Gday...

1861  -             The first Melbourne Cup is run.

The Melbourne Cup is the major annual thoroughbred horse race in Australia. Sometimes referred to as "the race that stops a nation", it is run at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne on the first Tuesday of November each year.

The first Melbourne Cup was run on 7 November 1861, and was attended by a crowd of around 4000. The race was won by Archer out of a field of 17 horses. Legend states that Archer had been walked from Nowra in NSW to the Cup in Melbourne, a distance of around 885 kilometres. However, shipping documents discovered many years later cast doubts upon that popular claim.

By the year 2000, attendance at the racing carnival was up to 120,000. Originally run over a distance of two miles, in 1972 the race was converted to 3200 metres, which is just short of two miles by 18.69 metres, or 61.30 feet.

1867  -             Polish scientist Marie Curie is born.

Marie Curie was born Maria Sklodowska on 7 November 1867, in Warsaw, Poland. She was unique for being one of the most celebrated scientists of all time, achieving her outstanding reputation at a time when her field was dominated almost exclusively by men. Working with her husband, Pierre Curie, her experiments on uranium minerals led to the discovery of two new elements, polonium and radium in 1898. In 1903 they shared the Nobel Prize for physics with Henri Becquerel. Curie became the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne University when she took over her husband's position as professor after his death in 1906.

Marie Curie was awarded a second Nobel prize in 1911, for chemistry, for her work on radium and its compounds. She was then offered the position of Director of the Laboratory of Radioactivity at the Curie Institute of Radium, established jointly by the University of Paris and the Pasteur Institute, for research on radioactivity and for radium therapy. Marie Curie died in 1934, ironically from the effects of prolonged exposure to radioactivity.

1872  -             The 'Mary Celeste' sets sail, only to be mysteriously abandoned at sea, with no sign of its crew ever found.

The Mary Celeste was a ship found abandoned off the coast of Portugal in 1872. Originally named 'The Amazon' when it was first built in Nova Scotia in 1861, the 103-foot, 282-ton brigantine was renamed the 'Mary Celeste' in 1869 after changing hands several times.

On 7 November 1872, under the command of Captain Benjamin Briggs, the ship set sail from New York to Genoa, Italy. A month later, on December 4, it was found adrift and abandoned, yet its cargo of 1700 barrels of alcohol was intact. None of the Mary Celeste's crew or passengers was ever found. Theories have abounded as to what happened. The most logical was that the ship was hit by a seaquake, common in the Azores, where the ship would have been at that time. Evidence indicated that the quake had dislodged some of the alcohol barrels, dumping almost 500 gallons of raw alcohol into the bilge. The galley stove shook so violently that it was lifted up from its chocks, perhaps even sending sparks and embers flying. This, mixed with the alcohol fumes, possibly caused the crew and passengers to fear for their safety. They may have taken to the lifeboats, but were unable to catch up to the brig when the quaking subsided. Regardless of the theories, the mystery endures as to why the 'Mary Celeste' was abandoned.

1911  -             Australia's Federal Parliament selects the site for the Royal Australian Naval College.

From the time that Australia was first colonised in 1788, up until 1859, Australia's naval defence depended on detachments from the Royal Navy in Sydney. A separate British naval station was established in Australia in 1859, while a Royal Navy squadron, paid for and maintained by Australia, was maintained in Australian waters through to 1913.

In 1909, the decision was made to establish an Australian Fleet Unit. The first ships comprising this fleet arrived in Australian waters during November of 1910. These Commonwealth Naval Forces became the Royal Australian Navy on 10 July 1911, following the granting of this title by King George V.

On 7 November 1911, the Federal Parliament of Australia selected Captain's Point, Jervis Bay, as the site of the future Royal Australian Naval College. As the Australian Capital Territory was inland, it was determined that the national seat of government needed access to the ocean, so the Jervis Bay Territory was surrendered by New South Wales to the Commonwealth in 1915 under the "Jervis Bay Territory Acceptance Act 1915".

Cheers - John

Gday...

1824  -             Explorers Hume and Hovell become the first Europeans to sight the Australian Alps.

Hamilton Hume, born near Parramatta on 19 June 1797, was an Australian-born settler with excellent bush skills. He developed an interest in exploring when he was sent by Governor Macquarie in 1818 to find an overland route south from Sydney to Jervis Bay. On this occasion, accompanied by ex-convict James Meehan, Hume discovered the rich, fertile land of the Goulburn Plains.

As a grazier, Hume was interested in exploring south of the known Sydney area in order to open up new areas of land, but could not gain Government support for his proposed venture. William Hovell was an English immigrant with little bush experience, a former ship's captain who was keen to assist Hume's expedition financially, and accompany him. The expedition was set up, and Hume and Hovell departed Hume's father's farm at Appin, southwest of Sydney, in early October 1824.

Although the two men argued for most of their journey, and even for many years after their return, the expedition was successful in many ways. Hume and Hovell were the first to discover the "Hume River", though it was later renamed by Sturt as the Murray River. On 8 November 1824, they became the first known Europeans to see the Australian Alps. Excited by the sight of the beautiful mountains, Hume wrote in his journal "... a prospect came into view the most magnificent, this was an immence [sic] high Mountain Covered nearly one fourth of the way down with snow, and the Sun shining upon it gave it a most brilliant appearance."

1836  -             The printing press which is to print South Australia's proclamation as a British province arrives in the colony.

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia, the only Australian state to have been founded by free settlers, remaining entirely free of convicts during its early history. Adelaide was surveyed and designed by Colonel William Light, first Surveyor-General of South Australia, who also named Holdfast Bay, the site for the earliest landings of pioneers to South Australia.

It was into this port that South Australia's first printing press arrived. On 8 November 1836, Colonial Secretary and Chief Magistrate Robert Gouger arrived aboard the ship 'The Africaine', and settled near the site now referred to as 'The Old Gum Tree' at Glenelg North. Also aboard the 'Africaine' was Robert Thomas, who had arranged transport of the printing press, a Stanhope Invenit No. 200. It was another two days before Thomas and his family disembarked from the 'Africaine', and their luggage, including the press, was offloaded south of the Patawalonga Creek mouth.

Although South Australia was officially proclaimed on 19 February 1836 in England, the proclamation was made on 28 December 1836. Governor Hindmarsh made the announcement at the Old Gum Tree, but the actual proclamation had not yet been printed. On 30 December, Thomas was given orders to prepare for the print run of the proclamation. On 14 January 1837, the first 3 Acts of the new Executive Council of Government were printed, and two days later, 150 sheets were printed - the official "Proclamation Establishment of Government in SA".

