Born on this day
Friday, March 19, 1813. : Missionary and explorer, David Livingstone, is born.
David Livingstone was born on 19 March 1813, in Blantyre, Scotland. His surname was ‘Livingston’, but he changed it later to identify with Christ, the ‘living rock’, the cornerstone of the Church. Initially Livingstone studied medicine and theology at the University of Glasgow, but when he was 27 years old, he sailed from Scotland to South Africa as a Christian missionary. Whilst there he spent some time exploring the African interior, becoming one of the first Westerners to make a transcontinental journey across Africa. Livingstone was popular among native tribes in Africa because he quickly learned African languages and had a keen understanding and sympathy for native people and their cultures. Livingstone was one of the first westerners to sight the spectacular Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River.
Livingstone’s lack of contact with the outside world over several years raised concerns for his welfare and prompted the New York Herald to send journalist Henry Morton Stanley to track down the explorer in Africa. On 10 November 1871, Stanley met up with Livingstone, greeting him with the famous words “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” The two men explored together briefly but Livingston, weakened from dysentery, died less than two years later, on 30 April 1873.
Born on this day
Saturday, March 19, 1921. : Tommy Cooper, famous British comic, is born.
British comedian Thomas Frederick “Tommy” Cooper was born in Caerphilly, South Wales on 19 March 1921. When he was three years old, his family moved to Exeter, Devon, where he acquired the West Country accent that became an integral part of his act.
Cooper’s interest in magical illusions developed when he was eight, and his aunt bought him a magic set. He perfected numerous magic tricks, which helped him to develop his comedy acts later. Some accounts say his great sense of comedy grew out of the many conjuring tricks that failed when Cooper was performing to various audiences: despite the failures, his acts gained plenty of laughs. He soon learned that adding the occasional trick that worked added to the winning formula. Respected by traditional magicians and illusionists, Cooper became a member of The Magic Circle. His trademark was his red fez.
Cooper’s success began when, in 1947, he was booked by trombonist Miff Ferrie of “The Jackdaws” to appear as the second spot comedian in a show starring sand dance act “Marqueeze and the Dance of the Seven Veils”. Over the next two years, Cooper performed in hundreds of shows. Ferrie, in fact, acted as Cooper’s agent right up until Cooper died in 1984. This included during Cooper’s television career, which began in 1948 and spanned almost four decades. After he first performed on the BBC talent show New to You in March 1948, he started starring in his own shows, and was particularly well known through his work with London Weekend Television from 1968 – 1972, and Thames Television from 1973 – 1980.
A heavy drinker and smoker, Cooper suffered from declining health during the 1970s. He died shortly after he suffered a heart attack while on stage on 15 April 1984.
Australian History
Friday, March 19, 1790. : The HMS Sirius is wrecked off Norfolk Island before it can bring vital food and supplies to the starving colony at Sydney.
The HMS Sirius was an armed storeship and the flagship of the First Fleet to Australia. Originally built in 1780 and named the ‘Berwick’, she was used for the East India trade route. In 1796, the ship was purchased by the British Nay, after being damaged in a fire, then rebuilt and renamed the Sirius. It played a vital role when the colony at Port Jackson faced starvation, being despatched to Cape Town in South Africa for crucial food supplies and medicine in September 1788.
By 1790, the Sirius was required to undertake a second journey. The colony was still struggling with a severe food shortage, and the HMS Guardian, due to arrive with supplies from England, never arrived. Both the Sirius and the HMS Supply departed Port Jackson for Norfolk Island, carrying convicts and marines, to alleviate the problems of food shortages in Sydney. The Sirius was then under orders to proceed to China for supplies.
The ships arrived at Norfolk Island on 13 March 1790, but bad weather forced them back out to sea after most of the marines and convicts were sent ashore. Safe harbour was unattainable, even on the other side of the island. The Supply was able to put safely to sea, but the Sirius was wrecked on a coral reef just 200m off Slaughter Bay. The ship sank on 19 March 1790, leaving the colonists in Sydney in despair. It was only due to Governor Arthur Phillip’s forethought in sending part of the population to Norfolk, and his strict rationing, that ensured the survival of Sydney.
Australian History
Friday, March 19, 1852. : The First Gold Escort returns wealth from the Victorian goldfields to the South Australian colony.
The discovery of gold in New South Wales and Victoria in 1851 was a great boon to those states, but a disaster for South Australia. Very little payable gold had been found in South Australia, and hopeful prospectors were leaving the colony in droves to seek their fortune. By the end of 1851, around 15,000 men had left South Australia, leaving few to work the mines at Kapunda and Burra. The result was the temporary closure of the mines, and an economic recession for South Australia.
Alexander Tolmer was an English immigrant who had arrived in South Australia in 1840. With his military background, he had been appointed by Governor Gawler to be Sub-Inspector of Police, a position in which he had demonstrated skills in organisation and discipline. In 1852, he was appointed Commissioner of Police and Police Magistrate. In this capacity, he proposed that the gold found by South Australians should be returned to the colony rather than sold in Victoria. Tolmer also proposed that he be the one to bring the gold back to South Australia under escort. His proposal was accepted and the government passed the Assay Bullion Act, which authorised the establishment of an assay office and smelting facilities.
