Today in History

Australian History

Wednesday, October 21, 1818. : Notorious bushranger of Van Diemen's Land, Michael Howe, is killed.

Michael Howe was a bushranger active in Van Diemen’s Land (later Tasmania) between 1814 and 1818. Born in Pontefract, Yorkshire, England in 1787, Howe served in the Merchant Navy before running away and joining the Royal Navy. Within two years, he had joined the army, but deserted and turned to highway robbery. He was captured in 1811 and sentenced to transportation to Van Diemen’s Land for seven years.

After arriving in Hobart on the ‘Indefatigable’, Howe was assigned to former Supervisor of Convicts John Ingle who was now a farmer and merchant. Howe lasted one year with Ingle before escaping into the bush, where he joined up with a large group of convicts who had also escaped and become bushrangers. Although many of the convicts gave themselves up in response to an amnesty offered to bushrangers who surrendered to the authorities by the end of 1814, Howe continued to ransack farms and settlements, even committing murder. He assumed leadership of the gang of bushrangers when their original leader, John Whitehead, was killed. Despite his violent ways, as a leader Howe insisted on a strict code of navy-like discipline. He read to the men from a Bible and punished disobedience, calling himself Governor of the Ranges.

Howe was always accompanied by a faithful Aboriginal woman named Black Mary. In 1817, with soldiers closing in on him, he feared his pregnant companion would slow him down, so he shot at her. Mary survived and, on 21 October 1818, led two men, convict Thomas Worrall – who sought the pardon being offered as a reward for the capture of Howe - and a soldier, William Pugh, to where Howe was hiding out in his hut by the River Shannon. Howe was killed, his body buried by the river, and his head taken back to Hobart where it was put on public display.

Monday, October 21, 2002. : Two students are killed when a gunman opens fire at Monash University in Melbourne.

Xiang Huan Yun was a 36-year-old student when, on 21 October 2002, armed with several handguns, he walked into a sixth-floor economics tutorial at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia and opened fire. Two students were killed and another five injured in the tragedy. Despite being injured himself, econometrics lecturer Lee Gordon-Brown and another student subdued Yun before he could kill more people. The two students killed were Chinese national William Wu and Australian resident Steven Chan. Yun was charged with two counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014. : Australia’s 21st Prime Minister, Edward Gough Whitlam, dies.

Edward Gough Whitlam was born on 11 July 1916 in the Melbourne suburb of Kew. Commonly known as Gough, he was the son of a public servant. His family moved to Sydney when young Gough was 2, and then to Canberra a decade later. This gave Whitlam the distinction of being the only Australian Prime Minister to have grown up in the national capital. However, he undertook his higher education at the University of Sydney, where he studied Arts and Law.

After serving in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) from 1941 to 1945, Whitlam began practising as a barrister in New South Wales. He joined the Australian Labor Party in 1945, and contested the state seat of Sutherland in 1950, but was unsuccessful. His career in politics began when he won the federal seat of Werriwa in a by-election in 1952. He was elected deputy leader of the ALP in Federal Parliament in March 1960 and succeeded Arthur Calwell as leader in February 1967. This placed him in the position of Leader of the Opposition.

On 2 December 1972, Whitlam became the 21st Prime Minister of Australia in the first ALP electoral victory since 1946. His government embarked on a massive legislative social reform program which was forward-thinking and progressive in many ways. In 1974, Whitlam appointed Sir John Kerr, Chief Justice of New South Wales, as the Governor-General of Australia, not realising that Kerr's political views had changed. Whilst initially popular, the fast pace of Whitlam's reforms engendered caution amongst the electorate, and the economy was beset by high inflation combined with economic stagnation. The opposition Liberal-National Country Party coalition held a majority in the Senate, the upper house of Parliament. In an unprecedented move, the Senate deferred voting on bills that appropriated funds for government expenditure, attempting to force the Prime Minister to dissolve the House of Representatives and call an election. The Whitlam government ignored the warnings and sought alternative means of appropriating the funds it needed to repay huge debts. With Whitlam unable to secure the necessary funds, Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismissed Whitlam as Prime Minister on 11 November 1975, and appointed Liberal opposition leader Malcolm Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister.

Whitlam resigned as leader of the ALP after the party was defeated in the 1977 general election, and quit parliament in July 1978. In 1983 he became Australian ambassador to UNESCO. Other appointments included being made chairman of the National Gallery of Australia Council, and being part of the bid team which led to Sydney being selected as the venue for the 2000 Olympic Games. He continued to be a political presence, lecturing and commenting on political and constitutional issues. His wife Margaret, whom he had married in 1942, died in 2012. Whitlam himself died two years later, on 21 October 2014, aged 98.
 

World History

Tuesday, October 21, 1879. : Thomas Edison successfully demonstrates the first commercially viable electric light bulb.

Thomas Alva Edison was born on 11 February 1847, in Milan, Ohio, USA. Although probably best known for developing the light bulb, Edison was a prolific inventor, registering 1093 patents by the time he died in 1931. On 21 October 1879, Edison demonstrated the first durable and commercially practical incandescent lamp. The bulb lasted 40 hours before burning out.

