Gday...

1287  -             The Zuider Zee sea wall in the Netherlands collapses, resulting in 50,000 deaths.

Zuider Zee was a former shallow inlet of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands, extending about 100km inland and 50 kilometres across at its widest point. Its overall depth varied from 4 to 5 metres, and its coastline measured about 300 kilometres. Zuider Zee, originally named Lake Flevo, lacked a navigable passage to the sea until a massive flood in the thirteenth century joined it to the North Sea. During a storm on 14 December 1287, the Zuider Zee seawalls collapsed, killing around 50,000 people. The resultant flood of seawater opened the way for the growth of the city of Amsterdam. Originally an insignificant fishing village, Amsterdam grew into a thriving centre for sea-going traffic.

1503  -             Physician, philosopher and seer, Nostradamus, is born.

Michel de Nostredame, more commonly known as Nostradamus, was born on 14 December 1503, although some reports say he was born one week later. He was a well-educated man, studying mathematics, philosophy, astrology and medicine.

Using his skills in astrology, Nostradamus wrote a series of books, consisting of "quatrains", which were purported to be prophecies about the future. Attention was attracted when some of his prophecies seemed to come true. However, academic studies have concluded that the apparent associations made between events and Nostradamus's quatrains are essentially the result of misinterpretations or even deliberate mistranslations of his words. With enough manipulation, the words of his quatrains can be made to coincide tenuously with major events of the world. Nonetheless, through the years, the writings of Nostradamus have attracted a huge following of people who believe he had supernatural foresight into the future.

Nostradamus died on 2 July 1566. Originally buried in the local Franciscan chapel, he was later re-interred in the Collégiale St-Laurent at the French Revolution, where his tomb remains to this day.

1840  -             Governor Gipps appoints the first Government Printer.

In the first two decades of British settlement in Australia, all government notices were printed on a portable wooden and iron printing press that had come to New South Wales on the First Fleet in 1788. There were no experienced printers among the convicts until the convict transport ship "The Royal Admiral" brought George Howe to Australia's shores. Howe was born in the West Indies but was well-educated in classical European literature, and he had extensive printing experience. His original death sentence for shoplifting in England was commuted to transportation to New South Wales. His skills in printing were immediately put to use for the publication of government documents. In 1802 Howe issued the first book printed in Australia, "New South Wales General Standing Orders", which listed Government and General Orders issued between 1791 and 1802. He was also permitted to commence Australia's first newspaper, which he printed from a shed at the back of Government House.

As the colony grew, so did the need for an official government printer. In November 1840, Governor Gipps announced plans to establish a printing office which would be "under the exclusive orders and control of the Government". The Government Printing Office was established, and John Kitchen was appointed as Government Printer on 14 December 1840. Kitchens staff included two free men as assistant printers, while another twenty convict men and boys became production staff.

Over the next decades, the Government Printing Office was responsible for printing official government documents, including parliamentary debates (Hansard), as well as postage stamps and railway tickets. Its services also included bookbinding, Photo-lithographic and lithographic and Photo-mechanical printing. The Government Printing Office remained in operation until it was finally abolished in July 1989.

1911  -             Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen becomes the first European to reach the South Pole.

Roald Amundsen was born on 16 July 1872, near Oslo, Norway. At fifteen, he intended to study medicine but, inspired by Fridtjof Nansen's crossing of Greenland in 1888, altered his career intentions to eventually become one of the most successful polar explorers. He planned to be the first to the North Pole, but having been beaten by Frederick Cook and Robert Peary, he then altered his plans to make for the South Pole. He set out for Antarctica in 1910, and reached the Ross Ice Shelf on 14 January 1911 at a point known as the Bay of Whales. From here, on 10 February 1911, Amundsen scouted south to establish depots along the way. During the next two months, he and his party established three depots for storing their extensive provisions. They had their last glimpse of the sun for four months on 22 April 1911.

After maintaining their base at the Bay of Whales during the winter months, on 20 October 1911, Amundsen and four others departed for the South Pole. The remaining three in his expedition party went east to visit King Edward VII Land. The southern party consisted of five men, four sledges, fifty-two dogs and provisions for four months. The expedition reached the South Pole on 14 December 1911, a month before the famed Robert Scott reached it.

1926  -             Mystery writer Agatha Christie reappears eleven days after being reported missing, with no memory of where she has been.

British crime writer Agatha Christie was born Mary Clarissa Miller on 15 September 1890. She became the world's best known mystery writer, selling over a billion copies of her mystery novels in English, and another billion in 45 foreign languages, as of 2003. She also published over eighty novels and stageplays, mainly whodunnits and locked room mysteries, many of these featuring one of her main series characters, Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple.

On the evening of Friday, 3 December 1926, Christie disappeared from her home near a small town in Berkshire, England. After her car was found abandoned several kilometres away with her belongings scattered around inside, there was a great deal of speculation about her fate. Theories ranged from it being a publicity stunt, to suicide, to murder. On 14 December 1926, Christie was found staying under an assumed name at a health spa in Harrogate, where she claimed to have suffered amnesia due to a nervous breakdown, following her mother's death and her husband's open infidelity. To this day, opinions remain divided over whether this was the truth, or the amnesia story was a publicity stunt.

1991  -             Aoraki/Mt Cook, New Zealand, permanently loses 10m from its height.

Mt Cook, also known as Aoraki, is the highest mountain in New Zealand. The name Aoraki means "Cloud Piercer" in the Ngi Tahu dialect of the Mori language. Situated on the South Island, Aoraki/Mt Cook is a popular destination for tourists and mountain-climbers. The mountain lies within the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park which was formally declared in 1953. Together with Westland National Park, it is one of the United Nations World Heritage Parks. Aoraki/Mt Cook lies adjacent to the Tasman Glacier in the east and the hooker Glacier in the west.

Abel Tasman is believed to be the first European known to see Aoraki/Mt Cook, when he formally discovered New Zealand in December 1642. The name Mount Cook was later assigned by Captain John Lort Stokes in honour of Captain James Cook, who was the first European to circumnavigate New Zealand in 1770. Ironically, Captain Cook did not sight the mountain during his journey. Its name was officially changed from Mt Cook to Aoraki/Mt Cook in 1998 to incorporate its historic Mori name, Aoraki.

The elevation of Aoraki/Mt Cook is 3,754 metres. The mountain permanently lost ten metres from its hei

Gday...

1810  -             Governor Lachlan Macquarie introduces a building code into the New South Wales colony.

Lachlan Macquarie was born on 31 January 1762 on the Isle of Mull in the Hebrides islands of Scotland. He joined the army at age 14 and gained experience in North America, India and Egypt. In 1808, he was appointed Governor of the New South Wales colony, a position he held from 1810 to 1821. With his military training and vision for organisation and discipline, Macquarie was an ideal candidate to restore order to the colony, following the Rum Rebellion against deposed Governor William Bligh.

On 15 December 1810, Macquarie introduced the first building code into the colony. The code required that all buildings were to be constructed of timber or brick, covered with a shingle roof, and include a chimney. Whilst Governor, Macquarie also ordered the construction of roads, bridges, wharves, churches and public buildings. Following an inspection of the sprawling, ramshackle settlement of Hobart Town in Van Diemen's Land, now Tasmania, Macquarie ordered government surveyor John Meehan to survey a regular street layout: this layout still forms the current centre of the city of Hobart.

1961  -             Adolf Eichmann, 'Chief Executioner of the Third Reich', is sentenced to death for his war crimes.

Adolf Eichmann was a member of the Austrian Nazi party in World War II. After his promotion to the Gestapo's Jewish section, he was essentially responsible for the extermination of millions of Jews during the war. He is often referred to as the 'Chief Executioner' of the Third Reich.

Eichmann escaped from a prison camp after US troops captured him at the close of the war. Wanting to avoid having to face the Nuremberg International War Crimes Tribunal, Eichmann fled to Argentina which was safely harbouring a number of Nazi war criminals. After his location was tipped off to authorities, agents from Israel's intelligence service, the Mossad, were deployed to Argentina, where they captured Eichmann.

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

2000  -             The infamous Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine is permanently shut down.

Chernobyl is a city in northern Ukraine, near the border with Belarus. It is located 14.5 kilometres south by south-east of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which is notorious for the Chernobyl accident of 26 April 1986. Regarded as the worst accident in the history of nuclear power, clouds of radioactive particles were released, and the severely damaged containment vessel started leaking radioactive matter. 31 people died, 28 of them from acute radiation exposure. Between 100,000 and 200,000 people were evacuated from the city and other affected areas, but because there was no containment building, a plume of radioactive fallout drifted over parts of the western Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, UK, and the eastern United States.

The incident began with a steam explosion that resulted in a fire, a series of additional explosions, and the subsequent nuclear meltdown. Blame for the accident has been attributed to a combination of error by the power plant operators, and flaws in the reactor design, specifically the control rods. Health officials predicted that in the next 70 years there would be a 2% increase in cancer rates in much of the population which was exposed to the radioactive contamination released from the reactor. Another 10 people have already died of cancer as a result of the accident.

Following the 1986 accident, individual reactors at Chernobyl were gradually shut down. A fire caused one to be shut down in 1991, while another was deactivated in 1996. On 15 December 2000, the final nuclear reactor was taken offline, completing the permanent shut down of Chernobyl.

Chernobyl remains inhabited by a small number of residents who chose to return to their homes after the accident, but most of the evacuated population now lives in specially constructed towns.

2001  -             The Leaning Tower of Pisa is reopened after extensive restoration work to correct too much lean.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is the bell tower, or campanile, of the cathedral in Pisa's Campo dei Miracoli (field of Miracles). The tower took nearly 200 years to complete, being finished in 1372. Shortly after its construction began, it started to list to one side. The tower was seriously in danger of toppling completely by 1964, when the Italian government sought aid and advice in preserving its famous icon. Following decades of consultation and preparatory efforts, the tower was closed to the public in January 1990, remaining closed until December 2001 while corrective reconstruction and stabilisation work was implemented. The excessive lean of the tower was corrected by removing 38 cubic metres of soil from underneath the raised end: it is expected to remain stable for another 300 years. The Tower reopened for the first time in almost twelve years on 15 December 2001.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1631  -             Mount Vesuvius erupts, destroying six villages and killing up to 4,000 people.

Mount Vesuvius is the only active volcano on the European mainland. It is located on the coast of the Bay of Naples, about nine kilometres east of Naples. Mt Vesuvius gained notoriety when, on August 24 AD 79, the city of Pompeii and the neighbouring city of Herculaneum were buried under a pyroclastic flow, a cloud of superheated gas, ash, and rock erupting from the volcano.

Mount Vesuvius continued to erupt dozens of times through the years, though not with the same destructive force. Its most devastating eruption since AD 79 occurred on 16 December 1631, when six villages were buried under lava flows and torrents of boiling water spewed from the volcano. Between three thousand and four thousand people were killed in this eruption.

This event signalled a new phase of regular, destructive eruptions. Since 1631, Vesuvius has erupted explosively another 22 times, with constant rumblings in between. There have been no major eruptions since 1944, the longest recorded period of inactivity in almost 500 years.

1770  -             The great composer, Ludwig van Beethoven, is born.

The true date of Beethoven's birth is not known, but it is commonly regarded that he was born on 16 December 1770. He was baptised on 17 December 1770, and it was common practice for infants of his time to be baptised the day after they were born. Born in Bonn, Germany, Beethoven's talent was recognised when he was very young, but only began to develop fully after he moved to Vienna in 1792 and studied under Joseph Haydn. This marked his "Early" composing career, when he tended to write music in the style of his predecessors, Haydn and Mozart. His first and second symphonies, the first six string quartets, the first two piano concertos, and the first twenty piano sonatas, including the Pathétique and Moonlight, were written in this period.

Beethoven's "Middle" period of composing began shortly after he was beset with deafness. His music of this period tended towards large-scale works expressing heroism and struggle, and included six symphonies, commencing with the "Eroica", and including the rich and penetrating Fifth Symphony. Other works include the last three piano concertos and his only violin concerto, five string quartets (Nos. 7 11), many piano sonatas, including the Waldstein and Appassionata, and his only opera, Fidelio.

The "Late" period of Beethoven's career encompassed the final eleven years of his life, and his compositions reflected his personal expression in their depth and intensity. Among the works of this period are the Ninth Symphony, the "Choral", the Missa Solemnis, the last six string quartets and the last five piano sonatas. Beethoven died on 26 March 1827, but his legacy lives on in his brilliant, expressive compositions.

1824  -             Hume and Hovell mistakenly arrive at Corio Bay, instead of Westernport Bay.

Hamilton Hume was an Australian-born settler with excellent bush skills. He was interested in exploring south of the known Sydney area in order to open up new areas of land, but could not gain Government support for his proposed venture. William Hovell was an English former ship's captain with little bush experience, keen to assist Hume's expedition financially, and accompany him. Hume and Hovell commenced their expedition on 3 October 1824. Although the two men argued for most of their journey, and even for many years after their return, the expedition was successful in many ways. Hume and Hovell were the first to discover the "Hume River", though it was later renamed by Sturt as the Murray River. They were the first white men to see the Australian Alps. Much good grazing and pasture land was also found.

There was one major mistake, however. Hovell, as navigator, managed to incorrectly calulate their position when they thought they had reached Westernport on the southern coast. They were actually at Corio Bay within Port Phillip, where the city of Geelong now stands. They reached this point on 16 December 1824. As a result of their reports of excellent farmland when they returned to Sydney, a party was sent to settle the Westernport area in 1826, only to find poor water and soil quality. The Port Philip settlement was abandoned, and not resumed for another ten years. Nonetheless, Hume and Hovell's expedition was still valuable for opening up vast tracts of fertile land.

1845  -             Thomas Mitchell departs Orange, New South Wales, in search of a great river flowing to the Gulf of Carpentaria.

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 separate expeditions into the NSW interior.

Mitchell departed on his fourth and final expedition on 16 December 1845, in search of a great river that he believed must flow from southern Queensland to the Gulf of Carpentaria. He left from Orange in central New South Wales, and headed into what is now western Queensland. Mitchell discovered and named the Balonne, Culgoa, Barcoo and Belyando rivers, which mostly flowed south-west into the Darling. Although this area was not as rich as the land he had found in Victoria on his third expedition, it would prove to be excellent grazing country in the future.

1860  -             Burke makes the fateful decision to push on to the Gulf from Cooper Creek, despite waterless country and searing summer heat.

Robert O'Hara Burke and William Wills led the expedition that was intended to bring fame and prestige to Victoria: being the first to cross Australia from south to north and back again. They set out on Monday, 20 August 1860, leaving from Royal Park, Melbourne, and farewelled by around 15,000 people. The exploration party was very well equipped, and the cost of the expedition almost 5,000 pounds.

Because of the size of the exploration party, it was split at Menindee so that Burke could push ahead to the Gulf of Carpentaria with a smaller party. The smaller group went on ahead to establish the depot which would serve to offer the necessary provisions for when the men returned from the Gulf. On November 20, Burke and Wills first reached Cooper Creek. From here, they made several shorter trips to the north, but were forced back each time by waterless country and extreme temperatures. On 16 December 1860, Burke decided to push on ahead to the Gulf, regardless of the risks. He took with him Wills, Charles Grey and John King.

The expedition to the Gulf took longer than Burke anticipated: upon his return to Cooper Creek, he found that the relief party had left just seven hours earlier, less than the amount of time it had taken to bury Gray, who had died on the return journey. Through poor judgement, lack of observation and a series of miscommunications, Burke and Wills never met up with the relief party. They perished on the banks of Cooper Creek. King alone survived to lead the rescue party to the remains of Burke and Wills, and the failure of one of the most elaborately planned expeditions in Australia's history.