1920  -             The first 'Rupert Bear' cartoon appears in the "Daily Express".

Rupert Bear is the longest running cartoon character in the world. Created by artist Mary Tourtel, Rupert Bear, with his distinctive checked yellow scarf and slacks and bright red jumper, was developed in response to the rise of anthropomorphic characters appearing in other newspapers. Rupert made his debut in British newspaper the Daily Express on 8 November 1920 in a story entitled 'The Adventures of a Little Lost Bear'.

The little bear immediately appealed to readers, and Rupert Bear enjoyed increasing popularity through ensuing decades. The first collection of Rupert cartoons was published as an annual in 1935. By the 1950s, 1.7 million of the Rupert annuals were sold, and even today the Rupert Annual remains one of the top three Annual titles sold worldwide. Possibly Rupert's greatest achievement was when Beatle Paul McCartney developed the animated Rupert and the Frog Song, a production which won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts award.

1922  -             Christiaan Barnard, the South African cardiac surgeon who performed the world's first open heart transplant, is born.

Christiaan Barnard was born on 8 November 1922, in Beaufort West, South Africa. After studying and practising medicine in South Africa for a number of years, in 1956 he travelled to America to study surgery at the University of Minnesota. It was there that he chose to specialise in cardiology. Upon returning to South Africa, he was appointed cardiothoracic surgeon at the Groote Schuur Hospital in 1958. He also lectured at the University of Cape Town, and in 1961 he was made head of cardiothoracic surgery at the university.

Barnard performed the world's first open heart transplant surgery on 3 December 1967. 55-year-old diabetic and chronic heart disease patient, Louis Washkansky, had his diseased heart replaced with a healthy heart from Denise Darvall, a young woman with the same blood type, who had died in hospital after a car accident. The patient survived the operation, living for eighteen days before succumbing to double pneumonia brought on by the immuno-suppressive drugs he was taking.

Barnard went on to pioneer new techniques, including double transplants, artificial valves and using animal hearts for emergency treatment. Rheumatoid arthritis forced him to retire from surgery in 1983. He died from an acute asthma attack on 2 September 2001.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1860  -             Explorers Burke and Wills first reach Cooper Creek on their expedition to cross Australia from south to north.

Robert O'Hara Burke and William Wills led the expedition that was intended to bring fame and prestige to Victoria: being the first to cross Australia from south to north and back again, and to win for Victoria the right to build the overland telegraph line. With a huge party of men, horses, camel and equipment, they departed from Melbourne on 20 August 1860, farewelled by around 15,000 people. The cost of the expedition was almost 5,000 pounds, a phenomenal amount for the time.

After reaching Menindee, Burke decided the split the party, leaving one group to wait for more supplies to arrive at Menindee. Burke then pushed on with a smaller party to Cooper Creek. At this time, Cooper Creek represented the farthest point in Australia where any exploration had reached. This permanent water supply had been visited by Captain Charles Sturt in 1845 and Augustus Charles Gregory in 1858, and was an ideal point to establish a depot.

The Burke and Wills party arrived at Cooper Creek on 11 November 1860. They initially formed a depôt at Camp LXIII (Camp 63) while they conducted reconnaissance to the north. However, A plague of rats meant the party needed to move camp downstream, where they established another depôt, at Bullah Bullah Waterhole, which was dominated by a large coolibah tree, now infamously known as the "Dig Tree". This was Camp LXV (Camp 65) and here they built a stockade, naming it Fort Wills. It was from this point that the expedition to the Gulf of Carpentaria departed.

1880  -             The term 'boycott' is created when British landowner Charles Boycott is ostracised by his tenants.

Charles Cunningham Boycott was born in Norfolk in 1823. He came to Ireland to work as a land agent for Lord Erne, the local landowner in the Lough Mask area. The Irish National Land League, seeking to protect tenants from exploitation and demanding fairer rent, withdrew the local labour required to save the harvest on Lord Erne's estate. Captain Boycott refused the tenants' demands for rent relief, and was subsequently shunned by the community. The campaign against Boycott commenced on 11 November 1880. No-one, whether neighbours, shopkeepers or fellow worshippers in church, spoke to Captain Boycott. Before he left Ireland, his name had become synonymous with ostracisation, leading to the development of the term 'to boycott'.

1880  -             Bushranger Ned Kelly is hanged in Melbourne.

Ned Kelly, Australia's most famous bushranger, was born in December 1854 in Victoria, Australia. Kelly was twelve when his father died, and he was subsequently required to leave school to take on the new position as head of the family. Shortly after this, the Kellys moved to Glenrowan. As a teenager, Ned became involved in petty crimes, regularly targetting the wealthy landowners. He gradually progressed to crimes of increasing seriousness and violence, including bank robbery and murder, soon becoming a hunted man.

Many of Ned Kelly's peers held him in high regard for his stand of usually only ambushing wealthy landowners, and helped to keep his whereabouts from the police, despite the high reward posted for his capture. However, he was betrayed to the police whilst holding dozens of people hostage in the Glenrowan Inn in June, 1880. Wearing their famous armour, the Kelly brothers held a shootout with police. Gang members Dan Kelly, Steve Hart and Joe Byrne were killed, and Ned was shot twenty-eight times in the legs, which were unprotected by the armour. He survived to stand trial, and was sentenced to death by hanging, by Judge Redmond Barry on 29 October 1880. Ned Kelly was hanged in Melbourne on 11 November 1880.

1918  -             Today is Remembrance Day, marking the end of World War 1, in 1918.

At 5am on the morning of 11 November 1918, Germany, lacking manpower, weaponry and supplies, and facing imminent invasion, signed an armistice agreement with the Allies. This marked the end of World War 1, also known as the Great War. November 11 has come to be known as Remembrance Day or Armistice Day. Traditionally, British, Canadian, South African, Australian and New Zealand citizens observe the day with two minutes' silence at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, which is the time that the armistice became effective.

The red poppy has come to be recognised as the symbol for Remembrance Day. It was chosen because of the poppies that bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders, an area in western Europe now spanned by Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

1975  -             Australia's Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, dismisses Gough Whitlam as Prime Minister.