Edison was not the first to experiment with the idea of electric lighting. Many before him had developed the incandescent bulb, but none was practical enough for everyday use in the home. Edison tested over 6,000 types of vegetable matter, including baywood, boxwood, hickory, cedar, flax and bamboo as material to use for the filament. He achieved success when he experimented with a filament of carbonised sewing thread.


Friday, October 21, 1966. : 144 people are killed, including 116 children, as a coal slag tip buries a school in Wales.

Aberfan is a small town near Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales. At 9:15am on 21 October 1966, a slag heap from the nearby coal mine slid down Merthyr Mountain. It destroyed a farmhouse before burying the Pantglas Junior School and over a dozen other houses nearby. 144 people were killed; 116 of them were children.

At the Tribunal of Inquiry into the Aberfan Disaster, the National Coal Board was found responsible for the disaster, due to "ignorance, ineptitude and a failure of communication". The collapse was caused by a build up of water in the pile, which had slowly turned the coal slag into a liquid slurry. The slag heap had been built up over a stream, and had already slipped several times. Although colliery management and workers at the coal tip knew about the situation, the potential problem was largely ignored. The Colliery was closed in 1989.
 
21st Otober

1805 At the Battle of Trafalgar, Nelson gave his famous signal, ‘England expects...’ which flew from the HMS Victory shortly after 11:00 a.m. The British won this important battle against Napoleon’s combined French and Spanish fleets off Cape Trafalgar, south-west of Spain and left Britain's navy unchallenged until the 20th century but Nelson was one of the day’s casualties.

1960 Britain launched its first nuclear submarine, HMS Dreadnought, at Barrow. Built by Vickers Armstrong, in Barrow-in-Furness, the boat was seen as a revolution in the defence of the realm and, to emphasize the fact, she was launched by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, on Trafalgar Day, in 1960. The press and media made much of the fact that the name had been used for vessels of the Royal Navy since the first ‘Dreadnought’ fought against the Spanish Armada in 1588.
 

Australian History

Sunday, October 22, 1854. : Around 10,000 miners converge near Bakery Hill in Victoria to discuss their grievances for more rights on the goldfields.

The Battle of the Eureka Stockade was the 1854 miners' uprising on the goldfields of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. Conditions on the Australian goldfields were harsh. The fields were crowded and unsanitary, and troopers dealt unfairly with minor offences. The main source of discontent was the miner's licence, which cost a monthly fee of 30 shillings and permitted the holder to work a 3.6 metre square "claim". Licences had to be paid regardless of whether a digger's claim resulted in the finding of any gold. Frequent licence hunts were conducted, during which the miners were ordered to produce proof of their licences, and this added to the increasing unrest.

On 22 October 1854, approximately 10,000 miners gathered at Bakery Hill directly across the flat from the Government Camp, on the road to the mainly Irish encampment of Eureka. In a non-violent campaign, they attempted to air their grievances, but were met with complete inaction. The lack of interest in the miners' plight was the precursor to the Eureka Stockade which occurred over a month later near Ballarat.

Tuesday, October 22, 1872. : The first overseas telegraph messages are received in Adelaide via the newly constructed Overland Telegraph Line.

The Overland Telegraph Line was a major feat of engineering, which connected Australia to the rest of world via a single wire. The motivation for building the Overland Telegraph Line came from the fact that a submarine cable already reached from England to Java, and the British-Australian Telegraph Company was prepared to lay a submarine cable from Java to Darwin. It remained only to connect Darwin to the rest of Australia.

The line was to connect first with Adelaide, as Adelaide was the closest point linking to the major centres of Melbourne and Sydney. Thanks to the influence of Charles Todd, superintendent of telegraphs and government astronomer in South Australia, the South Australian government agreed to build the necessary 3200 kilometre overland telegraph line connecting Darwin with Port Augusta, north of Adelaide. The line closely followed the route charted by explorer John McDouall Stuart on his final expedition in 1862. Scottish bushman John Ross marked out the trail prior to the construction of the line. 36 000 wooden poles were cut and transported, mainly from Wirrabara Forest (formerly Whites Forest) on the eastern slopes and foothills of the southern Flinders Ranges.

Begun on 15 September 1870, the Overland Telegraph Line was completed on 22 August 1872, when the northern and southern sections were joined. This meant that, instead of letters taking up to three months to travel from Australia to England, messages could be conveyed by telegraph in seven hours. The first telegraph messages from overseas were received in Morse code in the GPO building in Adelaide on 22 October 1972.

Monday, October 22, 1917. : Australia’s first transcontinental passenger service, the Great Western Express, departs Port Augusta for Kalgoorlie.

As Australia’s colonies moved towards the prospect of federation towards the end of the 1800s, Western Australia held back, with Premier and former explorer John Forrest wanting to ensure the economic security of the state, given its distance from the more highly populated eastern states. The promise of a transcontinental railway line linking the west with the eastern states influenced Western Australians to vote ‘yes’ in Forrest’s July 1900 referendum regarding joining the other colonies to form the Commonwealth of Australia. By Federation, the eastern states had an extensive network of railway lines, while the western railway line extended east from Perth to the goldfields. There remained a 1996 km span across the continent to connect the west to the east.

