Gday...

1817  -     Explorer John Oxley declares the rich pasture land around the Lachlan River as "forever uninhabitable". 

Three years after the successful crossing of the Blue Mountains by Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth in 1813, explorer John Oxley set off to search for more pasture land. George Evans had discovered the Lachlan River, so Oxley set out to determine its course with Evans as his second-in-command, in the first large-scale exploring expedition in Australian history.

Along the way, the progress of Oxley's party was frequently stopped by marshes as it was a flood year. He was unable to continue with either horses or boats, as the flooding hid snags and dangerous obstacles lurking just below the surface. Oxley departed from what he called "the immense marshes of this desolate and barren country" and headed south-west in search of further rivers.

Oxley's party stopped just fifty kilometres short of the Murrumbidgee River, ironically because of lack of water. After describing the countryside in numerous negative terms such as "melancholy", "miserable" and "impossible desert", Oxley abandoned his southward trek and returned to the upper reaches of the Lachlan where the river channel was again lost amongst floods and swampland. This led Oxley to the conclusion that the interior of NSW was largely marshland and unsuitable for settlement. On 7 July 1817, Oxley declared what is now valuable pastureland around the Lachlan River to be "forever uninhabitable, and useless for the purposes of civilised man".

1826  -     Sir Charles Todd, a crucial figure in securing the construction of Australia Overland Telegraph Line, is born.

Charles Todd was born on 7 July 1826 in London, England. He came to Adelaide with his wife Alice, after whom Alice Springs is named, on 5 November 1855. He was instrumental in linking Adelaide and Melbourne by telegraph in 1858, and five years later began addressing the possibility of linking Australia with the rest of the world via telegraph. As superintendent of telegraphs and government astronomer in South Australia, he persuaded the government to build the 3200km overland telegraph from Port Augusta in the south to the port of Darwin in the north. The British-Australian Telegraph Company would then connect the cable from Darwin to Java.

During the construction of the Line, the Todd River was named and discovered. The telegraph line was completed in 1872. Todd's legacy to Australia was in enabling the young country to maintain up-to-date communications with the rest of the world.

1835  -     Escaped convict William Buckley, after whom the phrase "Buckley's Chance" was named, gives himself up.

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.

1841  -     Explorer Edward Eyre completes the first crossing of Australia from east to west, travelling across the Nullarbor Plain from Adelaide to Albany.

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.

From 1839, Eyre made several exploration ventures into the countryside north of Adelaide. In June 1840, Eyre left Adelaide to explore north towards the centre of Australia. He encountered salt lake after salt lake: each time he attempted to go around a salt lake, he found his way barred by yet another. This led to Eyre's theory that Adelaide was surrounded by a vast horseshoe-shaped salt lake. By sheer bad luck, Eyre was unable to locate any of the breaks between the numerous salt-lakes which encircled the area, but by no means prevented access through to Australia's interior. It was another 18 years before other explorers disproved his theory.

He then turned his attentions towards the goal of being the first European explorer to cross overland from east to west. Departing from Fowler's Bay on what is now the Eyre Peninsula, he travelled across the Nullarbor Plain to King George's Sound, now called Albany. He began the journey with his overseer, John Baxter, and three other Aborigines, intending to cross the continent from south to north. On the cliffs at the edge of the Great Australian Bight, two of the Aborigines killed Baxter whilst attempting to steal food and weapons. They disappeared into the night and were not seen again. Eyre and his faithful remaining Aboriginal companion, Wylie, endured months of gruelling trekking across the Nullarbor, finally reaching Albany and civilisation on 7 July 1841.

1958  -     The highest ever recorded tsunami hits Lituya Bay, Alaska.

Tsunamis are natural phenomena which may be generated by coastal or submarine earthquakes, by underwater volcanoes, or the displacement of huge amounts of rock and soil from another source. "Tsunami" is a Japanese word for harbour wave, but they are not the same as tidal waves. Tsunamis may vary in height from a mere few centimetres to well in excess of 50 metres.

The largest ever tsunami in recorded history occurred in Lituya Bay, Alaska, on 7 July 1958. An earthquake measuring between 7.9 and 8.3 on the Richter Scale occurred along a nearby faultline, displacing approximately 40 million cubic yards of dirt and glacier from a mountainside at the head of the Bay. The resultant landslide triggered a tsunami, or series of waves, the tallest of which reached an estimated 524 metres (1700 feet) in height.

Two people were killed when their fishing boat was sunk. Other damage was minimal due to the fact that the area is so remote. Scientists determined the height by finding the high water mark on nearby land.

Cheers - John