explore, and that such exploration and use of outer space should only be done for the benefit of all countries and in the interests of all mankind.
- That all states and parties to the Treaty will be liable for damage caused by their space objects, and that they will avoid harmful contamination of space and the celestial bodies.

Essentially, the Outer Space Treaty is designed to protect outer space as a resource, and to protect the people of earth from the consequences of mismanagement of outer space.    

2009  -             The Giant Koala at Dadswells Bridge in Victoria is renamed 'Sam' in honour of bushfire victim Sam the koala.

Sam the koala gained notoriety in February 2009 when she was rescued during backburning operations prior to the devastating Black Saturday bushfires in February 2009. CFA volunteer firefighter David Tree approached the koala with a bottle of water, from which the animal drank; an unusual occurrence, 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. After living there happily for several months, along with a young male koala who had also been rescued from bushfires, Sam was found to be stricken with the disease chlamydia. She was euthanased on 6 August 2009 when it was discovered her condition was inoperable.

Dadswells Bridge, a town with a population of around 170 near the Grampians in Victoria, is home to the Giant Koala. Standing since 1988, the Giant Koala is a well-known tourist attraction in the area. It is 14 metres high, cast primarily out of bronze and weighs approximately 12 tonnes. On Saturday 10 October 2009, the Giant Koala was officially renamed "Sam" in honour of the koala. The centre aims to raise awareness of the life-threatening disease chlamydia, while offering a tribute to the hope Sam gave amidst the horrors of the Victorian bushfires.

Cheers - John

Thank's Rocky, we spent a week on Norfolk Island a couple of years ago fantastic place with a lot of convict history and also a little later with the resettlement of the Bounty mutineers. HMS Sirius the flagship of the first fleet was actually wrecked on a reef in Slaughter Bay just off Kingston on the 19th March, 1790.

Gday...

1586  -             The trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, begins.

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

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

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

1738  -             Captain Arthur Phillip, first Governor of New South Wales, is born.

Arthur Phillip was born in London on 11 October 1738. He joined the Royal Navy when he was fifteen, and alternately earned a living as a navy officer and as a farmer. In October 1786, Phillip was appointed Governor-designate of the proposed British penal colony of New South Wales. He was a practical man who suggested that convicts with experience in farming, building and crafts be included in the First Fleet, but his proposal was rejected. The First Fleet left Portsmouth, England, on 13 May 1787, and arrived in Botany Bay on 18 January 1788. Phillip immediately determined that there was insufficient fresh water, an absence of usable timber, poor quality soil and no safe harbour at Botany Bay. Thus the fleet was moved to Port Jackson, arriving on 26 January 1788.

Phillip faced many obstacles in his attempts to establish the new colony. British farming methods, seeds and implements were unsuitable for use in the different climate and soil, and the colony faced near-starvation in its first two years. Phillip also worked to improve understanding with the local Aborigines. The colony finally succeeded in developing a solid foundation, agriculturally and economically, thanks to the perseverance of Captain Arthur Phillip.

Poor health forced Phillip to return to England in 1792. He resigned his commission soon after arriving back in England, and died on 31 August 1814.

1896  -             Lawrence Wells makes the fateful decision to split his exploration party, leading to the deaths of two men.

Very little of Australia was left unexplored by the late 1800s, but the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia remained un unconquered frontier. In 1896, Albert Calvert, a London-based gold-mining engineer with interests in Western Australia, sponsored an expedition to fill in the unexplored blanks on the map and hopefully, find some likely gold-bearing country into the bargain. The Royal Geographical Society of South Australia was asked to organise the Calvert Scientific Exploring Expedition, financed by Calvert. The expedition's leader was surveyor Lawrence Wells, and accompanying him was surveyor Charles Wells, his cousin, an Adelaide mineralogist by the name of George Jones, a cook and a camel driver.

