Gday...

1493  -             Christopher Columbus departs on his second voyage to the "New World".

Christopher Columbus is believed to have been born circa 30 October 1451: there is some doubt as to his actual country and region of birth. Columbus was determined to pioneer a western sea route to China, India, and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia. On 3 August 1492 Columbus set sail from Palos, Spain, with three small ships, the Santa Marýa, the Pinta, and the Niña. During his journeys, Columbus explored the West Indies, South America, and Central America. He became the first explorer and trader to cross the Atlantic Ocean and sight the land of the Americas, on 12 October 1492, under the flag of Castile, a former kingdom of modern day Spain. It is most probable that the land he first sighted was Watling Island in the Bahamas.

Columbus returned to Spain laden with gold and new discoveries from his travels, including the previously unknown tobacco plant and the pineapple fruit. The success of his first expedition prompted his commissioning for a second voyage to the New World, and he set out from Cýdiz on 24 September 1493. He explored Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and various smaller Caribbean islands, and further ensuing explorations yielded discoveries such as Venezuela. Through all this, Columbus believed that he was travelling to parts of Asia. He believed Hispaniola was Japan, and that the peaks of Cuba were the Himalayas of India.

1664  -             The Netherlands surrenders New Amsterdam (New York) to England.

Henry Hudson was the discoverer of the Hudson River, Long Island, and the site of present-day New York. Because Hudson had been hired by the Dutch East India Company to find a quicker trade route to Asia, the Dutch later claimed the area and established a colony, naming it New Amsterdam. Peter Minuit of the Dutch West Indies Company bought the island in 1626 from the Manhattan Indians for $24 worth of merchandise.

New Amsterdam developed into the largest Dutch colonial settlement in North America. During the second Anglo-Dutch War between England and the United Netherlands, the colony was surrendered to the English on 24 September 1664, and renamed New York. When the Dutch retook control briefly in 1673, they renamed it "New Orange", but ceded it permanently to England after the signing of the Treaty of Westminster in 1674.

1928  -             The Coniston Massacre of Aborigines occurs at a cattle station in the Northern Territory.

The Coniston Massacre was the last known massacre of Australian Aborigines. Occurring at Coniston cattle station, Northern Territory, Australia, it was a revenge killing for the death of dingo hunter Frederick Brooks, who was believed to have been killed by Aborigines in August 1928. Constable William Murray, officer in charge at Barrow Creek, investigated and came to the conclusion that the killing had been done by members of the Warlpiri, Anmatyerre and Kaytetye people. There were no witnesses, and apparent inconsistencies in Murray's report were never questioned.

Murray took matters into his own hand. Over the next few days, up until 30 August, he shot 17 members of the Aboriginal tribes he believed were responsible, and claimed his actions were made in self-defence and that each tribal member he had killed was in possession of some item belonging to Brooks.

In the ensuing weeks, Murray again encountered several groups of Aborigines while investigating another non-fatal attack on a settler named Nugget Morton at Broadmeadows Station. Together with Morton, one other white man and an aboriginal boy, Murray embarked on a campaign of revenge, during which another 14 Aborigines were killed.

Murray was never punished for his actions. On the contrary, the Board of Enquiry members were selected to maximise damage-control. It was believed at the time that Murray's actions were appropriate for the circumstances. The Central Land Council organised the seventy-fifth anniversary of the massacre, commemorated near Yuendumu on 24 September 2003.

1936  -             Jim Henson, creator of the 'Muppets', is born.

Jim Henson was born James Maury Henson on 24 September 1936, in Greenville, Mississippi. His family moved to Maryland when he was a teenager, and it was there that he began creating puppets for a Saturday morning children's television show. In 1955, he created "Sam and Friends", a five-minute puppet show for WRC-TV, while attending the University of Maryland, College Park. "Sam and Friends" included an early version of Kermit the Frog, and the success of the segment led to a series of guest appearances on network talk and variety shows. In 1968, the Muppets began appearing on the children's show "Sesame Street" and from there, their fame grew to eventually include their own television show, and a number of films.

When Henson died of pneumonia on 16 May 1990, a memorial service for him was watched by millions of viewers around the world. The University of Maryland, College Park, honoured Henson with a permanent tribute on 24 September 2003. A special ceremony dedicated a life-sized statue of Henson conversing with one of his best-known creations, Kermit the Frog, on the college campus.