1997  -             700 people, mostly children, are hospitalised following the broadcast of a cartoon which triggers 'Nintendo epilepsy'.

On 16 December 1997, over 700 people in Japan were rushed to hospital suffering similar, but unusual, symptoms of simultaneous seizures. The common factor was that they had all watched a cartoon segment on the "Pokemon" show, based on Nintendo's "Pocket Monsters" Game Boy game. The catalyst to their problem seemed to be a scene featuring an explosion, which was then followed by several seconds of flashing red light in the eyes of one of the show's characters. Viewers who were admitted to hospitals complained of convulsions, vomiting, and other symptoms.

Major video game manufacturers now admit that some games can trigger seizures or "seizure-like symptoms" in some video game players. Such seizures are usually triggered by repetitive flashing lights, combined with the presentation of certain geometric patterns within the games.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1538  -             King Henry VIII is excommunicated from the Catholic Church, thereby setting him up to initiate a new religion.

Henry VIII was born on 28 June 1491 at the Palace of Placentia at Greenwich, England. He was the third child of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. In 1494, he was created Duke of York. He was subsequently appointed Earl Marshal of England and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, though still a child. His elder brother Arthur and Catherine of Aragon married in 1501, but his brother died of an infection very soon afterwards. At the age of eleven, Henry, Duke of York, found himself heir-apparent to the Throne. Soon thereafter, he was created Prince of Wales.

Henry VIII ascended the throne in 1509 after the death of his father Henry VII. He married Catherine of Aragon about nine weeks after his accession, on 11 June 1509, at Greenwich. Queen Catherine suffered numerous failed pregnancies until she gave birth to a daughter in 1516. Henry sought to divorce Catherine over her inability to produce a male heir, but the Pope refused permission: Henry divorced her anyway. He pronounced himself Head of a new Protestant religion known as the Church of England and took the power for himself. Henry VIII became notorious for his many wives, eventually marrying Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr.

On 17 December 1538, Henry VIII was formally excommunicated from the Roman Catholic church by Pope Paul III. There remains some dispute over who excommunicated the king and when, as other sources suggest he was excommunicated by Pope Clement VII in 1533, following his marriage to Anne Boleyn. Either way, the act of excommunication contributed to the Protestant Reformation.

1778  -             Humphry Davy, inventor of the Davy miner's safety lamp and discoverer of numerous elements, is born.

British chemist and inventor Humphry Davy was born at Penzance in Cornwall on 17 December 1778. Davy is known for discovering the alkali metals of potassium and sodium, and the alkaline earth metals of calcium, barium, magnesium, potassium and strontium.

The son of a talented wood-carver and educated at Penzance grammar school, Davy was interested in history, literature and science from a young age. He showed a remarkable memory and eagerness to read and learn. At age twenty, Davy joined the Pneumatic Institution at Bristol, an institution established to investigate the medical powers of factitious airs and gases. Davy superintended the various experiments, discovering more about gases and elements. He also helped develop the field of electrolysis, i.e. the separation of chemically bonded elements and compounds by passing an electric current through them, using a battery to split up common compounds.

Of major importance was Davy's invention of the miner's safety lamp. Mining explosions were frequently caused by firedamp or methane which was often ignited by the open flames of the lamps used by coal miners. He pioneered a method of using an iron gauze to enclose a lamp's flame, and so prevent the methane burning inside the lamp from passing out to the general atmosphere. Whilst his design had flaws of its own, the concept was taken up by other inventors who perfected it. The Davy safety lamp greatly reduced the number of mining accidents.

Davy's experiments required the regular inhalation of various gases, a fact which took its toll on his health. He died in Switzerland in 1829, aged just 51. He is commemorated by a statue in his hometown of Penzance.

1845  -             After a gruelling journey of 4827km, Leichhardt reaches Port Essington in Australia's north.

Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt was born on 23 October 1813, in Trebatsch, Prussia, which is now Brandenburg, Germany. Passionate about the natural sciences, he came to Australia in 1842, where he promptly undertook to explore the continent and gather botanical and geological specimens.

On 1 October 1844, Leichhardt commenced his first expedition, leaving from Jimbour Station on the Darling Downs to find a new route to the tiny military outpost of Port Essington in the north, not far from where Darwin now stands. Leichhardt was not a good bushman, lacked skills of organising his party, and often became lost. One man was killed by aborigines on the marathon expedition, and numerous horses and supplies were lost. Leichhardt reluctantly discarded his extensive collection of botanical specimens, as there were too many to carry. His journey of nearly 5,000km took fourteen months, which was so much longer than expected that a friend of Leichhardt's composed a funeral dirge for him, expecting to never see him again. Leichhardt arrived at Port Essington on 17 December 1845.

1903  -             The Wright brothers make the first sustained, controlled flights in a powered aircraft.

Wilbur Wright was born in 1867 and his brother Orville in 1871. The brothers are credited with being the first to build a flying machine, although debate continues as to whether they really were the first. It is true, however, that the Wrights were first to design and build a flying craft that could be controlled whilst in the air.

On 17 December 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright made the first sustained, controlled flights in a powered aircraft. Their flight lasted 12 seconds, and continued for 120 feet. Their achievement, however, went largely ignored by most American newspapers. The headlines in the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, the only newspaper to capture the story, read "Flying Machine Flies 3 Miles in Teeth of High Wind over Sand Hills and Waves at Kitty Hawk on Carolina Coast".

1967  -             Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt goes missing whilst swimming at Portsea, Victoria.

Harold Edward Holt was born in Sydney on 5 August 1908. After studying law at the University of Melbourne, he practised as a solicitor before being elected to Federal Parliament in 1936. After a thirty-year career in politics, he became Prime Minister following the retirement of Sir Robert Menzies in January 1966.

On 17 December 1967, Holt went swimming at Cheviot Beach on Point Nepean near Portsea, on the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne. After plunging into the notoriously rough surf, Holt disappeared. He was never seen again, and theories as to his fate have abounded since then. These theories include that he committed suicide, faked his own death in order to run away with his mistress, or that he was a Chinese spy. Despite an extensive search, neither his body nor any trace of his clothes was ever found. He was officially presumed dead on 19 December 1967.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1707  -             Methodist leader Charles Wesley is born.

Charles Wesley was the younger brother of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement of Protestantism, but was also a leader of the Methodist movement in his own right. He was born on 18 December 1707, in Epworth, Lincolnshire, England. Whilst studying at Christ Church College, Oxford, Wesley formed the "Oxford Methodist" group among his fellow students in 1729, a group which his brother later joined. However, Charles did not wish to break away from the Church of England into which he and his brother were both ordained.

Charles Wesley is best known for writing up to six thousand popular and well-loved hymns, including:

"Amazing Love"

"And Can It Be?"

"Hark, The Herald Angels Sing"

"Jesus, Lover of My Soul"

"Christ the Lord Is Risen Today"

"Love Divine, All Loves Excelling"

"O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing"

Wesley's name is listed in the Gospel Music Hall of Fame for the enduring nature of his hymns. He died on 29 March 1788.

1778  -             England's most famous clown and the creator of the sad-clown face, Joseph Grimaldi, is born.

Grimaldi was born in Clare Market, London, on 18 December 1778. The son of an Italian ballet-master and a mother who was a theatre dancer, Grimaldi was destined for the stage in some capacity: when only three years old, he began to appear at the Sadler's Wells theatre.

Grimaldi was beset by personal tragedy: he lost his father when he was two, his wife died in childbirth, and his son drank himself to death by age thirty. However, he was considered a brilliant pantomime clown, with his greatest success being in Harlequin and Mother Goose; or the Golden Egg at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in 1808. This pantomime is still often revived. He developed the concept of the clown as a bumbling buffoon, and his physical dexterity was remarkable for achieving this. Grimaldi effectively developed the white painted "sad clown" face so popular with later clowns.

Suffering ill health, Grimaldi retired from the stage in the 1820s, his performances sadly missed. He died on 31 May 1837, and his grave lies in Joseph Grimaldi Park, formerly, the courtyard of St. James's Chapel, Pentonville Road in Islington.

1863  -             Franz Ferdinand, Austrian Archduke, whose assassination sparked WWI, is born.

Until 1878 Bosnia and Herzegovina, just outside Austria, had been governed by the Turks. After the Treaty of Berlin in 1878, Austria was granted the power to administer the two provinces. Bosnia was populated primarily by the Croats, ethnic Serbs and Muslims. Nationalism among the Bosnian-Serbs was inflamed when Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina directly into the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1908.

His Imperial and Royal Highness Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este, was born 18 December 1863. He was an Archduke of Austria and from 1896 until his death, 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.

"The Black hand" was a secret nationalistic Serb society who determined to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand when he accepted the invitation of Bosnia's governor to inspect the army manoeuvres outside Sarajevo. Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated at approximately 11:00am on 28 June 1914. The assassination led to war between Austria and Serbia, which escalated into World War I as other European countries allied themselves with one side or the other.

1865  -             Slavery is abolished in the United States of America.

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

Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, was not in favour of abolition of slavery, but he opposed its expansion into new territories and states in the American West. It was this issue that led to the secession of the southern states to form the Confederate States of America, and ultimately also led to the Civil War. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 made the abolition of slavery an official war goal and it was implemented as the Union of northern states retook territory from the Confederacy. The Republican Party introduced the Thirteenth Amendment into Congress to enable the implementation of the Proclamation as the War drew to a close. When the last Confederate troops surrendered on 26 May 1865, the final ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment took place on 6 December 1865, officially ending chattel slavery in the United States. Final recognition of the amendment occurred on 18 December 1865.

1894  -             Women in South Australia gain the unofficial right to vote.

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

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

1912  -             The skull of Piltdown Man, the fraudulent and so-called missing link between ape and man, is unveiled to the public.

On 18 December 1912, fragments of a fossil skull and jawbone were unveiled at a meeting of the Geological Society in London. These bone fragments, estimated to be almost a million years old, were considered to be evidence of early man. The skull became known as Piltdown Man, and was recognised as the "missing link" between ape and man. The remains, officially named Eoanthropus dawsoni, were supposedly discovered in Piltdown Quarry near Uckfield in Sussex, England, by Charles Dawson, a solicitor and an amateur palaeontologist.

Forty years later, on 21 November 1953, a team of English scientists exposed Piltdown Man as a deliberate fraud. The skull fragments were a mixture of bone parts: the skull belonged to a medieval human, the jaw was determined to be that of an orang-utan, from approximately 500 years ago, and the teeth came from a chimpanzee. It has never been determined whether Dawson himself was the perpetrator of the fraud, as he died in 1916. However, further research on his "discoveries" has determined several dozen of them to be frauds.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1686  -             The fictitious character of Robinson Crusoe is rescued from his island.

Robinson Crusoe is a novel written by Daniel Defoe and first published on 25 April 1719. The full title of the novel is:

The Life and strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, where-in all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver'd by Pyrates. Written by Himself

"Robinson Crusoe" is about the fictitious character of an English castaway who has to survive for 28 years on a remote tropical island near Venezuela before being rescued, on 19 December 1686. The story is unique in that it is written in autobiographical style, seeming to give an account of actual events. This style of writing was not common in the 18th century.

"Robinson Crusoe" is believed to have been based on the true story of Scottish castaway Alexander Selkirk, who lived for four years on the remote Pacific island of Más a Tierra, although in 1966 its name was changed to Robinson Crusoe Island.

1764  -             William Cox, the builder of the first road over the Blue Mountains of NSW, is born.

William Cox was to become the builder of the first road from Sydney, over the Blue Mountains to the Bathurst Plains, opening up the area for settlement. He was born in Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England on 19 December 1764. Following a prestigious military career in England, he became Lieutenant in the New South Wales Corps in 1797, being made paymaster the following year. He brought his wife and four sons to Australia, leaving England in August 1799 and arriving in Australia on 11 January 1800.

Cox briefly endured allegations of misappropriating funds, for which he had to return to England, but after being cleared of all charges, he returned again to Australia in 1811. He resigned his commission, becoming principal magistrate at the Hawkesbury, and also taking on responsibility for erecting many government buildings.

In May 1813, Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth crossed the Blue Mountains, finding rich farming land in the Hartley region. George Evans, Deputy Surveyor-General of New South Wales, was keen to progress beyond the discoveries made by Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth so the colony could expand beyond the Great Dividing Range. Leaving Sydney in mid-November 1813, Evans soon reached a mountain which he named Mt Blaxland, which was the termination of Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth's explorations. He continued on through the countryside, eventually reaching the site of present-day Bathurst.

Upon Evans's return to Sydney, he recommended building a road which would follow the ridge track determined by Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth. Shortly after this, William Cox was commissioned to build the road to Bathurst, using convict labour. The original Great Western Highway was 3.7m wide, covered 161 km and incorporated twelve bridges. It was completed on 21 January 1815. Following completion of the road, Macquarie travelled along "Cox's Pass", taking eleven days to reach the site of Bathurst, where the Union Jack was raised.

The Governor commended Cox, stating that the project would have taken three years if it had been done under a contract. Cox was awarded 2,000 acres of land near Bathurst.

1843  -             Charles Dickens's 'A Christmas Carol' is published for the first time.

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

When in his early twenties, Dickens became a journalist. His writings were very popular and read extensively. His novella "A Christmas Carol" was first published on 19 December 1843, and thousands of copies were sold before Christmas Eve that year. The story tells of an old and bitter miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, who, on being visited by the ghost of his deceased business partner Jacob Marley, undergoes a profound transformation, becoming the kind and generous character he was before bad life experiences embittered him. The themes of social injustice and poverty are obvious throughout the story, and it remains to this day an enduring tale of man's need for love and forgiveness.

1865  -             Chinese bushranger Sam Poo is hanged in Bathurst, Australia.

The discovery of gold in Australia brought an influx of new arrivals from overseas. The Chinese were particularly attracted to Australia's goldfields, and were known for their persistence and ethic of hard-work. Whilst most Chinese stayed together, occasionally an individual would break from the crowd and explore other options for earning a living.

On the morning of 3 February 1865, Senior Constable John Ward was returning to Coonabarabran after escorting a prisoner to Mudgee. Upon hearing about a Chinese bushranger who was robbing travellers on the Gulgong-Mudgee road, he instigated a search and located where the bushranger, Sam Poo, was hiding. Both men drew their guns, but Sam Poo killed the Constable before disappearing into the bush. This murder, and the rape of a settler's wife, caused a determined posse to hunt down the bushranger. Nine months after being captured, on 19 December 1865, Sam Poo was executed at Bathurst, New South Wales.

1958  -             The first radio broadcast from space is transmitted.

The experimental satellite "Project SCORE" was launched on 17 December 1958. Two days later, on 19 December 1958, the first radio broadcast was transmitted from space. A pre-recorded tape on a recorder on board the orbiting space satellite transmitted the following Christmas greeting from then-US President Eisenhower:

"This is the President of the United States speaking. Through the marvels of scientific advance, my voice is coming to you from a satellite circling in outer space. My message is a simple one. Through this unique means I convey to you and all mankind America's wish for peace on earth and good will to men everywhere."

1964  -             The newly-built town of Jindabyne, relocated for the building of the Snowy Mountain Hydro-electric scheme, is opened.

The town of Jindabyne resulted from the earliest settlements in Australia's Snowy Mountains. It is thought to have come about after the Pendergast brothers, sons of an ex-convict, arrived in the area possibly as early as the 1820s. Sheep farming, wheat and a flour mill gave the town its first start, and more impetus came with the goldrush of the high country, in 1859-1860. It is believed that as new settlers arrived in the district, the town sprang up around a popular crossing of the Snowy River. A general store and post office was established in 1862, followed by a school in 1882 and a police station in 1883. Rainbow trout were released into the Snowy River in 1884, starting the popular tradition of trout fishing in the area.

