Hello John

A good read as always, so thanks for that

Re 1960 - In the world's worst space-related disaster, 126 people are killed when a rocket explodes on a Russian launch pad.

I read somewhere (from memory so do not quote me word for word), and RIP to the people who died

That the head man, or Government Minister, had gone along to give them the hurry up
The hurry up consisted of a few minor shortcuts
The rest they say is history

Hello John, another good read as always

Re 1888 - The mutiny of the Navy ship The Gayundah takes place on the Brisbane River, Queensland.

Perhaps the captain had been born in the wrong era
Back in the day, long before his time, the captain of a ship use to be a law onto himself

Gday...

1466  -             Erasmus, translator of the first Greek New Testament, is born.

For centuries, the Bible was out of reach of most Christians. The only copies that existed were in Latin, which most people could not read or understand, and it was left to the clergy who were educated in the Latin language to mete out their own explanations - a practice which tended to be subjective, rather than objective.

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a Dutch scholar who went by the by the name of Erasmus was born Gerrit Gerritszoon in Rotterdam on 27 October, in either 1466 or 1469. A contemporary of Martin Luther, and an ordained monk as well, Erasmus saw how the Bible was being withheld from the common people. Like Luther, Erasmus was critical of some Roman Catholic beliefs, abuses and practices. He became a scholar of Latin and Greek, carefully studied the original Greek texts and put together the first copy of the Greek translation of the Bible, in 1516.

This action had further repercussions, giving Luther the foundation, and motivation, to translate the entire New Testament into German. This in turn made the Bible accessible to all people, which was what Luther wanted: to make the Gospel of Salvation available to everyone.

1728  -             Captain James Cook, who charted Australia's eastern coastline, is born.

James Cook was born at Marton in North Yorkshire, on 27 October 1728. He was the son of a farm labourer, and held no great ambitions, being apprenticed in a grocer/haberdashery when he was 16. Lack of aptitude in the trade led his employer to introduce Cook to local shipowners, who took him on as a merchant navy apprentice. Here he was educated in algebra, trigonometry, navigation, and astronomy, which later set Cook up to command his own ship.

After working his way up to positions of greater responsibility and experience, Cook was hired in 1766 by the Royal Society to travel to the Pacific Ocean to observe and record the transit of Venus across the Sun. Following this, Cook's next orders were to search the south Pacific for Terra Australis Incognita, the great southern continent that many believed must extend around the southern pole. He came across New Zealand, which Abel Tasman had discovered in 1642, and spent some months there, charting the coastline. Nearly a year later, Cook set sail west for New Holland, which was later to become Australia.

1841  -             One of the last ships with religious refugees from Germany 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 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.

One of the last ships to arrive in South Australia with religious refugees was the Skjold on 27 October 1841. Captain Hans Christian Claussen commanded the Skjold which brought over two hundred Lutheran immigrants. Several of these Lutheran migrants were among the first to start the South Australian settlements of Lobethal and Bethany. Lobethal was started by about thirty families who, between them, acquired about two hundred acres, and paved the way for the German settlement of the region.

1904  -             The first underground line of the New York subway opens.

The New York City Subway was the world's first underground and underwater rail system. Elevated train lines around the city were not enough to facilitate the easy flow of increasing traffic, and it was seen that there was a need for another method to clear street congestion and spread city development into the outlying areas. Chief engineer William Barclay Parsons oversaw almost 8000 men constructing the 33.6km route. The subway officially began operating on 27 October 1904. Today, the New York City Subway has the world's largest fleet of subway cars, at over 6,400 cars as of 2002.

1939  -             British actor and comedian John "Fawlty Towers" Cleese is born.

John Cleese was born John Marwood Cleese on 27 October 1939, in Somerset, England. He showed his talent for comedy early in his life, although it was not always appreciated. He was expelled from Clifton College in Bristol, for painting footsteps to suggest that the school's statue of Field Marshal Douglas Haig had got down from his plinth and gone to the toilet.

It was whilst studying law that he joined Cambridge Footlights Revue, where he met his future writing partner Graham Chapman. Soon he began writing for BBC radio, working on the Dick Emery Show. Further work led to his association with British comedians such as future Goodies Bill Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor, Frank Muir, Jo Kendall, Marty Feldman, Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, Dick Vosburgh and future Monty Python members Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin.