Legislation for the Trans-Australian Railway route to be surveyed was passed in 1907. Once the survey was completed in 1909, the recommended route was from Port Augusta at the head of Spencer Gulf in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in the central goldfields east of Perth. The track would utilise 530 km of existing track of the Adelaide-Oodnadatta line to Tarcoola before branching westwards. In 1911, then-Prime Minister Andrew Fisher’s government authorised construction of the 1711km track, at a cost of approximately 4,045,000 pounds. Despite the eastern and western ends being narrow gauge, the line was to be constructed at the standard gauge of 1435 mm.

Construction began in September 1912 with the first sod turned at Port Augusta on 14 September 1912. Two teams worked from either end: one commenced from Kalgoorlie in the west, while the other started from Port Augusta in South Australia. During construction, approximately 2.5 million hardwood sleepers and 140,000 tonnes of rail were used, while the project employed over 3400 workers. On 17 October 1917, the two teams met to complete the track near Ooldea, a small siding on the eastern edge of the Nullarbor Plain, about 1170km west of Adelaide and 1520km east of Perth. The following week, on 22 October 1917, the first westbound passenger service known as the Great Western Express departed Port Augusta. The journey to Kalgoorlie took 42 hours and 48 minutes.

The line between Ooldea and Loongana boasts 478km of completely straight track, the world’s longest such stretch. Early travellers were required to change trains five times due to the differences in gauge. Conversion to standard gauge of the entire intercity route began in 1969: upon completion in 1970, the service was renamed the Indian Pacific. Australia is currently the only continent that can be crossed east to west in a single train.

Australian Explorers

Friday, October 22, 1824. : Hume and Hovell convert a bullock cart into a boat in order to cross the flooded Murrumbidgee 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.

When they reached the Murrumbidgee River, it was 36m wide, in full flood, and still rising. After spending several days trying to find a way around the river, on 22 October 1824, they found a unique solution to making the crossing. They converted the body of one of the carts into a boat, sealing it with a tarpaulin, and placing their supplies inside. Hume and an assigned convict swam across the river with a length of fishing line in their teeth, which in turn hauled a rope. Reaching the opposite side, they tied the rope around a tree and used it to guide the boat across. About 9 trips were required to ferry all the supplies across, and the horses and bullocks were swum over without incident. This was a method the men used several times to cross rivers on their journey.
 
World History

Monday, October 22, 1990. : The Royal Geographical Society declaims irrigation as one of the causes of the world's worst ecological disaster around the Aral Sea.

The Aral Sea lies in central Asia, between Kazakhstan in the north and Uzbekistan in the south. In 1960 it was the world's fourth-largest lake, with an area of approximately 68,000 km², about the size of the Republic of Ireland. By 1998, it was only eighth-largest, and had shrunk to 28,687 km². During the 1980s, the water level fell so low that the sea split into two bodies of water, the North Aral Sea and the South Aral Sea. The artificial channel which was dug to connect them had disappeared by 1999, as the two bodies of water continued to shrink.

On 22 October 1990, the Royal Geographical Society claimed the area had suffered the world's worst ecological disaster. The devastation was largely due to the Soviet construction of irrigation channels to divert the two rivers that fed the Aral Sea, the Amu Darya in the south and the Syr Darya in the northeast. The irrigation channels were poorly constructed, allowing water to leak out or evaporate, resulting in wastage of between 30 and 70%. This situation has never been rectified.

Whilst there is some attempt to resurrect the North Aral Sea, the South Aral has continued to shrink, leaving behind vast saltpans which, together with the higher concentration of pesticides in the area, has resulted in severe health problems for the area's four million inhabitants. The fishing industry has been decimated and the climate has changed, with short, dry summers and long, cold winters. The incidence of cancer has increased tenfold, and death from lung disease is among the highest in the world, as the result of salt and toxic chemicals being picked up by winds and dumped as toxic dust on surrounding areas.
 
Oct 22nd
1761
The College of New Jersey was officially chartered.Its name was later changed to Princeton Univ
1939
NBC becomes the 1st network to televise a pro football game.The Brooklyn Dodgers beat Philadelphia Eagles 23-14 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn,NY
2009
Microsoft releases Windows 7
2016
AT&T buys Time Warner for $ 85.4 billion
 
22nd October

1707 Four British Royal Navy ships ran aground near the Isles of Scilly. Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell and more than 1,400 sailors drowned in one of the worst maritime disasters in the history of Britain. It was later determined that the main cause of the disaster was the navigators' inability to accurately calculate their positions.

1877 An explosion at the Blantyre mine in Scotland killed 207 miners the youngest aged 11. It remains Scotland’s worst mining accident.

1937 The Duke and Duchess of Windsor arrived in Berlin to meet German leader Adolf Hitler, to study housing conditions.Today in 1937...The Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII, meets Adolf Hitler at his Bavarian retreat, the Berghof. The Duchess does not attend the hour-long private meeting: she has tea with Rudolph Hess instead.

1963 A BAC One-Eleven prototype airliner flown by test pilot Mike Lithgow, crashed during stall testing with the loss of all on board. Lithgow became the holder of the World Absolute Air Speed Record in 1953 flying a Supermarine Swift.