1960  -             'USS Enterprise', the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is launched.

The USS Enterprise (CVN-65) was the world's first nuclear aircraft carrier, powered by eight A2W reactors. The ship's keel was laid in 1958 and it was launched on 24 September 1960, at Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia. After being commissioned on 25 November 1961, Enterprise underwent a lengthy series of tests and training exercises. Flight operations commenced in January the following year, when an F8U Crusader became the first airplane to land on board the Enterprise's giant flight deck.

The name 'Enterprise' later came to be synonymous with pioneering vessels, both in real life and in the TV show 'Star trek'. The 'Enterprise' of Star Trek fame was named after the historical maritime vessels. The 'Enterprise' was also the name of the prototype space shuttle which preceded 'Challenger', 'Columbia' and 'Discovery'.

1985  -             A Chinese farmer finds an uncut diamond inside a chicken he is preparing for his meal.

Throughout history, unusual objects have often been found inside animals. There is the story of the fish vendor in a Cambridge market who found a rare book inside a fish he was cleaning in June 1626; there is also the case of the Siouz Indian woman who found a gold nugget inside a chicken she was cleaning, in 1985.

In that same year, on 24 September 1985, a Chinese farmer from Hunan was cleaning a chicken he had just killed for his evening meal. Within the chicken's gizzard, Yungzhong Li found a 1.18 carat uncut diamond. It is uncertain what the diamond's real value was, as Yungzhong Li was a poor peasant, and keen to sell the diamond for a good amount of money. However, he was given 300 pounds for the diamond, which was three times the amount he would have earned in one year.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1764  -             Fletcher Christian, the man who led the mutiny on the Bounty against Captain Bligh, is born.

Fletcher Christian was born in Cumberland, England, on 25 September 1764. He went to sea at the age of sixteen, and two years later he sailed aboard HMS Cambridge where he met William Bligh for the first time. Bligh, ten years older, had also started his seagoing career at the age of 16, quickly rising through the officer ranks. Bligh and Christian were very close during their early years together.

The 'HMS Bounty' sailed with a crew of 45 men from Spithead, England in December 1787 under Captain William Bligh, bound for Tahiti. Their mission was to collect breadfruit plants to be transplanted in the West Indies as cheap food for the slaves. After collecting those plants, Bounty was returning to England when, on the morning of 28 April 1789, Fletcher Christian and part of the crew mutinied, taking over the ship, and setting the Captain and 18 crew members adrift in the ships 23-foot launch. Captain Bligh sailed nearly 6000km back to England, arriving there on 14 March 1790, where he was initially court-martialled and ultimately acquitted. The mutineers took HMS Bounty back to Tahiti, and collected 6 Polynesian men and 12 women. They then continued on to Pitcairn Island, arriving there on 15 January 1790. After burning the ship they established a settlement and colony on Pitcairn Island that still exists.

Fletcher Christian was killed during a conflict between the Tahitian men and the mutineers which killed all the island men but one. By the time Captain Mayhew Folger of the American sealing ship 'Topaz' landed at Pitcairn Islands in 1808, only John Adams survived. Adams, by then a changed man after his conversion to Christianity, went on to become the respected leader on Pitcairn.

1862  -             Australian Prime Minister during WWI, Billy Hughes, is born.

William Morris Hughes was born on 25 September 1862. He was born in London but migrated to Australia in 1884. He joined the newly formed Labour Party in 1893. Hughes was elected to the first federal Parliament as Labor MP for West Sydney in 1901, and continued to develop his political career until he was elected as the Prime Minister in 1915.

Hughes was pro-conscription during WWI, and passionate about supporting England with troops. His war efforts earned him the nickname of the "Little Digger". Even after he was no longer Prime Minister, Hughes retained a seat in Parliament, with a political career which spanned 58 years. He was the last member of the original Australian Parliament elected in 1901 still in the Parliament when he died on 28 October 1952.

1876  -             The current state flag of Tasmania is adopted.