Cleese developed the popular Monty Python series for many years, and continued to write British comedy, including episodes of Doctor in the House. After leaving the Monty Python Show, Cleese went on to star in one of his best known roles, the awful hotel manager Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, which he co-wrote with Connie Booth. Cleese based Basil Fawlty on a real character, Donald Sinclare, whom he encountered when the Monty Python team was staying at the Gleneagles hotel in Torquay whilst filming Monty Python's Flying Circus. During the Pythons' stay, Sinclare threw Eric Idle's briefcase out of the hotel "in case it contained a bomb", complained about Terry Gilliam's "American" table manners, and threw a bus timetable at another guest after they dared to ask the time of the next bus to town.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1886  -             The first ticker-tape parade is held as the Statue of Liberty is dedicated.

The Statue of Liberty stands on Liberty Island, formerly Bedloe's Island, in New York Harbor. Its full title is "Liberty Enlightening the World". Gustave Eiffel was the Structural Engineer of the Statue of Liberty and its Sculptor was Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. The Statue was completed in Paris in June 1884, presented to America by the people of France on 4 July 1884, then dismantled and shipped to US in 1885 as 350 individual pieces in 214 crates. In response, the American community in Paris gave a return gift to the French of a bronze replica of the Statue of Liberty, standing about 11 metres high, and sculpted to a quarter-size scale.

The Statue of Liberty was dedicated on 28 October 1886. Over a million people lined the streets for the dedication. The New York Times reported that as the parade passed by, the office boys " from a hundred windows began to unreel the spools of tape that record the fateful messages of the 'ticker.' In a moment the air was white with curling streamers." This began the tradition that came to be known as the ticker-tape parade.

1916  -             Australia's first referendum on conscription fails.

William Morris 'Billy' Hughes was Australia's seventh Prime Minister. Born in London on 25 September 1862, he migrated to Australia in 1884. After many years of wandering from job to job, he established a mixed business which sold, among other things, political pamphlets. As a result, his shop came popular with young reformers, and listening to their discussions piqued Hughes's interest in politics. In 1894, he won pre-selection for the seat of Lang, allowing his debut into state parliament.

Although initially opposed to Federation, Hughes saw the advantages Federation offered for his particular areas of interest, those being defence, immigration and industrial relations. He won the federal seat of West Sydney in 1901, and held it until 1916, being an eloquent speaker and shrewd tactician. During the opening years of World War I, Hughes, as attorney-general, was active in his ministry. When Prime Minister Andrew Fisher resigned due to ill health in 1915, Hughes was chosen to succeed him.

One of the most controversial of Hughes's policies was conscription, an issue which not only created a rift in the Labor Party, but divided the young nation as well. On 28 October 1916, the first referendum to introduce compulsory military enlistment was voted on, and narrowly defeated.

Two weeks later, on 13 November, the Labor Party expelled Hughes over his support for conscription. However, just a few days earlier Hughes had formed the Nationalist Party which incorporated both expelled Labor Party members and members of the opposition. Hughes formed a new cabinet and remained as Prime Minister, a position he retained until 1923.

1919  -             The Volstead Act is passed, resulting in the Prohibition in the USA.

Prohibition generally refers to the time between 1920 and 1933, during which the Eighteenth Amendment was in place. The Eighteenth Amendment, forbidding the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes," was passed by Congress and ratified on 16 January 1919. The ensuing Volstead Act, which made provisions for the enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment, was passed on 28 October 1919.

Advocates of Prohibition were disturbed by the other vices, such as gambling and prostitution, which many saloonkeepers introduced in an attempt to increase their profits. The strength of the movement grew after the formation of the Anti-Saloon League in 1893. Prohibition began on 16 January 1920, when the Eighteenth Amendment went into effect.

1962  -             The Cuban Missile Crisis ends, after bringing the world to the brink of nuclear warfare.

Cuba is an island between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately 150 km south of Florida, in the USA. In 1962, it was controlled by a socialist government under Fidel Castro. Castro had already sought support from the Soviet Union after the Cuban Revolution of the 1950s, during which the country had adopted Marxist ideals. This had put the country in direct conflict with the USA, and Cuba needed a powerful ally.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was seen as the point in the Cold War when the USA and USSR were closest to engaging in nuclear warfare. Reconnaissance photographs taken by a high-altitude U-2 spy plane on 14 October 1962 revealed that Soviet missiles were under construction in Cuba. A tense standoff ensued for two weeks, during which the USA placed a naval quarantine around Cuba to prevent further weapons being conveyed to the island.

It was not until 28 October 1962 that Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announced that he would dismantle the installations and return the missiles to the Soviet Union, and remove Soviet light bombers from Cuba. This occurred on the condition that the United States would not invade Cuba.

2005  -             A Dutch-Mauritian research team discovers an intact layer of dodo bones, allowing for the first modern research into the extinct dodo.

