Gday...

1851  -             An uncredited diary entry describes the 'Yowie' of southeast Queensland in detail.

From the mid 1800s, writings about strange ape-like creatures in Australia abounded. One of these was a diary entry from the Connondale region of southeast Queensland, written on 25 July 1851, which stated:

"They are short, stout and of very muscular appearance. They are covered in thick black hair...Their hair and beards are long...They are completely naked...the stench of their body is unbearable...great hunters of the forests and jungles...They come and go without being seen. They can hide in the undergrowth in such a manner that one can be touched or struck without their person being visible. I am to wonder if these are the same people...who take people away when they dare enter the forests and jungles...the women made grunt-like expression during contact...the child hung to its mother on the breast in the manner of an ape. These were the Woningityan/Won-ingee-tyan - the shadow men creatures of the jungles and forests..."

1862  -             After successfully crossing Australia from south to north, John McDouall Stuart raises the British flag at the mouth of the Mary River.

John McDouall Stuart was officially the first white man to successfully lead an inland expedition from Australia's south to the north, and return alive. 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 was determined to cross Australia from south to north. It was on his fifth expedition and third attempt to cross the continent that he succeeded. Previous attempts had been beaten back by lack of water and Aboriginal attack. On 25 July 1862, a day after sighting the northern waters at Chambers Bay, Stuart raised the British flag in triumph at the mouth of the Mary River, approximately 100km northeast of the present site of Darwin. At the time, Stuart believed it was the Adelaide River.

1973  -             The numbat is proclaimed as Western Australia's official faunal emblem.

A numbat is a small insectivorous marsupial of Australia. It is distinctive for having red-brown fur with six or seven white stripes across its back, and a relatively long, bushy tail. As it feeds mostly on termites, it is sometimes referred to as the banded anteater. Unlike most marsupials, the numbat does not have a pouch for the young. The joeys cling to the mother's underbelly fur whilst attached to a teat.

The numbat is classified as "endangered" with a population trend "decreasing". It is endangered because the introduction of non-native species to Australia such as foxes and feral cats and dogs has decimated the population. The numbat is a small and completely defenceless creature which can only protect itself by hiding in hollow logs. Numbats are also endangered due to habitat loss resulting from land clearing for industry, agriculture and expanding human habitation.

The numbat is now only found in the far southwestern corner of the mainland. Because it is restricted to Western Australia, it was adopted as the state's official faunal emblem on 25 July 1973. 

1977  -             A 10 year old boy in Illinois reports being attacked by a thunderbird.

Thunderbirds belong to the field of 'cryptozoology', that is, the study of creatures such as Yowies and the Sasquatch, the existence of which has not been proven. Thunderbirds are supposedly large, birdlike creatures with enormous wingspans. On the evening of 25 July 1977, a group of three boys was playing in one of the boys' backyards in Lawndale, Illinois, USA. According to the boys, they were approached and chased by two large birds. While his friends escaped, ten-year-old Marlon Lowe claimed that one of the birds grabbed his shoulder with its claws. The strange bird then lifted him just above the surface of the ground and carried him some distance. The boy was released by the creature after fighting and struggling. Witnesses at the scene gave descriptions of the bird which match that of the Andean condor, a large, black bird with a white ring around its neck.

2000  -             113 people are killed as the Concorde crashes just north of Paris.

Supersonic airliner, the Concorde, made its first test flight on 2 March 1969, and its first supersonic flight on October 1 that year. The first commercial flights commenced from 21 January 1976, and the Concorde became a fast and efficient way to fly.

On 25 July 2000, a Concorde jet on its way from France to New York crashed just a couple of minutes after a left-hand engine caught fire during take-off. All 109 people on board were killed, as were another 4 on the ground. Following the accident, all Concorde aircraft were taken out of service until the cause of the crash could be determined. The report from France's Accident Investigation Bureau (BEA) found that a 40cm piece of metal had been lost by another plane that took off minutes earlier, puncturing one of the Concorde's tyres. Debris was subsequently flung into the fuel tank, starting the fire that downed the aircraft.

The Concorde aircraft underwent improvements and modifications, but after the accident continued to be dogged by problems. All Concorde aircraft were decommissioned by October 2003.

Cheers - John