Jules,  I'm not too worried that like you I also lived through those events what will really worry me is when I can't remember them happening...

Gday...

1483  -             Martin Luther, German theologian and catalyst to the Protestant Reformation, is born.

Martin Luther was born on 10 November 1483, in Eisleben, Germany. At age 17 he enrolled in the University of Erfurt, gaining a Bachelor's degree in 1502 and a Master's degree in 1505. According to his father's wishes, Luther then enrolled in the law school of that university. A terrifying near-encounter with a lightning bolt in 1505 led Luther to abandon his law studies and enter a monastery, dedicated to serving God.

Luther struggled with the Roman Catholic church's demands that one could only earn favour with God through good works. Through his in-depth study of the Scriptures, he reached the realisation that salvation is a gift of God's grace, received by faith alone and by trust in Christ's death on the cross as the only means to that salvation.

It was this that led him to openly question the teachings of the Roman Catholic church, in particular, the nature of penance, the authority of the pope and the usefulness of indulgences. The Reformation of the church began on 31 October 1517, with Luther's act of posting his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The document contained an attack on papal abuses and the sale of indulgences by church officials.

Controversy raged over the posting of the 95 Theses. Luther was excommunicated several years later from the Roman Catholic church for his attacks on the wealth and corruption of the papacy, and his belief that salvation would be granted on the basis of faith alone rather than by works. In 1521, the same year in which he was excommunicated, Luther was summoned before the Diet of Worms. The Diet was a general assembly of the estates of the Holy Roman Empire that occurred in Worms, Germany, from January to May in 1521. When an edict of the Diet called for Luther's seizure, his friends took him for safekeeping to Wartburg, the castle of Elector Frederick III of Saxony. Here, Luther continued to write his prolific theological works, which greatly influenced the direction of the Protestant Reformation movement.

1791  -             The whaling industry in Australia, in which whales in Australian waters would be nearly hunted to extinction, begins.

The whaling industry in Australia began on 10 November 1791, just three years after the First Fleet arrived on Australian shores. Samuel Enderby Jnr, born in 1756 in England, was the son of Samuel Enderby, who established the whaling and sealing firm of Samuel Enderby & Sons. In 1791, Enderby Jnr arranged for whalers to carry convicts to Port Jackson in the Third Fleet, following reports from earlier captains of masses of whales in the southern oceans. Thus began the whaling industry which hunted the southern right whale virtually to extinction within just fifty years. One hundred and fifty years later, the humpback whale suffered the same fate.

It is only in more recent years that animal protection laws have allowed the whale numbers to increase. However, whales in southern waters are once again at risk from Japanese whalers who continue to flout the resolutions of the International Whaling Commission.

1871  -             Henry Morton Stanley greets missing missionary and explorer David Livingstone in Africa with the immortal words, "Dr Livingstone, I presume?"

Scottish-born David Livingstone spent over 30 years as a missionary in Africa, extensively exploring the continent's interior. 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. In 1855, he discovered and named the spectacular Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River.

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 him down 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 Livingstone, weakened from dysentery, died less than two years later, on 30 April 1873.

1885  -             Gottlieb Daimler invents the first gas-engined motorcycle.

The first motorcycle was actually a two-cylinder steam-powered creation, invented by American Sylvester Howard Roper in 1867. The predecessor to the motorcycle, however, was invented by German engine manufacturer Gottlieb Daimler on 10 November 1885. Daimler used the gas-powered four-stroke internal combustion engine invented by engineer Nicolaus August Otto in 1876, and attached it to a wooden bike. The new vehicle had one wheel in the front and one in the back, and a smaller spring-loaded outrigger wheel on each side. Each wheel was an iron-banded wooden-spoked wagon-type.

Daimler later teamed up with Karl Benz to form the Daimler-Benz Corporation, going on to build automobiles, rather than developing the motorcycle further.

Cheers - John

1880....Ned Kelly, I saw on the news the other day that they are turning the 'Old Melbourne Jail' into a motel and the cells will be turned into rooms. I wonder what the noose will be for? Personally, I think they should leave it as it is. It was sad to see Pentridge turned into residental area. I went on a tour of the place just before they pulled most of it down, very very interesting.

1975...and what a day in history that was. Gough never did get his wish of "God save the Governor General"


Always good reads Rocky, just don't have anything to say all the time.

