Friday, 5 July 2024

July 5 Australia History On This Day

1788 Governor Arthur Philip sent a despatch to the British Under-secretary of state cos Oz was turning spectacularly into Destination Fucked due to the lack of food. 
*We won't point out the obvious that they were surrounded by tucker*

1851 James Esmond made public the fact he'd tripped over a great lump of GOLD! in Clunes, Victoria.

1881 New Zealand Parliament passed the Chinese Immigration Act under which, having received Royal Assent, they then legislated a Poll Tax of £10 ($1,770 in todays money) on the-now restricted numbers of Chinese migrants.


1902 Today Australia fielded a decent team, it seems, as Oz won the only Test they played at Sheffield against England.

1905 Alfred Deakin had a blank spot on his dance card so tossed his hat into the ring for a second turn as PM.

1945 John Curtin had a nasty mischief; he popped his clogs in office.
John Curtin

1957 Lew Hoad won the Men Singles at Wimbledon when he beat fellow Aussie Ashley Cooper.

1967 New Zealand banks were closed today for bank staff to convert their records in readiness of the currency changing from Pounds and Pence to Dollars and Cents.

1968 Rod Laver won the Wimbledon Mens Singles against fellow Aussie Tony Roche.

1969 Rod was back at the scene of the crime when he won against Aussie John Newcomb.

1971 Two hundred protesters demonstrated at Sydney Town Hall against a reception for the ‘Springboks’.

1972 Commonwealth police raided the ABC TV studios at Gore Hill Sydney thirty minutes after underground draft resister (and DRU Secretary) Peter Galvin was interviewed on This Day Tonight.

1980 Evonne Goolagong Cawley beat Chris Evert for the Womens Singles at Wimbledon. 

1981 Jan Stephenson waltzed off with the crown for the du Maurier Golf Classic. 

1987 Pat Cash , despite the 80s big hair, managed to win the Men Singles title at Wimbledon. 

2003 A memorial was dedicated on this day at Gordon, 4.3 km from the crash site of a DC-3 airliner in the Kaimai Range, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. All 23 passengers and crew were killed in what still remains the worst air crash within New Zealand. 

SOURCES


Thursday, 4 July 2024

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.

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:




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

Disappearance of Juanita Nielsen




CTE: Brain disease diagnosed in female athlete for first time

World's first CTE diagnosis in a female athlete


Wednesday, 3 July 2024

3 July in Australian History


1797 Following much fighting between the European settlers and the Indigenous people in the Hawkesbury area Governor John Hunter sent a group of soldiers to protect the settlers.

1850 Tired of saddling their broomsticks and kick-starting their horses, The Powers That Were got the lads on the tools to begin construction of the First Ever Railway Line in The Fair Isle of Oz; actually t'was the daughter of the Governor Charles FitzRoy, the Honourable Mrs. Mary Stewart, who prettily modelled the spade whilst she turned the first sod of the Sydney Railway Company at Cleveland Paddocks to begin work on the Sydney-Parramatta Railway Line.



1915 A medical report from the 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station situated at Anzac Cove observed that “Dysentery is becoming very acute, and cases of extreme collapse are occurring”.
It is estimated that approximately 700 soldiers died from diseases.

1931 The Chemical Warfare Board was renamed as the Chemical Defence Board.

1942 Tea was now rationed; each adult was only allowed half a pound (approx. 230gms) of tea every 5 weeks.
This was in place for 8 years until 1 July 1950.

1947 Bust out the cake tin, Marge, SUGAR RATIONING HAS ENDED 
But don't bother with the teapot.
Sugar had been rationed since it was introduced nearly five years earlier, on 29 August 1942. 



1989 The Commission of Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct (the Fitzgerald Inquiry; 1987–1989) ended with Tony Fitzgerald QC submitting his final report.
As a result, a number of high-profile politicians were charged with crimes, and Queensland Police Commissioner Terry Lewis was charged with corruption.