Edward Gough Whitlam, born on 11 July 1916, became the 21st Prime Minister of Australia on 2 December 1972. It was the first ALP electoral victory since 1946. The Whitlam government embarked on a massive legislative social reform program which was forward-thinking and progressive in many ways. Whilst initially popular, the fast pace of reform engendered caution amongst the electorate, and the economy was beset by high inflation combined with economic stagnation.

These conditions were the catalyst to the Australian constitutional crisis of 1975. The opposition Liberal-National Country Party coalition held a majority in the Senate, the upper house of Parliament. In an unprecedented move, the Senate deferred voting on bills that appropriated funds for government expenditure, attempting to force the Prime Minister to dissolve the House of Representatives and call an election. The Whitlam government ignored the warnings, and sought alternative means of appropriating the funds it needed to repay huge debts. With Whitlam unable to secure the necessary funds, the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, dismissed Whitlam as Prime Minister on 11 November 1975, and appointed Liberal opposition leader Malcolm Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister. This was done on the condition that Fraser would seek a dissolution of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, thus precipitating a general election.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1799  -             A large red pillar of fire is seen in the sky above Hereford, England.

On 12 November 1799, vivid electrical flashes lit up the sky above Hereford, England, at half-hour intervals commencing at 5:45am. Bright lights appeared, initially stationary, until they appeared to explode loudly, then continued across the sky, trailed by luminous, fiery streams. Something similar to a large pillar of fire then passed from north to south over Hereford.

On the same day across north and south America and western Europe, the Leonid meteor shower illuminated the sky with thousands of shooting stars for many hours. The Leonid meteor shower is an event which happens annually, in varying degrees of visibility and brightness, usually from November 12-17. In some years, the display is brighter than in others: a particularly brilliant display from the Leonid meteor shower was witnessed across north and central America on 12 November 1833. The Leonid shower that occurs every November is caused by the Earth passing through an especially dusty area of space, caused by the orbit of the Temple-Tuttle comet which passes near Earth's orbit every 33 years and leaves behind a dusty trail.

1873  -             Colonel Warburton's exploration party is reduced to subsisting only on camel meat.

Peter Warburton was an ex-navy Colonel who had served in India. After his retirement, he came to Australia, and was appointed to command the Police Forces of the Colony of South Australia. It was during this time that he developed his love of exploring. Warburton's goal was to complete the first crossing of the central Australian continent from east to west. In 1872, he was selected by Sir Thomas Elder, a Member of the Legislative Council to lead an expedition in an attempt to find a route from central Australia to Perth, and to report on what sort of country lay in between. His exploration party departed Alice Springs on 15 April 1873.

Warburton's expedition was the first in Australia to use only camels. Travelling through the desert was hard-going, and scarcity of water was huge problem. Warburton was notorious for capturing Aboriginal women with the intent of forcing them to reveal where native wells were located. The party suffered from lack of water and a steadily decreasing food supply. His despair was recorded in his journal entry of 12 November 1873, in which he wrote, "We have tried to do our duty, and have been disappointed in all our expectations. The country is terrible. I do not believe men ever traversed so vast an extent of continuous desert." By this date, the expedition party had used the last of its flour, sugar and tea, and was reduced to subsisting only on camel meat. Warburton included in his journal recipes for cooking and eating every part of a camel, including the head, tail, bones, tough hide, guts and feet.

1894  -             Australian inventor Lawrence Hargrave demonstrates that it is possible for man to fly.

Lawrence Hargrave was born in England in 1850, but emigrated to Australia in 1865. He took on an engineering apprenticeship in Sydney, and was always interested in a variety of experiments, particularly those to do with flying machines. Hargrave invented the box kite in 1893, and used it to further his aerodynamic studies.

On 12 November 1894, Hargrave linked four of his kites together, added a sling seat, and flew about five metres in the air on a beach near Wollongong, New South Wales. In doing so, he demonstrated that it was possible for man to build, and be transported in, a safe and stable flying machine. His radical design for a wing that could support far more than its own weight opened up opportunities for other inventors to develop the design for commercial purposes. Hargrave never patented his designs, so did not receive the recognition he deserved.

1912  -             The bodies of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his exploration companions are found in Antarctica.

Robert Falcon Scott was born on 6 June 1868 in Devonport, England. He was a Royal Naval officer and explorer who commanded the National Antarctic Expedition in Discovery which began in 1900. On 31 December 1902, Scott's expedition reached the farthest point south of any known exploration party. Following new discoveries in the Antarctic region, Scott was keen to be the first to reach the South Pole. He took with him Lieutenant Henry Bowers, Dr. Edward Wilson, Petty Officer Edgar Evans and army Captain Lawrence Oates. Upon reaching the Pole on 17 January 1912, he found that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had beaten him to it.

Scott's party made slow progress, due to a combination of particularly severe weather, and their own determination to forge ahead laden with their rock samples. Evans died after a fall which resulted in a quick physical and mental breakdown. Oates lost a foot to frostbite and was suffering residual effects of an old war wound. Feeling he was holding the party back, he departed their shelter one morning, uttering the famous words, "I am just going outside. I may be some time." He did not return.

The bodies of the remaining three members of Scott's party were found in their camp on 12 November 1912, just twenty kilometres from a substantial depot of supplies. With them were their diaries detailing their journey and their demise. A large cairn made of ice was constructed over the men's bodies, and topped with a cross made from skis. It was not until February of the following year that the rest of the world heard the news

1943  -             The last of the Japanese bombings raids occurs against Australia during WWII.

Darwin, capital city of Australia's Northern Territory, was a strategically-placed naval port and airbase during World War II. On 19 February 1942, the city was attacked in a bombing raid by the Japanese, who launched two waves of planes comprising 242 bombers and fighters. At least 243 civilians and military personnel were killed, not counting the indigenous Australians whose deaths were not counted. Although it was a less significant target, a greater number of bombs were dropped than in the attack on Pearl Harbor. These attacks were the first of an estimated 64 air raids against Darwin during 1942-43.

Following the February raid, other parts of Australia including Darwin, northwest Western Australia and even regions of far north Queensland were subject to over one hundred more raids. Airport base areas attacked included Townsville, Katherine, Wyndham, Derby and Port Hedland, while Milingimbi, Exmouth Gulf and Horn Island were also targetted. 63 more Japanese raids occurred against Darwin and its immediate surroundings. The final attack occurred on 12 November 1943. There was only minor damage around the town of Darwin, and no casualties.

1980  -             Saturn's rings are photographed in high resolution for the first time.