Tasmania began as a second colony in 1803, administered by the Governor of New South Wales. In June 1825, Van Diemen's Land, as it was then known, was separated administratively from New South Wales, and Hobart Town was declared the capital of the colony. The colony was officially renamed Tasmania, in honour of its discoverer Abel Tasman, in 1856.

In 1869, Queen Victoria proposed that each of the colonies in Australia adopt a flag, which should consist of a Union flag with the state badge in the centre. The first Tasmanian flag was adopted by proclamation of Tasmanian colonial Governor Sir Frederick Weld in November 1875, but as it included two badges - both a white cross and the Southern Cross - it was discarded within two weeks.

A year later, it was decided that the badge should consist of a red lion on a white disc. The new flag was adopted on 25 September 1876, and has remained virtually unchanged since then, with only a minor alteration to the lion.

1956  -             The world's first trans-Atlantic telephone cable system commences operations.

The Trans-Atlantic telephone system opened in 1927. Prior to 1956, however, telephone calls across the ocean had been transmitted via radio waves. Cables, which provided better signal quality, avoided atmospheric interference and presented greater capacity and security, were not used until the first Trans-Atlantic submarine cable commenced operations on 25 September 1956.

While the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable had been laid in 1858, modifications and technological advances had to be made for it to suit telephonic communications. These advances were not practical until the 1940s. The initial capacity of the cables was 36 calls at a time, costed at $12 for the first three minutes. In the first 24 hours of service, there were 588 London-US calls and 119 from London to Canada. The capacity of the cable was soon increased to 48 channels.

1957  -             Over 1000 US paratroopers are required to escort nine black students into a previously all-white school.

Civil rights for African-Americans was becoming a prominent issue in the 1950s. In 1954, the United States Supreme Court had granted African-Americans the right to an equal education. Early in September 1957, 9 black students were due to enrol in the previously segregated Little Rock Central High School. The governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, rallied 270 armed National Guardsmen to prevent the nine students from entering the school.

President Eisenhower deliberated with the governor and the mayor of Little Rock for many days. During this time, there were frequent scenes of racial hatred and prejudice shown by the white community in Little Rock, and fears grew that the tensions would escalate into violence. On 25 September 1957, Eisenhower was forced to send in 1,100 paratroopers to escort the students into the school. Eisenhower federalised the Arkansas National Guard, because as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, he felt this was the only way to establish law and order. For the entire school year, the federalised National Guard remained as a peace-keeping force, and to protect the African-American students.

1957  -             The largest explosion in a second series of British atomic tests at Maralinga, South Australia, takes place.

Australia's relative remoteness from the major populated countries of the world made it a strategic location for testing of British atomic weapons in the 1950s. Initial tests were conducted at the Montebello islands, off north-west Western Australia. In 1953, Britain's first atomic test on the Australian mainland was carried out at Emu Field, in the Great Victoria Desert of South Australia, about 480 kilometres northwest of Woomera. Several years later, testing was moved to Maralinga, a remote area of South Australia, and the home of the Maralinga Tjarutja, a southern Pitjantjatjara Aboriginal group.

"Operation Buffalo" involved four open-air nuclear test explosions at Maralinga, commencing in September 1956, and continuing through to October 22. The next series of tests at Maralinga was codenamed "Operation Antler". These tests commenced in September 1957, with an explosion of one kiloton on 14 September. The second, much larger explosion took place on 25 September 1957, and yielded six kilotons. A third detonation took place from a balloon at a high altitude. Acid rain fallout was reported from as far away as Adelaide.

The tests at Maralinga left a legacy of radioactive contamination. Cleanup operations were insufficient to combat radiation poisoning among Australian servicemen and Aborigines who were at Maralinga during the tests. The site was formally handed back to the Maralinga people under the Maralinga Tjarutja Land Rights Act in 1985. In 1994, the Australian Government made a compensation settlement of $13.5 million with Maralinga Tjarutja, in relation to the nuclear testing.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1449  -             Two gigantic reptiles, described as monsters or dragons, are seen fighting on the banks of the River Stour in England.