Gday...

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.

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.

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 World War II Japanese bombings raids against Australia occurs.

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 targeted. 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...

1850  -             Novelist and poet, Robert Louis Stevenson, is born.

Robert Louis Stevenson was born on 13 November 1850, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Originally studying law, he never practised and instead devoted himself to writing. One of the most well-read adventure writers of the eighteenth century, he is best known for novels such as 'Kidnapped', 'Treasure Island' and 'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'. He was also a poet, and published 'A Child's Garden of Verses' in 1885.

Stevenson suffered from tuberculosis for much of his life. Seeking a climate more favourable to his health, he and his family settled in Western Samoa in 1889. The natives regarded him with affection, and called him Tusitala, meaning "teller of tales". Stevenson died in Samoa on 3 December 1894.

1862  -             Lewis Carroll begins writing 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a work of children's fiction by British mathematician and author Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. The story of a bored girl named Alice, who had amazing adventures after she fell through a rabbit-hole, was made up by Carroll as he rowed up the Thames River with three young girls, Lorina, Alice and Edith Liddell. Alice, aged 10, asked Carroll to write down the story: Carroll began writing down the story on 13 November 1862, entitling it "Alice's Adventures Under Ground".

A longer version of the story was later published under the title of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. A sequel was published in 1871 as "Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There". In 1886 a facsimile of Alice's Adventures under Ground, the original manuscript Dogdson gave Alice, was also published.

1970  -             Half a million people are killed as a devastating cyclone hits East Pakistan.

The area once known as East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) lies in the Ganges Delta, a densely populated, low-lying region of the Indian sub-continent. Typically experiencing a humid, warm rainy monsoon from June to October, the area is often hit by tropical cyclones that form in the warm waters of the Bay of Bengal.

On the night of 12 November 1970, a tropical cyclone in the Bay of Bengal approached the coast of East Pakistan. In the early hours of November 13, winds exceeding 190 km/h, combined with an exceptionally high tide of 5 to 6 metres, drove a tidal surge into the region, carrying ocean water many kilometres inland. Widespread flooding drowned many people in their homes before they even knew the cyclone had hit. The official death toll was posted at 150,000, with 100,000 people missing, but later estimates put the figure closer to 500,000. Some researchers have reason to believe the death toll was nearly one million. The West Pakistani government failed to respond quickly to the crisis: this proved the catalyst to political turmoil which resulted in independence for Bangladesh in 1971.

1985  -             23,000 are killed after a volcanic eruption in Colombia.

Nevado del Ruiz is the northernmost historically active volcano in South America. With an elevation of 5,321m, the volcano is capped by snow and ice. Around mid-year of 1985, rumblings began in the volcano, increasing in intensity, but residents of Armero, lying in a valley beneath the shadow of the volcano some 90km from Colombia's capital city of Bogota, were told there was no danger. During the afternoon of 13 November 1985, the volcano emitted a burst of ash. Residents of Armero were ordered to evacuate, but the order was abandoned when the volcano quietened down again early in the evening.

At around 9pm local time, Nevado del Ruiz erupted. Pyroclastic flows consisting of hot gas, ash and rock melted ice and snow at the summit, forming lahars up to 50m thick that rushed down several river valleys at speeds of up to 50km per hour. Some of these lahars, which are mixtures of rock, mud, water and other debris, travelled more than 100 kilometres. Armero was buried under at least 8 metres of ash, mud and debris. Around 23,000 people in the city were killed. Armero has not been excavated. After the 1985 eruption, the government declared the site of the buried city to be "holy ground".

Nevado del Ruiz remained active for several more years, erupting again in 1991 and 1992.

2003  -             Queensland adopts maroon as its official state colour.

The colour "maroon" has long been associated with the state of Queensland because of its connection to sport in Queensland. In particular, maroon, together with gold, represent rugby league club the Brisbane Broncos.

On 13 November 2003, Queensland formally adopted the colour maroon as its official state colour. The announcement was made by the Governor in Council, and a specific shade of maroon was selected. The colour can be viewed on the Queensland Government's website, under "Flags, Emblems and Icons".

Cheers - John

Interesting read again John, so thanks for that

Re November 12
1894 - Australian inventor Lawrence Hargrave demonstrates that it is possible for man to fly.