The rings of Saturn were first observed by Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei in 1610, using a primitive telescope. Ever since then, scientists have sought to unravel the mystery of what formed the rings and why they are there. The first "close-up" photographs of Saturn and its rings were taken by the USA Jupiter/Saturn Flyby & Interstellar Probe, Pioneer 11, in 1979. The pictures were low resolution, but an improvement on previous photographs taken via telescopes.

The unmanned Voyager 1 spacecraft was launched in September 1977. On 12 November 1980, it passed within 124,000 km of the clouds surrounding Saturn, and took vivid photographs which showed bands of yellow and orange clouds circling the planet at hundreds of kilometres an hour. The high resolution photographs enabled scientists to count over 100 separate rings, instead of the six broad bands visible from Earth.

After photographing both Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 1 continued towards deep space. In 1998 it became the most distant man-made object in the universe, and in 2003 reached the edge of the Solar System. Its ultimate mission is to reach the heliopause, the boundary where the sun's influence ends as its solar wind is stopped by the interstellar medium (ISM). The ISM is the matter and energy content that exists between the stars within a galaxy. Voyager 1 is expected to reach the heliopause in 2013.

Cheers -John

Gday...

1650  -             King William III of England, also known as William of Orange, is born.

William III of England was born on 14 November 1650, in The Hague, Netherlands. He became the Sovereign Prince of Orange at his birth because his father died of smallpox eight days before he was born. Known by many titles including William III of England, William II of Scotland and William of Orange, he was King of England and Ireland from 13 February 1689, and King of Scotland from 11 April 1689. As a Protestant, William participated in many wars against the powerful Roman Catholic King of France, Louis XIV.

After James II of England ascended the throne in 1685, the English feared that the kings policies were directed too much towards restoring the power of the Roman Catholic church. In June 1688, a group of political figures known as the "Immortal Seven" secretly invited William to bring an army of liberation to England. William and a force of about 15,000 men landed at southwest England on 5 November 1688. James, his support base dissolved, was allowed to escape to France, and William had no wish to make him a martyr for Roman Catholicism. Whilst the Scottish parliament accepted the new rulers, Ireland, being mostly Catholic, remained loyal to the deposed king and had to be taken by force. In 1690 William led the army that defeated James and his Irish partisans at the Battle of the Boyne, and members of Parliament accepted him in order to restore their own power.

1868  -             Steele Rudd, Australian journalist and author of "On Our Selection", is born.

Steele Rudd was born Arthur Hoey Davis at Drayton near Toowoomba, Queensland, on 14 November 1868. His pseudonym came from a combination of his interest in writing and rowing: 'Steele" came from the name of an English essayist, and "Rudd" was a shortening of the word 'rudder', which allowed him to incorporate his love of rowing into his name.

Specialising in short stories of country life, Rudd is best known for his short stories satirising life "On Our Selection". These stories feature Dad and Dave in a humorous account of life on a plot of land 'selected' in the late 1800s in Australia. "On Our Selection", published in 1899, sold over 250,000 copies in its day, and the stories were later incorporated into radio serials and movies.

1902  -             The incident with Theodore Roosevelt that spurred the creation of the teddy bear occurs.

Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt was the 26th president of the United States. He was respected for his activities as a writer, explorer and soldier, and he was known for both his energy and his compassion.

Stories vary regarding the origin of the teddy bear, but they all have a common theme. Late in 1902, Roosevelt was working to solve a border dispute between Mississippi and Louisiana. He took time out to join in a hunting expedition in Mississippi. The President was unsuccessful in shooting any game so, on 14 November 1902, the hunting party brought a bear cub to the camp so the president could shoot it. Roosevelt refused, because the animal did not have a chance to defend itself. In a different version of the story, Roosevelt came upon an older bear that was already wounded. He refused to shoot it for sport, but did order that it be put out of its misery in a mercy killing. In yet another version, the party hunted down an old bear to the point of exhaustion, and set their dogs upon it before tying it to a tree so the President could shoot the bear. Regardless of the actual sequence of events, the outcome remained the same - Roosevelt would not shoot a defenceless bear.

The story was picked up by political cartoonist Clifford Berryman, who depicted the President refusing to shoot the defenceless creature. Interestingly, the original illustration differs from the version which appeared in the newspapers. The redrawn version showed a much smaller bear, fearful and decidedly "cuter" than the original fierce beast. This doctored version, where the president refused to shoot a young cub, became the story preferred by the people.

Following the appearance of the story in the newspapers, New York shopkeeper Morris Michtom displayed in his shop window two toy bears his wife had made, and sought permission from the president to call them "Teddy's bears". Michtom then started mass-producing the bears, and within a year had established his own company called the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company. This is considered to be the birth of the Teddy bear, although again, versions vary. The bear considered to be the original 1903 teddy bear was given to the Smithsonian institute by Teddy Roosevelt's grandson, and now resides in the National Museum of American History.

1939  -             The world's oldest dog on record, a Blue Heeler named 'Bluey', dies, aged 29 years.

The Blue Heeler is a hardy breed of dog developed in Australia. Also known as the Australian Cattle dog, the Blue Heeler was developed by colonists in the 1800s by crossing Dingo-blue merle Collies to Dalmatians and black and tan Kelpies. This produced an excellent working dog, capable of driving large herds of cattle through the harsh conditions of the outback.

According to Guinness World Records, the world's oldest known dog was a Blue Heeler, appropriately named "Bluey", owned by Les Hall of Rochester in the Australian state of Victoria. Born on 7 June 1910, Bluey died on 14 November 1939 at the age of twenty-nine years, five months, and seven days.

1954  -             The Santa Gertrudis cattle breed in Australia is consolidated with the first auction of animals.

Santa Gertrudis is a breed of cattle which originated in the United States of America. It was produced by the crossing of Shorthorns with Brahmans, in an attempt to find a balance of cattle which produced high-quality meat, yet could thrive in southern Texas's semi-tropical climate. The fact that it could survive humid, tropical climates proved to be an attraction for Australian cattle breeders.

The breed was first introduced in Australia in 1952 by King Ranch Australia, an off-shoot of King Ranch in the United States which established the Santa Gertrudis breed. 75 bulls and 200 heifers were initially imported. After setting up headquarters at Warwick, in southern Queensland, King Ranch held its first auction of 12 Santa Gertrudis bulls on 14 November 1954. The average price of a stud bull was 1100 guineas, the equivalent of about $38,000 in 2009 values.

