Gday...

1768  -             James Cook receives sealed secret orders prior to his first journey in the Endeavour.

 In 1768, Lieutenant James Cook was commissioned with the task of observing the transit of Venus across the sun from the vantage point of Tahiti. This expedition was originally commissioned by the Royal Society of London as a scientific mission. However, when the British Admiralty became aware of Cooks expedition to the Southern Hemisphere, Cook was given an extra task - one which, it was hoped, would see the advancement of the British Empire and acquisition of more territory.

On 30 July 1768, shortly before the 'Endeavour', departed England, Cook was handed his orders. They were in two parts: the second section was sealed, and could be opened only by Cook once he completed his observations of Venus. Entitled Secret Instructions for Lieutenant James Cook Appointed to Command His Majestys Bark the Endeavour 30 July 1768, the instructions commanded Cook to find the Great South Land, a Land of great extent that was believed to exist in the Southern hemisphere. Although the continent of Australia had been discovered by the Dutch in the early 1600s, it was not thought to be Terra Australis Incognita, or the mysterious Unknown Southern Land.

Cook was instructed ... to proceed to the Southward in order to make discovery of the Continent above-mentioned until you arrive in the latitude of 40º, unless you sooner fall in with it. He was then ordered with the Consent of the Natives to take possession of Convenient Situations in the Country in the Name of the King of Great Britain. In essence, Cook was awarded the power to consign any indigenous inhabitants of the Great South Land under the King of Englands authority.

1945  -             During WWII, a Japanese submarine fires two torpedoes at the USS 'Indianapolis': 880 die as a result.

The 'USS Indianapolis' was an American cruiser and the flagship of the Fifth Fleet. In the closing months of World War II, it had just delivered crucial components for the atomic bombs that would be used in the attack on Japan, and was on its way to Guam when it was torpedoed. The Japanese submarine I-58, under the command of Commander Machitsura Hashimoto, intercepted the path of the 'Indianapolis' at a quarter past midnight on 30 July 1945. The ship was split in two by the explosion.

Of the 1,196 aboard, about 900 made it into the water in the twelve minutes before she sank, leaving around 300 men who died immediately in the attack. The remainder floundered in the water without lifeboats, although some of the men had life-jackets. The next morning, shark attacks began and continued until the last survivors were picked up, five days after the attack. In the end, there were only 317 survivors. This was due largely to the fact that Americans had dismissed the Japanese transmission describing of the type and size of vessel it had sunk as exaggeration, and it was at least 84 hours before help arrived.

1967  -             Arthur Stace, the man who chalked "Eternity" on Sydney footpaths for 37 years, dies.

Arthur Stace was born in Balmain, Sydney, in 1884. Growing up in a family of alcoholics, he fended for himself most of the time and also turned to drink. He returned from WWI shell-shocked, turning to a life of petty crime and a drinking habit that included cheap methylated spirits. One night, lured by the offer of a free cup of tea and something to eat up at a nearby Church Hall, he found himself at a meeting being conducted by Archdeacon R.B.S. Hammond of St Barnabas' Church on Broadway. Stace was immediately captivated by the message of Christianity, and the model offered by the man proclaiming the message. He was converted that very night.

Shortly after his conversion, Stace was listening to the evangelist John Ridley at the Burton Street Baptist Church. Ridley told of a man who was converted in Scotland through Eternity being written on a footpath. Ridley called for someone to write Eternity on the footpaths of Sydney, and Stace knew that this was something he could do for God, to alert people to the condition of their own souls. For 37 years, he chalked 'Eternity' on footpaths throughout Sydney in a uniquely copperplate style, vastly different from his own usual scrawled style of writing.

Arthur Stace died of a stroke at age 87 on 30 July 1967. Ten years after he died, Ridley Smith, architect of Sydney Square, set the message ETERNITY in letters almost 21cm high in wrought aluminium, near the Sydney Square waterfall. On 1 January 2000, the worldwide telecast of millennium celebrations showed the Sydney Harbour Bridge alight with the word 'Eternity' in flowing copperplate, still proclaiming Stace's message to the world. 

1973  -             Makers of the drug Thalidomide, responsible for countless deformities in children, finally agree to compensate the victims to the amount of 20 million pounds sterling.

Thalidomide was commonly used in the 1950s and 1960s to help pregnant women combat the symptoms of morning sickness. It was soon found to cause severe birth defects, with thousands of babies being born with shortened limbs or none at all. After the drug became available, around 12,000 babies in 46 countries were born with birth defects, with only 8,000 of them surviving past the first year of life. Over the years it became apparent that these survivors could pass on the Thalidomide legacy to their own children, perpetuating the effects down the generations.

The compensation payout marked the end of an 11-year battle, in a decision handed down on 30 July 1973. In Britain the Distillers Company, which marketed the German-manufactured drug in Britain, agreed to pay £6 million in direct claims and to set up a £14 million trust fund to secure the children's future. Interestingly, almost to the day 37 years later, on 28 July 2010, the 45 surviving Australian and New Zealand victims of Thalidomide were also promised 50 million dollars in instalments as compensation.

Whilst Thalidomide has long been taken off the market for morning sickness, it is still licensed in the US to treat a complication of leprosy. 

1997  -             The Alpine Way above Thredbo, NSW, collapses, causing a landslide that kills 18, but ends with the amazing rescue of Stuart Diver.

The Alpine Way, which winds its way through the Snowy Mountains, was originally built as a service road during the construction of the Murray 1 and 2 hydroelectric power stations in the 1950s. After the completion of Murray 1 and 2, the Snowy Mountains Authority added landfill and upgraded the road. Around 11:30pm on the night of 30 July 1997, the road collapsed from the pressure of heavy rain, melting snow and the waterlogged landfill. The Carinya Lodge was pushed down onto the Bimbadeen Lodge, killing 18 staff.

Rescue work continued for days as emergency workers looked for survivors, but found only bodies. Their efforts were hampered by the severe instability of the area following the collapse. Flattened walls and slabs of concrete flooring made the operation dangerous. Finally, miraculously, one man was found alive. Skiing instructor Stuart Diver had been trapped between two huge concrete slabs, beside the body of his wife Sally, who had died in the accident. Amidst the tragedy of eighteen lives lost, the hope of saving this one life made all the difference to the rescue workers, and to the thousands of Australians who had stayed glued to their television sets as the saga unfolded.

2003  -             The final original VW Beetle automobile is produced.

The name 'Volkswagen' which translates literally as "people's car" is the name of an automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Germany. The VW Type 1, better known as the Beetle or Bug or Käfer (in German), is a small family car and probably the best known car made by Volkswagen. During the Beetle's production which commenced in 1938 and ended in 2003, over 21 million Beetles in the original design were made. On 30 July 2003, the final original VW Beetle (No. 21,529,464) was produced at Puebla, Mexico. The final car was immediately shipped off to the Volkswagen company's museum in Wolfsburg, Germany.

Cheers - John