Australian Explorers

Tuesday, August 17, 1813. :   Matthew Flinders writes to Sir Joseph Banks, outlining his reasons for suggesting New Holland be called Australia, after Banks disapproves of the name.

Australia was previously named New Holland by the Dutch sea explorers who landed on the western coast in the early 1600s. James Cook claimed the eastern coast of the continent for England in 1770, naming it New South Wales. After the First Fleet arrived in 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip was given orders to extend the claim further west. The western half of the continent continued to be known as New Holland, and the eastern half was New South Wales.

Matthew Flinders arrived in Australia on the Reliance in 1795. Shortly after his arrival in New South Wales, Flinders undertook numerous short voyages of exploration with ship’s surgeon George Bass, whom he had met on the Reliance. Between 1801 and 1803, Flinders circumnavigated the Australian continent, completing the charting of the coastline and proving that ‘Terra Australis’ was not split into two large islands, a theory he held prior to his voyage.

Flinders returned to England in 1810, and shortly thereafter wrote an account of his expeditions, “A Voyage to Terra Australis”. It was in this account that Flinders proposed the name “Terra Australis” or “Australia” be adopted for the southern continent. However, while some in England approved of the name Flinders had selected, wealthy sponsor Sir Joseph Banks did not support his proposal. A letter from Matthew Flinders to Joseph Banks, dated 17 August 1813, stated “…I will not disguise, that my chagrin was no less, to learn … that the term Terra Australis, as a name for New Holland and New South Wales collectively was not approved.” The letter went on to explain in detail Flinders’ reasons for proposing the name of Australia. Ultimately, it was Governor Lachlan Macquarie who, impressed by Flinders’ arguments, advocated that the name ‘Australia’ be adopted.

Australian History

Sunday, August 17, 1980. :   Two month old Azaria Chamberlain disappears while on a family camping holiday at Uluru (Ayers Rock), Australia.

Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, is a huge monolith in central Australia, second in size only to Mount Augustus, also in Australia. It has long been a popular tourist destination, but it gained a new notoriety on the night of 17 August 1980, when a baby girl went missing from the nearby camping ground.

Michael and Lindy Chamberlain and their three children had arrived at Ayers Rock just the day before. When baby Azaria disappeared, Lindy claimed that a dingo had stolen her baby. No trace of the child was ever found, although her bloodstained clothes were found a week later by another tourist. At the first inquest into her death, commencing in February 1981, it was found that the likely cause of Azaria’s disappearance was a dingo attack.

Police and prosecutors moved for a second inquest which was held in September 1981. This time, the new finding was made that Azaria had been killed with a pair of scissors and held by a small adult hand until she stopped bleeding. Lindy Chamberlain was convicted of murder on 29 October 1982. Her acquittal came several years later when a British tourist fell to his death from the Rock. When his body was finally located 8 days later amid an area full of dingo lairs, Azaria Chamberlain’s missing jacket was also found. New evidence was presented showing that the methods of testing previous evidence had been unreliable, and no conviction could be made on those grounds. Lindy was released, and eventually awarded AU$1.3 million in compensation for wrongful imprisonment.

World History

Monday, August 17, 1807. :   Work commences on the Bell Rock Lighthouse, considered one of the “Seven Wonders of the Industrial World”.

The Bell Rock Lighthouse, in the North sea, is the world’s oldest offshore lighthouse. Situated 18 kilometres off the coast of Angus, Scotland, for many years Bell Rock was notorious for the danger it posed to ships, as it lies just under the surface of the water for all but a few hours at low tide. In one storm alone during the late 17th century, 70 ships were lost. Also known as Inchcape Rock, Bell Rock received its name after the Abbot from Arbroath tried to install a warning bell during the 14th century. Within a year, the bell had disappeared, either taken by Dutch pirates or lost during a storm.

Renowned Scottish engineer Robert Stevenson initially proposed the construction of a lighthouse on Bell Rock in 1799, but the prohibitive costs and practicalities prevented further action. In 1804, the warship HMS York was wrecked on the rocks with over 500 crew, and all on board perished: this was enough to reignite interest in Stevenson’s proposition.