Vaguely remembered something about Hargrave, but did not know that he was the first

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  -             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.

1920  -             Australian airline Qantas is founded.

In 1919, Australia's Federal Government offered a £10,000 prize for the first Australians to fly from England to Australia within 30 days. Two men who sought to take up the challenge were W Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness, former Australian Flying Corps officers who had served together at Gallipoli. The venture required substantial funding, and the men's plans were thwarted when a wealthy would-be sponsor died and the money was not released from his estate. However, the setback directed Fysh and McGinness toward another undertaking - that of a regular air service to remote settlements in the outback.

Fysh and McGinness were contracted by the Federal Defence Department to survey part of the original race route by motor car. The arduous journey of almost 2200km from Longreach in northwestern Queensland to Katherine in the Northern Territory in a Model T Ford highlighted the need for transport services for remote communities. After securing financing from another wealthy grazier, Fergus McMaster, the 'Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services', or Qantas, was born. McMaster stated that Qantas was founded in Winton, western Queensland, as that was the location of the only meeting the directors - McMasters, Fysh, McGinness and mechanic, former flight sergeant Arthur Baird - ever had. Papers formally establishing the service were signed in the Gresham Hotel in Brisbane on 16 November 1920. The company, which soon moved its operations to the more central town of Longreach, operated air mail services subsidised by the Australian government from 1922, 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. In 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.

1938  -             The Waterside Workers' Strike, which earns Robert Menzies the nicknam e 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.

1959  -             The original Broadway production of The Sound of Music opens.

The Sound of Music is a musical with music composed by Richard Rodgers and lyrics written by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on the book The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, a memoir written by Maria Augusta von Trapp, published in 1949. Details were changed for the stage Musical: the real Maria von Trapp married Georg von Trapp in 1927 and the family departed Austria by train to Italy before continuing on to London and the US. However, the fictionalised account of the von Trapps marriage amid the Anschluss the annexing of Austria into Nazi Germany in March 1938 and their escape on foot over the mountains to Switzerland proved popular in the Musical version.

The Sound of Music was the last musical ever written by Rodgers and Hammerstein as Oscar Hammerstein died of cancer less than a year after the Broadway premiere on 16 November 1959. The original production starred Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel. The London production opened at the Palace Theatre on 18 May 1961. The film version, which popularised songs such as Edelweiss, Do-Re-Mi and My Favorite Things, was produced in 1965 and starred Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer.

Both the stage Musical and the film were award-winning. The Broadway production received nine nominations and won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, whilst the film version won five Academy Awards. Since then, the stage production has been revived and adapted in various forms, performed in dozens of countries.

Cheers - John

Thanks John - and how far has the humble mouse evolved since then, my apple magic mouse no longer has a tail, separate buttons or wheels. It users laser for direction of movement and each different action is done by by the way that you move your finger. Although I prefer using a mouse if you have a touch screen you don't even need that.

Thanks for that John ..

Yep .. my forebears were part of that Lutheran migration .. My prussian ancestry was from the Posen Province of the day .. many settled primarily in the Riverlands where many descendants still reside these days .. I have a beautiful book (family tree) the even includes my 2 lads ..

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 Columbus 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 foetuses 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

Gday...

1789  -             Convict James Ruse is provisionally granted land at Parramatta to establish a working farm.

James Ruse was born on a farm in Cornwall around 1759. At age 22, he was convicted of burglary and, due to severe over-crowding in British gaols, spent over four years on the prison hulks in Plymouth Harbour. He was one of the convicts who was transported in the First Fleet to New South Wales, sailing on the 'Scarborough'.

Governor Phillip was aware of the need to build a working, farming colony as soon as possible. Thus, on 21 November 1789, Phillip selected Ruse to go to Rose Hill (now Parramatta), west of Sydney Town, and establish "Experiment Farm", the colony's first working farm. Ruse was allocated one and a half acres of already cleared ground and assisted in clearing a further five acres. He was given two sows and six hens and a deal was made for him to be fed and clothed from the public store for 15 months. Within a year, Ruse had successfully farmed the site, proving that it was possible for new settlers to become self-sufficient, and to feed a family with relatively little assistance to begin with.