The construction of new buildings in Jindabyne was banned by the Australian Government in 1960, when it was announced that the town, together with the nearby town of Adaminaby, would be flooded to create Jindabyne Lake, a dam that would feed the proposed Snowy Mountain Hydro-Electric Scheme. Between 1962 and 1964, Jindabyne and Adaminaby were gradually relocated onto higher ground. On 19 December 1964, "new Jindabyne" was officially opened by Sir Eric Woodward, the Governor of NSW. The dam was completed in 1967, and thousands of hectares of land flooded.

1984  -             Britain signs an historic agreement to return Hong Kong to China in 1997.

Britain invaded China in 1839, during the First Opium War. After Britain occupied Hong Kong, China ceded the island to the British under the Convention of Chuenpi (Chuanbi) signed on 20 January 1841. Hong Kong Island then became a Crown Colony on 29 August 1842 under the Treaty of Nanking. Following the Second Opium War (1856-1860), China was forced to cede the Kowloon Peninsula, adjacent to Hong Kong Island, along with other area islands. In 1898, the UK commenced a 99-year lease of Hong Kong and surrounding islands and territories, increasing the size of the Hong Kong colony. The lease would expire at midnight on 30 June 1997.

Negotiations on the future of Hong Kong were initiated between Britain and China in 1982. On 19 December 1984, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang signed the Joint Sino-British Declaration approving the 1997 turnover of the colony. The Declaration allowed for the formulation of a "one country, two systems" policy by China's communist government, permitting Hong Kong to have a capitalist economy and enjoy existing rights and freedoms. Democratic elections for the new Legislative Council were held in 1995. In 1997, Hong Kong's Chief Executive, Tung Chee-hwa, was sworn in as the new leader.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1860  -             South Carolina becomes the first US state to secede from the Union, ultimately sparking the Civil War.

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

Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, did not favour abolition of slavery, but he opposed its expansion into new territories and states in the American West. It was this issue that led to the secession of the southern states to form the Confederate States of America, and ultimately also led to the Civil War. On 20 December 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede. Within a few weeks, six other states also seceded, collectively forming the Confederate States of America. When the Civil War erupted, another four states joined the Confederacy.

1894  -             Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, twelfth and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia, is born.

Robert Gordon Menzies was born in the Victorian town of Jeparit on 20 December 1894. In 1928 he entered politics after being elected to Victorias Legislative Council for East Yarra. After six years in Victorian state politics as Attorney-General and Minister for Railways (192834), he was elected to federal parliament as member for Kooyong. On 18 April 1939, he was elected leader of the United Australia Party following the death of Joseph Lyons eleven days earlier, and became Prime Minister on 26 April 1939.

On 28 August 1941, party dissension led Menzies to resign as Prime Minister. However, after forming the Liberal Party of Australia from the remnants of the UAP in 1944, Menzies regrouped to become Prime Minister for the second time on 19 December 1949 when the new Liberal Party, in coalition with the Country Party, beat Labor. He then remained as Prime Minister for another 16 years, a record which has not been broken in Australian politics. He retired in 1966, and died in 1978.

1922  -             Geoff "Tangletongue" Mack, who wrote the iconic Australian song "I've Been Everywhere", is born.

"Tullamore, Seymour, Lismore, Mooloolaba, Nambour, Maroochydore, Kilmore, Murwillumbah, Birdsville, Emmaville, Wallaville, Cunnamulla, Condamine, Strathpine, Proserpine, Ulladulla, Darwin, Gin Gin, Deniliquin, Muckadilla, Wallumbilla, Boggabilla, Kumbarilla"

This is just one verse of Geoff Mack's greatest claim to fame: the song "I've Been Everywhere", which incorporates dozens of uniquely Australian place names and earned him the nickname of "Tangletongue".

Albert Geoffrey McElhinney, better known as Geoff Mack, is a country music singer and songwriter. He was born on 20 December 1922 in Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia. Mack's musical career developed during World War II, after he had enlisted in the RAAF and was serving in Borneo. His ability to sing and play the guitar was used to entertain the troops and visitors. After the war, he performed with the Occupation Forces, and was appointed to Radio WLKS as the voice of the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces.

Written in 1959, "Ive Been Everywhere" became a hit when singer Lucky Starr released a version he recorded, in 1962. That same year, Mack was called upon to write a version using American and Canadian names: this single became a #1 hit in America. The song has now been recorded in 131 different versions, with arguably its most famous version included on Johnny Cash's 1996 album "Unchained".

Mack has received numerous awards and commendations. He was inducted into the International Songwriters Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee in 1963, into the Hands of Fame at Tamworth NSW in 1978, and he received the Tamworth Song Writer's Association Song Maker Award in 1997.

As well, he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2005 for his service to country music, and his support of community and senior citizens' groups. More place names included in "Tangletongue's" work are:

Moree, Taree, Jerilderie, Bambaroo, Toowoomba, Gunnedah, Caringbah, Woolloomooloo, Dalveen, Tamborine, Engadine, Jindabyne, Lithgow, Casino, Brigalow, Narromine, Megalong, Wyong, Tuggeranong, Wanganella, Morella, Augathella, Brindabella, Wollongong, Geelong, Kurrajong, Mullumbimby, Mittagong, Molong, Grong Grong, Goondiwindi, Yarra Yarra, Boroondara, Wallangarra, Turramurra, Boggabri, Gundagai, Narrabri, Tibooburra, Gulgong, Adelong, Billabong, Cabramatta, Parramatta, Wangaratta, Coolangatta

And there is still another verse ...

1942  -             During World War II, the Japanese bomb Calcutta.

Calcutta, also known as Kolkata since 2001, is situated in eastern India in the Ganges Delta. With a population in excess of 15 million, it is India's third-largest city and the world's 14th largest metropolitan area.

The arrival of the British East India Company in 1690 had a profound effect on future development of the city. With India subject to British Imperialism, Calcutta was the centre of the revolutionary movement for India's independence. During World War II, there was a strong British Defence force presence in the city. Consequently, it came under frequent attack by the Japanese.

The first attack on Calcutta took place on 20 December 1942. Docks, airfields and shipping were the main targets in this, the first of many air-raids. The longer term effects of these raids, which spread over several days, were that many food grain shops were forced to close down, providing a catalyst to the widespread famine of 1943. Whilst the bombing resulted in casualties, far more of the Indian population died as a result of the famine that followed.

1957  -             The "King of Rock 'n' Roll", Elvis Presley, receives his draft notice.

Elvis Aaron Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, on 8 January 1935. He began learning the guitar at age 11, and often busked around the Lauderdale Courts public housing development, where he lived during his teen years. At age 20, he signed with RCA records, and began to make the music charts regularly. During the course of his career, he had 146 Hot 100 hits, 112 top 40 hits, 72 top 20 hits and 40 top 10 hits. A strong television exposure followed, with appearances on shows such as the Ed Sullivan Show. His next step was movies: between 1956 and 1969, Elvis Presley starred in 31 films.

On 20 December 1957, Elvis Presley received his draft notice to join the U.S. Army for National Service. Presley was sworn in as a private in the U.S. Army on 24 March 1958. He was sent to basic training in Fort Hood, Texas, after which he was shipped to Germany, where he served in Company D, 32nd Tank Battalion, 3rd Armor Corps, from 1 October 1958 to 1 March 1960.

1991  -             Archaeologists announce the discovery of a fleet of 5,000 year old Egyptian royal ships buried 13km from the River Nile.

On 20 December 1991, American and Egyptian archaeologists announced that they had discovered a fleet of 5,000 year old Egyptian royal ships. In itself, this was not unusual: what was unusual was the fact that the ships were buried in the desert at Abydos, about 13km from the River Nile. The wooden vessels, discovered in September of that year, were estimated to be between 15 and 21m long. Twelve boats were located in the initial discovery; to date, at least fourteen have been excavated.

The ships were found lying in formation adjacent to a gigantic mud-brick enclosure, thought to have been the mortuary temple of the Second Dynasty Pharaoh Khasekhemwy. In 2000, however, archaeologists determined that the ships were buried prior to the construction of the funerary enclosure. Originally coated with mud plaster and whitewash, they were most likely intended for the afterlife of a First Dynasty Pharaoh.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1140  -             Today marks the start of the legend of the Castle of the Faithful Wives.

Weinsberg is an historic town in southern Germany which was once the site of a long siege. Legend has it that the Duke of Welf inadvertently offended King Konrad III, who proceeded to berate the Duke in front of his own men. Humiliated by the incident, the Duke stormed from the castle, declaring he would never again pay any tribute (tax) to the royal crown. Consequently, the King sent an army to surround the Duke's castle with the intent to force the surrender of his entire estate.

Unbeknownst to the King, the Duke was well stocked with both secret tunnels and supplies and was therefore able to wait out the siege for many weeks. The King's men eventually discovered all secret entrances and tunnels, and barricaded the family and workers inside the castle. Threatening to set the entire village of Weinsberg alight, the King demanded the surrender of the men, although the wives and children would be free to leave.

On the morning of 21 December 1140, the women sent a message to the King, requesting that they be permitted to take whatever they could carry with them. The King agreed to these terms, not anticipating any difficulties. When the women exited the castle, the wives were carrying their husbands, while single women carried brothers or fathers. Dumbfounded, the King permitted them to leave in this way, refusing to dishonour his own promise.

In gratitude at the King's integrity, the Duke and his entire estate renewed their pledges of allegiance to the King. King Konrad III renamed the castle "The Castle of the Faithful Wives," the name by which it is still known today.

1620  -             The Pilgrim ship 'Mayflower' arrives at Plymouth Rock in North America.

The 'Mayflower' was the first ship containing emigrants to arrive on American shores. It departed Plymouth, England, on 6 September 1620 with 102 men, woman and children passengers. This group was known as the Pilgrims. The Pilgrims departed England because of their desire for religious freedom. All religion in England was strictly dictated by the government, and all were required to conform to such dictates and restrictions. Individual beliefs and forms of worship were actively discouraged, by jailing, torture or, at worst, execution.

On 21 December 1620, the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock in southeastern Massachusetts. They established a settlement that became the seat of Plymouth Colony in 1633 and part of Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691.

1817  -             Governor Macquarie recommends the use of the name 'Australia' instead of New Holland for the continent.

The first known Europeans to set foot on Australias shores were the Dutch, doing so over 150 years before English explorer James Cook ever sighted eastern Australia. In 1642, Abel Tasman sighted and named Van Diemens Land. After Tasman had established in 1644 that the continent was separate from other land masses to the north, south and east, he referred to the entire continent as Nova Hollandia, rather than the previously used Terra Australis Incognita, meaning unknown southern land. Thus, the continent became known as New Holland, a name recognised by other European explorers, including the first English visitor, William Dampier, in 1688.

Although the continent was known as New Holland, James Cook claimed the eastern seaboard for Great Britain under the name of New South Wales. When Governor Phillip arrived with the First Fleet, he was instructed to extend the claim further west, but the western half remained known as New Holland.

In 1802-1803, explorer Matthew Flinders circumnavigated the entire continent, making meticulous observations while charting the coastline. In a letter he wrote to the British Admiralty from the island of Mauritius in 1804, Flinders used the name "Australia" rather than "Terra Australis" or "New Holland". Some years after his exploration, Flinders wrote an account of his voyages just after his return to England. "A Voyage to Terra Australis" was published in July 1814, just before Flinders died. It was in this account that Flinders proposed that the name "Terra Australis" should be adopted for the southern continent. In the introduction to A Voyage to Terra Australis", Flinders wrote: 'Had I permitted myself any innovation upon the original term, it would have been to convert it into Australia; as being more agreeable to the ear, and as an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the earth.'

Discussion still ensued upon the naming of the continent. In an official despatch dated 21 December 1817, then-Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie, recommended Flinders proposal that the continent should be named Australia, rather than New Holland. The name was later officially adopted by the British Admiralty in 1824.

1837  -             Eyre attempts the first overlanding venture from Sydney to South Australia.

Edward John Eyre was born on 5 August 1815 in Hornsea, Yorkshire. After coming to Australia, he gained valuable bush skills whilst droving cattle overland from Sydney through to the Liverpool Plains, Molonglo and Port Phillip. He was keen to open new stock routes through the country, and aimed to be the first to overland cattle from Sydney to the fledgling colony of South Australia.

On 21 December 1837, Eyre departed from Limestone Plains where Canberra now stands, with one thousand sheep and six hundred cattle. His route took him first to Melbourne where he replenished his supplies, then he hoped to head directly west to Adelaide, thus avoiding returning along the better-known route of the Murray River. Conditions were difficult, with the countryside in the grip of late summer drought, and he was beaten back by the impenetrable mallee country of western Victoria. Eyre was forced to retrace his steps to the Murray River. The overlanding venture ended up covering close to 2,500 kilometres and took nearly seven months. Because of his unsuccessful short-cut, Eyre was not the first to overland cattle to South Australia: he was beaten by drovers Joseph Hawdon and Charles Bonney.

1894  -             The South Australian government becomes one of the first in the world to grant women the right to vote.

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

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

1988  -             Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270.

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

After several years of investigation, Libyan intelligence agents Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah were identified as suspects. When Libya refused to hand over the suspects to be tried in the USA, the United Nations imposed sanctions against Libya. The sanctions were only lifted when Libyan leader Colonel Gadhafi agreed to turn the suspects over to Scotland for trial in the Netherlands using Scottish law and prosecutors. Following a three month trial, Abdel Basett ali al-Megrahi was jailed for life in January 2001. His alleged accomplice, Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, was found not guilty.

Cheers - John

Gday...

877  -   The tradition of the Twelve Days of Christmas begins.

King Alfred the great ruled England from ruled 871-899. He was considered a powerful, fair king who defended Anglo-Saxon England from Viking raids, established consistent, fair and just laws, emphasised the importance of genuinely pious religious observance and promoted interest in education and scholarly pursuits.

Alfred was born at Watange in the historic county of Berkshire, now Oxfordshire, in 847. At age five he was sent to Rome where, legend states, he was confirmed by Pope Leo IV who "anointed him as king." Alfred is revered as a Saint in the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church and is regarded as a hero of the Christian Church in the Anglican Communion, being honoured with a feast day on 26 October.

On 22 December 877, King Alfred the Great passed a law that stated no servant had to work during the 12 days of celebration which followed Midwinter. This coincided approximately with the 12 Days of Christmas instigated by Christians to replace the pagan festival of Saturnalia.

1817  -             Phillip Parker King sets off to map the northern coast of Australia uncharted by Flinders.

Phillip Parker King, eldest son of Governor King, the third Governor of Australia, was born on Norfolk Island in 1791. He entered the Portsmouth Naval Academy in Britain, but it was his introduction to Matthew Flinders which engendered an enthusiasm to discover more of Australia's coastline. In 1817, King was given command of an expedition to complete the exploration of the north-western coast of Australia, filling in the gaps that Flinders had not yet mapped. He was instructed to explore all gulfs, inlets and other waterways "likely to lead to an interior navigation into this great continent".

King set out on 22 December 1817 in the cutter "Mermaid". Also on board was botanist and future explorer Allan Cunningham. King sailed via Bass Strait to North West Cape before commencing his survey along the coast towards Arnhem Land. During the four journeys that King ultimately made off the northern and north-western coasts, he named Port Essington and Buccaneer's Archipelago (after Dampier), proved Melville Island was indeed an island, and charted the coastline. He also surveyed the west coast from Rottnest Island to Cygnet Bay, in King George the Third's Sound, now King George Sound, and the entrance to Macquarie Harbour, Tasmania.