Whether dragons were real or only a myth has been the subject of many a debate over the years. However, according to a medieval chronicle, on 26 September 1449 two fire-breathing monsters were seen battling each other near the village of Little Cornard, on the banks of the River Stour along the English county borders of Suffolk and Essex. One dragon was from Killingdown Hill near Suffolk, and the other from Ballingdon Hill in Essex. There were many witnesses as the two beasts met in what later came to be known as Sharpfight Meadow, for an hour-long battle. One of the creatures was black, and its opponent reddish and spotted. The black one yielded first, returning to its lair.

Also in Suffolk at the time was a lake known as Bures Lake. Witnesses described a huge monster with a crested head and enormous tail, which was seen to devour a shepherd and numerous sheep. Similar creatures (or the same creature) have been described in Suffolk folklore.

1824  -             The tomato, previously regarded with suspicion, is proven to be harmless when Colonel Robert Johnson eats a basketful of tomatoes in public and without ill effect.

The tomato was not always the popular vegetable (or fruit) that it is today. During the 17th century, it was known as the stinking golden apple or wolf peach in northern Europe and the United States, due to the belief that it was poisonous. Its Latin genus name 'Lycopersicon' means wolf peach; 'peach' for its tempting, luscious appearance, and 'wolf' for its supposedly poisonous qualities. It was believed that eating a raw tomato would cause immediate death.

Colonel Robert Johnson brought the humble tomato to the United States, but the food was initially regarded with much suspicion. On 26 September 1820, Johnson announced he would eat a bushel of tomatoes in public. A crowd of 2000 people gathered to watch what they believed would be a public suicide. However, the reputation of the tomato was changed when Johnson ate the whole basketful without ill effect.

1855  -             The first railway line in New South Wales is opened.

Up until the mid-1800s, the horse and carriage remained the major means of transporting goods and people long distances overland. Victoria was the first colony to build a railway line, which ran from Melbourne's Flinders Street Station and Port Melbourne, then called Sandridge. The line was opened on 12 September 1854.

In 1849, the Sydney Railway Company started building the first railway track in New South Wales. It ran between Sydney and Parramatta, for a distance of 22 km. The construction suffered some setbacks, in particular financial difficulty, and was put on hold until taken over by the New South Wales colonial government. The line finally opened on 26 September 1855.

1973  -             Supersonic aircraft, the Concorde, makes its first trans-Atlantic crossing in record time.

The concept of supersonic aircraft was conceived in the 1950s. During the 1960s, Britain's Bristol Aeroplane Company and France's Sud Aviation were simultaneously working on designs, but the anticipated costs of the project were too great to be developed by an individual company: hence, France and Britain decided to work cooperatively. An international treaty between Britain and France was negotiated for the development of the project. The first test flight took place from Toulouse, France, on 2 March 1969, and the first supersonic flight occurred on October 1 of that year.

Concorde had a cruise speed of Mach 2.04, twice the speed of sound, and a cruise altitude of 17,700 metres (60,000 feet). Initially, it ran regular services between Britain and France, but on 26 September 1973 the Concorde made its first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic. The flight between Washington DC to Orly airport in Paris was made in three hours 32 minutes, halving the previous flight time of any trans-Atlantic aircraft crossing.

1983  -             A potential nuclear war is averted when a Russian army colonel refuses to believe his computerised early warning systems.

Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov, born in 1939, is a relatively unknown hero who averted nuclear war on 26 September 1983 (local time). The computerised early warning systems he was monitoring indicated that the United States had launched a missile against the USSR. Petrov, however, refused to believe the systems, reasoning that if the USA really wished to attack the USSR, it would launch many missiles rather than the single one indicated. Further, the reliability of the warning system had been proven to be doubtful in previous instances. Shortly after the first alarm, the system warned that another four missiles had been launched. Still Petrov believed a computer error had occurred. Knowing that he could be condemning his own countrymen to death, but also knowing that a false report could result in an unprecedented Soviet attack on the US, he chose to declare the situation as a false alarm.

Due to the Cold War, Petrov's actions were not made public until 1998. He was reprimanded by his own country for defying military protocol, reassigned, and ultimately retired from his military career. Whilst he was never awarded recognition within his own country for averting a major catastrophe, on 21 May 2004 the Association of World Citizens, based in the USA, awarded Colonel Petrov its World Citizen trophy and $1,000 US dollars in recognition of his actions.

1991  -             Eight people commence a two-year stay inside Biosphere 2, a sealed, manmade experimental environment in Arizona, USA.