1966 A Russian KGB master spy, George Blake, escaped from Wormwood Scrubs in London where he was serving a 40 year sentence for spying against the British Government.
 
Pam said:
22nd October

1707 Four British Royal Navy ships ran aground near the Isles of Scilly. Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell and more than 1,400 sailors drowned in one of the worst maritime disasters in the history of Britain. It was later determined that the main cause of the disaster was the navigators' inability to accurately calculate their positions.

1877 An explosion at the Blantyre mine in Scotland killed 207 miners the youngest aged 11. It remains Scotland’s worst mining accident.

1937 The Duke and Duchess of Windsor arrived in Berlin to meet German leader Adolf Hitler, to study housing conditions.Today in 1937...The Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII, meets Adolf Hitler at his Bavarian retreat, the Berghof. The Duchess does not attend the hour-long private meeting: she has tea with Rudolph Hess instead.

1963 A BAC One-Eleven prototype airliner flown by test pilot Mike Lithgow, crashed during stall testing with the loss of all on board. Lithgow became the holder of the World Absolute Air Speed Record in 1953 flying a Supermarine Swift.

1966 A Russian KGB master spy, George Blake, escaped from Wormwood Scrubs in London where he was serving a 40 year sentence for spying against the British Government.
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Lots of bummers for the UK on Oct. 22. :(
 
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Australian History

Saturday, October 23, 1965. : Canberra, capital city of Australia, begins operation of its first two sets of traffic lights.

The world's first traffic light was operating in London, England, even before the advent of the automobile. Installed at a London intersection in 1868, it was a revolving gas-lit lantern with red and green signals. However, on 2 January 1869, the light exploded, injuring the policeman who was operating it. It was not until the early 1900s that Garrett Morgan, an African-American living in Cleveland, Ohio, developed the electric automatic traffic light. Originally based on a semaphore-system, traffic lights gradually evolved through the years to become the red-amber-green lights they are today.

Canberra's first two sets of traffic lights were brought into operation on 23 October 1965, some thirty years after Sydney received its first traffic lights, in 1933. The Canberra lights were located at the junction of Northbourne Avenue and London Circuit, and Northbourne Avenue and Cooyong Street.

Saturday, October 23, 1976. : Much of southern Australia experiences a total solar eclipse.

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, casting its shadow over the Earth. On 23 October 1976, Australia was right in the path of a total solar eclipse, which tracked across the southern half of the continent. The track passed very close to the capital cities of Adelaide, and Sydney. It is rare for a solar eclipse to pass over a populous city, but Melbourne, second-largest city in Australia, was directly in the totality path.

Australian Explorers

Thursday, October 23, 1823. : Oxley departs Sydney to search north for a site for a new settlement, leading to the discovery of the Brisbane River.

John Joseph William Molesworth Oxley was born in Yorkshire, England, around 1784, although his actual date of birth is unknown. He joined the navy in 1799 as a midshipman in the 'Venerable', and two years later, sailed as master's mate in the 'Buffalo', arriving in Australia in 1802. Oxley became an avid explorer, by both land and sea, and was soon appointed Surveyor-General in New South Wales.

On 23 October 1823, Oxley set sail from Sydney to travel north along the coastline. His aim was to find a suitable settlement for convicts who had not been reformed, but continued to re-offend. Reaching Port Curtis (Gladstone), Oxley rejected the harbour as unsuitable, due to its many shoals and mangrove swamps. Oxley returned south and entered Moreton Bay, where he met up with the lost ticket-of-leave convicts Thomas Pamphlett and John Finnegan. Along with two other companions, John Thompson (who had died) and Richard Parsons, Pamphlett and Finnegan had been blown off-course from the Illawarra coast and disoriented by a storm many months earlier. Aborigines had helped sustain the men, who had then explored much of the area on foot.

Oxley identified Red Cliff Point, which had been discovered and named by Matthew Flinders in July 1799, as suitable for a penal settlement. Pamphlett and Finnegan showed Oxley a large river, which Oxley traced for about 80 km and later named the Brisbane River. Redcliffe was settled by a small group of officials, soldiers, their wives and children, and 29 convicts. After a year, the settlement at Redcliffe proved unsustainable as it was too far from the fresh water of the Brisbane River. The settlement was moved south to the banks of the Brisbane River. Although Oxley has long been credited with the discovery of the Brisbane River, he was not the first white man to see the river and the future site of Brisbane.

Wednesday, October 23, 1861. : South Australian John McKinlay's relief expedition to locate Burke and Wills finds the burial site of party member Charles Gray.

The Burke and Wills expedition was supposed to mark the state of Victoria's greatest triumph: Victoria hoped to be the first state to mount an expedition to cross the continent from south to north. Instead, due to mismanagement and lack of clear communication, three of the four members of the party who finally made the attempt to cross to the gulf and back, never made it back. Charles Gray died on the return journey from the Gulf, his companions spending a day digging a shallow grave for him in the desert, and subsequently missing their own relief party from Melbourne by seven hours. Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills died some weeks after returning to their depot at Cooper Creek, where they found the supplies left by the relief party but failed to leave a message informing future relief parties they had been there. Thus they were believed to have not even returned from the Gulf. John King alone survived, after being taken in and nursed by the Aborigines of the Cooper Creek area.