As a result of the success of Ruse's venture, he was granted another 30 acres in March 1791, in the colony's first official, permanent land grant. This was in addition to the area he was already occupying.

1877  -             Thomas Edison announces his invention of a 'talking machine', which preceded the phonograph.

Thomas Alva Edison was born on 11 February 1847, in Milan, Ohio, USA. Although probably best known for developing the light bulb and the phonograph, Edison was a prolific inventor, registering 1093 patents by the time he died in 1931. On 21 November 1877, Edison announced his invention of a "talking machine", the precursor to the phonograph, which provided a way to record and play back sound.

Edison came upon the invention by accident, whilst trying to find a way to improve the efficiency of a telegraph transmitter. He noticed that the needle could prick paper tape to record a message but the paper did not last for many recordings. This led him to experiment with trying a stylus on a tinfoil cylinder. He then moved on to experimenting with silverfoil which, while more expensive, was smoother and recorded better. Edison experimented with cylinder as well as disc tinfoil phonographs, and in 1878 developed a clockwork motor disc phonograph.

1927  -             The Columbine Mine massacre occurs in Colorado, USA.

Throughout history, coal mining towns have suffered the worst of conditions while coal mines themselves have seen some of the lowest safety standards. The situation was no different in North America.

For five decades, tensions on the Colorado coal fields had been high. The mines were marked by frequent strikes and confrontations between miners and mine owners, and the state police. Thirteen years prior to the Columbine Mine massacre, Colorado had been shocked when seventeen workers and family members had been killed by state militia during the Ludlow strike. However, the awareness this raised and the improvement in conditions, were not enough to combat the unrest and subsequent violence that occurred at the Columbine Mine in 1927.

Since the Ludlow incident, the neglect of basic safety measures had resulted in the deaths of over 170 more workers in mines scattered throughout northern Colorado. Action by around 8,700 striking miners had shut down all the coal mines in the region except for the Columbine mine, which was located in a small town called Serene, just north of Denver. The mine had been kept running by 'scab' labour, while militant members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) Union who had been arrested were constantly moved from jail to jail to prevent IWW lawyers from accessing them. This did not stop the leaders from organising protests and rallies.

On the morning of 21 November 1927, some 500 miners and their families marched to the north gate of Serene, where they were met by plainclothed but heavily armed state militia who blocked the entrance to the gate, backed up by mine guards inside the town who were also armed. When one of the strike leaders, Adam Bell, approached the gate, he was struck on the head. Supporters rushed to his aid, and chaos broke out. Police attempts to use tear gas were to no avail, and the workers and family members scaled the gate, where they were met with clubs, rifle fire and even machine guns. In all, six strikers were killed, and dozens were injured.

This was not the end of the tensions. Further confrontations occurred for many years afterwards, as the work of the IWW was severely compromised, and no militia or policemen were ever held accountable for the massacre.

1936  -             Victor Chang, Australian heart surgeon and one of the pioneers of modern heart transplantation, is born.

Victor Peter Chang Yam Him was born in Shanghai, China, on 21 November 1936. Chang's mother died of cancer when he was just twelve years old, and this was a deciding factor in his choice to become a doctor. He came to Australia to complete his secondary schooling in 1953, then studied medicine at the University of Sydney, graduating with a Bachelor of Medical Science with first class honours in 1960, and a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in 1962. After further study in England, and becoming a Fellow of both the Royal College of Surgeons and American College of Surgeons, he joined the cardiothoracic team at St Vincent's Hospital in 1972.

Chang was instrumental in raising funds to establish a heart transplant programme at St Vincent's. The first successful transplant under the programme was performed on a 39 year old shearer from Armidale in February 1984, who survived several months longer than he would have otherwise. Arguably, Chang's best-known success was when he operated on Fiona Coote, a 14-year-old schoolgirl, on 7-8 April 1984. Over the next six years, the unit at St Vincent's performed over 197 heart transplants and 14 heart-lung transplants, achieving a 90% success rate for recipients in the first year. To compensate for the lack of heart donors, Chang developed an artificial heart valve and also worked on designing an artificial heart.

Victor Chang was murdered on 4 July 1991, after an extortion attempt on his family. The murder was related to transplant waiting lists. Within less than two weeks, Chiew Seng Liew was charged with the murder, and Jimmy Tan was charged as an accessory. The Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, to enable research into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart muscle diseases, was launched in honour of Victor Chang on 15 February 1994.