Tolmer’s first escort to the Mt Alexander goldfields, consisting of Tolmer, Sergeant J Lamb, Constables William Rowe and John Cusack, departed on 10 February 1852. The journey to the goldfields took ten days. Tolmer spent two days collecting gold, whilst receipts were written out by Dr William Gosse, father of later South Australian explorer William Christie Gosse. The triumphant escort returned to Adelaide on 19 March 1852. This first, successful escort resulted in the return of £21,000 worth of gold to the South Australian colony.
The success of the first escort prompted the organisation of further expeditions. In all, there were eighteen gold escorts between Mt Alexander and Adelaide, with the final escort completing its journey in December 1853. It is estimated that up to £2,000,000 worth of money and gold was returned from South Australian diggers to Adelaide via the escorts.
Australian History
Saturday, March 19, 1932. : The Sydney Harbour Bridge is officially opened, amidst unexpected controversy.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is the largest steel arch bridge in the world, though not the longest, with the top of the bridge standing 134 metres above the harbour. At 48.8 m wide, it was the widest bridge in the world up until 2006. In 1912, John Bradfield was appointed chief engineer of the bridge project, which also had to include a railway. Plans were completed in 1916 but the advent of WWI delayed implementation until 1922. Construction of the bridge began in 1924, and took 1400 men eight years to build at a cost of £4.2 million. Sixteen lives were lost during its construction, while up to 800 families living in the path of the proposed Bridge path were relocated and their homes demolished when construction started.
The arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge was built in two halves cantilevering from each shore and tying each half back by steel cables that were anchored into U-shaped tunnels excavated into the sandstone rock. Construction of the two halves of the arch began late in 1928, and the two halves were properly joined around 10pm on 19 August 1930.
The official opening of the bridge occurred on 19 March 1932. As NSW Premier, the Honourable John T Lang, officially declared the Bridge open, Captain Francis De Groot of the political group The New Guard, which was opposed to Lang’s leftist policies, charged on his horse and slashed the ribbon with his sword. De Groot’s organisation resented the fact that the King’s representative in Australia, the Governor-General Sir Isaac Isaacs, hadn’t been asked to open the bridge. De Groot was arrested, and the ribbon re-tied, allowing Lang to perform the official opening ceremony. After he did so, there was a 21-gun salute and a RAAF fly-past.
World History
Thursday, March 19, 1812. : Today is “Swallows Day”, marking the annual return of the swallows of Capistrano.
San Juan Capistrano is a city in southern Orange County, California, USA. It is well known for the annual migration of the Cliff Swallows, which migrate every year between Argentina and the Mission San Juan Capistrano.
The Cliff Swallow is a small migratory bird which breeds in North America and Mexico, and spends its winters in South America, from Venezuela southwards to northeast Argentina. The birds undertake a journey of about 12,000 km, travelling in 450 km segments, thus taking around 30 days to complete. Cliff Swallows breed in large colonies, building cone-shaped mud nests. In the wild, these nests are usually on cliffs, preferably beneath overhangs, but European settlement has provided many more sheltering opportunities. Older-style barns have proven popular nesting sites and, more recently, dams and bridges.
San Juan Capistrano is home to the Mission San Juan Capistrano, founded in 1776 by Franciscan Catholics, but severely damaged by an earthquake in 1812. It was around the time of this earthquake that the swallows began to nest amongst the buildings of the Mission and in the ruined church. The numbers and regularity of the birds soon attracted comment, and locals sought to protect them. The swallows would leave for Argentina around 23 October each year, and return to the Mission on or around 19 March – behaviour which has continued for centuries, to the present day.
The phenomenon was nearly interrupted in 1998 when renovations to the Mission scared away the birds, but the monks managed to coax them back by offering ladybugs and other insects.
World History
Monday, March 19, 1945. : The American aircraft carrier, USS Franklin, is divebombed by a kamikaze Japanese aircraft, killing 724.
The fifth USS Franklin (CV-13) (also CVA-13, CVS-13, and AVT-8), nicknamed “Big Ben”, was an Essex-class aircraft carrier of the United States Navy. The carrier was subject to a number of kamikaze attacks by the Japanese during WWII, during which dozens of the crew were lost. On 19 March 1945, the Franklin had manoeuvred to within 80 km of the Japanese mainland, closer than any other US carrier during the war. The carrier launched a fighter sweep against Honshu and later a strike against shipping in Kobe Harbor. Without warning, a single aircraft pierced the cloud cover and made a low level run on the ship to drop two semi-armour-piercing bombs.
The Franklin lay dead in the water, took a 13° starboard list, lost all radio communications, and broiled under the heat from enveloping fires. 724 of the crew were killed and 265 wounded. Many of the surviving crew acted heroically, leading others to safety and taking the initiative to fight the fires and search for wounded and missing crewmates. Their actions enabled the carrier to return to American territory for repairs.