The dodo was a flightless bird believed to be endemic to the island of Mauritius. Standing about a metre tall and weighing around 20kg, the dodo had only small, rudimentary wings which were useless for flight.

The dodo was first sighted by Dutch travellers, who originally referred to it by the name of "Walghvogel". This translated to "wallow bird" or "loathsome bird" because the early travellers who killed it for food found the meat to be tough, as they cooked it for too long. The dodo's existence was first recorded by vice-admiral Wybrand van Warwijck in 1598 and, eight years later, was described in more detail by Cornelis Matelief de Jonge.

Once the island of Mauritius was settled, dodo habitat was cleared, while new species were introduced, including dogs and pigs which killed the dodos, cats and rats which were a threat to the chicks, and Crab-eating Macaques, which ate the eggs of the dodo. Controversy surrounds the date the last dodo was sighted, but it was believed to have been between 1662 and 1690.

On 28 October 2005, a research team consisting of Dutch and Mauritian scientists uncovered the first known intact layer of dodo bones, along with botanical matter at a Mauritian sugar cane plantation. The find included the bones of adult birds and chicks, along with part of a beak. It also included the bones of other extinct bird species and some tortoise bones, all together in a mass grave which may possibly have been due to a natural disaster. The discovery opened the way for the first modern research into the dodo bird.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1880  -             Bushranger Ned Kelly is sentenced to hang.

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 targeting 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. The Kelly brothers were killed, but Ned was shot twenty-eight times in the legs, being 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.

1929  -             The stock market on Wall Street plunges dramatically, sparking off the Great Depression.

During the 1920s, the stock market boomed in the US. General optimism was high as businessmen and economists believed that the new Federal Reserve would stabilise the economy, and that the pace of technological progress guaranteed rapidly rising living standards and expanding markets. By 1928 and 1929 the Federal Reserve, in an attempt to curb the unnaturally high growth of the stock market, raised interest rates to make borrowing money for stock speculation difficult and costly.

An initial recession ensued and stock prices began to fluctuate. The unrealistic stock market began to catch up with the economy: stock prices were out of proportion to actual profits, and sales of goods and the construction of factories were falling rapidly while stock values continued to climb. Then, on October 24, 1929, people began dumping their stocks quickly. Following the weekend, a new wave of selling began. 29 October 1929, also known as Black Tuesday, saw the stock market on Wall Street collapse as prices plunged and wiped out all the financial gains of the previous year. By mid-November, 30 billion dollars had disappeared, which was the same amount of money spent during World War I. The Depression lasted from 1929 to 1941, when the USA entered WWII.

1947  -             American actor Richard Dreyfuss is born.

Actor Richard Dreyfuss was born on 29 October 1947. After spending his early childhood in Brooklyn, his family moved to Los Angeles. He landed various smaller roles on TV shows such as Peyton Place and The Big Valley, then earned small parts in films such as American Graffiti, The Graduate and Dillinger. He then starred in hits such as Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. After starring in The Goodbye Girl, he became the youngest actor at the time to win the Best Actor Award.

Following this success, a relatively nondescript acting career was revived when he threw off his cocaine addiction following a serious car accident, and landed a major role in Down and Out in Beverly Hills. During the 1990s he held starring in roles in movies such as Postcards From the edge, What About Bob, The American President and Mr Holland's Opus. He has continued to be regarded as one of Hollywood's most versatile and talented actors, in films, television and on the stage.

1982  -             Lindy Chamberlain is convicted of the murder of her baby daughter after the child's disappearance at Ayers Rock.

Uluru, formerly Ayers Rock, is a huge monolith in central Australia. It has long been a popular tourist destination, but gained a new notoriety on the night of 17 August 1980, when two-month-old Azaria Chamberlain went missing from the nearby camping ground. When baby Azaria disappeared, her mother Lindy claimed that a dingo had stolen her baby. No trace of the child was ever found, although her bloodstained clothes were found a week later by another tourist. At the first inquest into her death, commencing in February 1981, it was found that the likely cause of Azaria's disappearance was a dingo attack.

Police and prosecutors, unhappy with this judgement, moved for a second inquest which began on 13 September 1981. This time, the new finding was made that Azaria had been killed with a pair of scissors and held by a small adult hand until she stopped bleeding. Lindy Chamberlain was convicted of murder on 29 October 1982, and her husband Michael was found guilty of being an accessory.

Lindy Chamberlain's acquittal came four years later when a matinee jacket worn by Azaria was found partially buried in a dingo's lair at Ayers Rock. New evidence was presented showing that earlier methods of testing evidence had been unreliable, and no conviction could be made on those grounds. Both Chamberlains were officially pardoned, Lindy was released, and eventually awarded AU$1.3 million in compensation for wrongful imprisonment.

