Australian Explorers
Wednesday, November 1, 1865. : The first European explorer who would see Ayers Rock, William Christie Gosse, is appointed Government Surveyor in the South Australian colony.
William Christie Gosse was born on 11 December 1842 in Hoddesdon, England. His parents migrated to Adelaide in 1850, where his father became a leading figure in Adelaide, being elected to the Board of the Adelaide Hospital, establishing the Home for Incurables, forming the second branch of the British Medical Association outside England and becoming the first warden of the Senate of the University of Adelaide.
William attended John Lorenzo Young’s Adelaide Educational Institute on North Terrace, and joined the Government Survey Office in 1859. Gosse was appointed Government Surveyor on 1 November 1865. He gained considerable expertise and understanding of travel in the outback while working on the Overland Telegraph Line in 1872.
In 1873, Governor Goyder sent Gosse to open up a route from the recently completed Overland Telegraph Line at Alice Springs in Central Australia, to Perth. It was while on this expedition that Gosse made perhaps his greatest discovery: Uluru, or Ayers Rock. Gosse became became the first European explorer to see Ayers Rock, which he named in honour of former South Australian Premier, Sir Henry Ayers. Gosse discovered the rock, now known by its native name of Uluru, by accident during an expedition through Australia’s interior. The need to find water for his camels forced him to take a more southerly course than he had originally planned, and in July 1873, he sighted Ayers Rock, recording that, “This rock is certainly the most wonderful natural feature I have ever seen”.
Australian History
Tuesday, November 1, 1791. : A party of convicts escapes from Parramatta, intending to walk to China.
Australia was originally settled by convicts and officers of the First Fleet. The fleet assembled in Portsmouth, England, and set sail on 13 May 1787. They arrived in Botany Bay on 18 January 1788. After determining that Botany Bay was unsuitable for settlement, Captain Arthur Phillip led the Fleet northwards to Port Jackson, arriving on 26 January 1788.
Conditions in the new colony were tough. The English tools could not stand up to the hard work of tilling the Australian soil, and they broke easily. The convicts were disinclined to work hard, many of them not being used to manual labour, and the heat and humidity of the Australian climate only added to their discomfort and lack of motivation to work. In addition, rations had to be meted out very carefully until farms could start producing crops. Many convicts were hungry enough to steal food, and punishment for theft was severe, ranging from lashing with a cat o’ nine tails, or even death by hanging. Governor Phillip could not afford for any rations to be lost to theft, so he felt compelled to enforce harsh disciplinary measures. As a result, many convicts attempted escape.
It was not known what lay beyond the boundaries of the colony at Port Jackson, but many believed that China lay beyond the Blue Mountains. On 1 November 1791, a group of 20 or 21 male convicts and one pregnant female convict escaped from the gaol at Parramatta in an attempt to reach China.
They took with them rations, tools and clothes. Whilst some of the convicts were recaptured, many simply died in the unfamiliar bushland of New South Wales.
Australian History
Sunday, November 1, 1914. : The First Australian Imperial Force (AIF) departs from Albany, Western Australia to prepare to take part in the war in Europe.
Australia’s involvement in World War I began in earnest in early August 1914 after Australian Prime Minister Joseph Cook pledged support, offering Britain 20 000 troops, and stating that “…when the Empire is at war, so also is Australia.” Cook’s offer was accepted by the British government, which requested that the troops be sent “as soon as possible”. At this time, Australia had a population of approximately 4 million, which meant there were around 820 000 men of ‘fighting age’, considered to be those ages 19-38. By the end of 1914, 50 000 eligible men who met the minimum height requirement of 5 feet 6 inches, or 168cm, had joined up, and thousands more turned away on medical grounds.
The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) saw the first major military action, when they were deployed to seize German interests in New Guinea. The next major action was to take place in Europe.
The first convoy of ANZACs, or Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, departed from King George Sound, Albany in Western Australia on 1 November 1914. Around 30 000 troops from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and New Zealand aboard 38 ships made up the first flotilla that left from the whaling station in Australia’s southwest. Among these first ships were the HMAS Melbourne, HMAS Sydney and the HMS Minotaur of the Royal Navy. Two days later, the convoy was joined by ships carrying troops from Western Australia and South Australia, escorted by the Japanese cruiser HIJMS Ibuki. The troops spent several months training in Egypt before being deployed at Gallipoli and in Europe.
World History
Friday, November 1, 1512. : Michelangelo’s magnificent artwork on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is exhibited to the public for the first time.
Michelangelo Buonarroti, considered by many to be the greatest of the Italian Renaissance artists, was born near Arezzo, in Caprese, Tuscany, Italy, in 1475. He was apprenticed to artist Domenico Ghirlandaio at age 13. Ghirlandaio was so impressed with his young protege that he recommended him to Lorenzo de’ Medici, the ruler of the Florentine republic and a great patron of the arts. After demonstrating his mastery of sculpture in such works as the Pietý (1498) and David (1504), he was commissioned by Pope Julius II della Rovere in 1508 to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the chief consecrated space in the Vatican.
Michelangelo spent four years painting the epic ceiling frescoes, depicting detailed Biblical scenes. There are nine panels devoted to biblical world history, the most famous of which is The Creation of Adam, a painting in which the arms of God and Adam are stretching toward each other. Michelangelo’s frescoes on the vaulted ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome were first shown to the public on 1 November 1512.
World History
Wednesday, November 1, 1539. : Sea dikes burst in Holland, submerging much of the country and killing 400,000 people.