In October 1896, the party camped at a small permanent waterhole south-east of Lake George, which they named Separation Well. Here, on 11 October 1896, Lawrence Wells made the fateful decision to split the party into two groups. Charles Wells and Jones set off on a bearing of 290 degrees to survey lands for 144 kilometres north-west, before turning north-north-east to rejoin the main party at Joanna Spring, located and mapped by explorer Warburton in 1873. When Lawrence Wells's party reached Joanna Spring on 29 October, there was no sign of the other party. Unable to even locate the spring, the leader made for the Fitzroy River, where he raised the alarm regarding the missing explorers via the Fitzroy Crossing Telegraph Station.

Four search parties were dispatched, covering over five thousand kilometres, with no success. Aborigines plundered the bodies of all clothing and other items, and when some of these items were located in the Aborigines' possession, the Aborigines led the searchers to where the bodies lay. On 27 May 1897 the bodies of Wells and Jones were recovered by the white search party, perfectly preserved by the intense heat, just 22km from Joanna Spring. The mummified bodies were sewn in sheets and taken to Derby, where they were shipped to Adelaide and given a State funeral on 18 July 1897.

1906  -             The Coat of Arms of New South Wales is granted by Royal Warrant.

Each of the states of Australia has its own unique symbols and emblems. By the time Federation occurred in 1901, Queensland and South Australia had already adopted a coat of arms. In 1905, the Colonial Office suggested the state of New South Wales apply for a coat of arms to be granted. NSW Premier Joseph Carruthers commissioned NSW Government Printer, William Applegate Gullick, to make several designs, drawing upon symbols already used in the state seal. The final design was conferred by Royal warrant of Edward VII on 11 October 1906.

1987  -             A huge sonar exploration of Loch Ness in Scotland fails to find any sign of the Loch Ness monster.

Loch Ness, or Loch Nis in Gaelic, is a large, deep freshwater lake in the Scottish Highlands, which extends for about 37 km southwest of Inverness. It is the second largest loch (lake) in Scotland, with a surface area of 56.4 km2, but is the largest in volume. It is 226 m deep at its deepest point.

For centuries, witnesses have reported sighting a large monster with a long neck in Loch Ness, Scotland. Famous photographs have been proven to be hoaxes, but still the myth of the monster has persisted. On 11 October 1987, "Operation Deepscan", a major sonar exploration of the Loch, was undertaken by a team of 20 cruisers. High-tech sonar equipment bounced sound waves to the bottom of the lake, electronically recording any contacts. Three sonar contacts showed up as crescent shaped marks, but the results of the sonar test did not indicate there was anything unusual on the bottom of Loch Ness.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1823  -             Charles Macintosh of Scotland begins selling the raincoat he has invented.

In the UK, raincoats are commonly called Macintoshes, after their inventor. Early in the 19th century Charles Macintosh, after discovering that coal-tar naphtha dissolved india rubber, painted one side of woollen cloth with a dissolved rubber solution, and placed another layer of woollen cloth on top. By so doing, he invented a method for making waterproof garments. Thus, Macintosh produced macintosh coats, which he first began selling on 12 October 1823.

In 1838, Charles Macintosh joined forces with Thomas Han****, the English inventor credited with founding the British rubber industry. Han**** invented the masticator, a machine that shredded rubber scraps, forming a warm rubber mixture which could then be shaped and mixed with other materials. Together, Macintosh and Han**** improved the design of the macintosh.

1838  -             Second Governor of South Australia, Lieutenant George Gawler, arrives in the colony.

George Gawler was born on 21 July 1795 in Devon, England. Upon finishing his schooling, he was educated at the military college of Great Marlow, where he was an exemplary student. Gawler had led a distinguished military career, and when a group of colonisation commissioners requested recommendations from the Royal Military College for a godly man as governor of South Australia, Gawler was encouraged to apply for the position. His application was accepted, and he was appointed as Governor of South Australia, taking over from the colonys first Governor, John Hindmarsh. Gawler arrived in South Australia on 12 October 1838.