1845  -             Land for the first gold mine in Australia is purchased.

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

Captain Charles Sturt, whose charting of the Murray River was a significant catalyst to the establishment of the southern colony, was among the first to recognise the likelihood of mineral wealth in the ranges of South Australia. His claims were backed by German immigrant Johannes Menge, who was employed by the South Australian Company as their Mine and Quarry Agent and Geologist. The men were proven correct when silver was discovered at Glen Osmond in 1841 and copper and traces of gold were discovered at Montacute in 1842. On the back of these discoveries, on 22 December 1845 Frederick Wicksteed, on behalf of the Victoria Mining Company, paid 799 pounds for 147 acres at Montacute, to be used for copper mining.

Within a few months of opening in 1846, the investment paid off. Captain John Terrill discovered high quality gold, and the copper mine became Australias first gold mine, five years before gold was officially discovered in New South Wales.

1858  -             Italian operatic composer Giacomo Puccini is born.

Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was born on 22 December 1858 in Lucca, Italy. He descended from a long line of musicians, so from a young age was instructed in piano and organ in Lucca, later going on to study at the Milan Conservatory. He is best known for the operas he composed, beginning with the one-act opera "Le Villi" in 1884. Later operas included "Manon Lescaut" in 1893, "La Bohème" in 1896, "Tosca" in 1900, "Madama Butterfly" in 1904, "La Fanciulla del West" (The Girl of the Golden West) in 1910 and "Turandot", which was produced posthumously and incomplete in 1926. His rich orchestration and expressive melodies have earned him the reputation as a composer of some of music's greatest and most famous operas. Despite receiving treatment for throat cancer, Puccini died in Brussels, Belgium, in 1924.

1933  -             The 'Mad Gasser of Roanoke' makes his first attack.

The 'Mad Gasser of Roanoke' was a mysterious character who ran amok in Botetourt County, Virginia, spraying poisonous gas into resident's windows, making them violently ill. His (or her) first attack occurred on 22 December 1933, at the home of Cal Huffman in the small country town of Haymakertown in western Botetourt County. Around 10pm, Mr Huffman's wife noticed a strong odour and became slightly nauseated. The smell returned half an hour later and again at 1am. At this time, the Huffman's daughter Alice became so ill that a doctor had to resuscitate her. A neighbour reported seeing a shadowy figure running away from the house and a woman's high heel shoe print was found under the window where the gasser had stood.

The second gassing occurred in Cloverdale, where Mr Clarence Hall returned home with his family after a Christmas Eve church service to find his house filled with poisonous fumes. The gasser struck several more times over the next two months. The final incident was on 11 February 1934, after which the whole series of attacks was dismissed as mere hysteria. The perpetrator, if there was one, was never caught.

1989  -             A bus crash in Kempsey, New South Wales, kills 35 people.

In the early hours of 22 December 1989, two tourist coaches were involved in a head-on collision at Clybucca Flat, twelve kilometres north of Kempsey, New South Wales. The McCafferty's Sydney-bound coach impacted five rows back into the cabin of the TransCity Brisbane-bound coach. Both drivers were killed instantly, another 33 passengers died, and 41 more were injured. A coroner's inquest found that neither coach was speeding at the time of the crash, and there were no mechanical faults present in either vehicle. The inquiry ultimately found that the driver of the Sydney-bound coach fell asleep at the wheel and failed to negotiate a left-hand bend on the highway, causing the bus to cross to the wrong side of the road.

A contributing factor to the high death toll was the fact that the impact snapped seats from their anchor bolts so that both seats and passengers were hurled about the vehicles with tremendous force. Subsequently, the report from the inquiry recommended research to improve coach seating, seat anchorages and seatbelts. Better emergency exits for coaches were also recommended, as rescuers were unable to enter the wreckage immediately because the exits were 2.4m above the ground.

1989  -             The Brandenburg Gate between East and West Berlin is opened for the first time in nearly thirty years.

Berlin, the capital city of Germany, was divided following World War II. With the development of the Cold War, tensions began to increase between the Soviet Union which controlled the East, and the western allies which controlled West Berlin. The border between East and West Germany was closed in 1952, but people continued to defect from East Germany via West Berlin. On 13 August 1961, construction commenced on a wall to separate the East and Western halves of Berlin. Ultimately, the wall included over 300 watchtowers, 106km of concrete and 66.5km of wire fencing completely surrounding West Berlin and preventing any access from East Germany. Even the famous landmark, the Brandenburg Gate, commissioned by Friedrich Wilhelm II in 1791 to represent peace, was incorporated into the wall.

The wall remained as a barrier between East and West until 1989, when the collapse of communism led to its fall. On 9 November 1989, an international peace conference began in East Berlin. At the conclusion of the peace conference, greater freedom of travel was announced for people of the German Democratic Republic. At midnight, the East German government allowed gates along the Wall to be opened after hundreds of people converged on crossing points. Many people then took to the wall with hammers and chisels, dismantling it piece by piece. On 22 December 1989, the Brandenburg Gate was once again opened, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1888  -             Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh deliberately cuts off his own ear.

Vincent Willem van Gogh was born on 30 March 1853 in Zundert, in the southern Netherlands. Generally considered (posthumously) one of the greatest and most prolific painters in European history, he suffered a mental breakdown after only ten years working as an artist.

The story goes that on the evening of 23 December 1888, Van Gogh cut off the lower half of his left ear and took it to a brothel, where he presented it to a prostitute friend. The reason for this unusual behaviour has been theorised upon by many; the most likely cause was that it was the result of an argument with his painter friend Paul Gauguin, although that does not explain his bizarre behaviour. Regardless of the reason, shortly after this incident, van Gogh admitted himself to a mental institution. Two years later, suffering from severe depression, Van Gogh shot himself in the chest and died two days later, on 29 July, 1890.

1893  -             The South Australian Parliament gives assent to the Act which supports the founding of communal settlements, or village settlements, most of which are built along the Murray River.

When Great Britain colonised New South Wales in 1788, it was already aware of Frances interest in the continent. Thus, it sought to consolidate its claim by establishing further colonies in the south and, later, the north and west. Explorer Matthew Flinders was the first European to investigate the possibilities for settlement on the coast of what is now South Australia, doing so in 1802. The exploration of Captain Charles Sturt to chart the inland rivers led to him discovering that the Murray River was a mighty, navigable waterway which emptied into the ocean off the southern coast. This was a further catalyst to the establishment of a colony on the southern coast. Consequently, the British authorities moved to establish an official colony, which would be known as South Australia. The South Australia Act, enabling the founding of the colony of South Australia, was passed by British Parliament in 1834. The colony of South Australia was officially proclaimed in England two years later, in February 1836, and then in South Australia itself in December of that year, several months after the arrival of the first settlers in July.

The driest colony in the continent, South Australia utilised the Murray River as effectively as it could. Paddle steamers carried goods and passengers along the river between Goolwa and the eastern states, and river ports along its course played a vital role in trade. However, economic depression hit the Australian colonies in the 1890s, and the colonial governments sought ways to combat the effects. One of the means established by the South Australian government, under Premier Charles Cameron Kingston, was the establishment of communal settlements, known as village settlements. The scheme saw unemployed people from Adelaide resettled on the land, where it was hoped the villages would become self-sufficient. Within each settlement was to be a village association which would be governed by socialist-based rules allowing for the division of labour amongst the villagers, the distribution of profits and the regulation of industry and trade. Initially, coupons were used for currency, rather than a monetary system. The government granted each of the settlers an advance to establish agricultural production, with the first instalment of the repayment to be paid within three years. The Crown Lands Amendment Act, which included provision for village settlements, was introduced to parliament on 8 August 1893 and given assent on 23 December 1893.

In all, thirteen village settlements were founded in South Australia. Most of them were along the Murray River and included Lyrup, Waikerie, Holder, Pyap, Kingston, Gillen, New Era, Moorook, Murtho, Ramco and New Residence. Each village settlement floundered for a variety of reasons, usually the inability of the settlers to work communally, and the scheme in all settlements was disbanded by 1903. However, some of these settlements thrived as agricultural centres once the regions were incorporated into the respective Irrigation Areas in the early 20th century and land was leased to individuals.

1906  -             Australian invention, the surf lifesaving reel, is demonstrated for the first time.

Australia is a land of innovations and inventions: many of them developed out of necessity due to Australia's unusual or harsh conditions and environment. One such invention is the surf lifesaving reel.

The world's first lifesaving clubs were spawned in Australia, when the Bronte Beach Surf Club was formed in 1903. Early rescue equipment was primitive, being a simple pole in the sand with a coiled rope attached. In 1906, Lyster Ormsby of the Bondi Surf Bathers Lifesaving Club modelled the design he felt could be implemented, using a cotton reel and bobby pins. Ormsby's design intended for a lifesaver wearing a belt with a rope attached to reach a distressed swimmer, and be pulled back to the beach by his fellow lifesavers.

A full-scale working model taken from the original design was built by Sgt John Bond of Victoria Barracks in Paddington. Later, this was improved upon by Sydney coachbuilder G H Olding. The first surf lifesaving reel is believed to have been demonstrated on 23 December 1906 at Bondi Beach, although some sources say this occurred in March 1907. Local legend states that the first person to be saved by a lifesaver using a reel, rope and belt was an eight year old boy by the name of Charlie Kingsford-Smith, who later became one of Australia's most famous aviators.

The surf lifesaving reel was popularly used until 1993, when 'Rubber Duckies', inflatable boats with outboard motors, came into use.

1970  -             Construction of the World Trade Center (Twin Towers) in New York reaches its highest point.

The World Trade Center in New York City was a complex of seven buildings, designed by American architect Minoru Yamasaki, near the south end of Manhattan in the financial district. The World Trade Center was dominated by the Twin Towers. Tower One, the North Tower, featured a huge antenna and stood 417 m high, while Tower Two, the South Tower, was 415 m high and contained the observation deck which gave a view extending over 70km. On 23 December 1970, construction of the Twin Towers reached its highest point. The towers were completed in 1972 and 1973 and at the time were the tallest buildings on Earth. Within a few years, however, Chicago's Sears Tower at a height of 442m surpassed the record held by the Twin Towers.

On 11 September 2001, the Twin Towers were destroyed when two planes hijacked by terrorists crashed into the towers. Thousands were killed in the resultant fires and collapse of the once-proud buildings.

1972  -             Between 5,000 and 10,000 are killed as an earthquake hits Nicaragua.

The country of Nicaragua lies in Central America. It is bordered on the north by Honduras, on the south by Costa Rica, on the west by the Pacific Ocean, and on the east side by the Caribbean Sea. The capital city, Managua, and the two largest cities, Leon and Granada, lie in the Pacific lowlands where volcanic eruptions and earthquakes are common.

At 12:45 pm local time on 23 December 1972, Managua was devastated by an earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale. Water, electricity and communications were cut immediately as up to 80% of buildings collapsed. While over two dozen countries responded with aid worth millions, much of it never reached those in need: the overwhelming devastation meant the aid was not distributed properly and began being stockpiled. Exact figures for the death toll have never been determined, but in the end, it is estimated to have been between 5,000 and 10,000.

1993  -             Plans to destroy the remaining smallpox virus stockpile are reversed.

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.

In 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. In July 1978, WHO announced the successful 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.

Although the disease was eradicated from the general populace, there remained a stockpile of the virus in storage in 600 frozen vials in Atlanta and Russia. This was deemed necessary, should further vaccines be required in the future. This stockpile was supposed to be destroyed on 31 December 1993. However, just prior to this date, on 23 December 1993, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, Georgia reversed their decision, announcing that the remaining virus stockpile would not be destroyed, to enable scientists to continue studying the disease.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1798  -             Flinders and Bass become the first Europeans to anchor in the Derwent River, Van Diemen's Land.

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 in the 'Norfolk' on 7 October 1798.

On 24 December 1798, Flinders and Bass entered the Derwent River. The ship anchored in Risdon Cove, and Flinders described the area as "Very beautiful country, with a rich and luxuriant soil".

1818  -             The Christmas carol 'Silent Night' is sung for the first time.

Josef Mohr was a young priest serving as parish priest at St Nikolas Church in Oberndorf, Germany. Two days before Christmas 1818, the bellows in the church organ were found to be rotted through, possibly eaten by rats.

Needing music that could still be appreciated by the congregation, Mohr wrote a poem. He then asked the church organist and choirmaster, Franz-Xaver Gruber, if he could set it to music which the two men could sing, accompanied by Mohr on the guitar. Late on Christmas Eve, the men practised the song for the first time, and performed it for Mass. The song that Mohr penned was "Silent Night", one of the world's most enduring Christmas carols, and it was first sung on 24 December 1818.

1836  -             Colonel William Light enthusiastically approves the site for Adelaide.

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia. Although not the only Australian state to have been founded by free settlers, it is the only state to have remained entirely free of convicts during its history.

The site of Adelaide was originally determined by Captain Collet Barker. Barker was sent by Governor Darling in April 1831 to explore southern Australia, following up on Charles Sturt's discovery of the mouth of the Murray River. Barker explored around the eastern side of Gulf St Vincent, climbed Mt Lofty, and selected a suitable port for the future city of Adelaide. Late in April 1831, Barker arrived at the sandspit where the Murray River enters the Southern Ocean. He elected to swim the channel, but disappeared after he reached the sandhills on the eastern side. It was determined later, on the information of an aboriginal woman, that Barker had been speared to death by Aborigines and his body thrown into the sea.

The city of Adelaide was subsequently surveyed and designed by Colonel William Light, first Surveyor-General of South Australia, who arrived in South Australia in 1836 to follow up on Barker's expedition. Light explored Encounter Bay and nearby regions until he discovered Port Adelaide which Barker had noted in his journals. Towards the end of 1836, Light's deputy, George Kingston, discovered what he described as a short river flowing from the Mt Lofty ranges to the coastal plains. This was to be named the Torrens River. As a result of this discovery, Light approved the mouth of the river as the site for the settlement of Adelaide. On 24 December 1836 in his journal, he enthusiastically scribed:

"My first opinions with regard to this place became still more confirmed by this trip, having traversed over nearly six miles of a beautiful plat ... affording an immense plain of level and advantageous ground for occupation ... I was delighted with the appearance of the country ..."

Colonel Light began surveying Adelaide on 11 January 1837, and completed his survey on 10 March 1837. He then commenced the task of naming streets and squares in the new town on 23 May 1837.

1875  -             A cyclone hits Exmouth Gulf, Western Australia, killing 59.

Exmouth Gulf, on Australia's northwestern tip, is located in one of the most cyclone-prone areas of Australia's coast. As the pearling industry developed in the region in the late 1800s, pearling luggers from Port Hedland would often gather shells in Exmouth Gulf. As a cyclone hit on 24 December 1875, a pearling fleet bore the brunt of the storm. Fifty-nine people were killed and several boats were sunk, including the Mothership Fairy Queen.

1913  -             Dozens are crushed to death in a stampede at a Christmas party for copper miners in Michigan.

Coal mining has always been a dangerous occupation, with working conditions unhealthy and life-threatening. In 1913, workers at the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company copper mines, Michigan, USA, went on strike over their poor and dangerous working conditions and inadequate wages.

Despite the strike, the traditional Christmas Eve party was offered to the coal miners. On 24 December 1913, the workers and their families attended a Christmas party on the upper floor of Calumet's Italian Hall. Around 175 adults and 500 children were present when there was a cry of 'Fire!' and people stampeded for the stairways. In the rush, a couple fell, causing more to fall behind them; the result was a wall of human bodies clogging the staircase as terrified people continued to pour down the stairs. The weight of all the people crushed those at the bottom of the pile. In all, between 73 and 75 people died that day, 59 of them children. There was no fire, and it has never been established who had cried "Fire" and why, although much suspicion has been cast upon members of the management at the coal mine.