1953  -             Piltdown Man, the so-called missing link between ape and man, is declared to be a fraud.

On 18 December 1912, fragments of a fossil skull and jawbone were unveiled at a meeting of the Geological Society in London. These bone fragments, estimated to be almost a million years old, were considered to be evidence of early man. The skull became known as Piltdown Man, and was recognised as the "missing link" between ape and man. The remains, officially named Eoanthropus dawsoni, were supposedly discovered in Piltdown Quarry near Uckfield in Sussex, England, by Charles Dawson, a solicitor and an amateur palaeontologist.

Forty years later, on 21 November 1953, a team of English scientists exposed Piltdown Man as a deliberate fraud. The skull fragments were a mixture of bone parts: the skull belonged to a medieval human, the jaw was determined to be that of an orang-utan, from approximately 500 years ago, and the teeth came from a chimpanzee. It has never been determined whether Dawson himself was the perpetrator of the fraud, as he died in 1916. However, further research on his "discoveries" has determined several dozen of them to be frauds.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1718  -             Notorious pirate Blackbeard is killed.

The notorious English pirate, Blackbeard, was born either Edward Teach or Edward Thatch sometime in 1680. Little is known about his early life. He first went to sea at a young age, serving on a British ship in the War of the Spanish Succession. Following Britain's withdrawal from the war in 1713, with little other recourse for a career, he became Blackbeard the pirate.

Blackbeard was notorious for boarding merchant ships, plundering them of valuables, food, liquor, and weapons. He earned a reputation for being a vicious torturer, but no actual records exist of him having killed anyone. It is possible he gained his reputation through mere rumour alone. However, he became famous following his blockade of Charleston, South Carolina, in May-June 1718. With a fleet of five vessels, he plundered freighters, took a number of hostages, and prevented other ships from entering the harbour. The hostages were eventually released in exchange for crates of medicines.

After grounding two of his own vessels at Topsail Inlet, now known as Beaufort Inlet, Blackbeard took the treasure for himself, marooned his own crew, and went to Bath in North Carolina, where he was given a pardon under the royal Act of Grace. He did not renounce his piracy, and was targeted by Governor Alexander Spotswood of Virginia, despite being outside Spotswood's jurisdiction. Spotswood commissioned Lieutenant Robert Maynard to hunt down Blackbeard and eliminate him. Maynard found the pirates anchored in a North Carolina inlet on the inner side of Ocracoke Island, on the evening of 21 November 1718. Following a pursuit, Blackbeard was hunted down and killed on 22 November 1718, ending Blackbeard's infamous reign.

1898  -             Wiley Post, who was the first pilot to fly solo around the world, is born.

Wiley Hardeman Post was born on 22 November 1898, in Van Zandt County, Texas. Always keen to fly, Post became a parachutist for the flying circus "Burrell Tibbs and His Texas Topnotch Fliers" when he was 26 years old. Undaunted by an oil field accident which cost him his left eye in 1926, Post became the personal pilot of wealthy Oklahoma oilmen Powell Briscoe and F C Hall. In 1930, Hall bought a single-engine Lockheed Vega and nicknamed it Winnie Mae, after his daughter. Post's first claim to fame was flying the Winnie Mae to win the National Air Race Derby, from Los Angeles to Chicago.

On 23 June 1931, Post and navigator Harold Gatty left Long Island, New York in the Winnie Mae to fly around the world. They made fourteen stops along the way, including Newfoundland, England, Germany, the Soviet Union, Alaska, Alberta, Canada and Cleveland, Ohio before returning to Roosevelt Field on Long Island. They arrived back on July 1 after travelling nearly 25,000 kilometres in the record time of 8 days, 15 hours and 51 minutes.        

1952  -             Lang Han**** claims to have discovered the iron ore deposits which change Australia from being an importer of iron ore to an exporter.

Langley George Han****, or "Lang" Han****, was born on 10 June 1909 in Perth, Western Australia. A member of one of Western Australia's oldest landowning families, he became a politician and iron ore magnate.