Prior to leaving England Gawler was concerned by the lack of financial provisions allowed for improvements in the colony, and upon his arrival he discovered many significant problems. Adelaides facilities and resources were stretched to breaking point, the legacy of too many settlers being forced to remain in the settlement due to the shortage of land which had been opened up for farming. Gawler was forced to make many expensive improvements, ignoring the instructions issued to him to undertake no major improvements. Upon the retirement of the colonys first surveyor-general, Colonel William Light, Gawler commissioned Charles Sturt for the position, as his exploration of the Murray River had played a vital part in choosing a site for the new southern colony. Sturts expeditions north, plus Gawlers own explorations, opened up new land for settlement. Many public buildings such as Customs House, the Adelaide Gaol and a new Government House were constructed. Further public works were initiated, such as building and improving roads, improving the facilities at Port Adelaide and establishing a police force and barracks. Despite his limited budget, he was also forced to make provision for the thousands of immigrants who streamed into the colony under free passage.

During his tenure, Governor Gawler made South Australia self-sufficient in terms of agriculture, and restored public confidence. However, the increased public expenditure was a contributing factor to the colony going bankrupt by 1840, as was the effect of drought and crop failure in the neighbouring colonies. Gawler was dismissed, and replaced by Captain George Grey, less than three years after his appointment.

Although criticised for his actions at the time, in retrospect it can be seen that Gawler was placed in a difficult position whereby he had to take decisive action contrary to his instructions. The town of Gawler and the Gawler Ranges are named after him.

1918  -             Australian children's classic "The Magic Pudding" is first published.

"The Magic Pudding" is a novel by artist and writer Norman Lindsay, who was known for his unusual and creative approach. Norman Alfred William Lindsay was born on 22 February 1879 in Creswick, Victoria, Australia. He was a skilled artist, and his paintings were controversial for their time, concentrating on nudes, often incorporating pagan themes of gods and goddesses, nymphs and satyrs, in an Australian bush setting. Much of his work, which includes watercolours, lithographs, and etchings, can be found at his former home at Faulconbridge, New South Wales, now the Norman Lindsay Gallery and Museum.

As well as his prolific output of paintings, Lindsay was a writer who completed eleven novels between 1913 and 1950. His best known work is possibly "The Magic Pudding", first published on 12 October 1918. "The Magic Pudding" is a children's classic about a sarcastic and bad-tempered walking, talking pudding that can be whatever food it wants to be, and eaten without ever running out. The story was originally written by Lindsay as a means to take his mind off World War I and the tragic loss of his brother at the Somme. The storyline itself was the result of an argument between Lindsay and another writer, Bertram Stevens. Stevens was convinced that children were drawn to stories about fairies: Lindsay believed that food was the drawcard. The ultimate success of Lindsay's novel would suggest that he was correct.

Despite Lindsay's own criticism of it, calling it a 'little bundle of piffle', "The Magic Pudding" went on to become an Australian classic, enduring for many generations beyond Lindsay's lifetime.

1994  -             Contact with the Magellan space probe is lost after it completes radar-mapping of the surface of Venus.

The Magellan spacecraft was launched from Florida on 4 May 1989. On 10 August 1990, Magellan entered into orbit about Venus. During its four years in orbit around the planet, it mapped over 98 percent of the planet's surface and collected high-resolution gravity data of Venus. With the deliberate intention of crash-landing the probe, a final aerobraking experiment was carried out in October 1994, achieved by turning Magellan's solar arrays so that the spacecraft behaved like a propeller. Communications with the probe were lost on 12 October 1994, and the probe burned up in Venus's atmosphere a few days later. The purpose of the crash landing was to collect data on the atmosphere and on how the spacecraft performed as it descended.

2002  -             Over 200 people, almost half of whom are Australians, are killed in an explosion at a night club in Bali, Indonesia.

Australians felt the impact of terrorism first-hand at 11:30pm local time on 12 October 2002. 202 people were killed and a further 209 injured when two separate bombs exploded in the town of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali, just before midnight. An electronically triggered bomb hidden in a backpack exploded in Paddy's Bar first. Just a few seconds later, a far more powerful 1000kg car bomb hidden in a white Mitsubishi van was detonated by remote control in front of the Sari Club. The dead included 99 Australians, 38 Indonesians and 26 British, as well as holiday-makers from many other nations.