1938  -             Australia hosts the first ever Carols by Candlelight.

Carols by Candlelight is a popular Australian Christmas tradition. Communities gather together in parks or churchyards to sing carols and Christmas songs on any given evening in the lead-up to Christmas. There is often extra entertainment during these events, with skits, plays and other performers, and participants may hold candles or other electric lights to enhance the festive atmosphere.

The concept of Carols by Candlelight was born in 1937 when radio veteran Norman Banks was on his way home after a late evening shift. Walking along St Kilda Road, Melbourne, he saw a woman through the window of her home, her face reflecting the soft glow of candlelight, singing to Away in a Manger as it played on the radio. The sight inspired Banks to create an event which could be enjoyed by many, and which would reflect both the reverence and the joy of Christmas. With the support of his employers and the Melbourne City Council, particularly Lord Mayor AW Coles, Banks organised a programme for the following year.

The first Carols by Candlelight took place in Melbourne, Australia on Christmas Eve, 24 December 1938. Approximately ten thousand people came together at midnight in Alexandra Gardens to sing carols, backed by a choir, two soloists and the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Band. A larger production was organised the following year, and the tradition grew, continuing even through World War II. Since that time, Carols by Candlelight events have spread, continuing to be organised throughout the nation, with some sponsored by major organisations and others quieter affairs in churches and community centres.

1953  -             151 die in New Zealand as an express train plunges off a damaged bridge.

Mount Ruapehu, at 2,797 metres high, is the highest point on New Zealand's North Island. One of the largest active volcanoes in New Zealand, it is part of Tongariro National Park. On Christmas Eve 1953, a lahar, or flow of rock, mud, water and other volcanic debris, swept down the valley towards the railway bridge over the Whangaehu River at Tangiwai. The lahar swept away the fourth pier of the railway bridge and damaged the fifth, creating a yawning gap in the bridge just ahead of the Wellington - Auckland express train.

At 10:21pm on 24 December 1953, the locomotive and the first six carriages plummeted through the gap in the bridge and into the raging lahar torrent below. The force of the torrent carried one carriage 8 kilometres, while some bodies were found 50 kilometres away. Of the 285 people on board, 151 were killed in the tragedy. More would have been killed but for the actions of the postmaster from Taihape, a town situated 10km away, who saw the damage to the bridge and attempted to warn the approaching train by running along the track waving a torch. An inquest found that the driver was able to apply the brakes before reaching the bridge, which no doubt prevented the entire train from plunging into the lahar torrent.

1968  -             American astronauts on Apollo 8 become the first men to transmit a Christmas Eve message from space.

Whilst Apollo 11 is known as the first spacecraft to land men on the moon, earlier missions were vital in developing understanding of what the first lunar landing would entail. Apollo 8, launched on 21 December 1968, was the first manned flight to and from the moon. It was also the world's first manned flight to escape the influence of Earth's gravity.

On board were astronauts Frank Borman (Commander), James A Lovell Jr (Command Module Pilot) and William Anders (Lunar Module Pilot). Apollo 8's mission included testing various components during the twenty-hour lunar orbit, and returning photography of the lunar surface. Whilst in orbit around the moon on 24 December 1968, the crew transmitted a Christmas Eve television broadcast that is believed to be one of the most watched of all time. Apollo 8 returned to Earth on 27 December 1968.

Cheers - John

Gday...

336  -   Christians around the world celebrate the birth of Christ.

The birth of Jesus Christ is recorded in the Christian Bible, in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Despite the fact that Christians celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25, there is very little evidence to suggest that He was born on that date. It is more likely that Christians substituted an already-existing pagan festival with their own Christmas festival, or "Mass of Christ".

History records that December 25 was originally the culmination of Saturnalia, a winter solstice celebration honouring Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture. Many Romans also celebrated the solstice on December 25 with festivities in honour of the rebirth of Sol Invictus, the "Invincible Sun god", or with rituals to glorify Mithra, the ancient Persian god of light. December 25 was adopted in the fourth century as a Christian holiday by the Roman Emperor Constantine, who converted to christianity in 312, to encourage a common religious festival for both the Christians and the Pagans. The first mention of December 25 as the date of Jesus' birth is found in an early Roman calendar from A.D. 336

1758  -             The sighting of Halley's Comet establishes the fact that it returns in a 76-year loop.

Halley's Comet, officially designated 1P/Halley, is from the Kuiper belt and visits the inner solar system in a 76-year orbit. Its nucleus is potato-shaped, with dimensions around 8 by 8 by 16 kilometres. Its surface is composed largely of carbon, and other elements include water, carbon monoxide, methane, ammonia, other hydrocarbons, iron, and sodium.

A series of sightings of a particular comet seeming to have similar elements, resulted in the theory that the comets were all the same one. The comet in question was observed in 1531 by Petrus Apianus, then again in 1607, observed by Johannes Kepler in Prague. Edmond Halley's observation of the comet in 1682 led him to theorise on the possibility that the same comet reappeared every 75-76 years. Halley calculated that it would next appear in 1757, which was close, although it was first sighted on 25 December 1758 by Johann Georg Palitzsch, a German farmer and amateur astronomer. The delay was caused by the attraction of Jupiter and Saturn, and was in fact computed by a team of three French mathematicians, Alexis Clairault, Joseph Lalande, and Nicole-Reine Lepaute, prior to its return.

Following Halley's calculations, earlier visits of comets were noted in historical records. Chinese astronomers observed the comet's appearance in 240 BC and possibly as early as 2467 BC. Halley's Comet has reappeared in 1835, 1910 and 1986. It is due to return next in 2061.

1826  -             British occupation of Western Australia begins.

The area of Western Australia where Albany now stands was first discovered by George Vancouver in 1791. After being sent to explore the southern coastline of Australia, Vancouver first made landfall at Cape Leeuwin, then travelled southeast. On 28 September 1791, he discovered an excellent harbour which he named "King George the Third's Sound", later shortened to King George's Sound or, as it is now, King George Sound. Vancourver formally claimed this land as British territory on 29 September 1791.

British occupation of King George's Sound, the first settlement in Western Australia, did not begin until 1826. At that time, the western third of Australia was unclaimed by any country, and there were fears that France would stake its claim. To prevent this, Governor Darling of New South Wales sent Major Edmund Lockyer, with troops and 23 convicts, to establish a settlement at King George Sound. They arrived in the brig 'Amity' on Christmas Day, 25 December 1826. Lockyer initially named the site Frederickstown after His Royal Highness, Duke of York & Albany, Frederick Augustus second son of King George III.

1859  -             The rabbits responsible for Australia's current rabbit plague are introduced.

Rabbits were brought to Australia on the First Fleet but did not cause any problems for the first few years of the colony's settlement. Possibly their numbers were kept down by the native carnivorous marsupial, or dasyurid, population, and dingoes. Archaeological evidence of early foodstuffs from the late 18th century shows no sign that rabbits were eaten regularly or hunted for sport. Although rabbits became popular as pets and for hunting around Sydney in the 1840s, there is no evidence that their population proliferated. However, rabbits that were introduced into the Tasmanian colony were, by 1827, noted by a local newspaper to be in their thousands.

Thomas Austin was the owner of the property "Barwon Downs" near Winchelsea, Victoria. He is credited with introducing rabbits into Australia, leading to their current numbers of an estimated 200 million. Austin was a member of the Acclimatisation Society, a group which believed in introducing exotic species into new locations around the world. Austin imported 21 European rabbits for hunting, releasing them on 25 December 1859. Within two decades, the rabbits had bred and become a local pest. By the turn of the century, they had reached plague proportions in many parts of Australia.

1974  -             Cyclone Tracy leaves Darwin, in Australia's Northern Territory, in tatters.

Darwin, the capital city of the Northern Territory, is located on Australia's far north-western coastline. With its tropical climate, it is regularly threatened by cyclones during the summer monsoon season. On 24 December 1974, Cyclone Tracy moved in. On Christmas Day, 25 December 1974, the cyclone left Darwin in shreds. The cyclone passed directly over Darwin just after midnight, with its 'eye' centred on the airport and northern suburbs. The wind gauge at Darwin Airport officially recorded winds of 217 kilometres per hour before being blown away itself. Unofficial estimates suggest that the wind speed actually reached 300 kilometres per hour.

Cyclone Tracy was a category 4 storm whilst still out at sea, but there is some evidence to suggest that it had reached category 5 status when it made landfall. Officially, 71 people were killed, and 9,000 homes destroyed, out of a city of 43,500 people living in 12,000 residences. Many buildings were not built to withstand cyclonic forces, despite being in the cyclone belt. Of the people aboard the 22 vessels at sea when the cyclone struck, 16 were never found.

Most of Darwin's residents were evacuated following the devastation, and many of them never returned. However, Darwin was rebuilt according to new building codes, and it is now regarded as a modern multicultural city of around 100,000 people. Another significant development which came from the cyclone was that of the Northern Territory's self-government. Until 1974, the Northern Territory had minimal self-government, with a federal minister being responsible for the Territory from Canberra. However, the cyclone and subsequent response highlighted problems with this arrangement that led directly to the decision of Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser to grant the Territory self-government in 1978.

1990  -             The first successful communication between an HTTP client and server over the Internet spawns the World Wide Web.

The Internet and World Wide Web have revolutionised modern life. Now, by pressing a few buttons on the computer, all your physical needs and wants can be met. But where and when did it all begin?

In the 1980s, English physicist Tim Berners-Lee was a software consultant at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (better known as CERN). He graduated from the Queen's College at Oxford University, England in 1976. He built his first computer with a soldering iron and an old television.

In March 1989, Berners-Lee gave his supervisor, Mike Sendall, a document entitled "Information Management: a Proposal". Tim Berners-Lee and Anders Berglund, both researchers at CERN, saw the need for a system of electronic document exchange. This proposal was an attempt to help make scientific papers readable on a large number of incompatible computer systems. Berners-Lee's creation was fueled by a highly personal vision of the Web as a powerful force for social change and individual creativity. An open, non-proprietary, and free format for all people to use. Unfortunately, CERN remained unconvinced, and another 2 proposals were shelved as an interesting idea only. It wasn't until 25 December 1990 that the first successful communication between an HTTP client and server via the Internet was achieved. And the realisation of the dream which continued to drive Tim for the next 3 years as he tried to convince people to use his invention. Robert Cailliau was a young student staff student at CERN who assisted Tim in his endeavours, and it should be noted that he was instrumental in seeing this now popular medium reach the populace.

2001  -             Bushfires that will continue for three weeks begin in Sydney.

Bushfires are common in Summer in Australia. Warmer weather in spring generates strong vegetation growth, and after a protracted dry period, such vegetation becomes a tinder-box waiting to be ignited.

The winter and spring of 2001 had been drier than usual in New South Wales, and the month of December had been hot and dry. On Christmas Day, 25 December 2001, bushfires started in the Sydney area. The failure of campers to extinguish a campfire in Cabbage Tree Rd, Grose Vale is believed to have been the cause of the initial fire. Strong westerly winds fanned the flames, sending burning embers to ignite more vegetation. Temperatures soared as high as 45 degrees Celsius in some areas. Arsonists contributed to further fires. By the end of the day, over 100 bushfires were burning across the region. For three days, the city of Sydney smothered under a pall of black smoke. The worst affected areas were Lane Cove National Park, the Royal National Park & Blue Mountains National Park, where over 3000 square kilometres of bushland was burnt out. 180 homes were destroyed.

Bushfires across the state continued for another three weeks, affecting travellers and killing livestock and native animals north and south of Sydney. Surprisingly, there were no human fatalities.

2008  -             An Australian is reported to have been arrested for trying to smuggle animal mummies out of Egypt.

On 25 December 2008, Australian newspapers reported that a 61-year-old man from Victoria had been arrested in Cairo, Egypt, for trying to smuggle two animal mummies out of the country. Frank Bottaro, an antiques dealer from Melbourne, was arrested at Cairo International Airport, while on his way to Thailand.

Mummifying animals was common practice in ancient Egypt. The two mummies, a cat and an ibis dating back to 300 BC, were found among Bottaro's luggage. Also found in his luggage were nineteen religious figurines wrapped as gifts and placed among souvenir ceramic pots in Bottaro's suitcase. They were figurines of the ancient Egyptian gods of Horus, a falcon-headed being, and Thoth, who was revered for giving the Egyptians the gift of hieroglyphic writing. The artefacts confiscated from the man weighed about 5.5kg in total.

Cheers - John

Gday...

01  -     Today is Boxing Day, also known as St Stephen's Day.

December 26 is known as Boxing Day in England and other countries in the Commonwealth, but it is unknown when it first began. The holiday appears to have originated in the mid nineteenth century in England. Some historians believe the name 'Boxing Day' came about because the boxes placed in churches where parishioners deposited alms (coins) for the poor were opened, and the contents were distributed on December 26, which is also the Feast of St Stephen. (St Stephen was the first Christian martyr.) Others believe that the Boxing Day tradition originated as a holiday for members of the upper class to give boxes containing food, clothing or money to tradespeople and servants, in much the same way that many employers offer their employees bonuses today. These gifts were usually given in boxes; hence the name 'Boxing Day".

1945  -             The first Sydney to Hobart yacht race is held.

The Sydney to Hobart yacht race is a major Australian event held annually on Boxing Day. Hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, the race starts in Sydney on Boxing Day and finishes in Hobart, a distance of 1167km, or 630 nautical miles.

The first race was held on 26 December 1945, and included nine starters. The inaugural race winner was "Rani". Initially intended to be a cruise between the two cities, the race has grown over the years to attract international interest, with maxi-yachts from the US, the UK and Europe competing.

1947  -             The territory of Heard and McDonald Islands is transferred from Britain to Australia.

Heard Island and McDonald Islands together form one of Australia's external, offshore territories. Located in the Southern Ocean, about 4 100 km southwest of Perth and 1 700 km from Antarctica, they are the world's only volcanically active subantarctic islands. Mawson Peak, with an elevation of 2 745m, is situated on Heard island and is the highest peak in any Australian territory. Regarded as one of the world's wildest and most remote places, the territory has the distinction of being one of very few places where no known species has been introduced directly by Man. This is despite the fact that sealers regularly occupied Heard Island between 1855 and 1929.

Heard Island was believed to have first been sighted by British sealer Peter Kemp in 1833, and he is thought to have entered it on his 1833 navigation charts. The island was named after American Captain John Heard who, in December 1853, reported sighting the island a month earlier. Six weeks later, Captain William McDonald discovered the nearby McDonald Islands.

In 1910, the United Kingdom made a formal claim to Heard Island. They remained as British possessions until 26 December 1947, when effective government, administration and control of Heard and McDonald Islands was transferred to Australia.

2003  -             The Iranian city of Bam and its ancient Citadel are razed in an earthquake which kills 50,000.

The city of Bam lies in the Kerman Province of Iran, about 1000km south east of Tehran, near the Lut desert. Bam city is believed to have been founded during the Parthian empire which ruled from 250 BCE to 226 CE. Central to the city was the Bam Citadel, the world's largest adobe structure, believed to have dated back to before 500 BC, and remaining in use until 1850 AD. Prior to 2003, the estimated population of Bam was 97,000.

At at 5:26am local time on 26 December 2003, Bam was struck by an earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale. The epicentre was around 10 kilometres southwest of the city. Figures from January 17 indicate that 56,230 people were killed in the earthquake, which also destroyed 80 percent of the citadel and 70 percent of the city of Bam. Destruction was widespread as most buildings in the city were constructed also of adobe, and thus did not comply with earthquake regulations set in Iran in 1989. Many of the victims died because they suffocated from the dust released with the collapse of the adobe buildings. Another 29 serious aftershocks followed the initial quake.

