Australian History
Monday, December 25, 1826. : British occupation of Western Australia begins.
The area of Western Australia where Albany now stands was first discovered by George Vancouver in 1791. After being sent to explore the southern coastline of Australia, Vancouver first made landfall at Cape Leeuwin, then travelled southeast. On 28 September 1791, he discovered an excellent harbour which he named “King George the Third’s Sound”, later shortened to King George’s Sound or, as it is now, King George Sound. Vancouver formally claimed this land as British territory on 29 September 1791.
British occupation of King George’s Sound, the first settlement in Western Australia, did not begin until 1826. At that time, the western third of Australia was unclaimed by any country, and there were fears that France would stake its claim. To prevent this, Governor Darling of New South Wales sent Major Edmund Lockyer, with troops and 23 convicts, to establish a settlement at King George Sound. They arrived in the brig ‘Amity’ on Christmas Day, 25 December 1826. Lockyer initially named the site Frederickstown after His Royal Highness, Duke of York & Albany, Frederick Augustus – second son of King George III.
Australian History
Sunday, December 25, 1859. : The rabbits responsible for Australia’s ongoing rabbit plague are introduced.
Rabbits were brought to Australia on the First Fleet but did not cause any problems for the first few years of the colony’s settlement. Possibly their numbers were kept down by the native carnivorous marsupial, or dasyurid, population, and dingoes. Archaeological evidence of early foodstuffs from the late 18th century shows no sign that rabbits were eaten regularly or hunted for sport. Although rabbits became popular as pets and for hunting around Sydney in the 1840s, there is no evidence that their population proliferated. However, by 1827, rabbits that were introduced into the Tasmanian colony were noted by a local newspaper to be in their thousands.
Thomas Austin was the owner of the property “Barwon Downs” near Winchelsea, Victoria. He is credited with introducing rabbits into Australia, leading to their current numbers of an estimated 200 million. Austin was a member of the Acclimatisation Society, a group which believed in introducing exotic species into new locations around the world. Austin imported 21 European rabbits for hunting, releasing them on 25 December 1859. Within two decades, the rabbits had bred and become a local pest as conditions in Australia were ideal for them to breed, and there were not large numbers of predators to keep their population down. By the turn of the century, they had reached plague proportions in many parts of Australia.
Australian History
Wednesday, December 25, 1974. : Cyclone Tracy leaves Darwin, in Australia’s Northern Territory, in tatters.
Darwin, the capital city of the Northern Territory, is located on Australia’s far north-western coastline. With its tropical climate, it is regularly threatened by cyclones during the summer monsoon season. On 24 December 1974, Cyclone Tracy moved in. On Christmas Day, 25 December 1974, the cyclone left Darwin in shreds. The cyclone passed directly over Darwin just after midnight, with its ‘eye’ centred on the airport and northern suburbs. The wind gauge at Darwin Airport officially recorded winds of 217 kilometres per hour before being blown away itself. Unofficial estimates suggest that the wind speed actually reached 300 kilometres per hour.
Cyclone Tracy was a category 4 storm whilst still out at sea, but there is some evidence to suggest that it had reached category 5 status when it made landfall. Officially, 71 people were killed, and 9,000 homes destroyed, out of a city of 43,500 people living in 12,000 residences. Many buildings were not built to withstand cyclonic forces, despite being in the cyclone belt. Of the people aboard the 22 vessels at sea when the cyclone struck, 16 were never found.
Most of Darwin’s residents were evacuated following the devastation, and many of them never returned. However, Darwin was rebuilt according to new building codes, and it is now regarded as a modern multicultural city of around 100,000 people. Another significant development which came from the cyclone was that of the Northern Territory’s self-government. Until 1974, the Northern Territory had minimal self-government, with a federal minister being responsible for the Territory from Canberra. However, the cyclone and subsequent response highlighted problems with this arrangement that led directly to the decision of Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser to grant the Territory self-government in 1978.
Australian History
Tuesday, December 25, 2001. : Bushfires that would continue for three weeks begin in Sydney.
Bushfires are common in Summer in Australia. Warmer weather in spring generates strong vegetation growth, and after a protracted dry period, such vegetation becomes a tinder-box waiting to be ignited.
The winter and spring of 2001 had been drier than usual in New South Wales, and the month of December had been hot and dry. On Christmas Day, 25 December 2001, bushfires started in the Sydney area. The failure of campers to extinguish a campfire in Cabbage Tree Rd, Grose Vale is believed to have been the cause of the initial fire. Strong westerly winds fanned the flames, sending embers to ignite more vegetation. Temperatures soared as high as 45 degrees Celsius in some areas. Arsonists contributed to further fires. By the end of the day, over 100 bushfires were burning across the region. For three days, the city of Sydney smothered under a pall of black smoke. The worst affected areas were Lane Cove National Park, the Royal National Park & Blue Mountains National Park, where over 3000 square kilometres of bushland was burnt out. 180 homes were destroyed.