Sources:








Tuesday, 2 July 2024

2nd July Australian history

 

1915 The inaugural Violet Day Appeal began, a local remembrance day for the fallen of WW1 in South Australia, started by Alexandrine Seager who had formed the Cheer-Up Society to provide 'general comfort, welfare, and entertainment' for soldiers, for which the annual Violet Day Appeal was the main fundraiser.


1918 Naval ratings all over the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) were feeling a little more secure with their choppers as the first Fang Carpenter aka Dentist joined the RAN , Lieutenant. M. L. Atwill who joined the battle cruiser HMAS Australia in London.

1954 The Yackandandah to Beechworth railway line in Victoria was kicked to the kerb for want of bottoms on seats.

1971 Tennis champion, Wiradjuri Evonne Goolagong won her first Wimbledon Championship, receiving the Women's Singles Trophy from Princess Alexandra after beating Margaret Court 6 - 4, 6 - 1

Sources:

Australian Naval History

Yackandandah Railway Line

Violet Day; A Tribute to the Dead

Alexandrine Seager



Monday, 1 July 2024

1 July in Australian History

1797 - The first mob of Merino sheep were bundled up from the Cape of Good Hope, Africa, by a pair of clever clogs named Captain Henry Waterhouse and Lieutenant William Kent. Party!

1841 -  The Convict Assignment System was kicked to the kerb in favour of the new Probation Gang System. Party!

1841 - New Zealand separated from NSW. Party!

1851 - Victoria separated from NSW. Party!

1871 - The London Missionary Society, led by Reverend Samuel Macfarlane, arrived on Erub Island in what the Torres Strait Islanders call The Coming of The Light, which they celebrate each year on this date. Party!

1932 - The then-PM Joseph Lyons blessed into being the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC). Party!

1945 - Unemployment Insurance was introduced for the first time to provide cash benefits for those unable to work due to sickness or accident.

1957 - Darwin-ites got gussied up to the nines in excitement of the very first voting for their very own Mayor and 12 councillors; He Who Won the right to wear The Mayoral Tiara was Lucius (Bill) Richardson. Party!

1970 - Melbourne Airport was magicked into being at Tullamarine. Which is named for Tullamareena, a senior Wurundjeri man, who was present at the signing of Batman's treaty, and who managed to burn down the original Melbourne Gaol (I'm not laughing, you're laughing).

1975 - Medibank was introduced; this was the earliest form of Medicare, (Australia) as we know it, which did not last long before the Whitlam Govt was dismissed and Fraser tinkered around with it.

1975 - Australia Post and Telecom Australia were pupped from the innards of the former Postmaster-General Dept.

1978 - The Top End aka the Northern Territory was deemed grown up enough to govern itself, and now celebrates this each year with Territory Day. Party!

Sources :





Thursday, 27 June 2024

June 28 Australian History without the cricket bits

1790 Slightly cracked and half past a pool noodle, John Macarthur rocked up in Sydney for the first time.
His wife, Elizabeth, did a lot for the sheep industry with Merinos.

1836 Snow fell in Sydney all over the shop and scared the two-legged wildlife.

1847 The Right Reverend Charles Perry was consecrated as the first Bishop of Melbourne (29 June).

1848 The Right Reverend Charles Perry was installed in the Cathedral Church of St James.

1880 Bushranger Ned Kelly was caught by the police after throwing a tanty that resulted in a number of people being not alive.

1880 Melbourne became the first city to install a commercial telephone when engineering firm Robison Bros hooked up their Melbourne office to their South Melbourne foundry.

Book-ending the bloody mess called The First World War

1914 The assassination of Arch-Duke Ferdinand and his wife, Sophia, kicked off 4 years of mayhem.
1919 Billy Hughes signed the Versailles Treaty on behalf of Australia; the Treaty of Versailles officially brought an end to the war.

Sources - I accidentally closed some of the tabs and I'm getting tired, cranky and snarky, so I'll do it tomorrow.
Or something.

Twenty Third day of the month of October throughout the not-so-many eons of Oz history

1786 - Barron Field, who claimed to be the first poet of Australia *ahem* and was for a number of years an actual judge in New South Wales...