No group actively claimed responsibility for the bombings, although Indonesian members of the regional Islamic group Jemaah Islamiah (JI) were named as key suspects, particularly since JI has alleged links to al-Qaeda. That same month, Abu Bakar Bashir, a leader of JI, was charged over his alleged role in the bombing. In March 2005, Bashir was found guilty of conspiracy over the attacks in Bali. On 8 August 2003, Amrozi bin Haji Nurhasyim was found guilty and sentenced to death for buying the explosives and the van used in the bombings. Another two participants, Imam Samudra and Mukhlas, were also sentenced to death.

Cheers - John

Hello John (rockylizard), and hello Doug (Dougwe)
Hope that I have been here long enough to now call people by their first names

RE 2002 - Over 200 people, almost half of whom are Australians, are killed in an explosion at a night club in Bali, Indonesia.

Yes a very sad day for those killed (RIP), and injured

One thing which was learned, was the gaining of more knowledge, about treating burn victims, throughout the country.
As there were so many burn victims, at the same time, no single Australian burns hospital could accommodate them all
From memory only one victim died at the Royal Perth Hospital Burns Unit, which was a credit to the dedicated staff

Gday...

[ was out of  range yesterday]

1307  -             King Philip IV of France arrests all the Knights Templars, spawning the superstition which surrounds Friday the 13th.

The order of the Knights Templar was founded around 1118 to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land during the Second Crusade. The order was recognised at the Council of Troyes in 1128 and confirmed by Pope Honorius III. The order grew to become one of the most powerful in Europe. The Knights Templar started lending money to Spanish pilgrims who wanted to travel to the Holy Land, and they gained wealth as the Church showered blessings and money on the order; but with the wealth came power and corruption. Pope Clement V urged Philip IV of France to find some means to extinguish their presence and power.

Thus it was that on 13 October 1307, Philip IV ordered the arrest of the entire order of Knights Templar in France, and had their possessions confiscated. This act served as the origin of the superstition which regards Friday the 13th as an unlucky day. The knights were put on trial and were tortured to extract confessions of sacrilegious practices, including heresy and witchcraft. Many were burnt and tortured, and under duress, admitted to a variety of heresies. These admissions were later retracted as being forced admissions. The leader of the Templars, Jacques de Molay, was executed on 18 March 1314, by which time the Templars had been virtually hunted out of existence.

1792  -             The cornerstone is laid for the White House in Washington DC.

The newly independent United States Government under the Constitution commenced in New York City on 4 March 1789. In 1790, the capital was moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The city was only ever intended to be a temporary capital while preparations were made for the new US Capital in a more central location. George Washington helped select the site for the new Capital, positioned along the Potomac River. The states of Maryland and Virginia ceded land around the Potomac River to form the District of Columbia: hence the capital is known as Washington DC.

Labour began on the new capital city in 1791, and on 13 October 1792, the cornerstone was laid for the new Presidential Palace. The building's white Virginia freestone, set amongst the red brick of surrounding buildings, soon earned it the name of the "White House".

1836  -             One of Mitchell's men drowns as his expedition returns from the successful 'Australia Felix' discovery.

Major Thomas Mitchell was born in Craigend, Scotland, in 1792. He came to Australia after serving in the Army during the Napoleonic Wars, and took up the position of Surveyor-General of New South Wales. He undertook four expeditions into the NSW interior. His third expedition is considered to be his most successful. His instructions were to follow the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee Rivers to the Murray, then on to the junction with the Darling River. He was then to follow the Darling upstream as far as Menindee to confirm that it was the same river he had initially followed south from northern New South Wales.

Discouraged by the desolate country around the southern end of the Darling, Mitchell decided to return to the Murray to explore its more fertile surrounds. Crossing the Murray near the Murrumbidgee junction, he passed through the rich farming country of western Victoria, naming it "Australia Felix", or "Happy Australia". After continuing down to the southern coast, he turned in a northeasterly direction back towards Sydney. It was during this stage of his journey that he suffered his only loss of one of his team. On 13 October 1836, whilst scouting out a suitable crossing site on the Broken River, an ex-convict named James Taylor fell off his horse and drowned.

