Gday...

1825  -     The western border of New South Wales is extended to offset French and Dutch interests in Australia's north coast. 

James Cook is remembered for being the first explorer to recognise the potential of Australia. In August 1770, he claimed the part of the continent that had previously been known as "New Holland" for Great Britain, renaming the eastern half as "New South Wales". He also took possession of the whole eastern coast, from latitude 38 degrees S to this place, latitude 10.5 degrees S, in right of His Majesty King George the Third. This essentially included just the eastern parts of what are now New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.

The authorities in Great Britain felt it was necessary to establish a definite western boundary. This was largely because the Dutch had first landed on the continent and had a strong presence to the north, while the Portuguese still held strong interests in Timor. When Captain Arthur Phillip arrived in Port Jackson with First Fleet of convicts on 26 January 1788, he raised the British flag and claimed the entire eastern part of the Australian continent, including Van Diemens Land. As Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of New South Wales, Phillip was required to take formal possession on behalf of the British Crown, of territory ... extending from the Northern Cape or extremity of the coast called Cape York, in the latitude of ten degrees thirty-seven minutes south, to the southern extremity of the said territory of New South Wales or South Cape, in the latitude of forty-three degrees thirty-nine minutes south and of all the country inland westward as far as the one hundred and thirty-fifth degree of east longitude reckoning from the meridian of Greenwich, including all the islands adjacent in the Pacific Ocean within the latitudes aforesaid of ten degrees thirty-seven minutes south and forty-three degrees thirty-nine minutes south.

The western boundary had been established at 135 degrees E as this was not considered too close to Timor, and should appease Portugal, then Britains oldest ally. However, the French continued to hover off the coast, sending numerous scientific and exploratory expeditions. In 1824, the British trading post of Fort Dundas on Melville Island was established, in an attempt to offset French or Dutch plans to colonise any part of the northern coast. However, Fort Dundas lay just outside the western boundary. Thus, Governor Ralph Darling, following the Commission outlined in Letters Patent issued on 16 July 1825, extended the western boundary of New South Wales to 129 degrees E.

Formal possession of the remaining western section was undertaken when Captain Charles Fremantle took formal possession in 1829 of that part of New Holland not included in the Colony of New South Wales.

1914  -     Australia's first interstate air mail departs Melbourne.

The first domestic airmail service in Australia departed from Melbourne on 16 July 1914. The airmail was flown from Melbourne to Sydney by French aviator Maurice Guillaux. The first airmail from overseas arrived in Darwin from England in a war-surplus Vickers Vimy bomber in 1919 piloted by a WW1 Ace, Ross Smith and his brother Keith.

It was another twelve years before the first official overseas air mail service from Australia commenced. The first official air mail flight from Australia to England took place in 1931 and consisted of 25 bags, weighing a total of about 300 kilograms. The first aircraft to carry the mail overseas was supposed to have been an Imperial Airways flight, but it was forced to make an emergency landing on Timor. Thus, aviator Charles Kingsford Smith was called in to fly from Darwin to Burma in 'The Southern Cross' in order to meet up with the Imperial Airways craft which then carried the mail to England.

1914  -     The original Man From Snowy River, on whom Banjo Patersons ballad was based, is buried. 

The Man From Snowy River is a bush ballad by Australian poet and writer A B Banjo Paterson. Paterson, who lived during Australias late colonial period and early years of Federation, was passionately nationalistic and popular among many Australians searching for their own identity separate from Britain. In 1885, Paterson began publishing his poetry in the Sydney edition of The Bulletin under the pseudonym of "The Banjo", the name of a favourite horse. Arguably, two of his best known poems are "The Man From Snowy River and Waltzing Matilda.

The Man From Snowy River tells the story of a young stockman who, through wild and dangerous terrain, successfully chases down a valuable horse that has escaped from a station in Australias high country. Like many of Patersons ballads, it paints a rich picture of the countryside, peppered with unique Australian characters. The ballad was based on a real character, Irishman Jack Riley, whom Paterson met when he visited friends at Bringenbrong Station, a large property in the Upper Murray region. Riley lived in a basic timber hut near Tom Groggin Station, and shared many stories with Paterson as they camped overnight. One story in particular captured Patersons imagination, as Riley vividly described a thrilling horse chase through perilous territory, giving rise to the scenes that would be developed in The Man From Snowy River.

Riley lived a wild and exciting life as a stockman until he was in his seventies. In July 1914, his mates in Corryong received the news that Riley was seriously ill so, taking a stretcher, they attempted to carry him from his hut back to Corryong. Reaching Surveyor's Creek Junction, the group sheltered overnight in a deserted mining hut, but during the night, Riley died. He was buried in Corryong Cemetery on 16 July 1914.

1942  -     Over 13,000 French Jews are rounded up and sent to Drancy Internment Camp outside Paris.

Vichy France, or the Vichy regime was the French government of 1940-1944 during the Nazi Germany occupation of World War II, based at and named after the town of Vichy. Vichy France was established after France surrendered to Germany in 1940, and took its name from the government's capital in Vichy, southeast of Paris near Clermont-Ferrand. While officially neutral in the war, it was essentially a Nazi puppet state that collaborated with the Nazis, including with the Nazis' racial policies.

On 3 October 1940 the first anti-Semitic laws were passed by the Vichy government which excluded Jews from public life. French Jews began to be deported in smaller numbers to Auschwitz on 7 March 1942. However, the impact of the WWII Holocaust hit in earnest amongst the French on 16 July 1942, when over 13,000 Parisian Jews were rounded up and sent to Drancy Internment Camp located outside Paris. The French police were acting under the orders of the Germans who at that stage were occupying southwest France. During the course of the war, approximately 74,000 French Jews, including 11,000 children, were transported from Drancy to Auschwitz, Majdanek and Sobibor.

1969  -     The Apollo 11 is launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida, the first mission to successfully land a man on the moon. 

The Apollo 11 was the fifth manned mission in the Apollo program, the third human voyage to the moon and the first attempt to land man on the moon. The launch occurred at 1432 BST (1332 GMT) on 16 July 1969, and twelve minutes later Apollo 11 went into orbit around the Earth.

The crew consisted of astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin. All three had previous experience flying in space during the Gemini manned space missions. The primary purpose of the mission was to fulfil President John F Kennedy's goal of "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth" by the end of the 1960s. Man first set foot on the moon five days later, on 21 July 1969.

1999  -     John F Kennedy Jr, son of assassinated president John F Kennedy, is killed in an aircraft accident.

John Kennedy Jr was born John Bouvier Kennedy on 25 November 1960, less than a month after his father was elected President. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated three days before John Jr turned three, and the poignant image of the little boy saluting his father's coffin captured the heartbreak of the president's murder with a powerful image.

John Jr married Carolyn Bessette in 1996. The couple, together with Carolyn's sister Lauren, was killed on 16 July 1999 when the aircraft John Jr was piloting crashed in the sea whilst flying from Essex County Airport in Fairfield, New Jersey, to Martha's Vineyard. The subsequent investigation into the crash determined that no mechanical malfunction was involved. The report concluded that the probable cause of the accident was "the pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane during a descent over water at night, which was a result of spatial disorientation. Factors in the accident were haze, and the dark night."

Cheers - John