1999  -             Over 10,000 are killed and about 1.5 million left homeless after a super-cyclone hits India.

The cyclone which hit India on 29 October 1999 came to be classified as a super-cyclone due to the combination of very high winds and a powerful tidal surge. The cyclone, with winds of over 250kph, was the second to hit the state of Orissa in two weeks. A powerful tidal wave also swept across low-lying plains along the coast, wiping out entire villages, with flooding reaching inland as far as 16km. Whilst true figures will never be known, it is estimated that over 10,000 people were killed, and 1.5 million left homeless.

Two years later, Orissa's worst monsoon floods in 50 years killed nearly 100 people and destroyed hundreds of thousands of houses. Many of those affected were still living in temporary shelter after the 1999 cyclone.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1451  -             Christopher Columbus, discoverer of the Americas, is born.

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 in 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.

Although passionate about converting the world to Christianity, Columbus fell out with the Spanish King and Queen, as he repeatedly suggested slavery as a way to profit from the new colonies. These suggestions were all rejected by the monarchs, who preferred to view the natives as future members of Christendom. Columbus was stripped of his governorship of Hispaniola for mismanagement and his treatment of rebellious settlers and Indians. Thus, although he became wealthy as a result of his explorations, he was not given the rewards he felt he was due. Columbus died on 20 May 1506, still believing that he had found the route to the Asian continent.

1890  -             Oodnadatta, in far north South Australia, is surveyed and declared a township, ahead of becoming a significant railway terminus.

Oodnadatta is a tiny town in the remote region of far north South Australia. With a 2006 population of just 277, it lies approximately 1,011 km from Adelaide. Close to the edge of the Simpson Desert, its name is derived from the Arrernte word "utnadata", meaning "blossom of the mulga".

The first explorer to arrive in the region was John McDouall Stuart, who explored and mapped the area in 1859. The Overland Telegraph line followed in the wake of Stuart's exploration. Soon after, the railway line from Adelaide was also constructed, with its terminus at Warrina. Oodnadatta was surveyed on 30 October 1890, and on that day it was also declared a Government township. Less than three months later, the railway line was opened from Warrina to Oodnadatta, and Oodnadatta became the terminus of the Great Northern Railway, later The Ghan.

With the development of the railway, Oodnadatta became a busy town in South Australia's far north, being a government service centre and supply depot for the surrounding pastoral properties. A post office was established in 1891, and an Anglican Sunday School a year later. A General store and Butcher also followed, among other businesses. Until the railway was extended to Alice Springs in 1929, the town was largely supplied from Alice Springs by Afghan camel trains. Oodnadatta's importance continued through to World War II, when the Australian Defence Forces established facilities to service troop trains and fighter aircraft en route to Darwin.

In 1981, the railway line was moved to the west, and the town became a residential freehold town for indigenous Australians.

1938  -             Actor Orson Welles creates panic as his radio broadcast of 'War of the Worlds' is taken as live action.

Orson Welles was an actor and director of unusual talent. Born in 1915 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA, by 1934 he was acting and directing on American radio. In 1938, Welles and the Mercury Theatre began weekly broadcasts of short radio plays based on classic or popular literary works.

The night of 30 October 1938 began as any other peaceful Sunday evening. Then, at 8:15 pm, there was a report on the radio that Martians had landed in New Jersey. Almost instantly, people listening responded to the shocking news, with reports of panic coming in from across the country. Unknown to the people, Welles and the Mercury Theatre were performing an adaptation of the science fiction novel by H G Wells, "War of the Worlds", in which Martians invade the Earth. The adaptation involved performing the play so that it sounded like a news broadcast about an invasion from Mars, a technique which heightened the dramatic effect. The program created such panic among some listeners who found it completely convincing, that they failed to hear the short explanations, every forty minutes, assuring the audience it was just a radio play.

The broadcasters of the program, upon hearing of the furore created, quickly reassured the public that the technique used in the program would not be repeated. Orson Welles also expressed his regrets.

1944  -             WWII Holocaust diarist, Anne Frank, is deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

Anne Frank was born on 12 June 1929. As persecution of the Jews escalated in WWII, she was forced to go into hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands. She, her family and four other people spent two years in an annex of rooms above her fathers office in Amsterdam. After two years of living in this way, they were betrayed to the Nazis and deported to concentration camps. On 30 October 1944, Anne was deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Bergen-Belsen was in Lower Saxony, southwest of the town of Bergen, near Celle.