Further beasts were imported also in 1954, and from this small population, the breed spread to all other states and territories in Australia. An embargo was placed on the importation of any further cattle up until the Cocos Island Quarantine Station was established in 1981. This was to prevent the possible introduction of Blue-Tongue Disease.

The Santa Gertrudis is now one of Australia's leading breeds of cattle. It is highly prized for its meat quality and hardiness in Australian conditions.

1963  -             The island of Surtsey, off Iceland, is created by a volcanic explosion.

Surtsey, meaning Surtur's island in Icelandic, is a volcanic island off the southern coast of Iceland. Prior to 1963, the island did not exist. It was formed in a volcanic eruption which began 130 metres below sea level, and reached the surface on 14 November 1963. Initial volcanic rumblings started a few days earlier, as evidenced when a seismograph in Reykjavík recorded weak tremors. After emerging through to the surface on November 14, the volcanic explosions continued. After a few days the new island, formed mainly of scoria, an igneous rock containing many gas bubbles, measured over 500 metres in length and had reached a height of 45 metres.

The eruptions continued through to June 1967, at which point the island reached its maximum size of 2.7 km². At this stage, the island's highest point was 174 metres above sea level. Erosion from wind and the ocean has gradually diminished the size of the island, and in 2005, it was only 1.4 km² in size. The first signs of life on the island appeared as insects moved in during 1964, and mosses and lichens began to grow in 1965. Since then, as bird colonies have moved in, more plant species have also been established. The island is now a protected nature reserve, with limited numbers of scientists permitted to land there. Tourists and visitors are not allowed.

1990  -             The New Zealand Aramoana Massacre ends with the death of the gunman.

Aramoana is a small seaside township not far from Dunedin on New Zealand's South Island. Its name comes from the Maori language and means "pathway to the sea". The town is positioned at the mouth of Otago Harbour, where the main channel is kept clear by an artificial breakwater known as the Aramoana Mole. A monument now stands among the sand-dunes near the Aramoana Mole - a monument to the victims of a massacre.

David Gray was a 33-year-old unemployed gun collector who, without warning, went on a killing rampage with an assault rifle. He began with his neighbour Garry Holden, with whom he'd had a long-standing conflict over a variety of issues. After wounding one of Holden's daughters, Gray set the house on fire, then continued to shoot indiscriminately at passing vehicles and people, both adults and innocent children. He entered houses, shooting randomly, and shot dead officer Sergeant Stewart Guthrie who had attempted to subdue Gray. When Gray finally challenged the police to shoot him, they complied, ending the two-day shooting rampage on 14 November 1990.

In the aftermath, it was found that Holden's daughter and the daughter of his girlfriend had died in the house fire. The total number of victims was 13. Although later investigations showed that Gray's mental condition had deteriorated in the months prior to the killings, no specific catalyst to the massacre was ever identified.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1824  -             Hume and Hovell become the first white men to sight the Murray River.

Hamilton Hume was an Australian-born settler with excellent bush skills. He was interested in exploring south of the known Sydney area in order to open up new areas of land, but could not gain Government support for his proposed venture. William Hovell was an English immigrant with little bush experience, a former ship's captain who was keen to assist Hume's expedition financially and accompany him. The expedition was set up, and Hume and Hovell departed Hume's father's farm at Appin, southwest of Sydney, on 3 October 1824.

Although the two men argued for most of their journey, and even for many years after their return, the expedition was successful in many ways. On 16 November 1824, Hume and Hovell became the first white men to sight and name the "Hume River", though it was later renamed by Sturt as the Murray River. Hovell recorded in his journal that they arrived suddenly "at a very fine river -at least 200 feet wide, apparently deep... on both sides the land is low and level of a fine alluvial soil, with grass up to our middle. This I named Humes River, he being the first that saw it. In the solid wood of a healthy tree, I carved my name." That river redgum still stands on the banks of the mighty Murray, at Albury in New South Wales.

1840  -             New Zealand becomes a separate colony, no longer administered by New South Wales.

The first known European to sight the islands of New Zealand was Dutch trader and explorer Abel Tasman, who did so in 1642. The next explorer to venture through New Zealand waters was James Cook, who claimed New Zealand for Great Britain. This signalled the start of British occupation of the islands previously occupied only by the Maori.

In June 1839, letters patent were issued in London extending the boundaries of New South Wales to include any territory which is or may be acquired in sovereignty by Her Majesty ... within that group of Islands in the Pacific Ocean, commonly called New Zealand. In 1839, the British government appointed William Hobson as consul to New Zealand and, prior to Hobson leaving Sydney for New Zealand, the Governor of New South Wales issued a proclamation declaring that the boundaries of New South Wales were extended to include "such territory in New Zealand as might be acquired in sovereignty". New Zealand officially became a dependency of New South Wales when the Legislative Council passed an Act extending to New Zealand the laws of New South Wales, on 16 June 1840. The purpose of this was to ensure New Zealand was administered by the British while the issue of sovereignty over the islands was being asserted.

Five months later, on 16 November 1940, New Zealand officially became a separate colony of the United Kingdom, severing its link to New South Wales, with the Charter for erecting the Colony of New Zealand.

1855  -             Missionary and explorer David Livingstone becomes the first non-African to sight Victoria Falls in Africa.

David Livingstone was born on 19 March 1813, in Blantyre, Scotland. Initially he studied medicine and theology at the University of Glasgow, but when he was 27 years old, he sailed from Scotland to South Africa as a Christian missionary. Whilst there he spent some time exploring the African interior, becoming one of the first Westerners to make a transcontinental journey across Africa. Livingstone was popular among native tribes in Africa because he quickly learned African languages and had a keen understanding and sympathy for native people and their cultures.

On 16 November 1855, Livingstone first sighted the spectacular Victoria Falls. Upon reaching them, he named them after the reigning monarch, Queen Victoria. Known locally as Mosi-oa-Tunya, the "smoke that thunders", the falls are situated on the Zambezi River, on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, and are approximately 1.6 kilometres wide and 128 metres high.

Livingstone's lack of contact with the outside world over several years raised concerns for his welfare and prompted the New York Herald to send journalist Henry Morton Stanley to track down the explorer in Africa. On 10 November 1871, Stanley met up with Livingstone, greeting him with the famous words "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" The two men explored together briefly but Livingston, weakened from dysentery, died less than two years later, on 30 April 1873.

1919  -             The first south to north transcontinental flight across Australia occurs.

