4 July Australian History

 1857 - Hundreds of European miners on the search for GOLD! at Buckland River got more than a little casually racist when they went all thug-like on the settlement of 3,000 Chinese miners belting the living crap out of them until they died or left the area.

1868 Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Tūruki of Rongowhakaata, a Māori leader, was arrested in 1865 after allegedly spying. He became one of hundreds exiled to the remote Chatham Islands where he established the Ringatū faith, which was adopted by many of his fellow exiles. On this day he began an uprising; 300 prisoners overpowered their guards, captured the schooner Rifleman and sailed for New Zealand.

1918 The Battle of Hamel took place during the First World Disagreement.

1966 Nine young people were arrested and charged with obstruction for protesting against bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong at U.S Consulate in Sydney.

1967 A rally outside the U.S Consulate in Commercial Road, Melbourne, was followed by a march to a  meeting at the Assembly Hall in Collins Street. The highlight was the debate ‘LBJ’ v ‘Thomas Jefferson’ – ‘U.S independence 1776-Vietnam independence when?’

1968 A moratorium protest against the Vietnam War outside the US Embassy in Melbourne ended in violence as the crowd was having a free-for-all in in what became "the most violent protest in living memory" with the protesters being charged by mounted police.

1969 4000 demonstrators marched down St. Kilda Road towards the U.S Consulate in tight formation. Police on horseback charged protestors at the barricades. The following afternoon twenty Consulate windows were smashed by ‘Melbourne People’s Liberation Army’

1969 Sydney’s 1969 July 4 (‘Freedom Day’) rally highlighted by burning of U.S flag and effigies of Prime Minister Gorton outside U.S Consulate

1970 2000 demonstrators marched in Melbourne and occupied the road in front of Pan-American Airways building in Collins Street.

1970 600 protestors marched in Adelaide in militant demonstration against U.S imperialism.

1971 Police bashed demonstrators at U.S Consulate and South African Trade Commission in Melbourne.

1971 1000 protestors picketed outside the Squire Inn Motel,  Bondi Junction as ‘Springboks’ arrived in Sydney

1972 A lunch-time demonstration, of over 200 young people, gathered in Adelaide to mark American Independence Day with emphasis on U.S bombing of dykes and dams in North Vietnam

1975 Juanita Neilsen, victim in the still unsolved disappearance/murder of The Missing Heiress, was last seen alive on this date when she attended a meeting in Sydney's Kings Cross.

1991 World renown heart surgeon Dr Victor Chang AC was murdered in Sydney in a failed extortion attempt.

2002 American Steve Fossett became the first chappie to pilot a hot air balloon all on his lonesome all around the Big Blue Marble, plopping down in The Fair Isle of Oz 13 days after take-off.

2018 The Fair Isle of Oz and the USA celebrated a century of 'mateship".

Being 100 years since we got together and began killing people.

Sorry, 100 years since we first started fighting alongside each other at the Battle of Hamel under the command of General Sir John Monash.

2023 Australian rules player Heather Anderson sadly became the first known professional female athlete to be diagnosed with degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) after a landmark diagnosis at Australian Sports Brain Bank

SOURCES:

Labour History Melbourne

Chinese Victims of Buckland Riot

The Missing Heiress

Chilling new clues in missing heiress Juanita Nielsen’s cold case murder

Disappearance of Juanita Nielsen

Juanita Nielsen

History of Mateship

The Battle of Hamel

CTE: Brain disease diagnosed in female athlete for first time

World's first CTE diagnosis in a female athlete

Steve Fossett

Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute

Taking to the streets against the Vietnam War

The Wedderburn Mystery 6 January 1937 Unsolved

 It's safe to say the two blokes having a scratch around in the dirt at Wedderburn got a nasty shock when the remains of a man were uncovered.

Despite following up leads for years afterwards the police were never able to identify the victim.

They even made a death mask of the man's face, then a sculpture of his head, the very first of its kind in Australia.

But they never solved the mystery of his identity or who killed him.

Further reading -

Wedderburn Mystery Murder Suspected

Sculptor Helped in Death Probe

The Great Wedderburn Mystery The Body in the Shaft

Bodies in The Morningstar Mine, Rushworth 1908 Unsolved True Crime

 When hoping to reopen the closed Morningstar Mine at Rushworth on 27th November 1908 some blokes got a nasty shock when decomposing matter was brought up with the mine cage; subsequent investigations discovered the very decayed bodies of a man and a woman in the water-logged mine shaft.

The woman's head was missing and never recovered despite bailing of the water from the mine and thorough searches for evidence. A scrap of newspaper sporting a bloody fingerprint, dated 28th August suggested this was the date the murders took place. Both bodies were badly broken and smashed up; so much so that the medical examiner was unable to locate any reproductive organs or much of the pelvis of the suspected female body, but owing to measurements they determined it was indeed a female.

Numerous people stated swaggies and others often camped at the site of the mine, one witness claiming he'd heard yelling at night some time earlier.

Missing friends and relatives were reported to the police but they were all safely located alive, leaving the police and coroner no answers as to the names of the couple or who had murdered them.

Carlton Gardens Beer Poisoning 1905

 

May 5th, 1905 in the Carlton Gardens 3 people were poisoned with prussic acid/cyanide in beer; Richard Barry, having imbibed more than the other gardener, John Mulgrave and Constable Lancaster, died from the effects.

Despite police searches, no one was ever found or arrested for this murder.

Someone trying it out? A rehearsal, perhaps, before the intended target? 

Disappearance of Police Constable Thomas Ryan 1886

 Constable Thomas Ryan was a well-liked and very respected member of the White Hills area of Bendigo; he'd been in the police force for almost 30 years, having been similar back in Ireland from whence he came.

He was very familiar with the area, the mine shafts, river, creeks, water holes, yet the night of 6th January 1886 he vanished entirely.

Monster massive searches took place; he was held in high regard so many volunteered to help look for him.

Nothing was ever found, although there were several suspects none were arrested for lack of evidence.

Somewhere under White Hills Constable Thomas Ryan slumbers.

His wife, Johanna Ryan, passed barely 3 years later, never knowing what happened.

Further reading -

Bendigo Graves

Honor Roll

Find A Grave