Although the expedition had been financed by Victoria, South Australia mounted its own rescue mission for Burke and Wills. John McKinlay, born at Sandbank on the Clyde in 1819, first came to New South Wales in 1836. He joined his uncle, a wealthy grazier, under whose guidance he soon gained practical bush skills, and then took up several runs in South Australia. McKinlay was chosen to head up the relief expedition for Burke and Wills, setting out from Adelaide on 16 August 1861. During the course of his search, McKinlay's journals show that he crossed the continent from south to north, then east and back again, possibly making McKinlay the uncredited first explorer to cross the continent and survive.

In October 1861, with the help of a native guide, McKinlay discovered evidence that horses, camels and white men had camped near a waterhole. In a letter dated 23 October 1861, he wrote:

"Hair, apparently belonging to Mr. Wills, Charles Gray, Mr. Burke, or King, was picked up from the surface of a grave dug by a spade, and from the skull of a European buried by the natives. Other less important traces -- such as a pannikin, oil-can, saddle-stuffing, etc., have been found. Beware of the natives, on whom we have had to fire. We do not intend to return to Adelaide, but proceed to west of north. From information, all Burke's party were killed and eaten."

McKinlay had, in fact, located the burial site of Charles Gray who, despite the party's painstaking efforts to bury him, had then been dug up and eaten by Aborigines. An Aboriginal elder with whom McKinlay was able to communicate indicated that Gray had actually been killed in a skirmish between the whites and natives, not from exhaustion and illness as had been previously thought. The remains of Burke and Wills were eventually located by the Victorian relief expedition.
 
23rd October

1642... The first major battle of the English Civil War takes place at Edgehill in south Warwickshire.
To this today, haunting sounds and apparitions have been witnessed at the site of the battle. However this was not to be the last of the battle of Edgehill.

Just before Christmas 1642, the first sighting of a ghostly re-enactment was reported by some shepherds as they walked across the battlefield. They reported hearing voices and the screams of horses, the clash of armour and the cries of the dying, and said they had seen a ghostly re-enactment of the battle in the night sky. Even the Public Record Office officially recognises the Edgehill ghosts, the only British phantoms to have this distinction.


1843 Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square was finally completed. It commemorates Admiral Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Nelson was born at Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk.

1906 In Britain, women suffragettes, campaigning for the right to vote, held a demonstration at the House of Commons. Ten were arrested and sent to prison.
 
1819
The 1st ship sails thru the Erie Canal from Rome,NY-Utica,NY
1946
The 1st United Nations General Assembly meeting took place in NYC
2001
Apple releases the iPod
2018
Archaelogists find the world's oldest intact shipwreck,a Greek vessel 2,4000 yrs old at the bottom of the Black Sea
 
Tish said:
McKinlay had, in fact, located the burial site of Charles Gray who, despite the party's painstaking efforts to bury him, had then been dug up and eaten by Aborigines. An Aboriginal elder with whom McKinlay was able to communicate indicated that Gray had actually been killed in a skirmish between the whites and natives, not from exhaustion and illness as had been previously thought.
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I didn't realize that Australian Aborigines practiced cannibalism. Was this common or rare behavior?
 
Oct 24th
1881
Levi P. Morton,ambassador to France drives the 1st rivet in the Statue of Liberty
1929
"Black Thursday' start of the stock market crash,Dow Jones down 12.8%
1979
Guinness Book of World records gives Paul Mc Cartney a rhodium-plated disc for being history's all time best selling singer/songwriter
1992
Toronto Blue Jays becomes the 1st non-American baseball team to win the World Series. They defeated the Atlanta Braves in 6 games
 
24th October

1537 Henry VIII's third wife, Jane Seymour dies of puerperal fever following the birth of the future king Edward VI.

1908 Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter Christabel were sent to prison for ‘inciting the public to rush the House of Commons’. Two Cabinet ministers were witnesses for the defence including Lloyd-George, then Chancellor of the Exchequer.

1945 The United Nations was formed with the aim to 'save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.'

1961 Malta was granted independence from Britain.

2003 The legendary supersonic aircraft, Concorde, made its last commercial passenger flight amid emotional scenes at Heathrow airport. Concorde was retired after 27 years due to a general downturn in the aviation industry after the 11th September terrorist attacks in 2001 and a decision by Airbus to discontinue maintenance support.
 
Australian History

Tuesday, October 25, 1616. : Dutch sea-captain Dirk Hartog becomes the first European to set foot on Australia's western coast, and leaves his inscription at Cape Inscription, Western Australia.

Over 150 years before English explorer James Cook (then Lieutenant Cook) ever sighted eastern Australia, the Dutch landed in the far north and on the Western coast. In 1616, Dutch sea-captain Dirk Hartog sailed too far whilst trying out Henderik Brouwer's recently discovered route from the Cape of Good Hope to Batavia, via the Roaring Forties. Reaching the western coast of Australia, he landed on what is now known as Dirk Hartog Island, at Cape Inscription, on 25 October 1616. Here he left a pewter plate with an inscription recording his landing. The translation of the inscription reads: '1616. On 25th October there arrived here the ship Eendraght of Amsterdam. Supercargo Gilles Miebais of Liege; skipper Dirck Hatichs of Amsterdam. On 27th do. she set sail again for Bantam. Subcargo Jan Stins; upper steersman Pieter Doores of Bil. In the year 1616.'

