Australian Explorers
Saturday, June 26, 1858. : Explorer John McDouall Stuart discovers Chambers Creek, later to be renamed Stuart Creek.
John McDouall Stuart was born in Dysart, Fife, Scotland, on 7 September 1815. He arrived in South Australia in 1839. He had a passion for exploration and gained experience when he was employed as a draughtsman by Captain Charles Sturt on an expedition into the desert interior. Following his experience with Sturt, Stuart led several expeditions west of Lake Eyre.
On his first attempt to venture into Australia’s unexplored interior, Stuart discovered a large creek with apparently permanent water southwest of Lake Eyre, on 26 June 1858. He named it Chambers Creek after James Chambers, the man who would later become the sponsor for future expeditions. Although this was the only significant discovery on this expedition, Chambers Creek became a vital starting point in opening the way for further exploration into central Australia.
When the South Australian government offered a reward of two thousand pounds to the first expedition to reach the northern coast, Stuart chose to push beyond Lake Eyre in the attempt to reach the north. 1860 saw Stuart’s fourth expedition, and his second attempt to cross Australia from south to north. On 26 June 1860, this expedition was brought to an abrupt end when the local Warramunga tribe launched an ambush. The site is now known as Attack Creek. Stuart eventually succeeded in crossing the continent two years later.
Australian Explorers
Wednesday, June 26, 1861. : A rescue party leaves Melbourne to search for explorers Burke and Wills, who are long overdue from their attempt to cross Australia from south to north.
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. Robert O’Hara Burke, William John Wills and Charles Gray all died. John King alone survived, after being taken in and nursed by the Aborigines of the Cooper Creek area.
Several different rescue parties set out to search for any sign of the Burke and Wills expedition. Victoria mounted its own rescue mission, headed up by Alfred Howitt, an experienced bushman. Howitt’s party departed Melbourne on 26 June 1861: ironically, this was just a few days before Burke died of malnutrition and likely nardoo poisoning at Cooper Creek.
When Howitt reached Swan Hill, he met up with William Brahe, who had been left in charge with instructions that if the party did not return in three months, he was to return to Menindee. Brahe returned to Cooper Creek with Howitt, where they found no sign of Burke and Wills having been there. Burke had indeed returned and found the lettering freshly blazed on the coolabah tree at the depot, giving instructions to dig for the supplies Brahe had left. When Burke left the Dig tree to try to reach the police station at Mt Hopeless, 240km away, he failed to leave further messages emblazoned on the Dig tree indicating that his party had returned and were now making for Mt Hopeless. Thus, no rescue party had any knowledge that Burke had returned to Cooper Creek: this miscommunication was a significant factor in the tragic demise of Burke and Wills.
Australian History
Saturday, June 26, 1880. : Bushrangers, the Kelly Gang, execute police informer Aaron Sherritt, shortly before they themselves are captured.
Ned Kelly, Australia’s most famous bushranger, was born in December 1854 in Beveridge, Victoria. As a teenager, he became involved in petty crimes, regularly targeting the wealthy landowners. He gradually progressed to crimes of increasing seriousness and violence, including bank robbery and murder, soon becoming a hunted man. Ned Kelly’s gang consisted of himself, his brother Dan, Joe Byrne and Steve Hart. One of Kelly’s more daring bank robberies was carried out in December 1878 when Kelly and his gang rode into the Victorian town of Euroa, where they robbed the National Bank of about 2,000 pounds. As a result of this robbery, the reward for their capture was increased to 1,000 pounds each.
Aaron Sherritt was an associate of the Kellys, having grown up in the same area, and he was quite close to the Byrne family. He was engaged to Byrne’s sister for a while. After the gang was outlawed following the murder of three policemen at Stringybark Creek in October 1878, Sherritt turned police informant for money. Sherritt advised the police to camp out in a cave near Byrne’s family home in the hopes of capturing Byrne as he visited his mother. Sherritt’s presence was noted, and Byrne’s sister broke off her engagement to him.
Many months later, on the night of 26 June 1880, Sherritt was at home with his new wife, mother-in-law and four policemen. When Sherritt answered a knock at the door, he was shot dead by Byrne. The police officers hid, as they were unsure whether they were Byrne’s real target, and did not report the killing until late the following morning. Within a couple of days, Byrne was himself killed in a shootout at Glenrowan between the gang and the police. Ned Kelly was the only one to survive to stand trial, after which he was hanged.
World History
Tuesday, June 26, 1945. : Australia joins the United Nations.
The term “United Nations” was first used officially during World War II, on 1 January 1942, when 26 states joined in the Declaration by the “United Nations”, pledging themselves to continue their joint war effort and not to seek peace as separate entities. During the course of the war, it was recognised that there was a need for a new organisation to replace the largely ineffectual League of Nations. This was stated in the Moscow Declaration, issued by China, Great Britain, the United States, and the USSR in 1943.
As the war drew to an end, USA President Franklin D Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin initiated a conference to take place in April 1945. Its purpose was to plan the charter of an organisation to promote peace, security, and economic development. Nations which had signed the original 1942 declaration and had declared war on Germany or Japan no later than 1 March 1945, were called to the founding conference held in San Francisco, to draft the UN charter. The conference was attended by representatives of fifty nations. Australia became an inaugural member of the newly-formed United Nations when it signed the United Nations Charter in San Francisco on 26 June 1945. The UN charter was ratified by the required number of states on 24 October 1945.
World History
Sunday, June 26, 1960. : Madagascar gains full independence from France.
Madagascar is an island nation located off the south-eastern coast of Africa, in the Indian Ocean. Covering an area of 592,800 square kilometres, it is the world’s fourth largest island.
The island was believed to have first been settled by people from Borneo sometime between 350 BC and 550 AD. In the ensuing centuries, various other races migrated to the island, especially from eastern Africa. Kingdoms were established throughout Madagascar, until the highland kingdom of Imerina became the dominant force on the island. Arabs arrived from the eighth century and were the first to establish trading posts along the northern coast. The first European contact came in 1500, when Portuguese sea captain Diogo Dias sighted the island. By the late 1600s, the French had established numerous trading posts along the east coast, and had begun settling in parts of the island.
Between 1883 and 1896, France invaded Madagascar in a series of incursions which became known as the Franco-Hova or Franco-Malagasy wars, and ended with the overthrow of the ruling Merina monarchy. Madagascar was made a full Protectorate of the French government; the Queen was deposed the following year and exiled first to Reunion Island, then to Algeria.
During the twentieth century, an independence movement developed among nationalists on the island, leading to the Malagasy Uprising of 1947-48. The colonial authorities responded swiftly and violently, crushing the rebellion and killing somewhere between 30,000 and 80,000 nationals. However, the movement gained the attention of the French authorities, and gradually the island began its progress towards achieving independence by peaceful means. In October 1958, the autonomous state of the Malagasy Republic was proclaimed and in 1959, the republic adopted its own constitution. Madagascar then achieved full independence on 26 June 1960.