1933  -             Australia's first traffic lights begin operating in Sydney.

The world's first traffic light was operating in London, England, even before the advent of the automobile. Installed at a London intersection in 1868, it was a revolving gas-lit lantern with red and green signals. However, on 2 January 1869, the light exploded, injuring the policeman who was operating it. It was not until the early 1900s that Garrett Morgan, an African-American living in Cleveland, Ohio, developed the electric automatic traffic light. Originally based on a semaphore-system, traffic lights gradually evolved through the years to become the red-amber-green lights they are today.

Sydney's first set of traffic lights was installed on 13 October 1933. It was another 32 years before the nation's capital, Canberra, received its first two sets of traffic lights, on 23 October 1965.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1925  -             The innermost sarcophagus of Egyptian king Tutankhamun is opened, revealing the mummy.

Egypt's King Tutankhamun was the son of King Akhenaten, who lived from 1353 to 1337 BC. He was born around 1347 BC and died in his late teens. His tomb lay undiscovered for over 3300 years until a team of British archaeologists, led by Howard Carter, discovered a step leading to the tomb in November 1922. Twenty-two days later, Carter and his crew entered the tomb itself. The tomb also contained hundreds of objects, elaborately decorated and covered in gold, that the Egyptians believed would be needed by the king in his afterlife. The walls of the burial chamber were painted with scenes of his voyage to the afterworld.

Also within the tomb lay a stone sarcophagus - the final resting place of King Tutankhamun. When the sarcophagus itself was opened, it revealed three coffins, fitted within each other, and stuck together with black resin. Planning and preparing to open the sarcophagus was a process which took almost two years: the final, innermost sarcophagus was opened on 14 October 1925. Inside the final coffin, which was made out of solid gold, was the mummified body of King Tutankhamun.

The find was considered particularly significant, not only for the remarkable preservation of the mummy and the treasures, but for the fact that most of the Egyptian kings' tombs were believed to have already been found, and most of them ransacked. Tutankhamun's tomb provided an extraordinary view of the elaborate burial rites and preparations for Egyptian kings.

1947  -             Charles Yeager becomes the first human being to break through the sound barrier.

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

Yeager continued to work with experimental craft, achieving faster and faster speeds. He piloted the X1-A, a longer and more powerful version of the X-1, to a speed of mach 2.4 on 12 December 1953. This was almost two and a half times the speed of sound and the fastest of any human being to that date.

1962  -             The Cuban Missile Crisis begins, bringing the world to the brink of nuclear warfare.

Cuba is an island between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately 150 km south of Florida in the USA. In 1962, it was controlled by a socialist government under Fidel Castro. Castro had already sought support from the Soviet Union after the Cuban Revolution of the 1950s, during which the country had adopted Marxist ideals. This had put the country in direct conflict with the USA, and Cuba needed a powerful ally.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was seen as the point in the Cold War when the USA and USSR were closest to engaging in nuclear warfare. Reconnaissance photographs taken by a high-altitude U-2 spy plane on 14 October 1962, revealed that Soviet missiles were under construction in Cuba. A tense standoff ensued for two weeks, during which the USA placed a naval quarantine around Cuba to prevent further weapons being conveyed to the island.

It was not until October 28 that Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announced that he would dismantle the installations and return the missiles to the Soviet Union, and remove Soviet light bombers from Cuba. This occurred on the condition that the United States would not invade Cuba.

1964  -             Martin Luther King becomes the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

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

On 14 October 1964, at age thirty-five, King became the youngest man to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He chose to hand his $54,123 award money to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.

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

1968  -             The Western Australian town of Meckering suffers an earthquake which registers 6.9 on the Richter scale.

Meckering is a small town in the Avon valley region of Western Australia, about 130km east of Perth and 24km west of Cunderdin. At 10:59am on 14 October 1968, the town of approximately 240 people was struck by an earthquake which registered 6.9 on the Richter scale. No deaths were reported, but the earthquake injured 17 people, and caused an estimated $2.2 million worth of damage, translating to around $5 million today. The ground ruptured along a length of 40km, up to 1.5m wide and 2.4m high, and the evidence of this can be seen in the scar that still runs along the landscape today.