At the age of 15, Anne Frank died of typhus at Bergen-Belsen. The date was March, 1945, just two months before the end of the war. Anne Frank's legacy is her diary. It was given to her as a simple autograph/notebook for her thirteenth birthday. In it she recorded not only the personal details of her life, but also her observations of living under Nazi occupation, until the final entry of 1 August 1944.

1948  -             Australian actor and comedian, Garry McDonald aka Norman Gunston, is born.

Garry McDonald was born on 30 October 1948. One of the most famous characters he created was Norman Gunston, nicknamed "the little Aussie bleeder", as he always wore patches of tissue paper on his face from where he had supposedly nicked himself shaving. As the satirical TV reporter's persona he took on, he interviewed a variety of celebrities and media personalities, most of them unsuspecting of his direct and confrontational reporting technique. Norman Gunston was undaunted by the outright rudeness of some personalities: his interview with Keith Moon of 'The Who' was famous for his naively direct manner, and refusal to be fazed by Moon's arrogance.

McDonald also created the character of long-suffering Arthur Beare in the ABC series 'Mother and Son', in which Beare's stubborn and strong-willed mother, Maggie, regularly subjects her son to her selective dementia.

Cheers - John

The Belmont Bear wrote:

---

Thanks rocky, I still remember when Norman Gunston first started back in the 70s as the TV reporter from Wollongong in The Aunty Jack Show. I don't know if people remember but Keith Moon from the Rolling Stones Who tipped a glass of vodka champagne over his head and stormed out telling him to "p..off you Australian slag" - sometimes poms just have no sense of humour. I reckon in later years Borat has probably come the closest to copying that Gunston style of interview.

Transcript of that interview - http://www.thewho.net/australia/Gunston.html

---

Sorry Rocky - of course Keith Moon was the drummer from the Who that was just a slip of my mind - sometimes I type faster than I think which is a worry because I can only type 10 words a minute.  As far as whether it was vodka or champagne the transcript says it was champagne and the Wikepedia account says it was vodka. Doesn't really matter Keith Moon tipped a glass of something over his head - where do you find all this great info ?

Gday...

1755  -             Marie Antoinette, queen of France and wife of Louis XVI, is born.

Marie Antoinette was born in Vienna on 2 November 1755, daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and his wife Empress Maria Theresa. When a new peace treaty was signed between Austria and France, it was hoped that a royal marriage would seal the peace. At age fourteen, Marie Antoinette was chosen to marry the dauphin in France, who became King Louis XVI four years later.

Marie Antoinette embraced the lavish lifestyle with enthusiasm. She had little regard for the poor and struggling peasants, and spent money frivolously. For her attitude, she became the symbol of the people's hatred for the old regime during the French Revolution. When the French Revolution began, Marie Antionette supported the old regime. When the National Convention established the French Republic in 1792, Marie Antoinette and the king were imprisoned. Antoinette was beheaded on 16 October 1793.

1868  -             New Zealand becomes the first country to adopt a standard national time.

New Zealand is an island nation in the South Pacific, located approximately 2,250 km to the southeast of Australia. Although the first European discoverer was Abel Tasman, in 1642, New Zealand was claimed for Great Britain by James Cook in November 1769. Following Cook's visit to the islands, they were settled by whalers, missionaries, and traders. The islands were annexed by Great Britain early in 1840, and the first permanent European settlement established on 22 January 1840. Early in February, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed by over 500 Mori chiefs of New Zealand and the British Governor William Hobson, signalling that New Zealand was now an official colony of Great Britain. Initially part of the Australian colony of New South Wales, New Zealand became a separate colony in 1841 and attained self-government in 1852.

New Zealand is believed to be the first country in the world to adopt a standard time zone, doing so on 2 November 1868. The standard was known as New Zealand Mean Time (NZMT). This was even before the Greenwich Mean Time zone divisions were officially adopted in 1884. In 1941, clocks were advanced half an hour in a move which was made permanent in 1946, putting New Zealand exactly 12 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.

1903  -             Manly Council (Sydney) rescinds its by-law prohibiting bathing in the ocean during daylight hours.

In the 1800s, a Manly Council by-law (Sydney) prohibited swimming in the ocean during daylight hours, specifically between 6am and 8pm. William Henry Gocher was the proprietor of a local newspaper, who disagreed with the law enough to openly defy it. In his newspaper, the 'Manly and North Sydney News', he announced his intention to go bathing in the ocean during the daylight hours on 2 October 1902.

