Gday...

1686  -     Gabriel Fahrenheit, after whom the Fahrenheit scale of temperature is named, is born.

Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit was born on 24 May 1686 in the Hanse city Danzig, located in Royal Prussia. His parents died at a relatively young age from consuming poisonous mushrooms, and subsequently Fahrenheit had to take up business training to support his younger siblings. However, his interest in natural sciences caused him to take up studies and experimentation in that field. Fahrenheit's studies took him to Amsterdam, where he gave lectures in chemistry. In 1724 he became a member of the Royal Society.

Fahrenheit developed precise thermometers, and the Fahrenheit scale was widely used in Europe until the switch to the Celsius (or Centigrade) scale. He first filled his thermometers with alcohol before using mercury, which gave better results. He chose 0 as the coldest temperature attainable by man, a mixture of water, salt and ice. He selected 100 degrees as the body temperature of a healthy horse. Fahrenheit died on 16 September 1736.

1738  -     John Wesley, founder of Methodism, is intensely moved when he hears a reading of the preface to Luther's commentary on Romans. 

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

Wesley spent two years in the American colonies as missionary, but felt that he failed in his mission to convert the Indians and deepen and regulate the religious life of the colonists. In his search for truth and meaning, Wesley did not conform to any established church, and a number of charges were brought against him in his interpretation of Scripture. He returned to Oxford depressed and beaten.

After his return, Wesley found solace in the Moravians, a Protestant denomination founded in Saxony in 1722. It was while attending a Moravian meeting in Aldersgate Street, London, on 24 May 1738, that John Wesley's conversion moved beyond the purely practical and theoretical to a deeper understanding. Whilst listening to a reading of the preface to Luther's commentary on Romans, Wesley felt his heart "strangely warmed"; shortly after this, he preached several enlightened sermons on salvation by faith, and God's grace "free in all, and free for all." Soon after this, he took to preaching at open-air services, wherever he was invited. After the Moravians developed some practices and policies with which he disagreed, he took his followers and developed his own society, the Methodist Society in England.

A fluent, powerful and effective preacher, Wesley was a logical thinker who also expressed himself clearly, concisely and forcefully in writing. His sermons were characterised by spiritual earnestness and simplicity. Although Wesley died on 2 March 1791, many follow Wesley's teachings today. He continues to be the primary theological interpreter for Methodists the world over; the largest Wesleyan body being The United Methodist Church.

1819  -     Queen Victoria, longest reigning monarch in English history, is born. 

1838  -     The first in what was to become a chain of David Jones Department stores opens.

David Jones is a quality retail outlet in Australia, with 35 stores, two warehouse outlets and David Jones Online. It is Australias oldest department store, and the worlds oldest department store still trading under its original name.

The founder of the store, David Jones, was born in 1793, the son of a farmer in Llandeilo, Wales. He immigrated to Australia after entering into partnership with Charles Appleton, a Hobart Town businessman who had opened a store in Sydney in 1825. Jones arrived in Hobart in 1834, then moved to Sydney the following year. When Appletons partnership in the Sydney store with former missionary Robert Bourne expired on 31 December 1835, Jones became the new partner. Under Joness leadership, the business increased its profits considerably. However, when Appleton arrived, he was deeply concerned about what he considered a reckless credit policy. The partnership dissolved by mutual consent.

Jones then moved his business to new premises, on the corner of George St and Barrack Lane in Sydney. The first David Jones store opened on 24 May 1838; its mission was to sell "the best and most exclusive goods" and to carry "stock that embraces the everyday wants of mankind at large."

1930  -     Aviatrix Amy Johnson lands in Darwin, becoming the first woman to fly from England to Australia.

Amy Johnson was born on 1 July 1903 in Kingston upon Hull, England. She was introduced to flying as a hobby, gaining a pilot's licence at the London Aeroplane Club in late 1929. In that same year, she became the first British woman to gain a ground engineer's licence.

On 5 May 1930, Johnson left Croydon, England, in her De Havilland Gypsy Moth which she named Jason. She landed in Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory on 24 May 1930. She received the Harmon Trophy as well as a CBE in recognition of this achievement.

Johnson made several other notable flights. In July 1931 she and her co-pilot Jack Humphreys became the first pilots to fly from London to Moscow in one day, completing the 2,800 km journey in approximately 21 hours. From there, they continued across Siberia and on to Tokyo, setting a record time for flying from England to Japan. In July 1932, she set a solo record for the flight from London, England to Cape Town, South Africa in a Puss Moth. The record was later broken, but Johnson reclaimed her record in a Percival Gull in May 1936.

Amy Johnson died on 5 January 1941 whilst flying an Airspeed Oxford to RAF Kidlington near Oxford. She went off course in poor weather and bailed out into the Thames estuary, where she drowned after a failed rescue attempt.

1969  -     The last Australian is awarded the original Victoria Cross, prior to the introduction of the Victoria Cross for Australia.

The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for acts of bravery in wartime. It was introduced by Queen Victoria on 29 January 1856 to honour acts of bravery shown by individuals during the Crimean War. The Victoria Cross is presented to the recipient by the reigning British monarch at a special ceremony held at Buckingham Palace.

Since World War II, only four medals have been awarded to members of the Australian Army. The last Australian to receive an original Victoria Cross was Warrant Officer Keith Payne. He received the Victoria Cross for gallantry on 24 May 1969 during the Vietnam War. This was two decades before the introduction of the Victoria Cross for Australia, which was created by letters patent signed by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, in January 1991. The highest award in the Australian Honours System, it superseded the Victoria Cross.

Cheers - John