The story goes that, on 22 November 1952, Han**** was piloting a light aircraft that was forced by bad weather to fly at a very low altitude over the Turner River gorges in Western Australia. Han**** noticed the large bands of deep ochre rock within the gorge and realised they might be iron ore. The discovery led to the development of Western Australia's major iron ore industry in the Pilbara region, and changed Australia from being an importer of iron ore to an exporter. Following this discovery, Han**** initiated and perfected a technique which led to the further discovery in the Pilbara of more than 500 other deposits of iron ore, and which earned him the nickname of "The Flying Prospector".

However, the veracity of this story has been questioned. There is evidence to suggest that a 25 year old Englishman by the name of Harry Page Woodward, who had come to South Australia in 1883 to take up the post of assistant state geologist, was the one who discovered the Pilbara's iron ore deposits. Woodward relocated to Western Australia as the new government geologist, and undertook extensive ground surveys of the state, mapping some 175,000 square kilometres of the state. Woodward recognised the iron-bearing potential of the northwest of the state, and recorded that "There is enough to supply the whole world should the present sources be worked out." The iron ore fields of the Pilbara were already mapped by Western Australia's Mining Department in the 1920s.

1956  -             The opening ceremony for the Melbourne Olympics is held.

Melbourne was announced as the host city for the Games of the XVI Olympiad on 28 April 1949, beating bids from Buenos Aires, Mexico City and six other American cities by a single vote. The Olympic Games commenced with an opening ceremony on 22 November 1956. Because Melbourne is located in the southern hemisphere, the Olympics were held later in the year than those held in the northern hemisphere. Strict quarantine laws prevented Melbourne from hosting the equestrian events, and they were instead held in Stockholm on June 10, five months before the rest of the Olympic games began.

Despite boycotts by several countries over international events unrelated to Australia, the games proceeded well, and earned the nickname of "The Friendly Games". It was at the first Australian-held Olympics that the tradition began of the athletes mingling with one another, rather than marching in teams, for their final appearance around the stadium.

1963  -             US President, John F Kennedy, is assassinated.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was nominated by the Democratic Party on 13 July 1960, as its candidate for president. He beat Vice-President Richard Nixon by a close margin in the general election on 9 November 1960, to become the youngest elected president in US history and the first Roman Catholic. He was sworn in as the 35th President of the United States on 20 January 1961.

Kennedy's presidential term was cut tragically short when he was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade within Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on Friday, 22 November 1963. Three shots were fired at his open-topped car, hitting him in the head and throat. He was taken to Parkland Hospital, but died thirty-five minutes after being shot. Kennedy was the fourth US President to be assassinated, and the eighth to die while in office.

Within an hour of the shooting, Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested and later charged with the assassination of President Kennedy. Oswald never went to trial as, two days later, he was shot dead by nightclub owner Jack Ruby. Both shootings have spawned conspiracy theories about who really shot JFK, and whether Oswald was merely the scapegoat in the assassination.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1923  -             Australia's first public wireless broadcast begins.

The development of the wireless telegraphy system, which came to be known as "radio" is attributed to Guglielmo Marconi. Marconi first demonstrated the transmission and reception of Morse Code based radio signals over a distance of 2 or more kilometres in England in 1896, and from this point began the development and expansion of radio technology around the world.

At 8:00pm on 23 November 1923, Radio 2SB in Sydney went to air for the first time from a studio located in the Smith's Weekly building in Phillip Street. 2SB, Sydney Broadcasters Ltd, had been in competition with Farmer and Company, 2FC, since it had announced its intention to begin transmission in August of that year. 2SB originally set its first transmission date as November 15, but setbacks caused the broadcast to be postponed until the 23rd of the month. The broadcast was a performance of 'Le Cygne', from 'Carnaval des Animaux' by Camille Saint-Saens.

2FC first aired two weeks later, on 5 December 1923, and the similarities of the stations' names confused listeners. 2SB was changed to 2BL, for Broadcasters Limited, three months after its inaugural broadcast.

1955  -             The Cocos (Keeling) Islands are transferred to Australian control.

The Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands is located in the Indian Ocean, approximately halfway between Australia and Sri Lanka. The territory lies about 2750 kilometres northwest of Perth, Western Australia. It comprises two atolls and 27 coral islands totalling around 14 km². With a coastline of 26 kilometres and its highest elevation at 5m above sea level, its sole cash crop is coconuts. The population of around 630 is split between the ethnic Europeans on West Island and the ethnic Malays on Home Island.