Biosphere 2 is an artificial, sealed ecological system in Oracle, Arizona. It was built in the late 1980s, to test whether people could live and study in a closed, isolated environment, whilst carrying out scientific experiments. Biosphere 2 was designed as an airtight replica of Earth's environment, and included a 3,406,000 litre ocean, rainforest, a desert, agricultural areas and a human habitat. It was called Biosphere 2, because Earth itself is considered the first biosphere. The experiment was intended to explore the possible use of closed biospheres in space colonisation.

The first mission involved four men and four women living in the Biosphere for two years. It commenced on 26 September 1991, and the eight people emerged on 26 September 1993. The experiment lost some credibility when oxygen and other necessities were required to be provided. The second mission, which extended for six months in 1994, was fraught with problems and the project met with considerable disdain among the scientific community. Biosphere 2 is now open as a hands-on, interactive science centre.

2008  -             Actor and humanitarian Paul Newman dies.

Paul Newman was a humble actor who became a Hollywood legend, yet never lost his integrity and generous spirit. Born in the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights, Ohio on 26 January 1925, Paul Leonard Newman was the son of a Jewish father and a Slovak Catholic mother. He made his acting debut at 7 years old, as a court jester in a school production of Robin Hood. He graduated from Shaker Heights High School in 1943 and attended Ohio University in Athens for a short time.

Newman served in the Navy in World War II in the Pacific and returned to university, hoping to train to be a pilot. The discovery that he was colour blind prevented him from pursuing that career, but he remained in the military field, undergoing training as a radioman and gunner. He served on the USS Bunker Hill during the battle for Okinawa in 1945, and narrowly averted death when his pilot developed an infection shortly before the main attack and could not fly: all others in his troop who flew that day died.

Newman's theatre career began on Broadway, and he successfully transitioned to films. In all, he appeared in around 60 films, including classics such as The Long, Hot Summer (1958), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), The Hustler (1961),  Cool Hand Luke (1967), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973).

Newman was a generous humanitarian: when he founded Newman's Own, a line of food products, in 1982, he established a policy that all proceeds from the sale of Newman's Own products, after taxes, would be donated to charity. By 2006, this had resulted in over $200 million in donations. In June 1999 Newman donated $250,000 to the relief of Kosovo refugees. He founded the "Hole in the Wall" camps which provide camps for children suffering chronic or fatal illnesses. Many other groups representing the socially disadvantaged have benefited from Newman's philanthropy through the years.

Paul Newman died on 26 September 2008, at the age of 83, after a long battle with lung cancer. His daughters led the tributes to him, citing his "selfless humility and generosity" as a legacy that would continue, thanks to his humanitarian work.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1631  -             Puritans are outraged as Shakespeare's 'A Midummer Night's Dream' is performed on a Sunday.

The romantic comedy "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was written by William Shakespeare between 1594 and 1596. Drawing on mythology, magic and fairies for much of its content, the play was a far cry from some of the tragedies for which Shakespeare was well known.

Puritans, an extremist religious group, raised an outcry when 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' was performed on a Sunday, on 27 September 1631. The private performance took place in the Bishop of Lincoln's house in London. Seeking punishment for those who participated, the Puritans required that the cast member who played "Bottom", a donkey, was required to spend twelve hours in the stocks wearing a donkey's head and a sign proclaiming:

'Good people, I have played the beast,

And brought ill things to pass;

I was a man, but thus have made,

Myself a silly ass.'

Due largely to the influence of the Puritans, drama was banned and theatres remained closed from 1642 to 1660.

1660  -             Vincent de Paul, founder of many charitable organisations, dies.

Saint Vincent de Paul was born on 24 April 1580 at Pouy, Landes, Gascony, France. He was ordained as a priest in 1600, but captured and sold into slavery by Turkish pirates before he could take up his first parish position. Vincent de Paul converted his owner to Christianity, and was freed from slavery in 1607. After returning to France and taking up a position as parish priest near Paris, he founded many charitable organisations such as Congregation of the Daughters of Charity, and the Congregation of Priests of the Mission, also known as Lazarists. Vincent de Paul died on 27 September 1660.