Bushfires across the state continued for another three weeks, affecting travellers and killing livestock and native animals north and south of Sydney. Surprisingly, there were no human fatalities.
Australian History
Thursday, December 25, 2008. : An Australian is reported to have been arrested for trying to smuggle animal mummies out of Egypt.
On 25 December 2008, Australian newspapers reported that a 61-year-old man from Victoria had been arrested in Cairo, Egypt, for trying to smuggle two animal mummies out of the country. Frank Bottaro, an antiques dealer from Melbourne, was arrested at Cairo International Airport, while on his way to Thailand.
Mummifying animals was common practice in ancient Egypt. The two mummies, a cat and an ibis dating back to 300 BC, were found among Bottaro’s luggage. Also found in his luggage were nineteen religious figurines wrapped as gifts and placed among souvenir ceramic pots in Bottaro’s suitcase. They were figurines of the ancient Egyptian gods of Horus, a falcon-headed being, and Thoth, who was revered for giving the Egyptians the gift of hieroglyphic writing. The artifacts confiscated from the man weighed about 5.5kg in total.
World History
Friday, December 25, 0336. : Christians around the world celebrate the birth of Christ.
The birth of Jesus Christ is recorded in the Christian Bible, in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Even though Christians celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25, there is very little evidence to suggest that He was born on that date. It is more likely that Christians substituted an already-existing pagan festival with their own Christmas festival, or “Mass of Christ”.
History records that December 25 was originally the culmination of Saturnalia, a winter solstice celebration honouring Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture. Many Romans also celebrated the solstice on December 25 with festivities in honour of the rebirth of Sol Invictus, the “Invincible Sun god”, or with rituals to glorify Mithra, the ancient Persian god of light. December 25 was adopted in the fourth century as a Christian holiday by the Roman Emperor Constantine, who converted to Christianity in 312, to encourage a common religious festival for both the Christians and the Pagans. The first mention of December 25 as the date of Jesus’ birth is found in an early Roman calendar from A.D. 336.
World History
Monday, December 25, 1758. : The sighting of Halley’s Comet establishes the fact that it returns in a 76-year loop.
Halley’s Comet, officially designated 1P/Halley, is from the Kuiper belt and visits the inner solar system in a 76-year orbit. Its nucleus is potato-shaped, with dimensions around 8 by 8 by 16 kilometres. Its surface is composed largely of carbon, and other elements include water, carbon monoxide, methane, ammonia, other hydrocarbons, iron, and sodium.
A series of sightings of a particular comet seeming to have similar elements, resulted in the theory that the comets were all the same one. The comet in question was observed in 1531 by Petrus Apianus, then again in 1607, observed by Johannes Kepler in Prague. Edmond Halley’s observation of the comet in 1682 led him to theorise on the possibility that the same comet reappeared every 75-76 years. Halley calculated that it would next appear in 1757, which was close, although it was first sighted on 25 December 1758 by Johann Georg Palitzsch, a German farmer and amateur astronomer. The delay was caused by the attraction of Jupiter and Saturn, and was in fact computed by a team of three French mathematicians, Alexis Clairault, Joseph Lalande, and Nicole-Reine Lepaute, prior to its return.
Following Halley’s calculations, earlier visits of comets were noted in historical records. Chinese astronomers observed the comet’s appearance in 240 BC and possibly as early as 2467 BC. Halley’s Comet reappeared in 1835, 1910 and 1986. It is due to return next in 2061.
Internet History
Tuesday, December 25, 1990. : The first successful communication between an HTTP client and server over the Internet spawns the World Wide Web.
The Internet and World Wide Web have revolutionised modern life. Now, by pressing a few buttons on the computer, all your physical needs and wants can be met. But where and when did it all begin?
In the 1980s, English physicist Tim Berners-Lee was a software consultant at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (better known as CERN). He graduated from the Queen’s College at Oxford University, England in 1976. He built his first computer with a soldering iron and an old television.
In March 1989, Berners-Lee gave his supervisor, Mike Sendall, a document entitled “Information Management: a Proposal”. Tim Berners-Lee and Anders Berglund, both researchers at CERN, saw the need for a system of electronic document exchange. This proposal was an attempt to help make scientific papers readable on a range of incompatible computer systems. Berners-Lee’s creation was fuelled by a highly personal vision of the Web as a powerful force for social change and individual creativity. An open, non-proprietary, and free format for all people to use. Unfortunately, CERN remained unconvinced, and another 2 proposals were shelved as an interesting idea only. It wasn’t until 25 December 1990 that the first successful communication between an HTTP client and server via the Internet was achieved. And the realisation of the dream which continued to drive Tim for the next 3 years as he tried to convince people to use his invention. Robert Cailliau was a young student staff student at CERN who assisted Tim in his endeavours, and it should be noted that he was instrumental in seeing this now popular medium reach the populace.