The islands were discovered in 1609 by Captain William Keeling, but remained uninhabited until 1826, when the first settlement was established on the main atoll by English settler Alexander Hare. Scottish seaman John Clunies-Ross established a second settlement soon afterwards for the purpose of exploiting the coconut palm crop.

On 23 November 1955, the islands were transferred to Australian control under the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Act 1955. Together with nearby Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands are called Australia's Indian Ocean Territories (IOTs) and since 1997 share a single Administrator resident on Christmas Island.

1961  -             Sturt's Desert pea is adopted as the floral emblem of South Australia.

Sturt's Desert Pea is a hardy plant of the Australian desert. It is characterised by deep red pea-shaped flowers contrasting sharply with grey-green foliage. The indigenous Koori people call it the "flower of blood", and tell a story of a young woman who avoided marriage to an older man of the tribe by eloping with her younger lover. The old man and his friends tracked the couple down, killing them both, along with the people with whom they had sheltered. Months later, the old man returned to where the lovers had been slain and found the ground covered with the scarlet flowers now known as the Sturt's Desert pea.

Sturt's Desert Pea was first discovered by English pirate and explorer William Dampier when he anchored off the northwestern coast of Australia in 1688 and again in 1699. Explorer Charles Sturt noted it growing in abundance in the arid areas between Adelaide and Central Australia during his forays into the desert in 1844, and commented on its exceptional beauty when in flower. It was then formally named after Charles Sturt in honour of his explorations of inland Australia, although it bears several Latin names: Swainsona formosa and Willdampia formosa (after William Dampier).

Sturt's Desert Pea is a protected species in South Australia. It was adopted as the floral emblem of South Australia on 23 November 1961, under its then-Latin name Clianthus formosus.  

1963  -             TV series 'Doctor Who' first airs on BBC television.

'Doctor Who' is a British science fiction television series produced by the BBC about a time-travelling adventurer known only as "The Doctor". It aired for the first time on 23 November 1963, on British television. The initial broadcast was interrupted by the breaking news of the November 22 assassination of US President John F Kennedy. The show has developed a cult following amongst science-fiction fans, and is well known for its innovative use of low-budget special effects.

Declining ratings and a less prominent transmission slot saw 'Doctor Who' suspended as an ongoing series in 1989 by Jonathan Powell, Controller of BBC One. A Doctor Who movie was broadcast on the Fox Network in 1996, co-produced between Fox, Universal Pictures, the BBC, and BBC Worldwide. While it was relatively successful in Britain, its lack of popularity in the United States meant that a new series was not pursued. However, a new series was planned nonetheless, and eventually aired on BBC One on 26 March 2005, and in Australia on 21 May 2005. The USA has not taken up the new series.

1996  -             125 people die as a hijacked airliner runs out of fuel and crashes into the sea.

On 23 November 1996, an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767 flying from Addis Ababa to Nairobi was hijacked by three men who demanded the pilot fly to Australia. Four hours later, it ran out of fuel and pitched into the Indian Ocean, 500 metres from a holiday beach on the Comoro Islands. The impact caused the plane to break up, and killed 125 of the 175 people aboard. Within minutes, locals and tourists, including a group of about twenty French doctors, reached the plane, managing to rescue about fifty people. The hijackers were later identified as Ethiopians who were seeking political asylum in Australia.

2009  -             Lucky, the world's oldest sheep on record, dies.

The average life-expectancy of sheep ranges between ten and twenty years. Not so for Lucky, the world's oldest sheep, who died at the age of 23.

Lucky was a hand-reared sheep who lived on a farm at Lake Bolac, west of Ballarat, Victoria. She had been abandoned by her mother at birth, and rescued by farmer Delrae Westgarth who found her out in the paddock. Westgarth and her husband Frank cared for the lamb, feeding her in their house and then moving her to the shed until she was old enough to join the flock. Lucky produced 35 lambs of her own in the following decades.

In late Spring of 2009, exceptionally hot weather weakened her and caused her health to deteriorate. Although her owners brought her back to the shed, cooling her down with air conditioners, she died on Monday 23 November 2009, aged 23 years, six months and 28 days. This was a Guinness-certified world record age for a sheep. Lucky was buried under her favourite nectarine tree.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1642  -             Dutch explorer Abel Tasman discovers Tasmania, naming it Van Diemen's Land.