In 1697, Dutch sailor Willem de Vlamingh reached "New Holland", as it was then called, and removed Hartog's pewter plate, replacing it with another plate. The original was returned to Holland where it still is kept in the Rijksmuseum. The original inscription was copied onto a new plate, and Vlamingh added new information which listed the sailors on his own voyage and read: 'Our fleet set sail from here to continue exploring the Southern Land, on the way to Batavia.'

Thursday, October 25, 1888. : The mutiny of the Navy ship “The Gayundah” takes place on the Brisbane River, Queensland.

From the time of the first European discoveries of the Australian continent, several countries remained curious enough to chart the coastline of the Great South Land. French and Dutch interests were offset by British colonisation, but by the 1880s, there were increased concerns about the presence of Russian activity in the Pacific. The British had begun to withdraw their military presence in preceding decades, so each colonial government became responsible for its own defence force. In Queensland, Fort Lytton was constructed at the mouth of the Brisbane River in 1881. Three years later, the Queensland Maritime Defence Force acquired a torpedo boat, the HMQS Mosquito, and two British gunboats, the HMQS Gayundah and the Paluma, named for aboriginal words meaning ‘lightning’ and ‘thunder’ respectively.

The HMQS Gayundah departed Newcastle-On-Tyne in November 1884 and arrived in Brisbane in March 1885, under the command of ex-Royal Navy Captain Henry Townley Wright. Within a few months, it became evident that the Russian threat was minimal, so the ship entered the Brisbane River and anchored near Kangaroo Point, opposite the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens. During the ensuing years, Captain Wright’s conduct deteriorated as he criticised the colonial navy and began appropriating government stores and alcohol for himself. In 1887, attempts by the government to remove Wright were unsuccessful, and he was retained for another year under the proviso that he did not have authority to order stores to be brought on board.

In September 1888, Wright applied for leave of absence, requesting that he be paid the remainder of his salary until the conclusion of his commission as a lump sum. Whilst leave was granted, Wright was still to be paid only monthly, which created problems as he had racked up considerable debts. On 25 October 1888, Wright refused orders to turn over command to First Lieutenant Francis Taylor, had his crew arrest Taylor for mutiny, and indicated his intentions to take the ship to Sydney. Queensland police, led by Police Commissioner David Thompson Seymour, boarded the vessel to take control by force, if necessary. Wright then asked his gunner where the Gayundah's aft 6-inch gun should be aimed in order to hit the Queensland Parliament building. Wright was escorted to shore by the police.

The Gayundah became part of the Commonwealth Naval Forces in 1901 and, two years later, transmitted the first wireless message received from a ship at sea to an Australian wireless station. Upon formation of the Royal Australian Navy in 1911, the Gayundah was redesignated HMAS Gayundah, and was put into service patrolling Australia's water borders along the north-west coast of the continent. The vessel was decommissioned in 1921, becoming a gravel carrier for private company Brisbane Gravel Pty Ltd. In the 1950s, she was sold for scrap, although her hull was later sold to Redcliffe Town Council. In 1958, the Gayundah was beached as a breakwater near the cliffs at Woody Point, Redcliffe, where she remains as a rusty skeleton.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016. : A tragic accident at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast results in the loss of four lives.

Dreamworld is a theme park located at Coomera on the Gold Coast in Queensland. Opened in 1981 and currently Australia’s largest theme park, it features over 40 different rides and attractions. The first rides and attractions consisted of the Imax Theatre, Rocky Hollow, Log Ride, Captain Sturt Paddle Wheeler and the Cannon Ball Express. In 1986, Gold Rush Country opened. Among the rides in the new attraction was the Thunder River Rapids Ride, which featured circular rafts which travelled through a cave and a section of rapids. This became one of the park’s most popular rides.

On 25 October 2016, one of the two large water pumps which supplied the water for the ride malfunctioned, causing the water level to suddenly drop. One raft was left stranded on rails just before the ride brought the rafts back to the station on a conveyor belt. Shortly after this, a second raft crashed into the first, flipping the first raft into a vertical position on the mechanism of the conveyor belt. Four adults were killed, crushed by the machinery, while two children managed to climb out without serious injury.

The theme park was immediately shut down while investigations continued, remaining closed for almost two months. The Thunder River Rapids Ride was decommissioned immediately and demolished almost a year and a half after the accident. In July 2020 the owner of Dreamworld, Ardent Leisure, was charged with safety breaches and fined $4.5m.
 
World History

Thursday, October 25, 1984. : Famine in Ethiopia becomes critical, prompting the EEC to donate £1.8 million for emergency aid.

Ethiopia is a country situated in Eastern Africa, and bordered by Sudan, Kenya, Somalia, Eritrea and Djibouti. The economy of Ethiopia is based on agriculture, yet it is often subject to droughts, the effects of which are exacerbated by overpopulation, and insecurity around the Eritrean border, which has prevented relief supplies from reaching their intended targets.