Gocher flouted the law three times before he was actually arrested. However, he maintained his campaign against the bathing laws, and a year later, on 2 November 1903, the Manly Council rescinded the by-law that prohibited bathing during daylight hours, specifically, after 7:00am. A new by-law was issued permitting bathing in daylight hours, but emphasising the need for neck-to-knee swimwear for anyone over 8 years old. Men and women were also required to swim at separate times.

1922  -             Qantas establishes its first regular passenger air service between Charleville and Cloncurry.

Qantas is Australia's national airline service and the name was formerly an acronym for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". The inspiration for Qantas came when, in March 1919, the Australian Federal Government offered a £10,000 prize for the first Australians to fly from England to Australia within 30 days. The challenge was taken up by W Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness, former Australian Flying Corps officers who had served at Gallipoli. The men were promised sponsorship for the race by wealthy grazier Sir Samuel McCaughey, but McCaughey died before funding could be delivered.

Undaunted, Fysh and McGinness undertook an assignment from the Defence Department to survey part of the route of the race, travelling almost 2200km from Longreach in northwestern Queensland to Katherine in the Northern Territory in a Model T Ford. The journey took 51 days and covered territory which no motor vehicle had negotiated before, and the difficulties highlighted the need for a regular aerial service to link remote settlements in the Australian outback.

Fysh and McGinness sought sponsorship once again, but this time for a regular air service, rather than a one-off race. Wealthy grazier Fergus McMaster, whom McGinness had once assisted in the remote outback when his car broke an axle, was happy to fund the venture. McMaster also garnered further investment from his own business acquaintances. Originally purchased under the name of The Western Queensland Auto Aero Service Limited, the air service became the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services, or Qantas, in November 1920.

Based in Winton, western Queensland, the original Qantas fleet was made up of just two biplanes: an Avro 504K with a 100 horsepower water-cooled Sunbeam Dyak engine and a Royal Aircraft Factory BE2E with a 90 horsepower air-cooled engine. The mens former flight sergeant Arthur Baird was signed on as aircraft mechanic. Initially, the service operated just for joyrides and demonstrations, until the first major air contract was landed in November 1922.

On 2 November 1922, Qantas commenced its first regular airmail and passenger service, between Cloncurry and Charleville. The first passenger was 84-year-old outback pioneer Alexander Kennedy, who flew on the Longreach-Winton-McKinlay-Cloncurry leg of the inaugural mail service from Charleville to Cloncurry.

1917  -             Britain declares its intention to establish a new Jewish state within Palestine.

On 2 November 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour submitted a declaration of intent to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. This letter, to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, became known as the Balfour Declaration, and stated that the British government supported Zionist plans for a Jewish "national home" in Palestine. Some of the motivation for the Declaration came from Britain's hopes to increase Jewish support for the Allied effort in World War I.

The Balfour Declaration was unpopular among Arabs in Palestine, who feared that their own rights would be subjugated with the creation of a Jewish homeland. Increased tension between Jews and Arabs during the post-war period caused delays in the enacting of the Balfour Declaration. However, after the atrocities to the Jewish people during the Holocaust in WWII, the Zionist cause gained much support from the international community, resulting in the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.

2000  -             An American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts became the first permanent residents of the International Space Station.

The International Space Station (ISS) is located in "low Earth" orbit around our planet at an altitude of approximately 360km. It is a joint project of 6 space agencies: the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Russian Federal Space Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Canadian Space Agency (CSA/ASC), Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) and the European Space Agency (ESA).

On 2 November 2000, American astronaut William Shepherd, together with Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko, became the first permanent residents of the International Space Station. The mission of this first crew was to activate life support systems and experiments, while continuing stowage and checkout of the new station. They also assisted with the ongoing assembly of the Space Station and conducted the first station-based spacewalks. The turnaround for crews is four months, and so far, only Americans and Russians have inhabited the Space Station.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1804  -             George Caley crosses the Hawkesbury River in his unsuccessful attempt cross the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.

George Caley was born at Craven, Yorkshire, England on 10 June 1770, within a few days of James Cooks observation of the transit of Venus in Tahiti. He undertook a mere four years of formal schooling before leaving to work in his fathers stables. However, his interest in farriery led him to study botany, and eventually to a position in the Kew Gardens. In 1798, renowned botanist Sir Joseph Banks appointed him to go to New South Wales as a collector; Caley duly arrived in Sydney in April 1800.

