Australian History
Friday, December 4, 1953. : Oil is discovered in Exmouth Gulf off the coast of Western Australia.
The first exploration drilling for oil in Western Australia was carried out in 1902 at Warren River in the southwest of the state. Traces of oil were located at various sites throughout western Australia in the ensuing years. In 1953, WAPET (West Australian Petroleum Pty Ltd) acquired the use of some remaining defence buildings after the US Navy established a submarine and navy base in 1942 during WWII. From this point, WAPET commenced its oil exploration. On 4 December 1953, the discovery of a flow of oil in WAPET’s Rough Range No. 1 well at Exmouth Gulf stimulated the growth of the state’s oil industry.
World History
Wednesday, December 4, 1619. : The first Thanksgiving is celebrated in America, before the Pilgrims ever arrived.
Thanksgiving in North America is a day of feasting and celebration, and has been a tradition for hundreds of years. It is generally associated with the arrival of the Pilgrims, who had escaped religious persecution in England. During the late 1500s and early 1600s, religion in England was strictly dictated by the government. Anyone who did not conform to severe religious restrictions was subject to being punished by jailing, torture and even execution. Seeking escape from religious suppression, a group known as the Pilgrims left England on the ship Mayflower.
The Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock in southeast Massachusetts in December 1620, but due to hostility from the local Indians, moved to Cape Cod. The Indians of this region, the Wampanoag, were friendly, assisting the colonists to survive in a strange land. The Wampanoag taught them optimum growing techniques, which differed from what they had experienced in England, and they also taught them how to hunt and fish. The following year, the colonists celebrated a successful harvest and their freedom with a huge feast, in what became known as Thanksgiving. The Wampanoag were invited along to this feast, and are believed to have supplied much of the food themselves, including venison.
In reality, however, the very first Thanksgiving occurred among a group unconnected with the Pilgrims. This festival was completely religious in nature, and no feasting was involved. On 4 December 1619, a group of settlers from England arrived at Berkeley Plantation on the James River, now known as Charles City, Virginia. In their charter, this group dedicated the day of their arrival as a Day of Thanksgiving to God. This was the first known Thanksgiving in North America.
World History
Wednesday, December 4, 1872. : The ‘Mary Celeste’ is found abandoned, with its cargo intact, but no sign of its crew or passengers.
The Mary Celeste was a ship found abandoned off the coast of Portugal in 1872. Originally named ‘The Amazon’ when it was first built in Nova Scotia in 1861, the 103-foot, 282-ton brigantine was renamed the ‘Mary Celeste’ in 1869 after changing hands several times.
Early in November 1872, the ship set sail from New York to Genoa, Italy, under the command of Captain Benjamin Briggs. A month later, on 4 December 1872, it was found adrift and abandoned, yet its cargo of 1700 barrels of alcohol was intact. None of the Mary Celeste’s crew or passengers was ever found. Theories have abounded as to what happened. The most logical was that the ship was hit by a seaquake, common in the Azores, where the ship would have been at that time. Evidence indicated that the quake had dislodged some of the alcohol barrels, dumping almost 500 gallons of raw alcohol into the bilge. The galley stove shook so violently that it was lifted from its chocks, possibly sending sparks and embers flying. This, mixed with the alcohol fumes, could have caused the crew and passengers to fear for their safety. They may have taken to the lifeboats, but were unable to catch up to the brig when the quaking subsided. Regardless of the theories, the mystery endures as to why the ‘Mary Celeste’ was abandoned.
World History
Friday, December 4, 1942. : Polish Christians risk their own lives for Polish Jews.
The Holocaust of World War II involved the mass slaughter of European Jews and others by the German-led Nazis. After Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Jews were forced into ghettos, transported to concentration and labor camps, or murdered in extermination camps. Jews were stripped of their basic human rights as homes and shops were confiscated and synagogues burned to the ground. The plight of the Jews was left largely ignored by the rest of the world, concentrating as it was on defeating the Germans and the Japanese on opposite sides of the Earth. Non-Jewish Poles could see the atrocities occurring within their own neighbourhoods but, with fewer rights under Nazi rule, many feared for their own safety and thus remained silent.
On 4 December 1942, two Christian women, Zofia Kossak and Wanda Filipowicz, put their own lives at risk when they set up the Council for the Assistance of the Jews. The fate of these two women, and the other Christians who joined them in their support of the Jews, is unknown. But their willingness to sacrifice their own safety, and probably their lives, is an enduring reminder that human courage and Christian ethics will prevail.