In 1984 the country was hit by intense famine, affecting eight million people, and causing the death of about one million. On 25 October 1984, the European Economic Community donated £1.8 million to alleviate the famine. Although it ordered the immediate shipment of 5,000 tons of food, with more to follow, 1,000 tons of food a day from other aid agencies were already being handled. Initially confined to the north, by 1986 the famine had spread to parts of the southern highlands, with an estimated 5.8 million people dependent on relief food. Locust plagues in 1986 also exacerbated the food shortage. Many Ethiopians today continue to rely on food aid from overseas.
 
25th October

1400 The death of Geoffrey Chaucer, the English poet famous for the Canterbury Tales. Chaucer is known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey.

1415 The Battle of Agincourt.'Cry God for Harry, England, and Saint George!' On St Crispin's Day 1415, King Henry V and his 'band of brothers' defeated a much larger French force, thanks in part to that medieval super-weapon, the longbow.

1854 Lord Cardigan led the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War. An ambiguous order from the commander, Lord Raglan, led Cardigan’s brave cavalry to charge the Russians while fire came from three different sides.

1964 The Beatles won five UK Ivor Novello Awards - 1963's Most Broadcast Song, and Top-Selling Single 'She Loves You', Second Best-Selling Single 'I Want to Hold your Hand', Second Most Outstanding Song 'All My Loving', and the Most Outstanding Contribution to Music.
 
Oct 25th
1854
members of British Light Cavlary led a charge by mistake into the heart of Russian Imperial Army.110 soldiers died.Alfred Lord Tennyson would write a famous poem about it 'The Charge of the Light Brigade"
1955
Tappan Company introduces micro wave oven for home use
1962
author John Steinbeck is awarded Nobel Prize for Literature
1995
Queen Elizabeth gives knighthood to British singer,Cliff Richard.He is the 1st rock star to be knighted
 
Australian History

Saturday, October 26, 1985. : The Australian Government returns ownership of Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park to its traditional owners.

Uluru, in central Australia, is an inselberg, often referred to as the second largest monolith in the world, second only to Mt Augustus which is also in Australia. Also known as Ayers Rock, it was named after the former Premier of South Australia, Sir Henry Ayers by William Gosse, of the South Australian Survey Department, who became the first European explorer to see Ayers Rock. Gosse sighted Ayers Rock on 18 July 1873, recording that, "This rock is certainly the most wonderful natural feature I have ever seen". The indigenous people of central Australia had known about the feature for many thousands of years. Uluru, which is believed to mean either 'Great pebble' or 'Meeting place', is sacred to the Aborigines.

Early in the twentieth century, the Australian Government declared ownership of the land on which Uluru and Kata Tjuta (formerly The Olgas) stand. The South West Reserve was created, incorporating Uluru and Kata Tjuta, as a sanctuary for the indigenous people of central Australia. After a dirt road to Uluru was constructed in 1948s, miners and tourists began to flock to the area, and the remaining Anangu people in the area dispersed. The Ayers Rock-Mount Olga National Park was created in 1958, and tour companies were granted leases to operate a hotel, four motels, a store and service station.

In 1976, the historic Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act came into force, recognising Indigenous land rights and setting up processes for Indigenous people to win back their land and manage their own resources. In 1979, formal recognition of the existence of traditional Aboriginal owners of Uluru and Kata Tjuta was made, and the region was declared the Uluru - Kata Tjuta national park. On 26 October 1985, ownership of the national park was returned to the local Pitjantjatjara Aborigines. One of the conditions was that the Anangu would lease it back to the National Parks and Wildlife for 99 years and that it would be jointly managed.

Saturday, October 26, 2019. : The Uluru climb is permanently closed.

Uluru, in central Australia, formerly known also by its European name of Ayers Rock, is an inselberg. It is often referred to as the second largest monolith in the world, and is second in size only to Mt Augustus in Western Australia.

The indigenous Anangu people of central Australia have held Uluru sacred for thousands of years. However, early in the twentieth century, the land surrounding Ayers Rock and the Olgas came under control of the Australian government. Tourists began to make the trip to Ayers Rock, the name by which it was known for decades, and lack of restrictions on tourist and camping activities had a gradual, detrimental effect on the environment. This was recognised by the 1970s, and plans were made to relocate the hotel and motel accommodation outside of the Uluru - Kata Tjuta national park area. In 1985, ownership of Uluru was returned to the traditional indigenous people, but one of the conditions was that the Anangu would lease it back to the National Parks and Wildlife for 99 years and that it would be jointly managed.

For many years, the traditional owners requested that tourists refrain from making the popular climb up Uluru, out of concern for visitors' safety and respect for Uluru's cultural significance. While some tourists heeded this request, many continued to make the climb. On 26 October 2019, the climb up Uluru was permanently closed. Visitors who ignore this and attempt to scale Uluru can now be prosecuted under the law.
 
World History

Wednesday, October 26, 1825. : The Erie Canal, linking the Great Lakes of North America with the Atlantic Ocean, is opened.