In New South Wales, Caley undertook extensive studies of the native flora and fauna, and he was the first to study the eucalyptus species in detail. One of his first tasks was to try to procure a platypus, as a drawing sent back to England in 1797 was deemed a hoax. Whilst collecting specimens of various plants and animals for Sir Joseph Banks, he visited Western Port and Jervis Bay, the Hunter River, Norfolk Island and Van Diemen's Land. However, his real desire lay in crossing the Blue Mountains, a feat attempted unsuccessfully by numerous previous expeditions. He was motivated by an enthusiastic pride of going farther than any person has yet been. From Parramatta, he headed in a direct line for the range which Governor Phillip had named the Carmarthen Hills, specifically, the most obvious peak now known as Mount Banks. He took with him three strong men, believed to be convicts. On 3 November 1804, Caley crossed the Hawkesbury River, and continued west on his mission.

Caley took a different approach from that of previous explorers who had tried to cross the Blue Mountains: he sought out the ridgetops, rather than travelling through the river valleys. However, like others before him, Caley was confounded by the unpredictability of the terrain, describing himself as thunderstruck with the roughness of the country. His naming of features such as Devils Wilderness, Dark Valley and Dismal Dingle reflected his frustration. The men reached Mount Banks on 14 November, where the precipitous cliffs of the upper Grose Valley prevented them from penetrating any further inland. He was forced to return to Sydney, and later wrote to Banks the roughness of the country I found beyond description. I cannot give you a more expressive idea than travelling over the tops of houses in a town. He returned to Parramatta on 23 November, unsuccessful, but having reached a point further west than any previous expedition had done.

1829  -             Charles Sturt sets out to solve the mystery of the westward-flowing rivers.

Captain Charles Sturt was born in India in 1795. He came to Australia in 1827, and soon after undertook to solve the mystery of where the inland rivers of New South Wales flowed. Because they appeared to flow towards the centre of the continent, the belief was held that they emptied into an inland sea. Drawing on the skills of experienced bushman and explorer Hamilton Hume, Sturt first traced the Macquarie River as far as the Darling, which he named after Governor Darling.

Pleased with Sturt's discoveries, the following year Governor Darling sent Sturt to trace the course of the Murrumbidgee River, and to see whether it joined to the Darling. Sturt's party departed Sydney on 3 November 1829. It was Sturt's habit to carry a collapsible whaleboat on all his excursions, and this was the one where it proved its worth. On this expedition, Sturt discovered that the Murrumbidgee River flowed into the Murray (previously named the Hume), as did the Darling. By following the Murray in the whaleboat, Sturt found that it flowed to the southern ocean, emptying out at Lake Alexandrina on the south coast.

1942  -             The Australian flag is hoisted as Kokoda is retaken by the Allies, declaring the success of the Australian troops, aided by the Papua New Guinean villagers.

During World War II, Papua New Guinea was the site of an invasion by Japanese troops, which brought the threat of Japanese invasion of Australia closer. Beginning with the invasion of Rabaul in January 1942, the serious Japanese offensive was launched in the South Pacific. The first of over 100 Japanese bombings of the Australian mainland began in February, and on 8 March, the Japanese invaded the New Guinean mainland, capturing Lae and Salamaua.

Port Moresby was the next major target, and in May 1942, the Japanese launched an invasion fleet to Port Moresby from Rabaul. After being repelled by US forces in the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Japanese then sought to invade Port Moresby from the northern coast, over the rugged Owen Stanley Range via the Kokoda Trail, which linked to the southern coast of Papua New Guinea. Kokoda village itself fell to the Japanese after an intense engagement on 29 July which killed Lieutenant Colonel William Owen, the commanding officer of the 39th Battalion, which was virtually the only Australian force resisting the enemy invasion through the Range.

Further battalions were dispatched to retake ground along the Kokoda Track. Fighting remained intense, and casualties were high. With much assistance from the Papua New Guinean natives, dubbed "Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels", the Australian and the US troops turned back the Japanese forces, which then retreated to bases at Buna, Gona and Sanananda. On 2 November, a patrol from the 2/31st Battalion found that Kokoda village had been abandoned by the Japanese. On 3 November 1942, Major General George Vasey, Commander of the 7th Division, raised the Australian flag once again over Kokoda in a display of confidence in the success of the campaign.

1957  -             Animal welfare organisations are outraged as Russia launches a dog into space.

Laika, the Russian space dog, was part Siberian husky. Prior to being enlisted into the Soviet space program, she was a stray on Moscow's streets. On 3 November 1957, Laika was launched into space aboard the Sputnik 2 spacecraft. She was fitted with monitors to check her heartbeat and other vital signs and was reported to be calm during the first hours of the flight.

