Australian History
Friday, December 1, 1876. : Aboriginal stockman Sam Isaacs and teenager Grace Bussell rescue about 40 people from a stricken steamship off Western Australia.
The SS Georgette was a steamship built in 1872, which was sold in England to Western Australia, and used as a coastal trading and passenger service between Fremantle, Albany and Champion Bay. On 1 December 1876, the Georgette sprang a leak 32km out to sea, whilst carrying fifty passengers and a cargo of jarrah wood. The pumps failed to work, and despite passengers and crew bailing water non-stop, by 6pm the water had risen to put out the steamship’s fires, leaving the ship adrift. A boatload of passengers was lowered into the sea but the lifeboat was smashed against the ship’s side and broken. Some of the survivors were rescued by a second lifeboat, but twelve were killed. Each lifeboat that was released was swamped or capsized in the storm-driven seas.
As the stricken Georgette drifted into Calgardup Bay, it was seen by the Bussell family’s Aboriginal stockman, Sam Isaacs. He and sixteen-year-old Grace Bussell raced down to the surf on horseback, and Grace then rode her horse into the bay until it was alongside one of the swamped lifeboats. People clung to her and her horse as she returned to shore and landed them. One man was left on the boat, and Isaacs was sent to collect him. Bussell and Isaacs continued their rescuing efforts, taking over four hours to land all the passengers.
For their acts of bravery and heroism, Grace was awarded the Royal Humane Society’s silver medal and Isaacs received a bronze. The wreck of the Georgette still lies about 90 metres off Calgardup Beach.
Australian History
Tuesday, December 1, 1987. : Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen is forced to resign as Queensland’s longest-serving Premier.
Johannes Bjelke-Petersen was born in Dannevirke, New Zealand on 13 January 1911. He was the son of Danish immigrants, and his father was a Lutheran Pastor. When young Johannes, or Joh, was two years old, the family migrated to Australia, taking up dairy farming at Kingaroy in south-eastern Queensland. An industrious lad, despite a lifelong limp which was the result of polio, Joh learned to clear land efficiently, explored other agricultural pursuits such as peanut farming, obtaining a pilot’s licence and started aerial spraying and grass seeding. All of these successful pursuits showed the drive and initiative which would serve him well later in politics.
Bjelke-Petersen entered politics in 1963, as minister for works and housing under Country Party leader Frank Nicklin. Following Nicklin’s retirement in January 1968, Jack Pizzey became Country Party leader and hence Premier, but died unexpectedly within seven months of taking office. Bjelke-Petersen won the election for leadership of the Country Party and subsequently became Premier of Queensland on 8 August 1968.
Bjelke-Petersen enjoyed a long and successful career as premier, largely thanks to the electoral malapportionment which had been introduced by the Labor Party in 1949 to improve and concentrate its base of rural voters in as many districts as possible. The system worked well for the Country Party and, assisted by further redistributions by Bjelke-Petersen in 1972, worked to further weaken the Labor Party in Queensland’s country areas. Ironically, Bjelke-Petersen was created a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) for “services to parliamentary democracy” in 1984. Nonetheless, the state of Queensland thrived under Bjelke-Petersen’s leadership and saw enormous economic and population growth.
In his later years as Premier, Bjelke-Petersen’s leadership was marred by controversy and allegations of corruption. The two-year-long Commission of Inquiry into “Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct”, chaired by barrister Tony Fitzgerald and known as the Fitzgerald Inquiry, uncovered evidence of corruption which implicated the Police Commissioner as well as senior members and associates of the Bjelke-Petersen government. Increased party tension led Bjelke-Petersen to announce he would retire as premier in August 1988, the twentieth anniversary of him becoming Premier. However, he was deposed by caucus, and after an extended standoff, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen resigned as Premier on 1 December 1987, and retired from politics altogether.
Australian History
Sunday, December 1, 2002. : In a huge public demonstration of support, fifteen thousand people march through Fremantle to help protect Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia.
Ningaloo Reef lies in a remote area of northwest Western Australia, around 1200 km north of Perth. Some 260 km in length, Ningaloo is Australia’s longest fringing coral reef: it is a reef that grows very close to the shore and is therefore especially environmentally sensitive. It is home to dugong, manta rays, endangered turtles, approximately 300 species of coral and 500 species of fish, and a key part of the migration route of humpback whales and one of the world’s largest aggregations of whale sharks. Its very isolation has enabled it to remain Australia’s healthiest coral reef.
In the early 2000s, a $200 million proposal for a major resort, marina and residential zone at nearby Maud’s Landing, 3 km north of Coral Bay and 150 km south of Exmouth, threatened the reef. Locals were largely against the proposal. Although the campaign to defeat the development was initially very small, it grew to significant and influential proportions, and was supported by major Australian figures such as author Tim Winton and actress Toni Colette. On 1 December 2002, a crowd of fifteen thousand marched through the streets of Fremantle in what was described as the biggest public demonstration in the city in living memory. The demonstration highlighted the plight of Ningaloo Reef and the desperate campaign to save it, and led to greater media exposure and an outpouring of public support for the reef.