Aid poured in from many countries to aid the homeless and to assist with the rebuilding of the ancient citadel. The city and the citadel are still being rebuilt.

2004  -             Hundreds of thousands of people die as a tsunami hits southern Asia.

Boxing Day, 2004, will long be remembered as the day southern Asia was devastated. An earthquake under the sea near Aceh, north Indonesia, in the Indian Ocean, generated a huge tsunami - the biggest the world had seen for 40 years. The earthquake, known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, registered 9.15 on the Richter scale. It hit at one minute before 8:00am, generating a gigantic wave which quickly built up and spread out, extending to thirteen countries. Up to 275,000 people were killed, with at least 128,000 of them in Indonesia alone. Over one million were left homeless.

The wave, travelling at up to 800 kilometres per hour, hit the northern regions of the Indonesian island of Sumatra within fifteen minutes, while Sri Lanka, Thailand and the east coast of India were hit between 90 minutes and two hours later. Somalia was struck about seven hours later. Other countries hit included Bangladesh, Malaysia, the Maldives, the Seychelles and the Indian-owned Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Some 8,500 km away, the coastal village of Struisbaai in South Africa, a 1.5 m "high tide" surged onshore about 16 hours after the quake.

The rest of the world was quick to respond with aid which eventually totalled around 12 billion dollars. Even now, reconstruction of the devastated areas is still continuing, and many thousands remain homeless.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1675  -             King Charles II of England issues a proclamation suppressing coffee houses.

The first record of a public coffee house can be found in 1475, when the first known coffee shop, the Kiva Han, was opened in the Turkish city of Constantinople (now Istanbul). The popularity of coffee, and coffee houses, quickly spread, with Britain opening its first such establishment in 1652.

Coffeehouses were commonly frequented by members of the social upper-class of businessmen. They soon became meeting spots for intellectuals and, as Charles saw it, potential political subversives. Thus, on 27 December 1675, he issued a "Proclamation Suppressing Coffee-Houses". The proclamation sought to prohibit "scandalous papers, books and libels from being read in them" and to prevent the coffee-houses from allowing their patrons freedom of speech or the right to express dissatisfaction with the government.

Twelve days later, the edict was withdrawn, on 8 January 1676. Its withdrawal was forced because the proclamation denied basic human rights: it had also become the subject of considerable ridicule.

1803  -             Convict William Buckley escapes, spawning the Australian phrase "Buckley's chance".

William Buckley was born in Marton, Cheshire, England in 1780. He arrived in Australia as a convict, and was a member of the first party of Europeans to attempt the first settlement at Sorrento, on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria. On 27 December 1803, soon after his arrival, he escaped from custody.

Despite the friendliness of the local indigenous Wathaurong people, Buckley was concerned they might turn hostile, and initially chose to try to survive on his own. However, he soon realised his inability to fend for himself in the harsh bushland, and he sought out the Wathaurong again. On his way, he happened upon a spear stuck in the grave of a recently deceased member of the tribe; the Aborigines, finding him with the spear, believed he was their tribal member returned from the dead, and greeted his appearance with feasting and a corroboree. Buckley spent the next 32 years living among the indigenous Wathaurong people. Bridging the cultural gap between Europeans and Aborigines, he gained many valuable bush skills and was a crucial factor in reconciliation in those early days. To keep the peace between the two races, Buckley gave himself up to free settler John Batman's landing party on 7 July 1835.

Ultimately, Buckley was pardoned and became a respected civil servant. The Australian saying "Buckley's chance" means to have a very slim chance, and was spawned by his amazing story of survival in the bush.

1822  -             Biologist and chemist, Louis Pasteur, is born.

Louis Pasteur was born on 27 December 1822 in Dole, Jura, France. Known as the founder of microbiology, he moved into this field when he discovered the role of bacteria in fermentation. His experiments with bacteria conclusively disproved the theory of spontaneous generation and led to the theory that infection is caused by germs. Extrapolating from this knowledge, Pasteur then developed a process in which liquids such as milk were heated to kill all bacteria and moulds already present within them. This process became known as pasteurisation.

Recognising that infectious diseases are caused by microorganisms, Pasteur's research soon led others to investigate sterilisation, disinfection, vaccines, and eventually antibiotics. Pasteur created and tested vaccines for diphtheria, cholera, yellow fever, plague, rabies, anthrax, and tuberculosis.

Suffering from strokes since the age of 46, Pasteur eventually died in 1895 from complications as a result of these strokes.

1831  -             Charles Darwin, who developed the theory of natural selection, commences his 5 year voyage on the HMS Beagle.

British naturalist Charles Robert Darwin was born on 12 February 1809 in Shrewsbury, England. Darwin's claim to fame is his publication of "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life". The book put forth Darwin's theory of evolutionary selection, which expounded that survival or extinction of populations of organisms is determined by the process of natural selection, achieved through that population's ability to adapt to its environment. Ultimately, by following Darwin's theory of evolution to its conclusion, the controversial book suggested that man evolved from apes. Although Darwin is given the credit for the theory of evolution, he developed the theory out of the writings of his grandfather Erasmus. Large sections from Erasmuss major work, Zoonomia or the Laws of Organic Life are repeated in Darwins Origin of Species. There is evidence to suggest that many of the other ideas Charles proposed, such as the concept of modern biological evolution, including natural selection, were borrowed from ideas that had already been published by other scientists.

It was whilst studying medicine at Edinburgh University that Darwin developed his interest in natural history. On 27 December 1831, Darwin boarded the HMS Beagle to commence his five-year journey of scientific exploration. On this voyage, he collected a variety of wildlife and fossils, studying them to gradually develop his theory of natural selection.

During the voyage, the HMS Beagle visited ports along both the eastern and western coasts of South America. It continued on to New Zealand and Australia, Cape Town in South Africa and back to South America before returning to England. Interestingly, on this voyage, Darwin took a giant Galapagos Tortoise from the Galapagos Islands as a pet. This reptile ended up in Australia where it finally died in 2006, well over 170 years old.

1979  -             Soviet troops storm the Presidential Place in Kabul, Afghanistan, killing President Hafizullah Amin.

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

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

1983  -             Pope John Paul II visits the man who attempted to assassinate him almost two years earlier.

Pope John Paul II was elected to the papacy following the death of the popular "Smiling Pope", Pope John Paul, after just 33 days in office. Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Poland took the name of Pope John Paul II in deference to his predecessor. At just 58 years old, the new Pope became the youngest pope to be elected in the twentieth century.

A major theme of John Paul II's papacy was his fight for freedom of religion in the Communist bloc and during his term as Pope, he was significant for his contribution to the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. On 13 May 1981, the Pope was shot and seriously wounded while passing through St Peter's Square in Rome in an open car. The Pope was rushed by ambulance to Rome's Gemelli Hospital, where he underwent surgery as the bullet had entered his abdomen, narrowly missing vital organs.

The would-be assassin was 23-year-old escaped Turkish murderer Mehmet Ali Agca. Bystanders quickly overcame Agca and detained him until police arrived. Four days later, the Pope offered forgiveness from his hospital bed. Agca was sentenced to life imprisonment. On 27 December 1983, Pope John Paul II personally visited his would-be assassin in a meeting that lasted 20 minutes. The Pope never revealed the nature of their discussion. He merely stated, What we talked about will have to remain a secret between him and me. I spoke to him as a brother whom I have pardoned and who has my complete trust."

Cheers - John

Gday...

1612  -             Galileo becomes the first astronomer to observe Neptune, but catalogues it as a star.

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

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

On 28 December 1612, Galileo became the first astronomer to observe the planet Neptune. Initially cataloguing it as a fixed star, Galileo considered the 8th planet as unremarkable, and it hardly warranted a mention in his copious notes.

1836  -             The Proclamation announcing the creation of the colony of South Australia is announced by its first Governor.

Explorer Matthew Flinders was the first European to investigate the possibilities for settlement on South Australia's coast, doing so in 1802. The South Australian Colonisation Act was passed by the British Parliament in 1834, and the first settlers arrived in 1836.

South Australia and Western Australia are the only states in Australia not to have been founded by convicts. Western Australia, however, resorted to encouraging convict settlement when its population failed to expand sufficiently to ensure the colony's future. South Australia remained the only colony completely convict-free through Australia's history.

Governor John Hindmarsh arrived in the new colony on the HMS Buffalo, accompanied only by free settlers. South Australia was officially proclaimed on 19 February 1836 in England. However, the Old Gum Tree at Glenelg North, South Australia, was the location of the reading of the Proclamation by Governor Hindmarsh on 28 December 1836. Every year, South Australia officially celebrates 28 December as Proclamation Day.

1850  -             Henry Parkes establishes the 'Empire' newspaper, later giving rise to his prominent political career.

Henry Parkes was born in Warwickshire, England, on 27 May 1815. A failed business venture prompted him to seek passage with his wife to Australia, and he arrived in Sydney in 1839. Moving up from a position of farmer's labourer, to clerk, to managing his own business, a number of failed ventures indicated that he did not have good business acumen.

Parkes established the "Empire" newspaper on 28 December 1850. Initially a weekly paper, it was soon being circulated daily. Although loyal to the British Empire, Parkes aimed to present an honest, independent journal that would not hesitate to identify flaws in the government. His vocal, but fair, criticism increased his prominence, and despite his lack of good business sense, it placed him in a position where he himself could be heard in government. Parkes was first elected to the New South Wales Parliament in 1854, was Premier of New South Wales several times between 1872 and 1891, and was knighted in 1877.

Although loyal to Britain, Parkes was a staunch supporter of the Australian culture and identity. As a politician, he is perhaps best remembered for his famous Tenterfield Oration, delivered on 24 October 1889, at the Tenterfield School of Arts. In this speech, he advocated the Federation of the six Australian colonies. Parkes convened the 1890 Federation Conference and subsequently the 1891 National Australasian Convention. He proposed the name Commonwealth of Australia for the new nation.

1879  -             75 people are killed when the Tay Bridge in Scotland collapses during a violent storm.

Tay Bridge, spanning the Firth of Tay in Scotland, was designed by railway engineer Thomas Bouch, and completed in February 1878. The Tay Bridge was nearly two miles long, consisted of 85 spans and at the time of its construction was the longest bridge in the world. Considered a magnificent feat of engineering, its construction earned Bouch a knighthood.

During a violent storm on the evening of 28 December 1879, the central navigation spans of the bridge collapsed into the Firth of Tay at Dundee. A train travelling along the single rail track plunged into the firth, killing 75 people on board. On board was the son-in-law of engineer Bouch. An inquiry into the disaster determined that the piers and wind bracing had not been properly constructed. Sir Thomas Bouch was held chiefly to blame for the collapse in not making adequate allowance for wind loading. Also, the cylindrical cast iron columns supporting the thirteen longest spans of the bridge, which were each 75m in height, were of insufficient quality for their purpose.

A second bridge was subsequently built, and opened on 13 July 1887. This bridge is still in use today; stumps of the piers from the original bridge still stand alongside the new bridge, a silent testimony to the tragedy of 1879.

1957  -             The two-millionth Volkswagen 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. One of the most affordable cars, it established a firm reputation for reliability and sturdiness.

On 28 December 1957, the two millionth Volkswagen was completed. The humble "people's car" went on much further to surpass other popular cars in production. In February 1972, the Volkswagen Beetle surpassed the previous production record set by the Model T Ford, to become the most heavily produced car in history.

1989  -             Thirteen are killed as Newcastle, New South Wales, is hit by an earthquake.

Significant earthquakes in Australia are rare; however, on 28 December 1989, an exception to the norm occurred. Australia's sixth-largest city, Newcastle, situated on the mid New South Wales coast, was hit at 10:27am by an earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale. Effects of the quake were felt throughout central-eastern New South Wales. There were reports of damage to buildings in Scone, Gladstone and Sydney, the latter some 800km away. The shaking was even felt in tall buildings, in places over 5000km away.

Thirteen people were killed, and 35,000 homes, 147 schools and 3,000 other structures in the region collapsed. Most damage, and the highest death toll, occurred at the Newcastle Workers Club when walls and multiple floors collapsed, dropping 300 tonnes of concrete onto the ground-floor car park. Nine people were killed in this one location alone.

A US report on the earthquake suggested that the disaster was caused by stress resulting from 200 years of underground coal mining. Australian geoscientists disagree, claiming that the Hunter Valley has been prone to minor earthquakes for years. Other evidence suggests that the hypocentre of the earthquake lay too deep underground - 12 kilometres - for it to have been caused by mining.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1170  -             Archbishop of Canterbury and early Christian martyr, Thomas Becket, is assassinated.

Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is believed to have been born around 21 December 1118 at Cheapside, London. Educated at Merton Priory, he entered the service of Archbishop Theobald, who appointed him to the Archdeaconry of Canterbury. In 1155, King Henry II made him Chancellor of England, and in this position, Becket became the King's confidant and trusted friend and advisor. However, after being elected to the position of Archbishop of Canterbury, Becket began to see the conflict of interest between the King's authority and that of the Church.

Becket clashed with Henry II over complete exemption of the Church from all civil jurisdiction, with undivided control of the clergy, freedom of appeal, and the acquisition and security of an independent fund of church property. He preferred to accept exile rather than any compromise with Henry II over the rights of the Church. Thus, Becket fled to France to appeal to the Pope, and threatened the King with excommunication. He returned to England, but became embroiled in a six-year conflict during which the King defied Becket and the Pope by causing his eldest son to be crowned by the Archbishop of York. The Pope suspended the Archbishop of York and the other Bishops who had taken part in the ceremony. This issue caused Henry II to utter, "Is there no one who will rid me of this turbulent priest?" Taking this as a blessing from the King to murder Becket, on the night of 29 December 1170, four knights made their way to Canterbury Cathedral, where they assassinated him.

Becket was subsequently recognised as a martyr for the cause of the Church. He was canonised in 1173.

1800  -             Charles Goodyear, inventor of vulcanised rubber, is born.

Charles Goodyear was born on 29 December 1800. Goodyear became famous for accidentally discovering the process of vulcanisation of rubber when he dropped some rubber mixed with sulfur on a hot stove. Vulcanisation, or curing, of rubber is a chemical process in which rubber molecules become locked together to a greater or lesser extent, making the bulk material harder, more durable and more resistant to chemical attack. The process also alters the surface of the material from a stickiness that adheres to other materials, to a smooth soft surface.

Goodyear did not benefit from his invention as Englishman Thomas Han**** copied his idea and attained a British patent for the process before Goodyear applied for a British patent. However, vulcanised rubber was later made into tyres emblazoned with Goodyear's name. The Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Company adopted the Goodyear name because of its activities in the rubber industry, but it has no other links to Charles Goodyear and his family.

1876  -             The Ashtabula River Railroad Disaster, the worst rail accident in American history, occurs.

The Ashtabula River Railroad Bridge was the first Howe-type wrought iron truss bridge to be built. Designed by Charles Collins and Amasa Stone and completed in 1865, the bridge crossed the Ashtabula River near Ashtabula, Ohio.

The Ashtabula area had received heavy snow at the time of the disaster. On 29 December 1876, the Pacific Express of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway line departed Erie, Pennsylvania, making its way along the snowed-in railway line. At about 7:00pm, as the Pacific Express crossed a bridge over the Ashtabula River about 91 m from the railroad station at Ashtabula, a loud cracking sound was heard. Suddenly, the bridge fractured and the train plunged 21m onto the frozen river.