The Erie Canal runs from the Hudson River in New York State to Lake Erie, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. First proposed in 1699, it was another hundred years before construction commenced. The first section of canal was completed in 1819, and the entire canal was opened on 26 October 1825. The opening of the Canal brought a massive population surge to western New York, and opened areas further west for settlement, as it cut costs of transportation to remote areas by 90%. The canal was 584km long, 12m wide and 1.2m deep.

In 1918 the Erie Canal was replaced by the larger New York State Barge Canal, replacing much of the original route, and incorporating more rivers such as the Mohawk, Seneca and Clyde Rivers, and Oneida Lake. Today, the Erie Canal Corridor covers 843km.

Tuesday, October 26, 1948. : 20 die as air pollution descends on Donora, Pennsylvania, USA.

In 1948, Donora was a small city of 14,000 people, lying in a valley. Much of the town's economy centred around its heavy industry, including a sulfuric acid plant, a steel mill, and a zinc production plant. On 26 October 1948, an air inversion descended on the valley, trapping effluent from the various industries and producing a suffocating mixture of fog and pollution. In the three days that the inversion layer remained, twenty people died. Six-thousand more suffered illnesses ranging from sore throats to nausea, and many had permanently damaged lungs and hearts. A decade later, the mortality rate in Donora remained substantially higher than in nearby towns.

Wednesday, October 26, 1994. : Israel and Jordan sign a peace treaty, ending 46 years of war.

Israel and Jordan had long maintained good relations in secret, despite the Israeli conquest of the West Bank and Jerusalem in the 1967 6-day war. Israel's overtures of peace towards her neighbours matched Jordan's pro-Western policies. However, the two nations were theoretically in a state of war until such time as a peace treaty would come into being.

As soon as it appeared that elements of the peace process were proceeding with the Palestinians, Jordan and Israel were able to quickly conclude a formal treaty. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan's King Hussein formally made peace at a ceremony in Wadi Araba on the Israeli-Jordanian border, on 26 October 1994. The treaty, involving only minor changes in the borders, was overseen by US President Bill Clinton. However, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was not invited. Most Israelis welcomed the agreement, but Palestinians, who made up approximately 60% of Jordan's population, were angered by a deal which they felt did not address their many grievances. Nonetheless, the peace treaty still lives on effectively today.
 
Oct 26th
1825
The Erie Canal between Hudson River and Lake Erie opens
1881
Gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone,AZ between Wyatt Earp,his 2 brothers Virgil&Morgan,friend,Doc Holliday vs outlaws Billy&Ike Clanton,Tom&Frank McLaury,Billy Claiborne
1972
scientist/inventor,Edwin Land introduces the 1st instant camera,thePolaroid SX-70 in Miami,Fla
1988
US&Soviet efforts free 2 grey whales who were stuck in ice in Barrow,Alaska
 
26th October

Died today in 899...Alfred the Great, King of Wessex. By the time of his death, he had become the dominant ruler in England, defending his kingdom against Danish invasion and founding the first English navy. However most school children remember him best for 'burning the cakes'...

1775 King George III went before Parliament to declare the American colonies in rebellion, and authorized a military response to quell the American Revolution.

1929 London's world famous buses were painted red.

1989 The re-built Globe Theatre in London reopened for the first time in 350 years.
 
Australian History

Wednesday, October 27, 1841. : One of the last ships with religious refugees from Germany arrives in South Australia.

In the 1800s, under King Friedrich Wilhelm III, German/Prussian Lutherans suffered religious persecution. Friedrich Wilhelm was an autocratic king who believed he had the right to create his own state church from the two main Protestant churches - the Lutheran church and the smaller Reformed church - in a united Prussian state church. This would effectively remove the right of Lutherans to worship in a way of their choosing. Penalties for non-adherance to the state religion were severe. Many Lutherans immigrated to Australia to escape the persecution.

Thanks to wealthy Scottish businessman and chairman of the South Australian Company, George Fife Angas, a deal was struck by Pastor August Kavel to start a new Lutheran settlement in South Australia. The first group of 21 Lutherans arrived on the ship 'Bengalee' on 18 November 1838, followed two days later by the main group on the 'Prince George'. They first settled at the town of Klemzig. Many more ships followed over the next three years.

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

Saturday, October 27, 1962. : Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser becomes the first woman to swim 100m freestyle in under one minute.

Dawn Fraser was born on 4 September 1937 in Balmain, New South Wales. She was fifteen years old when coach Harry Gallagher noted her exceptional swimming talent and took wher under his wing, preparing her for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

Fraser was the first female swimmer to win Gold in three consecutive Olympic Games, doing so in 1956, 1960 and 1964. Her career spanned some fifteen years, during which she broke and held 41 World records, and remained undefeated in the 100 metres freestyle. Between 1956 and 1964, Fraser broke the women’s world record for the 100 metre freestyle nine successive times. On 27 October 1962, Fraser became the first woman to swim the 100m freestyle in less than one minute at the Australian British Empire and Commonwealth Games trials in Melbourne.

In 1999, Fraser was awarded “World Athlete of the Century” at the World Sport Awards in Vienna. In the same year, she was also inducted into the Australian Sports Hall of Fame when she was awarded “Athlete of the Century”.
 

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