Construction of the lighthouse began on 17 August 1807. The 60 workers lived on a ship moored over a kilometre from the rock for most of the day, rowing to the rock to work during the four hours it was uncovered. Finding this time-consuming, one of Stevenson’s first actions was to construct a beacon house on tall wooden struts with living room for 15 men. Work was marred by an accident resulting in one worker’s legs being crushed, the loss of two workers’ lives and Stevenson’s own personal loss of three of his children back home. Nonetheless, this incredible piece of engineering was finally completed in 1810. The beacon was first lit on 1 February 1811, and the man whose legs were crushed became the first lighthouse keeper.

2835 blocks of stone were used to construct the Bell Rock Lighthouse, whilst the total weight of masonry, the lantern and its apparatus is 2083.445 tons. The revolving light can be seen from land, 56.3km away. The lighthouse was automated in 1998.

World History

Monday, August 17, 1896. :   The UK’s first ever pedestrian fatality resulting from a car accident occurs.

Mrs Bridget Driscoll, a 44 year old housewife of Croydon, Surrey, achieved notoriety for being the victim of the world’s first car crash in the UK resulting in the fatality of a pedestrian.

Mrs Driscoll was crossing the grounds of the Crystal Palace. As she and her daughter May crossed the road on 17 August 1896, an imported Roger-Benz which was part of a motoring exhibition being driven by Arthur James Edsall of Upper Norwood, approached. According to witnesses, the car hit Mrs Driscoll “at tremendous speed”, about 6 kilometres per hour. The inquest into Mrs Driscoll’s death lasted for about 6 hours, after which the jury returned a verdict of “accidental death”. No prosecution was made. The coroner at the inquest, Percy Morrison, was the first to use the term “accident” to violence caused by speed, and stated, “This must never happen again.”

World History

Tuesday, August 17, 1999. :   1000 are feared dead as an earthquake hits Turkey: the eventual death toll is over 17,000.

İzmit is a city in the north-western part of Anatolia, Turkey, by the Gulf of İzmit and about 90 km east of İstanbul. It is an important industrial centre, with a large oil refinery and major paper and cement industries. It is also a transportation hub, being located on the main road and rail lines between İstanbul and Ankara, and having a major port.

Just after 3:00am local time on 17 August 1999, an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale hit the town of Izmit. Whole buildings collapsed, not having been constructed to withstand earthquakes. The earthquake had a rupture length of 150 kilometres and movement along the rupture was as large as 5.7 metres. Even Istanbul, 90km away, suffered building collapses in the quake. Over the next two hours, the area was rocked by at least ten strong aftershocks, which contributed further to the damage and loss of life.

Initial estimates put the death toll at 1000, but the real cost of the earthquake only became apparent later. The official death toll was about 17,000 although real numbers are thought to have been closer to 35,000.

World History

Saturday, August 17, 2002. :   The Charles M Schulz Museum opens to the public, dedicated to the man who created the ‘Peanuts’ comic strip.

Charles Monroe Schulz was born in St Paul, Minnesota, on 26 November 1922. As a teenager he was shy and introverted, and when he created his comic strip ‘Peanuts’ he based the character of Charlie Brown on himself. Charlie Brown first appeared in the comic strip “Li’l Folks”, published in 1947 by the St Paul Pioneer Press. In 1950, Schulz approached the United Features Syndicate with his best strips from “Li’l Folks”, and “Peanuts” made its debut on 2 October 1950.

“Peanuts” ran for nearly 50 years, appearing in over 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries. In 1999, Schulz had a stroke, and it was then discovered that he had colon cancer. Schulz died on 13 February 2000, just two months after announcing his retirement from drawing “Peanuts”. After his death, comic strips all over the world paid tribute to Schulz and Peanuts within their own formats. The Charles M Schulz Museum was opened on 17 August 2002, for the purpose of preserving, displaying, and interpreting the art of Charles M Schulz.