Gday...

1858  -     Explorer John McDouall Stuart discovers Chambers Creek, later to be renamed Stuart Creek. 

John McDouall Stuart was born in Dysart, Fife, Scotland, on 7 September 1815. He arrived in South Australia in 1839. He had a passion for exploration and gained experience when he was employed as a draughtsman by Captain Charles Sturt on an expedition into the desert interior. Following his experience with Sturt, Stuart led a number of expeditions west of Lake Eyre.

On his first attempt to venture into Australia's unexplored interior, Stuart discovered a large creek with apparently permanent water southwest of Lake Eyre, on 26 June 1858. He named it Chambers Creek after James Chambers, the man who would later become the sponsor for future expeditions. Although this was the only significant discovery on this expedition, Chambers Creek became a vital starting point in opening the way for further exploration into central Australia.

When the South Australian government offered a reward of two thousand pounds to the first expedition to reach the northern coast, Stuart chose to push beyond Lake Eyre in the attempt to reach the north. 1860 saw Stuart's fourth expedition, and his second attempt to cross Australia from south to north. On 26 June 1860, this expedition was brought to an abrupt end when the local Warramunga tribe launched an ambush. The site is now known as Attack Creek. Stuart eventually succeeded in crossing the continent two years later.  

1861  -     A rescue party leaves Melbourne to search for explorers Burke and Wills, who are long overdue from their attempt to cross Australia from south to north. 

The Burke and Wills expedition was supposed to mark the state of Victoria's greatest triumph: Victoria hoped to be the first state to mount an expedition to cross the continent from south to north. Instead, due to mismanagement and lack of clear communication, three of the four members of the party who finally made the attempt to cross to the gulf and back, never made it back. Robert O'Hara Burke, William John Wills and Charles Gray all died. John King alone survived, after being taken in and nursed by the Aborigines of the Cooper Creek area.

Several different rescue parties set out to search for any sign of the Burke and Wills expedition. Victoria mounted its own rescue mission, headed up by Alfred Howitt, an experienced bushman. Howitt's party departed Melbourne on 26 June 1861: ironically, this was just a few days before Burke died of malnutrition and likely nardoo poisoning at Cooper Creek.

When Howitt reached Swan Hill, he met up with William Brahe, who had been left in charge with instructions that if the party did not return in three months, he was to return to Menindee. Brahe returned to Cooper Creek with Howitt, where they found no sign of Burke and Wills having been there. Burke had indeed returned and found the lettering freshly blazed on the coolibah tree at the depot, giving instructions to dig for the supplies Brahe had left. When Burke left the Dig tree to try to reach the police station at Mt Hopeless, 240km away, he failed to leave further messages emblazoned on the Dig tree indicating that his party had returned and were now making for Mt Hopeless. Thus, no rescue party had any knowledge that Burke had returned to Cooper Creek: this miscommunication was a significant factor in the tragic demise of Burke and Wills.

1880  -     Bushrangers, the Kelly Gang, execute police informer Aaron Sherritt, shortly before they themselves are captured.

Ned Kelly, Australia's most famous bushranger, was born in December 1854 in Beveridge, Victoria. As a teenager, he became involved in petty crimes, regularly targetting the wealthy landowners. He gradually progressed to crimes of increasing seriousness and violence, including bank robbery and murder, soon becoming a hunted man. Ned Kelly's gang consisted of himself, his brother Dan, Joe Byrne and Steve Hart. One of Kelly's more daring bank robberies was carried out in December 1878 when Kelly and his gang rode into the Victorian town of Euroa, where they robbed the National Bank of about 2,000 pounds. As a result of this robbery, the reward for their capture was increased to 1,000 pounds each.

Aaron Sherritt was an associate of the Kellys, having grown up in the same area, and he was quite close to the Byrne family. He was engaged to Byrne's sister for awhile. After the gang was outlawed following the murder of three policemen at Stringybark Creek in October 1878, Sherritt turned police informant for money. Sherritt advised the police to camp out in a cave near Byrne's family home in the hopes of capturing Byrne as he visited his mother. Sherritt's presence was noted, and Byrne's sister broke off her engagement to him.

Many months later, on the night of 26 June 1880, Sherritt was at home with his new wife, mother-in-law and four policemen. When Sherritt answered a knock at the door, he was shot dead by Byrne. The police officers hid, as they were unsure whether they were Byrne's real target, and did not report the killing until late the following morning. Within a couple of days, Byrne was himself killed in a shootout at Glenrowan between the gang and the police. Ned Kelly was the only one to survive to stand trial, after which he was hanged.

1945  -     Australia joins the United Nations. 

The term "United Nations" was first used officially during World War II, on 1 January 1942, when 26 states joined in the Declaration by the "United Nations", pledging themselves to continue their joint war effort and not to seek peace as separate entities. During the course of the war, it was recognised that there was a need for a new organisation to replace the largely ineffectual League of Nations. This was stated in the Moscow Declaration, issued by China, Great Britain, the United States, and the USSR in 1943.

As the war drew to an end, USA President Franklin D Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin initiated a conference to take place in April 1945. Its purpose was to plan the charter of an organisation to promote peace, security, and economic development. Nations which had signed the original 1942 declaration and had declared war on Germany or Japan no later than 1 March 1945, were called to the founding conference held in San Francisco, to draft the UN charter. The conference was attended by representatives of fifty nations. Australia became an inaugural member of the newly-formed United Nations when it signed the United Nations Charter in San Francisco on 26 June 1945. The UN charter was ratified by the required number of states on 24 October 1945.

Cheers - John