The Netherlands, or Holland, has always been well-known for its dykes. A dyke, or dike, is a stone or earthen wall constructed to reclaim land from the sea. In order to make the country inhabitable, people in the Netherlands needed to protect themselves against the sea and rivers flooding. They also drained the lowland areas as well. This was achieved by the construction of thousands of kilometres of dykes. Many dykes in early Holland were earthen or peat embankments, essential to the continued drainage of reclaimed land. In the sixteenth century, great storm surges caused large-scale dike slides, and on 1 November 1530, sea dikes burst in Holland, allowing the sea to burst through, submerging much of the country and killing 400,000 people.
World History
Saturday, November 1, 1755. : A massive earthquake and tsunami hits Lisbon, Portugal, killing between 60,000 and 90,000 people.
In 1755, Lisbon, capital city of Portugal, was a sophisticated and wealthy city. Considered to be a cultural centre of Europe, it had a population of around 250,000. On the evening of 31 October 1755, water in the city’s wells developed an unusual taste, strange plumes of yellow smoke could be observed, and animals became agitated. At around 9:30am the next day, 1 November 1755, an earthquake estimated to have had a magnitude of 8.6 or higher hit about 200km offshore, killing 600 with its initial devastation and generating a catastrophic tsunami which hit the city 40 minutes later. The actual size of the earthquake is unknown, as there were no instruments for measuring earthquake magnitude at the time.
It is believed that the great Lisbon earthquake occurred along the Azores-Gibraltar fracture zone (AGFZ), which marks the boundary of significant tectonic activity between the African and Eurasian plates. The severe rocking motion of the ground weakened Lisbon’s buildings so that they collapsed on the people fleeing through the streets. Being a Sunday and All Saints’ Day, tens of thousands of people were worshipping in the city’s great cathedrals such as Basilica de Santa Maria, Sao Vincente de Fora, Sao Paulo, Santa Catarina and the Misericordia. These all collapsed, killing thousands more.
The effects of the earthquake were felt on an even wider scale. Shock waves were felt throughout Europe and North Africa, over an area of more than two million square kilometres. In Lisbon, buildings that survived the earthquake and tsunami were devastated by a fire that raged for the next three days. Much of the cultural collections contained in the city were decimated as Lisbon’s museums and libraries were destroyed. Archives, manuscripts, historical records and other precious documents were completely consumed, as were the invaluable records of the India Company. The inferno destroyed the king’s palace and its 70,000-volume library. Over two hundred fine, priceless paintings, including paintings by Titan, Reubens, and Coreggio, were burned in the palace of the Marques de Lourcal.
World History
Saturday, November 1, 1884. : Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is adopted.
Greenwich Mean (or Meridian) Time (GMT) is the mean (average) time that the earth takes to rotate from noon-to-noon. GMT sets the current time or official time around the globe. The time zones division was officially adopted on 1 November 1884, at a meeting of the International Meridian Conference in Washington, DC, USA. During the conference, the International Date Line was drawn up and 24 time zones created, every 15 meridians east and west of 0 (the prime meridian) at Greenwich, England.
World History
Thursday, November 1, 1934. : Billy Graham, the man who would become a world-wide evangelist, is converted to Christianity.
William Franklin “Billy” Graham was born on 7 November 1918, four days before the Armistice which ended World War I. He grew up on a dairy farm near Charlotte, North Carolina, working hard during the difficult Depression years, and he had little interest in spiritual matters. Graham credits his conversion to Mordecai Ham, a Baptist preacher who was determined to take the Gospel to people from all walks of life, from the well-off to the down-and-out, doggedly pursuing atheists with God’s Word. Ham visited Graham’s home town in 1934. Initially, fifteen-year-old Billy was not ready to hear the Gospel, and he hid in the choir loft to escape Ham’s preaching. However, on the night of 1 November 1934, Billy Graham was convicted and converted by Ham’s preaching.
In “The Reason for my Hope”, one of over thirty books he wrote, Billy Graham recalled:
“On the night of November 1, 1934, my hardened soul was redeemed. I exchanged my will for God’s way. I traded my calloused heart for a cleansed soul. I had sought thrills. I found them in Christ. I had looked for something that would bring perfect joy and happiness. I found it in Christ. I had looked for something that would bring pleasure and would satisfy the deepest longing of my heart. I found it in Christ.”
Graham was ordained in 1939 by a church in the Southern Baptist Convention. He studied at Florida Bible Institute, now Trinity College, and in 1943 he graduated from Wheaton College in Illinois. This was also the year he married his fellow student Ruth McCue Bell, who was the daughter of a missionary surgeon who had spent many years in China.
Graham first served at the First Baptist Church in Western Springs, Illinois. However, he rose to prominence after he joined Youth for Christ, an organisation founded for ministry to youth and servicemen during World War II. Considered by many to be the greatest Christian evangelist of the 20th century, in his lifetime Graham spoke the Gospel to live audiences totalling nearly 215 million people in more than 185 countries and territories across the continents – more than anyone else in history has ever reached. Including radio and television broadcasts, his lifetime audience is estimated to have exceeded 2.2 billion. During the 1950s, at a time when integration was unpopular in the US, Graham insisted that his revivals and crusades be open to all races. In 1957, he invited Martin Luther King Jr to share the podium with him at a revival in New York City. Graham was spiritual adviser to several American presidents including Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Since 1955, Graham has appeared 55 times on American research-based, global company Gallup’s list of the “Ten Most Admired Men in the World”. His missionary work continues through the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), which was founded in 1950.