Leading locomotive, the "Socrates", made it across the bridge, but the second locomotive, the "Columbia", and 11 railcars fell into the ravine below, then exploded into a fireball. The fire melted the ice of the river, and the carriages sank further into the river, making rescue all but impossible. Of 159 passengers and crew aboard the train, 64 people were injured and 92 were killed or died later from injuries sustained in the crash or the ensuing inferno. 48 victims were unable to be identified due to the fire.

Within two years, both bridge designers had committed suicide, although there was some doubt whether Collins's fatal gunshot wound was actually self-inflicted. Later investigations suggested that the design was not at fault as much as fatigue of the cast iron lug pieces which were used to anchor the wrought iron bars of the truss together.

1940  -             London is bombed during the 'Blitz', resulting in almost 3,000 civilian deaths.

The Battle of Britain, or the Blitz, was an intense bombing campaign in England in World War II by the German airforce, the Luftwaffe. The Blitz took its name from the German word Blitzkrieg, meaning 'Lightning War'. Prior to the attacks on England, the German airforce had spent a month attempting to decimate the British airforce. Failure to achieve this objective had resulted in the Blitz, designed to crush the morale of the British people. Hundreds of civilians were killed and many more injured in the initial attack on London which took place on 7 September 1940. The first raids were concentrated on the heavily populated East End, as about 300 bomber planes attacked the city over a 90 minute period.

There were many more attacks over cities and towns in England in the ensuing months. One of the largest single raids occurred on 29 December 1940, and killed almost 3000 civilians. In all, the Blitz lasted for over 8 months, killed about 43,000 civilians and destroyed over one million homes. During the Blitz, the Luftwaffe lost most of its experienced aircrew and hundreds of aircraft. By drawing the focus away from the British air force, it gave the RAF time to regroup and rebuild. Despite the Luftwaffe's best attempts, the British people never lost their morale or their fighting spirit.

1967  -             Classic Star Trek episode "The Trouble With Tribbles" is aired for the first time.

Star Trek, the science fiction series which went on to spawn many more spinoff series and films, was created by Gene Roddenberry and debuted on 8 September 1966. Set in the 23rd century, Star Trek follows the adventures of the Starship Enterprise and her crew. Initially, the series did not rate well, and only a sustained campaign by its devoted fans kept the series going through two more seasons.

One of Star Trek's most classic episodes, "The Trouble With Tribbles", first aired on 29 December 1967. In this episode, the Star Trek crew encountered a previously unknown species - small, cute, furry and voraciously hungry creatures which multiplied at an astronomical rate. The tribble episode was very popular, and the original tribbles became sought-after collectors' items, with many of the toys disappearing later from the series' props department. 500 tribbles were used in the episode and the tribble-maker, Jacqueline Cumere, was paid US$350.

Six Star Trek movies based around the characters of the original series were later developed, as well as a number of spin-off series. The first of the spinoff series, 'Star Trek: the Next Generation', premiered in 1987. The Tribbles returned in a later spinoff series, 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine', in the episode entitled "Trials and Tribble-ations", during which the characters actually found themselves back in original Star Trek time. One of the scenes in the original tribble episode involved an avalanche of tribbles which took 8 takes to fall just right: this avalanche was alluded to later as two of the Deep Space Nine characters frantically dug through a pile of tribbles to locate a bomb.

1998  -             Six die as fierce storms batter Australia's annual Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

The Sydney to Hobart yacht race is a major Australian event held annually on Boxing Day. Hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, the race starts in Sydney on Boxing Day and finishes in Hobart, a distance of 1167km. The first race was held on 26 December 1945.

In 1998, the race was marred by tragedy when weather conditions caused five boats to sink, resulting in 6 deaths. Out of 115 boats that started the race, only 44 made it to Hobart. The winning yacht "Sayonara" was five hours outside the race record, finishing in a little over two days and 19 hours. A coronial enquiry criticised race management for taking insufficient safety precautions, given the adverse conditions. Questions were asked as to why race organisers had not delayed the start of the race, knowing the adverse weather conditions. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology was also criticised for not doing more to alert the race organisers of an upgraded forecast on the severe storm offshore near the New South Wales-Victoria border nearly a day before the fleet was due there.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1903  -             The Iroquois theater fire in Chicago, USA, claims 602 lives.

The Iroquois Theater in Chicago, Illinois, was a grand building advertised as "Absolutely Fireproof" on its playbills. Constructed hastily in preparation for the holiday crowds, the theatre opened on 23 November 1903. On 30 December 1903, approximately 2000 people - almost 300 more than the theatre's actual seating capacity - had turned out to watch a Wednesday matinee performance. Many of them were children on their holiday break.

At around 3:15pm, an arc light shorted, igniting a curtain, the fire then spreading to the backdrops consisting of huge painted canvas scenery flats. The protective asbestos fire curtain between the stage and the audience could not be immediately lowered because the operator was in hospital and his substitute was unfamiliar with its operation. There were 6 firefighting canisters which were almost useless on the huge blaze. When the actors realised there was a fire, they quickly exited through a back door, and the resultant inrush of cold air fuelled the fire further.

Most of the fire exits were locked, and the patrons were unable to unlock them. Lobby doors were locked and the fire escapes outside were unfinished. Many people jumped to their deaths, yet ironically their bodies cushioned others who leapt out the windows to try to escape. 575 people died on the day, and another 30 died later from their injuries or burns. The fire lasted only twenty minutes, yet claimed a total of 602 lives.

The Iroquois Theater Fire remains the deadliest single-building fire in US history.

1922  -             The Soviet Union, or USSR, is established.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a former country of eastern Europe and northern Asia. It included Russia, Belorussia, Ukraine, and the Transcaucasian Federation, which in 1936 was divided into the Georgian, Azerbaijan, and Armenian republics. The USSR became the first country in the world to be based on Marxist socialism. Its formation was the culmination of the Russian Revolution of 1917, in which the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, seized the government of Russia and overthrew Tsar Nicholas II. The Soviet Union was officially established on 30 December 1922.

Over the next few decades, the Soviet Union emerged as one of the world's two super-powers, along with the United States of America. It was not until decades after World War II that the increasing push for independence among the states, together with the gradual crumbling of communism in the 1980s, led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991.

1982  -             A blue moon occurs simultaneously with a lunar eclipse.

A "blue moon" does not refer to the colour of the moon at a particular stage in its cycle: it means the second in a pair of full moons that occur in the same calendar month. A blue moon happens every 2.7 years and is due to a disparity between the Gregorian calendar and the lunar cycle. The lunar cycle, the time it takes for the moon to revolve around the earth, does not take 28 days, but takes 29 days, 12 hours, and 44 minutes. During the twentieth century, there were a total of 44 blue moons.

On 30 December 1982, a blue moon occurred in conjunction with a total lunar eclipse. This was the only time this happened in the twentieth century, although a blue moon did occur in conjunction with a partial lunar eclipse on three other occasions. It was also a perigee lunation, which occurs when the Moon is at or near its closest approach to Earth.

1998  -             One of a set of stegosaurus prints stolen from a sacred Aboriginal site near Broome is recovered.

On 16 October 1996, it was reported that a set of fossilised dinosaur footprints had been stolen from a sacred Aboriginal site in outback Australia. The footprints came from the best preserved trackway of a stegosaur in the world, and were the world's only known set of fossilised stegosaurus prints. They were also the only evidence that stegosaurs had once populated the Australian continent. The footprints were regarded by Aborigines near Broome, northwestern Australia, to belong to a mythical creature from their "Dream Time". The theft shocked and outraged Aborigines, as it violated an Aboriginal sacred site on the isolated coastline near Broome.

On 30 December 1998, one of the missing footprints was recovered. Police investigations found that the thieves had attempted to sell the prints on the Asian market, but had been unsuccessful, possibly because of the size and weight of the fossils. Each of the three toes of the large print measured 15cm. The 30kg block of rock in which the print was embedded measured 60cm by 40cm and was 13cm deep. Police did not elaborate on how they had recovered the missing fossil.

2006  -             Iraqi Dictator, Saddam Hussein, is executed by hanging following his trial.

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

Early in April 2003, US tanks rolled into Baghdad, the capital city of Iraq, in preparation for the battle which would topple Hussein's regime. Hussein disappeared, but he was captured by US forces on 13 December 2003. He was located hiding in a small underground pit at a farmhouse in ad-Dawr near his home town Tikrit, in what was called Operation Red Dawn. His trial occurred over many months during 2006, and on 5 November 2006, Hussein was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging. Saddam Hussein was executed on 30 December 2006 at approximately 06:10 local time, at Camp Justice, an Iraqi army base in northeast Baghdad.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1696  -             King William III introduces the window tax, causing many people to brick over their windows.

Travelling through parts of the United Kingdom today, numerous buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries with bricked-up window-spaces may be observed. This was a direct result of the window tax, introduced by King William III on 31 December 1696.

The window tax was a glass tax designed to impact on the wealthy who resided in larger houses with many windows. The people of England opposed income tax on the basis that it was an intrusion into one's privacy. The window tax was intended to circumvent this invasion of privacy. Initially, the tax involved a flat-rate house tax of 2 shillings per house and a variable tax for the number of windows above ten windows. Properties with ten to twenty windows paid a total of four shillings, and those above twenty windows paid eight shillings.

The tax was unpopular as residents saw it as a tax on light and air. In order to avoid paying, many bricked over their windows, whilst the extremely wealthy ostentatiously included even more windows on their properties, as a public display of their wealth. The window tax was repealed in 1851 and replaced by House Duty.

1790  -             Enough barley is harvested in the penal colony of New South Wales to alleviate impending starvation.

The First Fleet, containing the officers and convicts who would first settle Australia, arrived in Botany Bay on 18 January 1788. The colony's Governor, Captain Arthur 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.

The penal colony of New South Wales struggled, but managed to survive largely through the efforts of Governor Phillip. He was a practical man who had suggested that convicts with experience in farming, building and crafts be included in the First Fleet, but his proposal was rejected. Phillip faced many obstacles in his attempts to establish the new colony. The convicts were not skilled in farming, and unwilling to work hard in the intense heat and humidity of Australia. 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. On 31 December 1790, twenty-five bushels of barley were successfully harvested. This went a long way towards alleviating food shortages. The colony finally succeeded in developing a solid foundation, agriculturally and economically, thanks to the perseverance of Captain Arthur Phillip.           

1918  -             The performance of Beethoven's Ninth by German POWs spawns a Japanese tradition of playing the symphony for New Year's celebrations.

Ludwig van Beethoven was a brilliant and passionate composer of the Classical-Romantic era. His talent was recognised when he was very young, but only began to develop fully after he moved to Vienna in 1792 and studied under Joseph Haydn. This marked his "Early" composing career, when he tended to write music in the style of his predecessors, Haydn and Mozart.

Beethoven's "Middle" period of composing began shortly after he was beset with deafness. His music of this period tended towards large-scale works expressing heroism and struggle, and included six symphonies, commencing with the "Eroica", and including the rich and penetrating Fifth Symphony.

The "Late" period of Beethoven's career encompassed the final eleven years of his life, and his compositions reflected his personal expression in their depth and intensity. Among the works of this period are the Ninth Symphony.

During World War I, the Japanese were treated for the first time to a performance of Beethoven's Ninth. In the Spring of 1918, German prisoners-of-war in the Bando POW camp in Tokushima prefecture performed the symphony using an improvised orchestra playing instruments they had partly made themselves. Following their rendition, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony became very popular in Japan. Since that time, the performance of the Ninth has gradually developed into an annual New Year's tradition. Indeed, the world standard of 72 minutes of playing time for CDs was set in Japan in 1970, to ensure the entire symphony could be recorded on a single CD.

1964  -             Donald Campbell breaks the world water speed record.

Donald Malcolm Campbell was born on 23 March 1921 in Horley, Surrey, England. He became the only person to ever break both the world land speed and water speed records in the same year. He broke the land speed record in July 1964 on a Lake Eyre salt flat in northern South Australia, with a speed of 648.72 km per hour.

Campbell set seven world water-speed records between 1955 and 1964. The first was at Lake Ullswater on 23 July 1955, where he set a record of 325 km per hour. He continued to break records until the culmination of his attempts, on 31 December 1964 at Dumbleyung Lake, Western Australia, when he reached 444.71 km per hour in his jet-powered boat, Bluebird. Prior to this, he had attempted to break the record at several other locations around Australia, including Lake Bonney, South Australia, where the weather had proved too unpredictable. Campbell's initial attempt at Lake Dumbleyung was thwarted by wild ducks which could not fly away because they were moulting. Winds then whipped up 61cm waves on the lake, preventing any attempt from being made. Campbell was about to move to another lake south of Perth when the weather suddenly calmed, allowing the attempt to be made at Dumbleyung.

Campbell was killed three years later while attempting to break his record yet again, this time on Lake Coniston, Cumbria. Just before his Bluebird K7 broke the record, travelling at more than 483 km per hour, the boat's nose lifted and it was catapulted 15m into the air. Campbell was killed instantly as the boat hit the water and disintegrated. His body was not recovered from the wreckage at the bottom of the lake for another 34 years.

1995  -             The final new Calvin and Hobbs comic strip is drawn.

Calvin and Hobbes is a cartoon strip by cartoonist Bill Watterson. It features a six-year-old boy, Calvin, whose mischievous nature is the bane of everyone around him, and his stuffed tiger Hobbes, which only Calvin sees as real and alive. The characters are named after 16th-century French Reformation theologian John Calvin, and Thomas Hobbes, an English political philosopher from the 17th century.

Watterson began drawing cartoons as a sideline while working in advertising. After experiencing numerous rejections for his work, Watterson was encouraged by some interest shown in one of his minor characters who was the younger brother of the main subject: this character became Calvin. The strip was picked up by Universal Press Syndicate, and first published on 18 November 1985.

Calvin and Hobbes enjoyed an immensely successful run, earning Watterson the Reuben Award from the National Cartoonists Society, in the Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year category, in both 1986 and 1988. He was also awarded the Humor Comic Strip Award for 1988. Despite his success, Watterson reached the point where he felt he could not develop the strip or the characters according to syndicate constraints any further and, fearing a stalemate, ended Calvin and Hobbes on a high, with the final cartoon being published on 31 December 1995. Many newspapers around the world continue to run the strip as a weekly feature.

1999  -             Millennium celebrations are held around the world.

A millennium is a period of one thousand years. Because the Western calendar lacks a year numbered zero and begins instead with the year 1, there are two main viewpoints about naming millennia: whether each one begins on the year ending in '000' (e.g. the years 1000 and 2000) or whether the new millennium commences with the year ending in 001 (e.g. 1001, 2001). Australian Prime Minister John Howard made a point in favour of celebrating the millennium at the end of 2001, and was named "the party pooper of the century" by local newspapers.

Regardless of the semantic debate, the majority of millennium celebrations around the world were held on the evening of 31 December 1999. Celebrations began at 1000 GMT as the Chatham Islands, Tonga, Fiji and Kiribati experienced the new millennium first. The millennium arrived last of all in Samoa, 25 hours after arriving in Greenwich.

Cheers - John

Gday...

It had to come some day I guess ... so I chose today.

I have been filling the I digress sub-forum with large slabs of text about times past for exactly one year today.

I feel it is now time for those who have found it passably interesting to access the trivia for themselves.

This is the site with the information - http://today.wmit.net.au/

You are able to subscribe to the site and receive the Today in History information by email each morning. 

I do hope some have found Today in History on here of some value ... at least every now and then at least.

Have a great 2015

Cheers - John

It has been very interesting and enjoyable. Thanks .

Thanks you so much John. Also for the link.

Aussie Paul. 

Gday...

1622  -             January 1 is declared as the first day of the year.