Animal welfare organisations expressed outrage at the Russians sending a dog into space for experimental purposes. The RSPCA was inundated with calls protesting the flight, while the National Canine Defence League called upon dog lovers to observe a minute's silence for each day Laika was in space. Whilst Laika achieved fame for her part, and provided valuable information about the prospects for human space travel, fears of the animals welfare groups were indeed founded. Sadly, new evidence released in 2002 indicated that Laika died of stress and overheating within a few hours of launch, contrary to the Russian position that she died painlessly when life support gave out after a few days.

1973  -             NASA launches the Mariner 10, which later becomes the first space probe to reach Mercury.

The Mariner 10 space probe, the last spacecraft in the Mariner program, was launched on 3 November 1973. It was the first to use the gravitational pull of one planet, Venus, to reach another, Mercury. Its mission was to measure the atmospheric, surface, and physical characteristics of Mercury and Venus. After taking some 4000 photographs of Venus, Mariner 10 then flew by Mercury, taking the first photographs detailed enough to reveal the planet's cratered surface and a faint atmosphere of predominantly helium.

1997  -             Europe feels the effects as striking truck drivers blockade French roads and ports.

On the evening of the first Sunday in November 1997, truck drivers in France began strike action, blocking access to roads and the Channel ports. By Monday, 3 November 1997, their action had already brought French ports and border crossings to a standstill, and the effects were being felt in other ports across Europe. France is the crossroads of Europe for goods from Spain and Britain headed for other European countries. The strikers focussed on stopping heavy goods vehicles at ports, oil refineries and major roads by erecting heavy concrete barricades or simply using their laden vehicles. Trucks, unable to board ferries, were lined up for kilometres on roads approaching ports all across Europe.

The strike action followed a stalemate in pay talks between employers and the truckers' union. The strike action ended after five days, when France's biggest transport union, representing about 75 percent of the country's truckers, signed a deal with employers. The deal called for a 6 percent raise for truckers and a 4 percent raise for office workers in the transport industry. The drivers' increase was also extended to bus and ambulance drivers, and all raises were retroactive to October 1.

Cheers - John

Thanks again John, there has always been friendly rivalry between Newcastle and Hobart about who can actually claim to be Australia's 2nd oldest city. In 1801 a settlement called Kings Town was established at Coal River the site of present day Newcastle. The colonies first coal export was mined and sent to India at that time. The settlement was abandoned in 1802 and re established on the 15th March, 1804 renamed Coal River, then Kingston and finally Newcastle. The first settlement at present day Hobart (Sullivans Cove) was on 20th February, 1804 after relocating from Risdens Cove which had been settled on 9th September, 1803. The first settlement at Newcastle is older than Hobart by about 3 years the 2nd is younger than Hobart by about 3 weeks. If you lived in the city of Parramatta you would probably argue with either of us laying claim to the title.

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.

1939  -             Nazi leader Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt.

Adolf Hitler was born on 20 April 1889 in Austria. In 1921, shortly after Germany's humiliating defeat in World War 1, he became leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party, commonly known as the Nazi Party. He then became chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and dictator, or Führer, of Nazi Germany between 1934 and 1945. Hitler was notorious for his heinous massacres of Jews, Romanys and other non-Aryan groups during World War II: these massacres became known as the Holocaust.

Over fifteen attempts were made to assassinate German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler between 1939 and 1945. The attempt on 8 November 1939 was made by George Elser, a swiss carpenter and watch maker who resented the Nazi control over labour unions. Elser placed a time bomb in a pillar behind the podium where Hitler was to give a speech in the Burgerbrau Beer Cellar. It was due to detonate at 9:20am. Hitler, however, ended his speech at 9:12 and departed suddenly. Eight others were killed and 65 wounded when the bomb exploded, but Hitler was nowhere in sight.

Elser was arrested and detained in Sachsenhausen concentration camp for the duration of the war. He was executed on 16 April 1945, shortly before WWII ended.

1987  -             An IRA bomb explodes in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, killing thirteen.

Enniskillen is the county town of Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, close to the border with the Irish Republic. On 8 November 1987, a bomb exploded during a Remembrance Day service in the town, killing 11 and injuring 63. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher declaimed the bombing as "utterly barbaric". Following the attack, the IRA lost much support its cause may have once engendered.

One of those killed was nurse Marie Wilson: her father Gordon Wilson, who was also injured in the attack, went on to become a leading campaigner for an end to violence in Northern Ireland. However, the tone of his campaign was one of forgiveness for the perpetrators of the tragedy. Ten years later, on Remembrance Day 1997, Gerry Adams, the leader of the IRA's political wing Sinn Féin, formally apologised for the bombing.

Cheers - John