Today, the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul is an international organisation, the primary mission of which is to assist the poor. The Society, which was founded in 1833, took Saint Vincent de Paul as its patron saint: thus, his name has come to be synonymous with charity.

1722  -             An Irish woman is killed by a dobhar-chu, an Irish cryptid.

The field of 'cryptozoology' is the study of 'cryptids' such as Yowies and the Sasquatch, the existence of which has not been proven. Such creatures are elusive, and belief in them is based on anecdotal sightings rather than scientific evidence.

The Dobhar-chu, roughly translated as "water-hound" or "water-dog", is a cryptid of Irish folklore. It is an amphibious creature, reported to be a cross between a dog and an otter, with fish-like qualities. On 27 September 1722, an Irish woman known only by the name "Grace" was apparently killed by a dobhar-chu while she was washing her clothes in Glenade Lake. Screaming for help, she was heard by her husband who, with a friend, arrived too late to save her. Finding the dobhar-chu sitting atop her mutilated body, he stabbed it. The whistling noise it made as it died alerted another dobhar-chu, which arose from the lake and chased the man and his friend. However, they were able to kill it before it hurt either man.

1851  -             Australian explorer Sir Thomas Mitchell wins the last official duel in New South Wales.

Sir Thomas Mitchell was Surveyor-General of New South Wales and the explorer who discovered "Australia Felix", or "Happy Australia", which was the rich land of western Victoria. As well as being well-known for his immense contribution to exploration, Mitchell is less-known for fighting the last known duel in Australia. It was fought between Mitchell and one of New England's well-known early settlers, Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson.

The duel occurred on 27 September 1851 in Centennial Park, Sydney, and it is believed to have been over land - Tenterfield Station - which was a crown grant to Donaldson. As Surveyor-General, Mitchell had gazetted a town to be built on part of Donaldsons Tenterfield Station. The enraged Donaldson challenged Mitchell to a duel. Three shots were fired, and the last one of Mitchell's found its mark, blowing Donaldson's hat off. Donaldson was not injured, and later went on to become the first Premier of New South Wales.

1854  -             The first major disaster involving an ocean liner occurs when the 'Arctic' sinks, killing over 300.

The "Arctic" was one of four side-wheel steamships built for the New York and Liverpool United States Mail Steamship Company, also known as the Collins Line. The Arctic was 87 metres long, with 10 metre paddle wheels on either side. It could traverse the distance from New York to Liverpool in a record-breaking nine days.

On the morning of 20 September 1854 the Arctic sailed from Liverpool with 150 crew and between 322 and 389 passengers. On 27 September 1854 it was 85km off the Newfoundland coast when it collided with the French steamship, "Vesta", a propeller-driven steamer much smaller than the Arctic. Concerned by the water pouring in through a gaping hole in the hull, Captain James Luce attempted to make for the coast, but the ship sank an hour later. Many of the crew took the lifeboats which were already inadequate in number, and in the end not a single woman or child who was aboard the vessel survived. Captain Luce gallantly tried to save many, but dehydration and exhaustion caused them to drop off the paddle-wheel box to which Luce and others clung. Luce gave a true account of his crew's cowardice. Of the 87 survivors overall, only 22 had been passengers. Around 350 people were killed that day.

1990  -             The hero of the 1852 Gundagai floods, Aboriginal Yarri, is honoured with a headstone placed on his grave.

The town of Gundagai is located on the Murrumbidgee River 390 km south-west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Australian explorer Hamilton Hume, together with immigrant William Hovell, were the first Europeans to visit when they passed through the area in 1824, and their expedition subsequently opened up the area for farming land. Explorer Charles Sturt identified a spot near Gundagai as the best crossing point of the river for coaches and drovers. A settlement gradually grew up along the Murrumbidgee River at the river crossing, and by 1852, there were around 300 people living along the river flats.

The flats had already shown they were prone to flooding, but people ignored the warnings and stayed in close proximity to the water. Torrential rain had been falling in the Snowy Mountains for most of the month of June 1852. Despite the rising river, many people chose to wait out the floods in the lofts of their houses rather than evacuate, as they were familiar with floods. However, in the early hours of 25 June 1852, a torrent swept down the Murrumbidgee valley. Houses collapsed and people were swept away. A punt sent out to rescue people capsized, its occupants thrown into the raging waters. Two Aborigines, Yarri and Jackey Jackey, showed great courage and heroism as they took their canoes out into the torrent to rescue people stranded in trees and the water. Although they rescued 49, another 89 were killed in the Gundagai flood.