Then-Premier of Western Australia announced his government’s rejection of the proposal on 4 July 2003. The proposal collapsed, but efforts continued by conservationists, scientists, governments, and even ordinary people to keep the issue in the spotlight and campaign for World Heritage Listing for the site. On 24 June 2011, the Ningaloo Coast was inscribed on the World Heritage List for its natural beauty and biological diversity.
Australian History
Wednesday, December 1, 2004. : Two years after being destroyed by bushfires, Mount Stromlo Observatory in the ACT becomes fully operational again.
In March 1973, the Geoscience Australia Lunar and Satellite Laser Ranging programme was established with the signing of a NASA-Division of National Mapping agreement under the USA-Australia Hornig Treaty for cooperation in Science. Australia has three Satellite Laser Ranging Stations and Observatories connected with this programme. They include Orroral Observatory, in the Namadgi National Park, New South Wales; the Moblas 5 (Yarragadee) SLR facility, 100 km southeast of Geraldton, Western Australia; and Mount Stromlo, 18km southwest of Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory.
The Mount Stromlo Observatory was established in 1924 as the Commonwealth Solar Observatory. It serves as the headquarters of the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics of the Australian National University (ANU). The site currently holds the administrative centre; offices of the astronomers and students; the mechanical, electronic and optical workshops; and the computer laboratories. It also once held research telescopes, but this changed in January 2003, when the Mt Stromlo facility was destroyed by bushfires that swept through the ACT. The firestorm, ignited by lightning strikes in nearby national parks and fuelled by high temperatures and winds of up to 200 km per hour, destroyed five historically significant telescopes. Instrumentation and engineering workshops, the observatory’s library and the main administration buildings were also consumed.
One of the first facilities to be constructed after the devastating bushfires was the Precision Engineering Centre, for the purpose of enabling ongoing manufacturing and engineering of instrumentation. Research telescopes were not reinstalled: the Observatory now uses telescopes located at Siding Springs, near Coonabarabran, in northern NSW. The newly rebuilt Mount Stromlo Observatory was officially opened on 1 April 2004. Following further testing and validating, it became operational on 1 December 2004.
World History
Tuesday, December 1, 1959. : The Antarctic Treaty is signed, ensuring the protection of the world’s most remote and inhospitable continent.
Antarctica is the driest and coldest continent on Earth. An inhospitable place, the continent itself does not support any animal life as just 2% of the Antarctic is free of ice, but the Antarctic waters and coastline are teeming with marine mammals, birds, fish and invertebrates. The continent is often referred to as the Last Frontier, being a remote and still relatively pristine wilderness.
During the twentieth century, improved technology meant increased exploration of the previously inaccessible Antarctica. Scientific research stations were established, and territorial claims were made, though these were not recognised by all countries. Disputes and even armed conflicts ensued, as was the case when, in 1948, Argentine military forces fired on British troops in territory claimed by both countries. As it became more apparent that the Soviet Union was also interested in laying claim to the frozen continent, the United States suggested that Antarctica be made a trustee of the United Nations. The proposal was refused by the nations which stood to lose their claims of sovereignty to an international organisation.
The treaty comprises fourteen articles which control activities on the continent, and which stipulate that Antarctica should be used exclusively for peaceful purposes such as scientific research. The Treaty established Antarctica as a military-free zone, forbidding military presence and all testing of weapons of any sort, although it permitted the use of military personnel or equipment for scientific research or for any other peaceful purposes. In addition, the treaty stipulated that previous territorial claims remain unaffected by the Treaty, but that no new claims can be made.
World History
Saturday, December 1, 1990. : The final wall of rock is drilled out, to join the two halves of the Channel Tunnel and link Britain to France.
The Channel tunnel is a rail tunnel, 50 kilometres in length, beneath the English Channel at the Straits of Dover, connecting Cheriton in Kent, England and Coquelles near Calais in northern France. The concept of such a tunnel linking Britain and France had been under discussion for centuries, but it was only seriously realised in 1957 when le Tunnel sous la Manche Study Group was formed. Following the group’s report in 1960, the project to construct the Tunnel was launched in 1973, but financial problems in 1975 halted progress beyond a 250m test tunnel.
In 1984, a joint United Kingdom and French government request for proposals to build a privately funded link brought forth four submissions, one of which closely resembled the 1973 route. The Fixed Link Treaty was signed by the British and French governments on 12 February 1986, and ratified in 1987. It took 15,000 workers over seven years to dig the tunnel, with tunnelling operations carried out simultaneously from both ends. On 1 December 1990, workers bored through the final wall of rock to join the two halves of the Channel Tunnel.
World History
Monday, December 1, 1997. : Eight of the known planets in the solar system form a rare alignment from west to east.
On 1 December 1997, eight of the known planets of our solar system aligned from west to east. The alignment, which also included the Earth’s moon, began with Pluto and continued with Mercury, Mars, Venus, Neptune, Uranus, Jupiter, and Saturn in that order. All but the farthest planets, Pluto, Uranus and Neptune, could be seen with the naked eye. Uranus and Neptune were visible with binoculars, but a telescope was needed to see Pluto. Another alignment occurred in May 2000, but the planets were too close to the sun to be visible from the Earth.