Australian Explorers
Thursday, April 8, 1802. : Matthew Flinders meets French explorer Nicolas Baudin in South Australia, leading to the naming of Encounter Bay.
During the late 1700s and early 1800s, both France and England were seeking to expand their respective empires. Both countries claimed and colonised new lands around the world, and both countries explored lands in which the Dutch had shown little interest, such as Australia. Although James Cook formally claimed the eastern coast of Australia in 1770, this did not dissuade the French from charting the coastline, and even making a claim to the west in 1772.
Late in 1800, French explorer and naturalist Nicolas Baudin was commissioned to lead an expedition to complete a French survey of the Australian coastline, and make scientific observations, commanding two ships, ‘Le Géographe’ and ‘Le Naturaliste’. At the same time, British explorer Matthew Flinders was also circumnavigating the continent. The French believed Terra Australis to be a single continent, while Flinders was intrigued by the possibility that Terra Australis was divided into smaller islands by straits other than the recently discovered Bass Strait.
Around 4pm on 8 April 1802, the two explorers met: Flinders was travelling east from the region known as New Holland, charting the South Australian coastline, while Baudin was heading west, having mapped from Westernport Bay. With relations tense between England and France, Flinders prepared for action, despite having knowledge of the scientific nature of the French expedition. However, Baudin signalled his peaceful intentions by flying a French ensign and the British flag. The two captains met eleven kilometres south-southeast of the mouth of the Murray River, at a point Flinders named Encounter Bay in honour of their meeting.
Australian History
Tuesday, April 8, 1817. : Australia’s first bank, the Bank of New South Wales (later Westpac) is established.
Westpac Banking Corporation, more commonly known as simply Westpac, was Australia’s first bank. In January 1817, urged by New South Wales Deputy Judge-Advocate John Wylde, the colony’s Governor Lachlan Macquarie signed the charter incorporating the Bank of New South Wales. The purpose of the charter was to reassure the prospective proprietors of the limitations of their liability. The charter was then delivered to the directors of the bank two months later.
The Bank of New South Wales was founded in Sydney as the first bank in Australia on 8 April 1817. Branches were initially restricted to the colony of New South Wales, but were later opened at Moreton Bay, Brisbane, in 1850, Victoria in 1851, New Zealand in 1861, South Australia in 1877, Western Australia in 1883, Fiji in 1901, and Papua New Guinea and Tasmania in 1910. In 1982, the Bank of New South Wales merged with the Commercial Bank of Australia to form the Westpac Banking Corporation, which derived its name from the fact that its major operations are in the Western Pacific.
World History
Tuesday, April 8, 1513. : Florida, USA, is discovered and claimed for Spain by Juan Ponce de Leon.
Juan Ponce de Leon, born around 1460, was a Spanish explorer. He sailed with Christopher Columbus on his second expedition to the Americas in 1493, but did not return to Spain with Columbus, electing to remain in Santo Domingo, now known as the Dominican Republic. He was appointed governor of the Dominican province of Higuey, but the prospect of finding gold in Puerto Rico caused him to conquer that land, claiming it also for Spain. He became governor of Puerto Rico, but was removed from office for his brutality to the Native Americans.
Ponce de Leon departed Puerto Rico in March 1513 with three ships and about 200 men. He reached the eastern coast of Florida on 8 April 1513, naming it Pascua de Florida, meaning feast of flowers, and claimed it for Spain.
World History
Tuesday, April 8, 1947. : The largest recorded sunspot of the twentieth century is observed.
A sunspot is a region on the Sun’s surface, or photosphere, that is marked by a lower temperature than its surroundings and has intense magnetic activity. Although sunspots have temperatures of roughly 4000-4500 Kelvin, the contrast with the surrounding material at about 5800 K leaves them clearly visible as dark spots.
On 8 April 1947, the largest recorded sunspot of last century was observed. Its area was 11265 million square kilometres, or 7000 million square miles. In relation to the visible solar area, it covered 6132 millionths of that area. As a sunspot is generally considered large if it covers 300 to 500 millionths of the visible solar area, the 1947 phenomena was indeed huge.
World History
Sunday, April 8, 1990. : Teenage haemophiliac Ryan White, who received huge media attention when he was ostracised after receiving AIDS-tainted blood, dies.
Ryan White, born on 6 December 1971, was a teenager from Kokomo, Indiana, USA, who suffered from the rare blood disease haemophilia. As part of his treatment for haemophilia, he was required to receive regular blood transfusions. One of these transfusions infected him with the AIDs virus, and by December 1984, he had developed full-blown AIDS.
Upon his return to school, Ryan was bullied and ostracised by classmates, whilst parents demanded he stay away from their children. He was expelled from his school, Western School Corporation, because of the perceived health risk to other students. His situation became a controversial case in North America with AIDS activists lobbying to have him reinstated while attempting to explain to the public that AIDS cannot be transmitted by casual contact. Ryan won the case, but later transferred to Hamilton Heights School District, in nearby Cicero, Indiana, where he was received unconditionally by faculty and students who were fully educated into the nature of HIV.
Ryan received a great deal of media attention because he was a heterosexual white middle class boy, as opposed to gay men and intravenous drug users who were normally associated with the disease. Before Ryan died, he worked to educate people on the nature of HIV and AIDS, to show that it was safe to associate with people who were HIV-positive. Ryan died on 8 April 1990. His funeral was a standing-room only event held at the Second Presbyterian Church on Meridian Street in Indianapolis, Indiana.