The first Australian to demonstrate that man could fly was Lawrence Hargrave, who was born in England in 1850, but emigrated to Australia in 1865. Hargrave invented the box kite in 1893, and used it to further his aerodynamic studies. In November 1894, Hargrave linked four of his kites together, added a sling seat, and flew about five metres in the air on a beach near Wollongong, New South Wales. In doing so, he demonstrated that it was possible for man to build, and be transported in, a safe and stable flying machine. His radical design for a wing that could support far more than its own weight opened up opportunities for other inventors to develop the design for commercial purposes.

The first domestic airmail service in Australia commenced in Melbourne in July 1914. Five years later, technology had developed to the point where the first south to north transcontinental flight was made possible. The flight was undertaken by Captain Henry N Wrigley and Sergeant Arthur William Murphy, flying a B.E.2E aircraft. The purpose of the flight was to survey the route for competitors in the first England to Australia air race. Wrigley and Murphy departed Point Cook, Victoria on 16 November 1919 and reached Darwin, Northern Territory on 12 December. It took the pair 46 flying hours to cover the 2,500 miles (4023 km).

1920  -             Australian airline Qantas is founded.

Qantas is the name of Australia's original airline service. The name Qantas was formerly an acronym for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Qantas was founded in Winton, Queensland, on 16 November 1920, and operated air mail services subsidised by the Australian government, linking railheads in western Queensland. In 1934, QANTAS Limited and Britain's Imperial Airways, forerunner of British Airways, formed a new company, Qantas Empire Airways Limited. QEA commenced services between Brisbane and Singapore using deHavilland DH-86 Commonwealth Airliners. On 17 April 1935, the first overseas passenger flight from Brisbane to Singapore was operated in a journey which took four days.

Most of the QEA fleet was taken over by the Australian government for war service between 1939 and 1945, and many of these aircraft were lost in action. After the war, QEA experienced severe financial losses, and the airline was taken over by the government under Labor Prime Minister Ben Chifley. In 1967, the name was changed to Qantas Airways Limited.

1920  -             Colin Thiele, Australian writer and author of 'Storm Boy', is born.

Colin Thiele was born on 16 November 1920, in Eudunda, a small town north of the Barossa Valley in South Australia. After graduating from the University of Adelaide, he served in the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II. He then became a high school teacher, college lecturer, and principal. Thiele's novels for both children and adults were heavily influenced by his own German-Australian upbringing. A number of his stories won literary awards, and several were made into films or TV series. Among his better-known children's works are "Storm Boy", "Blue Fin", "Sun on the Stubble" and "Magpie Island". In 1977 Thiele was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, the highest level of the award, for his services to literature and education.

After retiring from teaching and writing, Colin Thiele lived in Dayboro, Queensland, until his death on 4 September 2006. The Thiele Library at the Magill campus of the University of South Australia is named after him, an honour which predated his death by many years.

1938  -             The Waterside Workers' Strike, which earns Robert Menzies the nickname of 'Pig-Iron Bob', begins.

Robert Gordon Menzies entered politics in 1928 after being elected to Victorias Legislative Council for East Yarra. After six years in Victorian state politics as Attorney-General and Minister for Railways (192834), he was elected to federal parliament as member for Kooyong. From 1935, Menzies was Deputy leader of the United Australia Party under Joseph Lyons, as well as Attorney-General and Minister for Industry.

On 16 November 1938, members of the Waterside Workers' Union at Port Kembla in New South Wales refused to load cargo of pig-iron onto the steamer Delfram. Around 400 tons of pig-iron had already been loaded when the men held a stop-work meeting at 1pm, based on their belief that the pig-iron was not intended for Singapore, as they had been told, but bound for Japan. Japan was already seen a major threat in the Pacific.

In his position as Attorney-General, Menzies was forced to intervene. Reminding the unions that the League of Nations had not imposed trade sanctions against Japan, he threatened to invoke the Transport Workers Act against the unions if they did not load the pig-iron. Due to the ongoing strike action, the steelworks were closed, forcing many workers into unemployment. After a dispute lasting nine weeks and resulting in an estimated cost of £100,000 in lost wages and £3000 for the owners of the Delfram which lay idle at Port Kembla throughout that time, the workers agreed to load the remaining pig-iron. Union leaders met with the Prime Minister and Robert Menzies to settle the terms later that week. The entire incident earned Robert menzies the nickname of "Pig-Iron Bob", which remained with him throughout his political career, and followed him into the history books.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1838  -             The first group of German-Prussian Lutherans sponsored by wealthy Scottish businessman, George Fife Angas, arrives in South Australia.

In the 1800s, under King Friedrich Wilhelm III, German/Prussian Lutherans suffered religious persecution. Friedrich Wilhelm was an autocratic king who believed he had the right to create his own state church from the two main Protestant churches - the Lutheran church and the smaller Reformed church - in a united Prussian state church. This would effectively remove the right of Lutherans to worship in a way of their choosing. Penalties for non-adherence to the state religion were severe. Many Lutherans immigrated to Australia to escape the persecution.

Thanks to wealthy Scottish businessman and chairman of the South Australian Company, George Fife Angas, a deal was struck by Pastor August Kavel to start a new Lutheran settlement in South Australia. The first group of 21 Lutherans under Angas's sponsorship arrived on the ship 'Bengalee' on 18 November 1838, followed two days later by the main group on the 'Prince George'. They first settled at the town of Klemzig. Many more ships followed over the next three years.

1861  -             The words to the famous "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" are first penned.

     "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;"

This begins the "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", a well-known hymn which has become symbolic of patriotism in the USA. The hymn originated as a campfire spiritual, based on a melody written by William Steffe in 1856. The original lyrics were entitled "Canaan's Happy Shore" or "Brothers, Will You Meet Me?"

Shortly before Civil War broke out in the US, Thomas Bishop, who joined the Massachusetts militia, wrote new lyrics called "John Brown's Body", referring to the famous abolitionist, and the song became one of his unit's walking songs. After Bishop's battalion was sent to Washington DC at the outbreak of the war, Julia Ward Howe, accompanied by Reverend James Freeman Clarke, heard the song during a public review of the troops outside Washington on Upton Hill, Virginia. Clarke suggested Howe write new lyrics for the fighting men's song.

On the night of 18 November 1861, while staying in her hotel room in Washington, Howe awoke with the new lyrics already in her mind, and wrote them down immediately. They were first published on the front page of The Atlantic Monthly of February 1862.

