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.

The Argus

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

The Brisbane Courier

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 :

Portal: Australia/Anniversaries/July

Torres Strait History

Darwin History

Social Security Payments for the unemployed, the sick and those in special circumstances, 1942 - 2012: a chronology

On The Sheep's Back

Tullamareena's Escape

A new library with gallery in The Petherick's abandoned convent.

 Just magic watching the library take shape!

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.

June 28 Australian History with a side serving of cricket

 On this merry wee date in history a few things all cricket flavoured happened.

1882 The Australian Cricket Team took on the United South of England at Chichester and made a tidy little score.
Source:
Australia V United South England

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1915 Australian cricketer Victor Trumper was farewelled at the too-young age of 37.
Source:
Victor Trumper

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1938 Australian cricketer Don Bradman scored 102 at Lords.
Source:
Don Bradman

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2006  Keith Miller's Baggy Green cricket cap was auctioned for $35,000 more than 50 years after he wore it.
Source:
Keith Miller

Murrumbidgee Floods June 25, 1852

 

The night of June 24, 1852 saw the river Murrumbidgee swell to breaking its banks, flooding the original township of Gundagai (Gun-da-guy).

European settlers had established buildings on the low lying ground, too close to the river.
Wiradjuri (Wee-rad-jury) men came to the rescue of the Europeans - even though they'd tried to warn them against building the town and buildings where they had - Indigenous people were often the saviours of those who'd dismissed/ignored or treated them badly. 
Previous floods had seen Wiradjuri people rescue Europeans in the 1840s.
The Wiradjuri men of whose names we know were Yarri (Coonong Denamundinna) Jacky Jacky, Long Jimmy and Tommy Davis.
They rescued an estimated 69 people in bark canoes over three days and nights.
No one knows the exact number of people who lost their lives as the population was often increased with drovers, but with 250 people living in the town, at least 80 - 100 people died, untold livestock losses and only 3 houses left standing after the flood water receded.
And, of course, no one knows how many Indigenous people died.

2017 saw a mark of respect and thanks to the Wiradjuri People with the statue of Yarri and Jacky Jacky and one of the bark canoes used to rescue people.

Sources:

https://indigenousx.com.au/the-heroes-of-gundagai/

https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/disaster/flood/display/111080-%22the-great-rescue-of-1852%22-

https://www.visitgundagai.com.au/discovergundagai/sculpture-the-great-rescue-of-1852

https://csaa.asn.au/2022/08/08/gundagai-yarri-and-jacky-jacky/

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/101627922

https://www.visitgundagai.com.au/discovergundagai/oldgundagai

Mudpies mudlarks

 Father - daughter team Andy and Josie are a fab, fun pair to join on their mud-ventures, whether in the waterways or digging dump sites in the woods there is enjoyment to be had in their finds, the mud and the usual tank traps.