Australian Explorers
Wednesday, April 1, 1874. : The Forrest brothers depart Geraldton in search of a stock route to the east.
John Forrest was born on 22 August 1847 near Bunbury in Western Australia. Between the years of 1869 to 1874, Forrest led three expeditions, two of them with his brother Alexander (born 1849), to explore the uncharted areas of Western Australia.
On 1 April 1874, the brothers departed Geraldton with three experienced white men, two aborigines and enough supplies for eight months, in search of a stock route and pastureland to the east. It was on this journey that the Forrests discovered Weld Springs, which seemed to have an “almost unlimited supply of water.” It was named after Frederick Weld, the Governor of Western Australia. The explorations of John and Alexander Forrest filled in the missing gaps regarding Australia’s interior, but the only good pastureland was very patchy and scattered, and not particularly conducive to settlement.
Australian History
Thursday, April 1, 1897. : Aboriginal tracker Jandamurra, who led the rebellion to defend his land from white man, is killed.
Jandamurra, or ‘Pigeon’, was an Australian Aboriginal police tracker assisting in the capture of Myall Aborigines of the Kimberley region in northwestern Australia, who were spearing stockmen and their stock. Over the course of several evenings, Jandamurra was helping to guard the Aborigines in the police station overnight. During this time, they managed to convince Jandamurra to join their cause. Jandamurra shot the police constable and freed the Aborigines. He then led the others in an attack on a convoy of white settlers, thus procuring horses, guns and other supplies. The Aborigines eluded capture by hiding in the caves and surroundings of isolated Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek.
The rebellion lasted several years as the men fought against the white men encroaching on Bunaba land. In 1894, a police posse tracked down the Aborigines, and both white men and Aborigines were killed. It was thought Jandamurra was among the dead, but he escaped after playing “possum”. The police then recruited an excellent Aboriginal tracker from the Pilbara. This tracker, who knew the ways of Aboriginal mysticism and had no fear of Jandamurra, tracked down Jandamurra, killing him at Tunnel Creek on 1 April 1897.
Australian History
Saturday, April 1, 1978. : Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith pulls off the Great Sydney Harbour iceberg hoax.
Australian Dick Smith was born on 18 March 1944 in Roseville, Sydney. A multi-millionaire, he is known not only for his entrepreneurial and business skills, but also his patriotic support of the Australian way of life. One of the qualities he holds dear is the ability of Australians to laugh at themselves.
On 1 April 1978, Dick Smith pulled off the April Fool’s Day “Great Sydney Harbour iceberg hoax”, nominated one of the most imaginative April Fool pranks ever. For several months, he had been planning a genuine trip to Antarctica to consider the feasibility of using Antarctic icebergs to supply fresh water to Australia’s driest cities such as Adelaide: thus, the media believed him when he announced on the Friday preceding April Fool’s Day that an iceberg would be arriving from Antarctica sometime in the coming week. He did not say that it would arrive on April Fool’s Day, as that would have been too obvious. The ‘iceberg’ was created out of plastic sheeting on a barge just out of Sydney Harbour in the early hours of 1 April, and topped with foam from several dozen cans of shaving cream. As the barge entered the harbour, 300 of Smith’s employees began ringing radio stations to alert them to the strange sight. In a 2003 interview, Smith recalled, “Switchboards were jammed and by the time we towed the barge in, the headlands were covered with people. The navy even rang to offer us somewhere to moor.” The hoax was only revealed when rain washed away the foam, exposing the plastic sheeting.
World History
Monday, April 1, 1918. : The British Royal Air Force is founded.
The Royal Air Force (RAF), which is the air force of the United Kingdom, is the world’s oldest independent air force, being the first air force to become independent of army or navy control. It had its origins in 1911 when the first air battalion of the British army’s Royal Engineers was formed at Larkhill in Wiltshire. Later that year, the Royal Naval Flying School at Eastchurch was established in Kent by the British navy. The two were then incorporated into the Royal Flying Corps in 1912. The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was created in July 1914 and, within a month, was deployed when Britain declared war on Germany in World War I.
During the war, the strength and doggedness of German air raids highlighted to British military strategists the importance of a separate air body to implement tactical bombing attacks against Germany. On 1 April 1918, the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service merged to form the Royal Air Force. The first official mission of the RAF was implemented that same day by Bristol F.2B fighters of the 22nd Squadron. Just seven months later, by the time World War I came to a close, the RAF had gained air superiority along the western front.
World History
Monday, April 1, 1946. : A tsunami hits Hawaii, killing 165.
Hawaii is an island state of the United States of America, though it lies about 3200 km from the US continental coastline. Hawaii is located in the Pacific Ocean and, because it lies above a ‘hot spot’, it is known for its active volcanoes. Being surrounded by the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of seismic activity, it is subject to tsunamis, most of which are generated along the coasts of Japan, the Kamatchka Peninsula of far eastern Russia, the Aleutian Islands of Alaska and South America.
Though not all of these tsunamis have caused major damage, the one which struck the islands at around 7:00am on April Fool’s Day, 1 April 1946, was particularly devastating. This tsunami was generated by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake near Unimak Island in the Aleutian Islands. A massive wave 35 metres in height – the equivalent of a twelve-storey building – completely destroyed the steel-reinforced US Coast Guard’s Scotch Cap lighthouse on Unimak, killing all five lighthouse keepers and crew members inside. Less than five hours after the quake, Hawaii was swamped by a tsunami which, at its maximum height, was 13.7 m, and which struck seven times within 15 minutes. The entire waterfront of Hilo city was destroyed, and this was where most of the deaths occurred. 23 schoolchildren and 4 teachers were killed while collecting fish deposited by the first two non-destructive waves in Laupahoehoe Point: when the third, lethal, wave hit, they were thrown into the sides of the school buildings and staff houses before being dragged out to sea. In all, 165 people lost their lives in Hawaii, with damage estimated at US$26 million (in 1946 dollars). As a result of this tsunami, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center was established by the US in Hawaii in 1948.