1879  -             One of Australia's youngest bushrangers, a fifteen-year-old member of Captain Moonlite's gang, is shot and killed.

Augustus Wernicke was one of Australia's youngest bushrangers, and part of Captain Moonlite's gang. Captain Moonlite, aka Andrew George Scott, became a bushranger upon his release from gaol, eight years after robbing the bank at Mount Egerton, Victoria. He recruited several other gang members, among them 15-year-old Wernicke, and walked to New South Wales, hoping to find employment at Wantabadgery Station, well known for its hospitality.

Being in the grip of a severe drought, and also having changed hands, Wantabadgery could offer them nothing. In desperation, Moonlite took 35 people hostage. In the resultant shootout with police on 18 November 1879, gang members James Nesbitt and Augustus Wernicke, together with Constable Bowen, were all shot dead. Moonlite and the surviving gang members were tried and charged with the murder of Constable Bowen. Moonlite himself was hanged on 20 January 1880 at Darlinghurst Court.

1928  -             Cartoon character Mickey Mouse debuts in 'Steamboat Willie'.

Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character who has become a symbol for The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney first created a cartoon character named Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, for Charles Mintz of Universal Studios. When Disney requested an increased budget to develop the character, he was fired, losing the rights to the cartoon creation which was owned by the company. Mickey Mouse was created to replace Oswald. Originally named Mortimer Mouse, Disney's wife suggested that the name was too pretentious, and Disney came up with Mickey Mouse instead.

During his development, Mickey Mouse appeared in a couple of other cartoons, including 'Plane Crazy' and 'The Gallopin' Gaucho'. The character was not popular as he was initially very similar in appearance and mannerisms to Oswald, so Disney sought to develop the mouse as an entirely separate personality which would distinguish him from Disney's previous work and that of his rivals. "Steamboat Willie", featuring the new and different Mickey Mouse, was first released on 18 November 1928. Although this was not the first Mickey cartoon made or released, it is still considered by some as Mickey Mouse's true debut. "Steamboat Willie" was the first sound-synchronised animated cartoon, and a complete success.

1978  -             Over 900 people mass suicide at Jonestown, Guyana, South America.

Jim Jones, born on 13 May 1931, was the American founder of the People's Temple, a cult which initially had its roots in San Francisco. After an investigation began into the church for tax evasion, Jones and most of the 1,000 members of the People's Temple moved to a camp deep in the jungle of Guyana, South America. The settlement was named Jonestown.

Relatives and people who had left the organisation told of brutal beatings, murders and a mass suicide plan but were not believed. Allegations of human rights abuses perpetrated by Jones caused US Congressman Leo Ryan to lead a fact-finding mission to Jonestown in November 1978. After spending a couple of days interviewing residents, Ryan and his crew left hurriedly on November 18 when an attempt was made on Ryan's life. As they reached the nearby airstrip to depart Jonestown with about twenty cult members who wished to escape, gunmen from the compound arrived and began firing on the planes. Five people were killed, including Ryan, three media representatives, and one of the former cult members. Shortly after this, 914 cult members, including 276 children, drank soft drink laced with cyanide and sedatives in order to commit mass suicide. Jones himself died from an apparently self-inflicted bullet wound to the head.

1985  -             Today is Calvin and Hobbes Day, marking the debut of the comic strip.

Calvin and Hobbes is a cartoon strip by cartoonist Bill Watterson. It features a six-year-old boy, Calvin, whose mischievous nature is the bane of everyone around him, and his stuffed tiger Hobbes, which only Calvin sees as real and alive. The characters are named after 16th-century French Reformation theologian John Calvin, and Thomas Hobbes, an English political philosopher from the 17th century.

Watterson began drawing cartoons as a sideline while working in advertising. After experiencing numerous rejections for his work, Watterson was encouraged by some interest shown in one of his minor characters who was the younger brother of the main subject: this character became Calvin. The strip was picked up by Universal Press Syndicate, and first published on 18 November 1985.

Calvin and Hobbes enjoyed an immensely successful run, earning Watterson the Reuben Award from the National Cartoonists Society, in the Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year category, in both 1986 and 1988. He was also awarded the Humor Comic Strip Award for 1988. Despite his success, Watterson reached the point where he felt he could not develop the strip or the characters according to syndicate constraints any further and, fearing a stalemate, ended Calvin and Hobbes on a high, with the final cartoon being published on 31 December 1995. Many newspapers around the world continue to run the strip as a weekly feature.

1987  -             31 people are killed when a fire breaks out in the London Underground.

The London Underground is a metropolitan railway system in London. With 12 lines and 275 stations, it is one of the largest urban rapid transit systems in the world.

On 18 November 1987, a fatal fire broke out in King's Cross St. Pancras, in the London Underground railway network. The fire was believed to have been caused when a discarded match from a smoking passenger ignited oil, grease and papers in a machine room beneath an old wooden escalator. Smoke was first noticed coming from the escalator at 7:32pm. The London Fire Brigade arrived on the scene at 7.42pm, and three minutes later the flames erupted in a fireball. Station Officer Colin Townsley, who remained in the ticketing hall at the top of the escalator shaft, was killed trying to help passengers escape. Another 30 people were killed in the blaze.

Later investigations uncovered the discarded match. They also revealed that numerous other fires had been ignited in the same way, around the wooden escalators, but had never progressed to the same degree. Other conditions exacerbated the quick ventilation and progression of the fire: among these were particular combination of draughts, caused by an eastbound train arriving at the station while a westbound train was leaving.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1493  -             Explorer Christopher Columbus lands on Puerto Rico for the first time.

Explorer Christopher Columbus was determined to pioneer a western sea route to China, India, and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia. In 1492 he 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 in September 1493. On 19 November 1493, he set foot on an island he had seen only the day before. He named it San Juan Bautista after St John the Baptist, and the town Puerto Rico, meaning "rich port". (The names were later swapped around, with Puerto Rico becoming the name of the island, and San Juan the capital city.) At the time Columbis arrived, the island held a population of around 50,000 Taino or Arawak Indians. The men who greeted him made the mistake of showing him the gold nuggets in the river, and invited him to take as much as he wanted.

Columbus 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. Columbus died on 20 May 1506, still believing that he had found the route to the Asian continent.

1703  -             The legendary 'Man in the Iron Mask' dies.