After another, higher flood in 1853, the town was relocated at its current site on the hill, Mount Parnassus, above the river. Yarri, who led the rescue, has been honoured through the years with various small monuments around the town. On 27 September 1990, NSW Premier Nick Greiner formally unveiled a headstone for Yarri's grave, which had lain unmarked for a century.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1861  -             The cache buried beneath the 'Dig' Tree, revealing the notes and journals of Burke and Wills, is dug up by Howitt's rescue party.

Burke and Wills, with a huge party of men and supplies, departed Melbourne in August 1860 to cross Australia to the north coast and back. Burke, being impatient and anxious to complete the crossing as quickly as possible, split the expedition at Menindee. He moved on ahead to establish a depot at Cooper Creek, leaving William Wright in command of the Menindee depot. Splitting his party yet again at Cooper Creek, Burke chose to make a dash to the Gulf in the heat of Summer with Wills, Gray and King. He left stockman William Brahe in charge with instructions that if the party did not return in three months, Brahe was to return to Menindee. The trek to the Gulf and back took over four months, and during that time Gray died. A full day was spent in burying his body. When Burke returned to Cooper Creek, he discovered lettering freshly blazed on the coolibah tree at the depot, giving instructions to dig for the supplies Brahe had left. Thus the name 'Dig' Tree was spawned.

When Burke left the Dig tree to try to reach the police station at Mt Hopeless, 240km away, he failed to leave further messages emblazoned on the Dig tree. Thus, when Brahe and Wright returned to check the depot, they found no evidence of Burke's return, and saw no need to dig up the cache beneath the tree. Believing Burke and Wills were lost, a rescue expedition was organised in Melbourne. Headed up by Alfred Howitt, the rescue party reached the Dig tree in September 1861. Finding no sign of Burke and Wills, the men moved downstream. It was there that they found King, the only survivor, who was able to tell how Burke and Wills had died six weeks earlier.

On 28 September 1861, Howitt dug up the cache beneath the Dig tree, and found the evidence which could have saved Burke and Wills. Had the cache been dug up earlier, Burke and Wills' movements could have been tracked and the tragedy avoided. A Royal Commission into the failed expedition laid the blame on Burke for splitting the expedition party, on Wright for not moving from Menindee more quickly and opening the cache, and on the exploration committee for not acting sooner to rescue Burke and Wills.

1973  -             The first performance takes place in the new Sydney opera House.

The Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia, sits on Bennelong Point in Sydney Harbour. Designed by Danish architect Joern Utzon in 1955, it has become one of the most famous performing arts venues in the world. Utzon arrived in Sydney to oversee the project in 1957 and work commenced on the opera House in 1959. The building was completed in 1973, at a cost of $102 million, and formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 20 October 1973.

The opening was celebrated with fireworks and a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. Prior to this, however, Sergei Prokofiev's 'War and Peace' was played at the Opera Theatre on 28 September 1973. The following day, the first public performance was held, with a programme performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Charles Mackerras and with accompanying singer Birgit Nilsson.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1813  -             The strange coins "holey dollar" and "dump" are circulated in NSW to combat currency shortages.

The coins "holey dollar" and "dump" were created by punching the centre out of Spanish dollars. The external circle was the "holey dollar" and the punched-out inner circle was the "dump". They were only ever used in New South Wales, Australia, and on Prince Edward Island, Canada.

In 1813, Governor Lachlan Macquarie faced the problem of currency shortages in the young colony of New South Wales. When the British Government sent £10,000 worth of Spanish dollars (40,000 Spanish dollars) to New South Wales, Macquarie took the initiative to create "holey dollars" and "dumps". The dumps were assigned a value of 15 pence and were restruck with a crown on the obverse side and the denomination on the reverse. The dollars were worth 5 shillings, and were stamped with "New South Wales 1813" around the hole. The coins were released on 30 September 1813. The holey dollar became the first official currency produced specifically for circulation in Australia.