1994  -             The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to Palestinian and Israeli leaders.

The Nobel Peace Prize was instigated on the request of Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. Upon Nobel's death in 1896, he left a fund from the interest of which annual awards, called Nobel Prizes, were to be given for work in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, and literature, and toward the promotion of international peace. In a decision that sparked much controversy, the 14 October 1994 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

Following years of territorial disputes and terrorist activities, on 13 September 1993, Arafat and Rabin had come to an agreement to give the Palestinians limited autonomy in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho. The Peace Prize was awarded on this basis. However, the award was regarded by many to have been based on the hope of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, rather than a tangible, lasting peace. Acts of terrorism and fighting between the two sides has continued, and in November 1995, Israeli Prime Minister Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Jewish extremist opposed to the peace process.

Cheers - John

1925.....Mmmm, I thought they found Tutankhamun, Rocky, not his mummy

Hello John & Doug
Once again a very good read John, so thanks for that

Re 1962 - The Cuban Missile Crisis begins, bringing the world to the brink of nuclear warfare.

I can well remember that time, some thought that WW3 was just around the corner

Re 1968 - The Western Australian town of Meckering suffers an earthquake which registers 6.9 on the Richter scale.

We lived about 270 kilometres away in a NE direction (as the crows fly) from Meckering.
At the time of the earthquake, my wife was opening the fridge, when it started shaking.
At the mine site anything loose on the walls of the steel/tin buildings started shaking, and making loud noises.

I thought that we were lucky that it had not happened in the built up areas around Perth

Thanks Rocky - interesting reading about the 6.9 magnitude earthquake to hit Meckering in WA. I didn't know about that one but I was unlucky enough to experience first hand the 5.6 magnitude earthquake that hit Newcastle in 1989 and that was frightening enough. Here are some comparison figures from the Newcastle version -

13 people killed

160 injured

50,000 buildings damaged

300 buildings completely demolished

300,000 people affected

1000 people left homeless

$4 billion in damage.

Some landmarks were lost as they were damaged beyond repair such as the Century Theatre and the old Newcastle Workers Club.

Gday...

1769  -             Lieutenant James Cook names 'Kidnapper's Bay' in New Zealand after Mori attempt to kidnap a servant.

James Cook, born on 27 October 1728, in Yorkshire, England, was a British explorer and navigator. He entered the navy as an able seaman in 1755 and earned several promotions, finally being given command of the Endeavour. In 1768, Cook set out to travel to the Pacific Ocean to Tahiti to observe and record the transit of Venus across the Sun. In Tahiti, Cook established friendly relations with the natives, and was joined on his voyage by a Tahitian chief named Tupaia, who wanted to travel, together with his boy-servant Tayeto.

On his way to search the south Pacific for the great southern continent that many believed must extend around the southern pole, Cook came across New Zealand, which Abel Tasman had discovered in 1642. On 15 October 1769, as the Endeavour was off the coast of the North Island, a group of Mori in a canoe came alongside the Endeavour, and negotiated a trade of fresh fish. As Tayeto made his way to the canoe to accept the fish, he was grabbed by the Mori, who paddled off at top speed with the servant boy. Cook's crew fired on the canoe, killing one Mori. Tayeto leapt overboard and was picked up by the Endeavour. Because of this event, Cook named the area Kidnapper's Bay.

1924  -             Actor Mark Lenard, best known as Spock's father, Sarek, in Star Trek, is born.

Mark Lenard was born Leonard Rosenson in Chicago, Illinois, USA, on 15 October 1924. Lenard was best known as the actor who played Vulcan Spock's father, Sarek, in Star Trek: The Original Series and later in Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as several of the Star trek movies. However, he also played the first Romulan seen on the show and the first Klingon with a ridged forehead.