Abel Janszoon Tasman was a Dutch seafarer and explorer born in 1603 in the village of Lutjegast, Netherlands. In 1634 Tasman joined the Dutch East India Company and, after gaining further experience and promotions, was ordered to explore the south-east waters in order to find a new sea trade route to Chile in South America.

On 24 November 1642, Tasman discovered a previously unknown island on his voyage past the Great South Land, or New Holland, as the Dutch called Australia. In his ships' log, he recorded: "In the afternoon, about 4 o'clock...we saw...the first land we have met with in the South Sea...very high...and not known to any European nation". Tasman named this land Antony Van Diemen's Land in honour of the High Magistrate, or Governor-General of Batavia. Although he saw none of the indigenous people, he noted the presence of smoke in several locations, while his crew heard human voices.

It is believed that this first sighting was made at what is now Cape Sorell, on the western coast of Tasmania. The island's name was changed to Tasmania in 1855, over sixty years after British colonists settled the Australian continent.

1815  -             Grace Darling, the English lighthouse keeper's daughter who rescued survivors from a shipwreck, is born.

Grace Darling was born on 24 November 1815, in Bamburgh, Northumberland, and grew up in the various lighthouses of which her father was keeper. Grace gained heroine status early in the morning of 7 September 1838, when the steamship Forfarshire ran ashore and broke in two on the rocks by the lighthouse situated in the North Sea. Grace urged her father to row out with her in difficult, stormy conditions to the stricken steamship: her actions saved the lives of nine people - four crew and five passengers. Tragically, forty other people died in the accident.

Grace Darling never married. She died of tuberculosis in 1842, and a memorial in her honour can be seen in the parish church at Bamburgh.

1859  -             Charles Darwin publishes his controversial "Origin of the Species".

British naturalist Charles Robert Darwin was born on 12 February 1809 in Shrewsbury, England. Darwin's claim to fame is his publication of "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life". The book put forth Darwin's theory of evolutionary selection, which expounded that survival or extinction of populations of organisms is determined by the process of natural selection, achieved through that population's ability to adapt to its environment. Ultimately, by following Darwin's theory of evolution to its conclusion, the book suggested that man evolved from apes. "The Origin of the Species" was first published on 24 November 1859.

Although Darwin is given the credit for the theory of evolution, he developed the theory out of the writings of his grandfather Erasmus. Large sections from Erasmuss major work, Zoonomia or the Laws of Organic Life are repeated in Darwins Origin of Species. There is evidence to suggest that many of the other ideas Charles proposed, such as the concept of modern biological evolution, including natural selection, were borrowed from ideas that had already been published by other scientists. Charles De Secondat Montesquieu (16891755), Benoit de Maillet (16561738), Pierre-Louis Maupertuis (16981759), Denis Diderot (17131784) and George Louis Buffon are just some whose ideas are believed by historians to have been plagiarised by Darwin, without due credit.

1876  -             Walter Burley Griffin, the architect who designed Canberra, Australia's capital city, is born.

Australia's two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, had been rivals since before the goldrush days. It was therefore decided that the nation's capital should be situated between the two cities. A location was chosen which was 248km from Sydney and 483km from Melbourne, and the name selected was a derivation of the Aboriginal word for 'meeting place'. It was then necessary to select someone who could design a truly unique capital city. The competition to design Australia's new capital city, Canberra, was won in 1911 by Walter Burley Griffin.

Walter Burley Griffin was born on 24 November 1876, in Chicago, USA. After obtaining his degree in architecture in 1899, Griffin worked for Frank Lloyd Wright in Oak Park, Illinois, designing many houses in the Chicago area. After winning the competition to design Australia's national capital, he and his wife moved to Australia, where Griffin was appointed as the Federal Capital Director of Design and Construction. Difficulties with Federal government bureaucrats forced Griffin's resignation from the project in 1920 when a conflict of interest threatened Griffin's work. Griffin remained in Australia, later designing the Sydney suburb of Castlecrag and the Melbourne suburb of Eaglemont. Griffin also helped design the New South Wales towns of Leeton, Griffith and Culburra Beach.

Cheers - John