Today is New Year's Day, the first day of the year, and is celebrated as a holiday in many countries. Among the ancient peoples, New Year's Day was traditionally celebrated in conjunction with the vernal or autumnal equinox or the summer or winter solstice. In the Middle Ages it was set at the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere, usually on March 25.

The Gregorian calendar, which is widely in use throughout the western world today, was adopted by many Catholic countries in 1582. However, England, Scotland and all countries within the British Empire did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752. January 1 was declared as the first day of the new year on 1 January 1622.

1856  -             Queen Victoria approves a petition to rename the island of Van Diemen's Land 'Tasmania' in honour of Dutch explorer Abel Tasman.

Tasmania was first discovered by Abel Tasman on 24 November 1642. Tasman discovered the previously unknown island on his voyage past the "Great South Land", or "New Holland", as the Dutch called Australia. He named it "Antony Van Diemen's Land" in honour of the High Magistrate, or Governor-General of Batavia.

When the First Fleet arrived in 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip claimed the entire eastern coast for the British Empire, including Van Diemen's Land, though it was not yet proven to be separate from the mainland. In January 1799 Bass and Flinders completed their circumnavigation of Van Diemen's Land, proving it to be an island. Van Diemen's Land was settled as a separate colony in 1803, but continued to be administered by the Governor of New South Wales. In 1825, Van Diemen's Land was separated administratively from New South Wales, and Hobart Town was declared the capital of the colony.

Van Diemen's Land remained the name of the island until 1 January 1856, when Queen Victoria approved a petition to rename the island Tasmania, in honour of its discoverer.

1864  -             The Queensland Police Force is inaugurated.

Prior to Queensland's separation from New South Wales in 1859, there was no formalised police force for the settlers north of Tenterfield. Police were appointed by local police magistrates or justices of the peace. A separate Mounted police force was established at Goondiwindi, now on the border of Queensland and New South Wales. Under the command of Captain Fred "Filibuster" Walker, the Native Police Corps, comprising both European and indigenous troopers, protected the early settlers of the inland, and their property.

The "Police Act of 1863" came into effect on 1 January 1864, and with it, the Queensland Police Force was inaugurated, meaning the force began officially operating under its own legislation. Queensland's first Police Commissioner, David Thompson Seymour, headed up a force of between 143 and 157 police as well as the 120 members of the Native Police Corps. He was appointed in a temporary capacity in January 1864, and his appointment was confirmed in July of that year. He continued to command the Queensland Police Force for thirty years. Commissioner Seymour was nominally in charge of the Water Police in regard to appointments, dismissals and punishments but actual control sat with Water Police Magistrate William Thornton.

1866  -             The first Queensland route of famous coach company, Cobb & Co, is established.

The discovery of gold in Australia in the 1850s brought with it an immediate need for faster and better forms of transport. Four enterprising Americans saw a way to fill this need. Freeman Cobb, John Murray Peck, James Swanton and John Lamber started a network of horse and coach runs in a manner similar to what operated in the United States. Originally called the American Telegraph Line of Coaches, the name was later changed to Cobb & Co. Specially sprung coaches that could handle Australia's rough roads and rocky tracks were imported from America for the enterprise. Horses were replaced at changing stations 25 to 40 kilometres apart, meaning that fresher horses improved travelling time.

Cobb & Co's first run was on 30 January 1854, departing Melbourne for the Forest Creek diggings (now Castlemaine) and Bendigo. The network of routes was quickly expanded to deal with increased demand in the growing colony of Victoria. Initially a passenger service, Cobb & Co's reputation for speed and reliable service soon saw it being used for mail delivery and gold escort as well.

Headquarters were moved from Victoria to Bathurst in 1862. Workshops were built at Hay and Bourke in New South Wales and Castlemaine in Victoria, and the service was expanded to include Queensland. The first Cobb & Co coach in Queensland ran from Brisbane to Ipswich on 1 January 1866. The railway line took passengers from Ipswich to Grandchester, and another Cobb & Co service took the passengers from Grandchester on up to Toowoomba.

In the ensuing years, the service was expanded up the coast to Gympie in 1869, out to central western Queensland, including Clermont and Copperfield in the 1870s, and north to Palmer River, Charters Towers and Croydon by the 1880s. Major depots were established at Barcaldine, Longreach, Winton and Charleville, the latter also becoming the site for more Cobb & Co workshops.

1901  -             The Commonwealth of Australia is proclaimed.

Prior to 1901, Australia was made up of six self-governing colonies; New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania. These colonies were ultimately 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.

On 1 January 1901, federation of the colonies was achieved and the Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed. Australia's first Governor-General, John Hope, made the proclamation at Centennial Park in Sydney. Australia's first Prime Minister was Edmund Barton.

This event did not mark independence from Great Britain: it gave Australia the right to govern itself. Independence was a gradual process which continued right up until the Australia Acts came into effect on 3 March 1986.

1908  -             The Australian Bureau of Meteorology is founded.

The Bureau of Meteorology is the main agency of the Australian Government which is responsible for observing and reporting on weather events in and around Australia. Compiling data from a number of sources, it provides forecasts, warnings and observations to the Australian public, as well as offering feature articles and educational resources.

The earliest regular weather observations in Australia were undertaken by Captain William Dawes in 1788, who established the first observatory at what is now known as Dawes Point on the western point of Sydney Cove. Dawes originally named the location Maskelyne Point in honour of his British sponsor, Nevil Maskelyne, the Astronomer Royal, who had secured Dawes's position upon the First Fleet. Successive observatories were built at strategic locations as colonial settlement spread across the Australian continent. Initially, following Federation in 1901, each of the states continued to maintain its own observatories. However, it was soon decided that a central national weather bureau was needed to consolidate all of the information from across Australia.

The Meteorology Act 1906 enabled such an institute to be founded and, on 1 January 1908, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology was established in Melbourne. Its inaugural Director was Henry Ambrose Hunt, who served in this capacity until 1931. During his time with the Bureau, Hunt developed several ground-breaking meteorological theories which were compiled in a 1929 book A basis for seasonal forecasting in Australia. This book was the catalyst to new research into the relationship between the weather cycle and droughts, an especially pertinent topic for Australians.

1911  -             The Commonwealth of Australia takes over control of the Northern Territory from South Australia.

 The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, bordered by the states of Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia. From 1825 to 1863, the Northern Territory was part of New South Wales. In 1863, control of the Northern Territory was handed to South Australia. This was as a result of the successful 1862 expedition of John McDouall Stuart to find an overland route through the desert from Adelaide to the north. This route was subsequently utilised for the building of the Overland Telegraph line, which provided an important communications link between Australia and the rest of the world.

On 1 January 1911, the Northern Territory was separated from South Australia and transferred to Commonwealth control. At the time, former Prime Minister Alfred Deakin made the comment that "To me the question has been not so much commercial as national, first, second, third and last. Either we must accomplish the peopling of the northern territory or submit to its transfer to some other nation."

1915  -             Four Australians are killed when two Turks attack a picnic train near Broken Hill.

Each New Year's Day in Australia, the Manchester Unity Lodge customarily held a picnic at Silverton, 25km northwest of Broken Hill in far western New South Wales. On 1 January 1915, at 10:00am, a train pulled out of the Broken Hill railway station at Sulphide Street, carrying 1200 men, women and children in 40 open trucks fitted with wooden seats. Just a few kilometres out of Broken Hill the train passed an ice-cream cart bearing a Turkish flag.

Two Turks lying in wait started shooting at the train, killing two picnickers immediately. A pipeline inspector cycling alongside the train was also killed, whilst a man chopping wood in the yard of a local hotel was killed by a ricocheting bullet from the Turks. Police and locals quickly descended on the scene and a gun battle ensued, during which the snipers were killed. Looking for scapegoats, the public descended on the local Muslim community, but further bloodshed was prevented by police and militia. Local Muslims did not condone the shooting and refused to be responsible for the burial of the Turks. The bodies were later buried away from the local cemetery, in an undisclosed location

Cheers - John

Gday...

1822  -             A penal settlement is established at Macquarie Harbour on the remote west coast of Van Diemen's Land.

Tasmania was first discovered by Dutch trader Abel Tasman in November 1642. Tasman discovered the previously unknown island on his voyage past the "Great South Land", which he later called "New Holland". He named the island "Antony Van Diemen's Land" in honour of the High Magistrate, or Governor-General of Batavia.

After the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip claimed the entire eastern coast for the British Empire, including Tasmania, though it was not yet known to be separate from the mainland. In January 1799 Bass and Flinders completed their circumnavigation of Tasmania, proving it to be an island. In order to offset continuing French interests in southern parts of Australia, Lieutenant John Gordon Bowen was sent to establish the first British settlement at Risdon Cove in Van Diemen's Land in 1803. Lieutenant-Governor David Collins moved the settlement to Sullivans Cove, which was later renamed Hobart Town, on the Derwent River in 1804. In the same year, the British Government appointed Lieutenant-Colonel William Paterson as Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land and instructed him to form a settlement at Port Dalrymple in the north of the island.

Van Diemens Land was valued for its remoteness from the mainland, and another penal colony was proposed for the west coast. On 2 January 1922, a secondary penal colony was established on Sarah Island in Macquarie Harbour. It housed the worst convicts and those who had escaped from other settlements in a mountain wilderness which was only accessed through a treacherous narrow channel called Hells Gates, in which many a boat carrying convicts floundered. Convicts were treated harshly, chained while they logged the local Huon Pine and rafted it downstream. Others worked in the local shipbuilding industry. Those requiring solitary confinement were sent to nearby Grummet Island for a given period of time. However, by 1829, the settlement had become much less harsh, as convicts responded to a reward system that enabled them to develop other useful skills and trades.

The Macquarie Harbour settlement operated for eleven years, from 1822 until 1833, with approximately 1,150 male and 30 female prisoners serving time. In 1833, the penal settlement was moved to Port Arthur on the Tasman Peninsula in the south.

1860  -             The existence of the theoretical planet Vulcan, between Mercury and the Sun, is announced.

Vulcan was a small planet believed to orbit between Mercury and the Sun. Its "discovery" was announced on 2 January 1860, by French mathematician Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier. Le Verrier hypothesised that Mercury's unusual orbital motion around the sun was influenced by another planet.

The belief in the possibility that another planet existed close to the sun had begun in the early 1840s when small black spots were observed across the sun. Not seeming to be sunspots, the only other explanation seemed to be that another planet was travelling with Mercury during its transit. These reports were unconfirmed, but they piqued interest. In 1840 François Arago, director of the Paris Observatory, suggested Le Verrier explore the subject.

Using a model based on Sir Isaac Newton's laws of motion and gravitation, together with his own experience in celestial mechanics, Le Verrier determined that Mercury's orbital irregularities were caused by the planet he named Vulcan. Vulcan was so named after the Roman god of fire, suitable for a planet so close to the sun. Many continued to believe Vulcan existed until 1915, when Einstein explained the orbit of Mercury using his theory of general relativity.

Le Verrier went to his grave, certain of planet Vulcan's position in the galaxy. Interestingly, Vulcan's existence was revived for the successful science fiction series "Star Trek", in the 1960s, and continued to play a major part in future movies and spin-off series.

1869  -             The world's first traffic light explodes, injuring the policeman operating it.

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.

Shortly after this, Detroit police officer William L Potts realised that a universal system would be needed. Potts developed the first 4-way three colour traffic light using red, amber, and green railroad lights. The first such light was installed on the corner of Woodward and Michigan Avenues in Detroit, in 1920. During the ensuing year, another 15 were installed throughout Detroit, proving to be such a success that they gradually spread to other major centres.

1920  -             Chemist and science-fiction writer, Isaac Asimov, is born.

Isaac Asimov was born on 2 January 1920 in Petrovichi, USSR. When he was three years old, his family emigrated to America, settling in Brooklyn, New York. Asimov entered Columbia University at the age of 15 and studied biochemistry, later teaching at Boston University. However, he is best known for his prolific writing, particularly of the science fiction genre.

Asimov's first story, Marooned Off Vesta, was written when he was 18. Over the next two and a half years, he published over 30 more short stories, gaining prominence with "Nightfall", in 1941. "Nightfall" was a significant step in Asimov's writing career, and in 1968 was proclaimed by the Science Fiction Writers of America as the best science fiction short story ever written. He is best known for his 'Foundation' series, which began with the Foundation Trilogy: Foundation (1951), Foundation and Empire (1952), and Second Foundation (1953), and was continued with Foundation's Edge (1982), Foundation and Earth (1986), Prelude to Foundation (1988) and Forward the Foundation (1992). Asimov also wrote the robot stories, which promulgated a set of rules of ethics for robots (the Three Laws of Robotics) and intelligent machines that greatly influenced other writers and thinkers in their treatment of the subject. I, Robot, Asimov's first book, is a short story collection describing a future society in which humans coexist with nearly sentient robots.

Asimov died on 6 April 1992.

1955  -             South Australia's Vice-Regal Summer Residence, Marble Hill, is destroyed by bushfires.

Marble Hill was the grand summer residence of the Governor of South Australia. Situated in the bushland of the Adelaide Hills, it was an ideal location to catch any summer breezes, whilst it also held commanding views of the surrounding countryside.

The 1870s was a time of economic boom for South Australia. When William Jervois became Governor in 1877, he commissioned the construction of a grander residence than the country retreat of Government Farm at Belair. Jervois supervised the architecture and selected the site. The first stone for the Marble Hill residence was laid on 18 July 1878, and the building was completed by late 1879.

The Vice-Regal Summer Residence, as it was known, was designed in Victorian Gothic Revival style and adapted for Australian conditions with the addition of spacious verandahs on three sides which shielded the interior from the intense northern sun. Constructed from locally quarried sandstone, its 26 rooms included a drawing room, a morning room, a dining room and a grand staircase of kauri pine and blackwood.

The Adelaide Hills are notorious for their bushfires, with several threatening Marble Hill through the years. The first of these was in 1882, whilst successive bushfires in 1901, 1910, 1912, 1930 and 1939 all came frighteningly close. However, it was the 1955 bushfires which completely destroyed the Vice-Regal Summer Residence.

The summer of 1954-55 had been marked by extreme temperatures. By midday of 2 January 1955, on what came to be known as Black Sunday, temperatures had reached 42 degrees by midday, and a fire which had broken out at nearby Anstey's Hill was being fanned by 70 kph winds. After trying to fight the fire, Sir Robert and Lady George, their family, staff and servants were forced to shelter under wet blankets in the lee of a retaining wall while the fire completely destroyed the building.

The cost of rebuilding was considered too prohibitive for the time, and the ruins were eventually dedicated to the National Trust of South Australia as a public reserve, in 1967. In recent years, the property has been taken over by private interests, with restoration work currently being undertaken.

1971  -             66 die in a crowd crush at a football match in Scotland.

Ibrox park, now Ibrox Stadium, in Glasgow, Scotland, was the scene of many disasters last century. The first occurred on 5 April 1902 when a section of terracing at the back of the West Stand collapsed, sending football fans plunging 12m to the ground below. 26 were killed and hundreds more injured. Further incidents in ensuing years, particularly in association with stairway 13, killed 2 and injured scores.

The second major disaster occurred on 2 January 1971, at the end of a game between Celtic and Rangers. When Celtic finally scored a goal towards the finish of a scoreless game, thousands of Rangers stood up to leave, believing the game to be over. As they started to make their way down the notorious stairway 13, Rangers scored an equalising goal, causing a roar to erupt from fans still in the stadium. Some people on the stairway stopped, but others higher up kept moving, causing a crush for those below. The momentum of the crowd resulted in excessive pressure on the crush barriers, which then collapsed. Ultimately, 66 people were killed in the crush, with hundreds more injured. The incident remains the worst disaster in the history of Scottish football.

Cheers - John