Lenard was not restricted to Star trek roles. He was in the television series "Gunsmoke", and early episodes of "Mission: Impossible". He appeared in the TV series "Here Come the Brides" as character Aaron Stempel, Urko in the television series version of "Planet of the Apes" and played the part of Charles Ingalls's older brother in one episode of "Little House on the Prairie".

Lenard died of multiple myeloma, a type of bone marrow cancer, on 22 November 1996.

1953  -             Britain conducts the first atomic test on the Australian mainland.

Australia's remoteness made it a choice for Britain to conduct testing of its atomic weapons in the 1950s. In October of 1952, the Montebello islands, off north-west Western Australia, became the site for testing of the first British atomic bomb. "Operation Hurricane" was conducted 350 metres off the coast of Trimouille Island for the purpose of testing the effects of a bomb smuggled inside a ship.

One year later, on 15 October 1953, Britain conducted its first atomic test on the Australian mainland. Named Operation Totem, the test of a 10 kiloton atomic bomb was held at Emu Field, in the Great Victoria Desert of South Australia. The first test was followed by Totem 2, testing of an 8 kiloton bomb, at the same site, less than two weeks later, on 27 October. Further tests of nuclear weapons at the site were not undertaken, as it was considered too remote an area. Further atomic tests were conducted elsewhere, at Maralinga in 1956.

Later, it was discovered that the radioactive cloud from the first detonation did not disperse as it was expected to do, but instead travelled north-east over the Australian continent. An obelisk still stands at the site, warning that "Radiation levels for a few hundred metres around this point may be above those considered safe for permanent occupation".

1970  -             35 construction workers are killed when a span of the West Gate Bridge in Melbourne collapses.

The West Gate Bridge, completed in 1978, spans the Yarra River in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its design is cable-stayed, consisting of several pillars, with cables supporting the roadbed. Situated just north of the river mouth, the bridge links the inner city and Melbourne's eastern suburbs with the western industrial suburbs and the main highway to the city of Geelong.

Two years after construction on the bridge commenced, it was necessary to fix a height discrepancy. It was proposed that the higher side of the bridge be weighted down with 8 x 10 tonne concrete blocks. However, due to structural weakness, the bridge would not support the weight of the blocks. On 15 October 1970 one of the spans collapsed, falling 50m below. 35 construction workers were killed. A Royal Commission attributed the collapse of the bridge to two causes; the structural design by designers Freeman Fox and Partners, and an unusual method of erection by World Services and Construction, the original contractors of the project.

The incident had considerable implications for Australia's workplace safety laws. After the accident, workers were given greater input into workplace safety committees, gaining the right to question the wisdom and action of their supervisors regarding potentially dangerous practices in the workplace.

1997  -             The Cassini space orbiter, the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn, is launched.

The Cassini space orbiter was part of the Cassini-Huygens mission, a collaborative NASA/ESA/ASI unmanned space mission for the purpose of studying Saturn and its moons. It was launched on 15 October 1997, from Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA. It was comprised of two parts, the Cassini orbiter, which was intended to remain in orbit around Saturn and its moons, and the Huygens probe, supplied by the European Space Agency (ESA). The spacecraft entered orbit around Saturn on July 1, 2004, and six months later, on 25 December 2004, the probe separated from the orbiter. From there, it travelled to Titan, one of Saturn's moons, descending to the surface on 14 January 2005. Once on the surface, it began collecting and relaying scientific data.

Since the launch of the mission, three new moons have been discovered by Cassini whilst in orbit: Methone, Pallene and the third with the designation of S/2005 S 1.

2003  -             China becomes the third nation to launch a manned space mission.

Shenzou 5 was the first manned space mission to be launched by the People's Republic of China. It was preceded by four unmanned Shenzou missions in the previous four years. Shenzou 5 was launched from a base in the Gobi Desert on a Long March CZ-2F rocket booster on 15 October 2003, and carried Lieutenant Colonel Yang Liwei. Previously, the Soviet Union and the United States had been the only nations to launch manned missions into space. The mission completed 14 Earth orbits during a flight which lasted 21 hours. It ended with a parachute-assisted landing in Inner Mongolia in northern China.

Cheers - John