Gday...

28  -     John the Baptist is beheaded in the first century.

John the Baptist was a relative of Jesus, and grew up to live the life of a hermit in the desert of Judea, wearing only animal skins, eating wild honey and locusts. As the prophet who prepared the way for the coming of Jesus, John called on the people to repent. In accordance with his name, he baptised people in the Jordan River, but told of One who was coming who would baptise, not with water but with the Holy Spirit.

Around AD 30, he was imprisoned by the king Herod Antipas, whom he had reproved for having sexual relations with Herodias, the wife of Herod's brother Philip. Matthew 14:3-12 relates the story of how on Herod's birthday, Salome, the daughter of Herodias, danced for Herod. She pleased Herod so much that he promised her whatever she asked for. At her mother's instigation she asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Thus, John the Baptist was beheaded. According to tradition, this took place on or around 29 August AD 30.

70  -     Romans begin their destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish temple.

 The original city of Jerusalem was in the southeastern part of present day Jerusalem, situated on a ridge with two mounds. The Temple was built on the northern mound called Ophel, close to the Gihon Spring ( see 2 Chronicles 33:14). The first Temple had already been destroyed hundreds of years earlier when the forces of Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem. They carried away to Babylon the best of the people of Judah, plundered treasures of gold, silver and bronze, including all the articles of the temple, slaughtered the people, burned the Temple and palaces and broke down the walls.

The second Temple was destroyed at the culmination of the Jewish-Roman wars. The emperor Titus, in AD 70, held some respect for holy sites, and did not want to destroy the Temple. However, as the Jews fortified themselves within the Temple walls, the Roman soldiers defied Titus's orders and took the Temple area until all that was left was the Holy of Holies, with the cloisters surrounding it. Once Roman soldiers set fire to these outer rooms, on 29 August AD 70, there was no hope of saving the Temple. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem and burned the Temple, ensuring that not one stone stood upon another, and the Temple mount was completely leveled.

1817  -  Explorers Oxley and Evans return to Bathurst after unsuccessfully following the Lachlan River.

John Oxley (1785?-1828) was an English naval officer who, shortly after arriving in Australia in 1802, was made Surveyor-General of the New South Wales colony. George Evans was Deputy Surveyor-General, and went on numerous expeditions, both in his own right and accompanying Oxley.

George Evans had discovered the Lachlan River in 1815, so in 1817, 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, 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. Early in July, Oxley declared what is now valuable pastureland around the Lachlan River to be "forever uninhabitable, and useless for the purposes of civilised man".

On 29 August 1817, Oxley and Evans arrived back in Bathurst from this expedition. Despite his disappointment at the results of following the Lachlan River, Oxley was able to report on fertile country he had discovered around an area he called Wellington Valley, and to which he returned for further exploration the following year.

1866  -  The first cog railway in the world is demonstrated at Mount Washington in northeast USA.

The cog railway deploys a system of toothed cog gears and rack rails in order to climb steep gradients. The first cog railway was developed by Sylvester Marsh of New Hampshire, USA, amid scorn and derision for his ideas. He persisted and, using oxen to haul the materials he needed for 50km to the base of Mount Washington in the northeast of the US, he gradually built his innovative railway.

"Peppersass" was the first mountain climbing cog railway engine in the world. Fitted with special tilted boilers, it was used to build the railway and later carry passengers. The first demonstration of the viability of the cog railway was carried out by Marsh on 29 August 1866. "Peppersass" successfully pushed a car loaded with passengers up the short distance and back down again. The demonstration was considered a success, and the necessary funds were allocated to build the Mount Washington Cog Railway. It was completed three years later on 3 July 1869. Cog railways have since been implemented all over the world in Alpine areas - even within Australia.

1941  -  Arthur Fadden, the second of five men who served as Australian Prime Minister during World War II, is sworn into office.

At the time that World War II began, Australia's Prime Minister was Robert Menzies. It was Menzies who made the announcement in September 1939 that Australia was at war with Germany. However, party dissension led Menzies to resign as Prime Minister in August 1941.

Menzies' successor was Arthur Fadden. Fadden was born in Ingham, Queensland in 1895, and first entered politics as an alderman for Townsville in the State Parliament. After losing Townsville in 1935, and declaring his exit from politics permanently, he then won the Federal seat of Darling Downs in 1936. Fadden was one of five Country Party members included when Menzies reshuffled his Cabinet to form a coalition government with the Country Party in March 1939. He was given the portfolios of Air and Civil Aviation when three Country Party ministers were killed in an aeroplane crash in August 1940. He rose to the position of Deputy Leader of the Country Party and, following a leadership crisis within the party, was officially elected leader of the Country Party in March 1941. During this time, he also served as Deputy Prime Minister while Menzies was overseas for four months.

Soon after Menzies' return from overseas, party dissension caused him to resign. A joint United Australia Party - Country Party meeting resulted in Arthur Fadden being elected Prime Minister, and he was sworn in to office on 29 August 1941. However, in the federal election five weeks later, the coalition government lost majority support in the House of Representatives, and John Curtin became Prime Minister.

Cheers - John