There are estimated to be around 350 Holey dollars and 1500 dumps still in circulation today. The coins were replaced by sterling coinage from 1822.

1882  -             The world's first hydro-electric power plant is opened in Wisconsin, USA.

Hydroelectric power makes use of energy released by water falling, flowing downhill, moving tidally, or moving in some other way, to generate electricity. The world's first commercial hydro-electric power plant was opened on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin, USA, on 30 September 1882. It supplied power for lighting to two paper mills and a house. A few weeks later, another hydro-electric power plant was installed for commercial service at Minneapolis.

100 years later, in 1980, hydro-electric power accounted for about 25% of global electricity and 5% of total world energy use.

1902  -             The synthetic fabric, rayon, is patented.

Rayon is a cellulose-based substance, originally known as "artificial silk", or "art silk". Unlike other man-made fibres such as nylon, it is not entirely synthetic, being made from wood pulp, a naturally-occurring, cellulose-based raw material. It was patented on 30 September 1902 by William H Walker, Arthur D Little and Harry S Mork of Massachusetts, the patent covering the process of the "making of cellulose esters". Rayon can also be produced in a transparent sheet form known as "cellophane".

1939  -             The Munich Agreement is signed, giving Germany strategic sections of Czechoslovakia.

Following on from the German-Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty of 29 September 1939, which involved dividing control of occupied Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union, another country was also carved up and handed to Germany. In the early hours of 30 September 1939, the "Munich Agreement" was signed. This agreement allowed Germany to annex the strategically significant Sudetenland area of Czechosolvakia, where ethnic Germans made up most of the population.

Germany, France, Britain, and Italy all signed the agreement. It was believed that, by acceding to Hitler's growing demands for territory, war could be averted. Czechoslovakia itself was not invited to the conference to discuss its future, and because of this, the Munich Agreement has sometimes been referred to as the Munich Dictate.

1951  -             Barry Marshall, Australian physician who proved ulcers are caused by bacteria, not stress, is born.

Barry James Marshall is an Australian physician and Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology or Medicine, credited with disproving the myth that stress is the main cause of stomach ulcers.

Born on 30 September 1951 in the outback gold town of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Marshall lived in Kalgoorlie and Carnarvon until his family moved to Perth when he was seven. He earned his Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Western Australia in 1975. Together with Robin Warren, a pathologist interested in gastritis, he studied the presence of spiral bacteria in association with gastritis. In 1982, Marshall and Warren performed the initial culture of Helicobacter pylori, developing their theory related to the bacterial cause of peptic ulcer and gastric cancer. Initially, Marshall's hypothesis met with scepticism from colleagues, but continued cultures and even tests upon himself eventually indicated strong links between H. pylori, and peptic ulcers and gastritis.

To date, Marshall is continuing his research into the H. pylori, and oversees the H.pylori Research Laboratory at the University of Western Australia. In 2005, Marshall and Warren were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm "for their discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease".

1955  -             Actor James Dean is killed in a road accident.

James "Jimmy" Dean was born James Byron Dean on 8 February 1931 on a farm in Indiana. Once he left school, he enrolled in Santa Monica College, California, and initially studied law, later changing his major to drama. After an unremarkable start to his acting career, he moved to New York to pursue a career in stage acting, where he was accepted to study under Lee Strasberg in the Actors Studio. This opened doors for more acting opportunities, culminating in starring roles in 'Rebel Without a Cause' and the 1956 release 'Giant', for which Dean was nominated for an Academy Award.

Dean's roles in 'Rebel Without a Cause' and 'Blackboard Jungle' symbolised the growing rebellion of American youth against the values of their parents, especially as seen in the emergence of rock 'n' roll. Many young people began to model themselves on Dean, and he gained iconic status, particularly when he died so young and in such a violent manner. Dean was killed on 30 September 1955, while driving his Porsche 550 Spyder near Cholame, California when another car crossed in front of his.

Cheers - John

On September 29 you missed a very important event. In 1941 Big Gorilla entered the world as a baby Gorilla !!! 

Glenelg wrote:

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no sorry don't go back that far.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU OLD FART   i don't drink white.    have a good one mate.

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 White !!! Well I have been known to drink it thru an Afghan Camel Driver's jockstrap !!

But Dave,