Australian History
Monday, December 14, 1840. : Governor Gipps appoints the first Government Printer.
In the first two decades of British settlement in Australia, all government notices were printed on a portable wooden and iron printing press that had come to New South Wales on the First Fleet in 1788. There were no experienced printers among the convicts until the convict transport ship “The Royal Admiral” brought George Howe to Australia’s shores. Howe was born in the West Indies but was well-educated in classical European literature, and he had extensive printing experience. His original death sentence for shoplifting in England was commuted to transportation to New South Wales. His skills in printing were immediately put to use for the publication of government documents. In 1802 Howe issued the first book printed in Australia, “New South Wales General Standing Orders”, which listed Government and General Orders issued between 1791 and 1802. He was also permitted to commence Australia’s first newspaper, which he printed from a shed at the back of Government House.
As the colony grew, so did the need for an official government printer. In November 1840, Governor Gipps announced plans to establish a printing office which would be “under the exclusive orders and control of the Government”. The Government Printing Office was established, and John Kitchen was appointed as Government Printer on 14 December 1840. Kitchen’s staff included two free men as assistant printers, while another twenty convict men and boys became production staff.
Over the next decades, the Government Printing Office was responsible for printing official government documents, including parliamentary debates (Hansard), as well as postage stamps and railway tickets. Its services also included bookbinding, Photo-lithographic and lithographic and Photo-mechanical printing. The Government Printing Office remained in operation until it was finally abolished in July 1989.
World History
Monday, December 14, 1503. : Physician, philosopher and seer, Nostradamus, is born.
Michel de Nostredame, more commonly known as Nostradamus, was born on 14 December 1503, although some reports say he was born one week later. He was a well-educated man, studying mathematics, philosophy, astrology and medicine.
Using his skills in astrology, Nostradamus wrote a series of books, consisting of “quatrains”, which were purported to be prophecies about the future. Attention was attracted when some of his prophecies seemed to come true. However, academic studies have concluded that the apparent associations made between events and Nostradamus’s quatrains are essentially the result of misinterpretations or even deliberate mistranslations of his words. With enough manipulation, the words of his quatrains can be made to coincide tenuously with major events of the world. Nonetheless, through the years, the writings of Nostradamus have attracted a huge following of people who believe he had supernatural foresight into the future.
Nostradamus died on 2 July 1566. Originally buried in the local Franciscan chapel, he was later re-interred in the Collégiale St-Laurent at the French Revolution, where his tomb remains to this day.
World History
Thursday, December 14, 1911. : Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen becomes the first European to reach the South Pole.
Roald Amundsen was born on 16 July 1872, near Oslo, Norway. At fifteen, he intended to study medicine but, inspired by Fridtjof Nansen’s crossing of Greenland in 1888, altered his career intentions to eventually become one of the most successful polar explorers. He planned to be the first to the North Pole, but having been beaten by Frederick Cook and Robert Peary, he then altered his plans to make for the South Pole. He set out for Antarctica in 1910, and reached the Ross Ice Shelf on 14 January 1911 at a point known as the Bay of Whales. From here, on 10 February 1911, Amundsen scouted south to establish depots along the way. During the next two months, he and his party established three depots for storing their extensive provisions. They had their last glimpse of the sun for four months on 22 April 1911.
After maintaining their base at the Bay of Whales during the winter months, on 20 October 1911, Amundsen and four others departed for the South Pole. The remaining three in his expedition party went east to visit King Edward VII Land. The southern party consisted of five men, four sledges, fifty-two dogs and provisions for four months. The expedition reached the South Pole on 14 December 1911, a month before the famed Robert Scott reached it.
World History
Tuesday, December 14, 1926. : Mystery writer Agatha Christie reappears eleven days after being reported missing, with no memory of where she has been.
British crime writer Agatha Christie was born Mary Clarissa Miller on 15 September 1890. She became the world’s best known mystery writer, selling over a billion copies of her mystery novels in English, and another billion in 45 foreign languages, as of 2003. She also published over eighty novels and stageplays, mainly whodunnits and locked room mysteries, many of these featuring one of her main series characters, Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple.
On the evening of Friday, 3 December 1926, Christie disappeared from her home near a small town in Berkshire, England. After her car was found abandoned several kilometres away with her belongings scattered around inside, there was a great deal of speculation about her fate. Theories ranged from it being a publicity stunt, to suicide, to murder. On 14 December 1926, Christie was found staying under an assumed name at a health spa in Harrogate, where she claimed to have suffered amnesia due to a nervous breakdown, following her mother’s death and her husband’s open infidelity. To this day, opinions remain divided over whether this was the truth, or the amnesia story was a publicity stunt.
World History
Tuesday, December 14, 2004. : The Millau Viaduct, the world’s tallest vehicular bridge, is opened.
The Millau Viaduct is a cable-stayed road bridge that crosses the valley of the River Tarn near Millau in southern France. It consists of a 2,460 metre long eight-span steel roadway supported by seven concrete piers. It is the tallest vehicular bridge in the world; the summit of one of its piers stands at 341 metres, which is marginally higher than the Eiffel Tower. This makes it nearly twice as tall as the previous tallest road bridge in Europe, the Europabrücke in Austria.
Designed by British master-architect Lord Foster, together with French bridge engineer Michel Virlogeux, construction on the Millau Viaduct began on 10 October 2001. The bridge was formally opened on 14 December 2004 and opened to traffic on 16 December 2004.
New Zealand History
Saturday, December 14, 1991. : Aoraki/Mt Cook, New Zealand, permanently loses 10m from its height.
Mt Cook, also known as Aoraki, is the highest mountain in New Zealand. The name Aoraki means “Cloud Piercer” in the Ngāi Tahu dialect of the Māori language. Situated on the South Island, Aoraki/Mt Cook is a popular destination for tourists and mountain-climbers. The mountain lies within the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park which was formally declared in 1953. Together with Westland National Park, it is one of the United Nations World Heritage Parks. Aoraki/Mt Cook lies adjacent to the Tasman Glacier in the east and the hooker Glacier in the west.
Abel Tasman is believed to be the first European known to see Aoraki/Mt Cook, when he formally discovered New Zealand in December 1642. The name Mount Cook was later assigned by Captain John Lort Stokes in honour of Captain James Cook, who was the first European to circumnavigate New Zealand in 1770. Ironically, Captain Cook did not sight the mountain during his journey. Its name was officially changed from Mt Cook to Aoraki/Mt Cook in 1998 to incorporate its historic Māori name, Aoraki.
The elevation of Aoraki/Mt Cook is 3 754 metres. The mountain permanently lost ten metres from its height on 14 December 1991 when 10 million cubic metres of rock and ice fell off the northern peak.