The Man in the Iron Mask has spawned many myths and legends over time. One of the more factual accounts of the unknown French prisoner comes from the journal of Lieutenant Etienne du Junca, an official of the Bastille from October 1690 until his death in September 1706. Du Junca recorded that when a new governor of the Bastille arrived on 18 September 1698, he brought with him a prisoner wearing a black velvet (not iron) mask, and whose name was not disclosed to anyone. The new governor, Bénigne d'Auvergne de Saint-Mars, had kept the masked man in custody since at least the beginning of his own governorship at Pignerol, from 1665.

The masked man was always treated well, and evinced no complaints. When the prisoner died on 19 November 1703, Saint-Mars had the name "Marchialy" inscribed in the parish register. However, spelling of the day being purely as the inscriber perceived it, there was no way to know what the man's name truly was. After his death, stories of the man in the mask became more and more exaggerated. By the time the writer Voltaire had developed the story in 1751, the mask was said to be riveted on, with a "movable, hinged lower jaw held in place by springs that made it possible to eat wearing it." There were even rumours that, after the storming of the Bastille in 1789, a skeleton was found with an iron mask still attached. Such stories have been found to be pure fabrication, and more scientific attempts have been used to try to determine the man's name and the reason for his imprisonment: to date, he remains shrouded in mystery.

1726  -             A young woman is reported to have given birth to over a dozen rabbits.

     England's "Mist's Weekly Journal" reported a most unusual story on 19 November 1726.

Twenty-five year old married maidservant Mary Tofts from Godalmin, or Godalming, near Guildford, had suffered a miscarriage some months earlier, after chasing two rabbits while weeding in a field. The story Tofts told was that the incident of pursuing the rabbits created such a longing in her that she became obsessed with rabbits. She miscarried, and began dreaming of rabbits non-stop and craving roast rabbit. Some months later, over the course of two weeks, she "gave birth" to at least 16 rabbits, all of which were stillborn. Doctors of the time explained the rabbit births as being a result of "maternal impressions". They believed that a pregnant woman's experiences could be imprinted directly on the foetus at conception and cause birth defects.

Sir Richard Manningham, the most famous obstetrician in London, and one of the witnesses to the unusual births, later exposed the incident as an elaborate hoax. He found that Tofts had, in fact, inserted all the creatures into her own birth canal and waited for an opportune time to "deliver" them, over a series of days, in front of reputable witnesses. Tofts herself admitted to the hoax on 7 December 1726. The main victim of the scam was probably the medical profession, who suffered a great deal of ridicule for its gullibility.

1834  -             Edward Henty establishes an illegal settlement at Portland Bay, Victoria.

Edward Henty is considered to be the founder of Victorian settlement. Born at West Tarring, Sussex, England, in 1809, he came to Van Diemen's Land with his father Thomas in 1832. On 19 November 1834, he landed at Portland Bay on the southwest coast of Victoria, to found a new settlement without official permission. Very few people knew about the settlement, as it was remote from major centres. The first recognition Henty received was when Major Thomas Mitchell, seeking a possible harbour, wandered into the area in 1836 after discovering the rich, fertile farming land of western Victoria. By this time, Henty and his brothers had been established for two years, and were importing sheep and cattle from Launceston.

1946  -             Australian country music singer Slim Dusty records his first single.

David Gordon "Slim Dusty" Kirkpatrick was born on 13 June 1927 in Kempsey, New South Wales, Australia. The son of a cattle farmer, he was brought up on Nulla Nulla Creek dairy farm. He wrote his first song, entitled "The Way The Cowboy Dies" at age ten and took the name "Slim Dusty" when he was 11.

Slim Dusty wrote his first country music classic "When The Rain Tumbles Down In July" in 1945, when he was just 18, and the following year he signed his first recording contract with the Columbia Graphophone Co. for the Regal Zonophone label. On 19 November 1946, Slim Dusty made his first commercial recording of six songs, which included "When The Rain Tumbles Down In July".

Slim Dusty went on to become Australia's biggest selling recording artist in Australia. Although little-known outside Australia, his fame within his own country is widespread, especially following the 1957 release of his song "The Pub With no Beer". He made a point of singing about real Australians, of telling their stories and capturing the Australian spirit in a way that appealed across the generations. He was the first Australian to receive a Gold Record and the first Australian to have an international record hit. He was the first singer in the world to have his voice transmitted to earth from space when, in 1983, astronauts Bob Crippen and John Young played Slim singing Waltzing Matilda from the space shuttle "Columbia" as it passed over Australia.

Slim Dusty was also one of the first Australians inducted into the Country Music Roll of Renown. During his 60-year career, he was awarded 65 Golden Guitars, more Gold and Platinum Record Awards than any other Australian artist, ARIA (Australian Recording Industry) Awards and induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame, video sales Platinum and Gold Awards, an MBE and Order of Australia for his services to entertainment.

When Slim Dusty died on 19 September 2003, he had been working on his 106th album for EMI Records. The album was Columbia Lane - the Last Sessions. It debuted at number five in the Australian album charts and was number one on the country charts on 8 March 2004, going gold after being on sale for less than two weeks.

1959  -             Motor company Ford announces that it is discontinuing the Edsel.

The Ford Edsel was named after Edsel Ford, the only son of the company's founder, Henry Ford. It was introduced in response to market research which indicated that car owners wanted greater horsepower, unique body design, and wrap-around windshields. It took five years for the car to move from mere conception to driveable reality.

By the time the Edsel was ready to be released on the US market amid considerable publicity on "E Day", 4 September 1957, the country was in a recession and consumers were turning to smaller, more economical models. The Edsel ran for three models over three years, and only 110,847 Edsels were produced before Ford announced on 19 November 1959 that it was discontinuing the model. $350 million was lost by the company on the venture.

1997  -             The world's first septuplets to all survive are born.

The McCaughey septuplets are the world's first set of seven babies birthed who have all survived. They were born on 19 November 1997, to Bobbi and Kenny McCaughey of Carlisle, Iowa. The McCaugheys already had one child, Mikayla, who was conceived with help of the fertility drug, Metrodin. Hoping for a sibling for Mikayla, the McCaugheys again turned to Metrodin. Christian ethics prevented the parents from agreeing to the doctors' suggestions of selective reduction, which involves aborting some of the fetuses to allow the others more room to grow. The babies, born nine weeks prematurely, were named Kenneth, Alexis, Natalie, Kelsey, Brandon, Nathan and Joel. Medical problems have been surprisingly minimal although Alexis, the smallest, suffers from chronic lung disease, and Alexis and Nathan have cerebral palsy. To date, the children are all progressing well.

Cheers - John