Australian History
Wednesday, December 28, 1836. : The Proclamation announcing the creation of the colony of South Australia is read by its first Governor.
Explorer Matthew Flinders was the first European to investigate the possibilities for settlement on South Australia’s coast, doing so in 1802. Following Captain Charles Sturt’s 1929 discovery that the mighty Murray River flowed from New South Wales right to the ocean off the southern coast of the continent, interest in establishing a southern colony increased. Such a colony would help to consolidate Great Britain’s claim on the continent, and offset French interests in the region. The South Australian Colonisation Act was passed by the British Parliament in 1834, and the first settlers arrived in 1836.
South Australia had been officially proclaimed on 19 February 1836 in England, but the proclamation was not made in South Australia until later that year. The first Governor of South Australia, John Hindmarsh, arrived in the new colony on the HMS Buffalo, on the same day he read the official proclamation. He was accompanied only by free settlers, as no convicts were ever accommodated in the southern colony. The Old Gum Tree at Glenelg North, South Australia, was the location of the reading of the Proclamation by Governor Hindmarsh on 28 December 1836.
Every year, South Australia officially celebrates 28 December as Proclamation Day.
Australian History
Saturday, December 28, 1850. : Henry Parkes establishes the ‘Empire’ newspaper, later giving rise to his prominent political career.
Henry Parkes was born in Warwickshire, England, on 27 May 1815. A failed business venture prompted him to seek passage with his wife to Australia, and he arrived in Sydney in 1839. Moving up from a position of farmer’s labourer, to clerk, to managing his own business, a number of failed ventures indicated that he did not have good business acumen.
Parkes established the “Empire” newspaper on 28 December 1850. Initially a weekly paper, it was soon being circulated daily. Although loyal to the British Empire, Parkes aimed to present an honest, independent journal that would not hesitate to identify flaws in the government. His vocal, but fair, criticism increased his prominence, and despite his lack of good business sense, it placed him in a position where he himself could be heard in government. Parkes was first elected to the New South Wales Parliament in 1854, was Premier of New South Wales several times between 1872 and 1891, and was knighted in 1877.
Although loyal to Britain, Parkes was a staunch supporter of the Australian culture and identity. As a politician, he is perhaps best remembered for his famous Tenterfield Oration, delivered on 24 October 1889, at the Tenterfield School of Arts. In this speech, he advocated the Federation of the six Australian colonies. Parkes convened the 1890 Federation Conference and subsequently the 1891 National Australasian Convention. He proposed the name Commonwealth of Australia for the new nation.
Australian History
Thursday, December 28, 1989. : Thirteen are killed as Newcastle, New South Wales, is hit by an earthquake.
Significant earthquakes in Australia are rare; however, on 28 December 1989, an exception to the norm occurred. Australia’s sixth-largest city, Newcastle, situated on the mid New South Wales coast, was hit at 10:27am by an earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale. Effects of the quake were felt throughout central-eastern New South Wales. There were reports of damage to buildings in Scone, Gladstone and Sydney, the latter some 800km away. The shaking was even felt in tall buildings, in places over 5000km away.
Thirteen people were killed, and 35,000 homes, 147 schools and 3,000 other structures in the region collapsed. Most damage, and the highest death toll, occurred at the Newcastle Workers Club when walls and multiple floors collapsed, dropping 300 tonnes of concrete onto the ground-floor car park. Nine people were killed in this one location alone.
A US report on the earthquake suggested that the disaster was caused by stress resulting from 200 years of underground coal mining. Australian geoscientists disagree, claiming that the Hunter Valley has been prone to minor earthquakes for years. Other evidence suggests that the hypocentre of the earthquake lay too deep underground – 12 kilometres – for it to have been caused by mining.
World History
Friday, December 28, 1612. : Galileo becomes the first astronomer to observe Neptune, but catalogues it as a star.
Galileo Galilei was an Italian astrologer, physicist and astronomer. Born on 15 February 1564 in Pisa, Italy, he is best known for his improvements to the telescope, and his own subsequent celestial observations. He pioneered the use of quantitative experiments, analysing results mathematically – a legacy passed on to him through the influence of his father, a renowned mathematician of his time. Many of Galileo’s experiments have been reconstructed and authenticated in modern times.
Galileo’s achievements in the field of astronomy include his discovery of Jupiter’s four largest moons – Io, Europa, Callisto and Ganymede. He was also one of the first Europeans to observe sunspots, and the first to report lunar mountains and craters, deduced from the patterns of light and shadow on the Moon’s surface. He concluded that the surface of the Moon was rough and uneven, rather than the perfect sphere that Aristotle claimed. Galileo observed the Milky Way, previously believed to be nebulous, and found it to be a multitude of stars, packed so densely that they appeared to be clouds from Earth. He also located many other stars too distant to be visible with the naked eye.
On 28 December 1612, Galileo became the first astronomer to observe the planet Neptune. Initially cataloguing it as a fixed star, Galileo considered the 8th planet as unremarkable, and it hardly warranted a mention in his copious notes.
World History
Sunday, December 28, 1879. : 75 people are killed when the Tay Bridge in Scotland collapses during a violent storm.
Tay Bridge, spanning the Firth of Tay in Scotland, was designed by railway engineer Thomas Bouch, and completed in February 1878. The Tay Bridge was nearly two miles long, consisted of 85 spans and at the time of its construction was the longest bridge in the world. Considered a magnificent feat of engineering, its construction earned Bouch a knighthood.
During a violent storm on the evening of 28 December 1879, the central navigation spans of the bridge collapsed into the Firth of Tay at Dundee. A train travelling along the single rail track plunged into the firth, killing 75 people on board. On board was the son-in-law of engineer Bouch. An inquiry into the disaster determined that the piers and wind bracing had not been properly constructed. Sir Thomas Bouch was held chiefly to blame for the collapse in not making adequate allowance for wind loading. Also, the cylindrical cast iron columns supporting the thirteen longest spans of the bridge, which were each 75m in height, were of insufficient quality for their purpose.
A second bridge was subsequently built, and opened on 13 July 1887. This bridge is still in use today; stumps of the piers from the original bridge still stand alongside the new bridge, a silent testimony to the tragedy of 1879.
World History
Saturday, December 28, 1957. : The two-millionth Volkswagen is produced.
The name ‘Volkswagen’ which translates literally as “people’s car” is the name of an automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Germany. The VW Type 1, better known as the Beetle or Bug or Käfer (in German), is a small family car and probably the best-known car made by Volkswagen. During the Beetle’s production which commenced in 1938 and ended in 2003, over 21 million Beetles in the original design were made. One of the most affordable cars, it established a firm reputation for reliability and sturdiness.
On 28 December 1957, the two millionth Volkswagen was completed. The humble “people’s car” went on much further to surpass other popular cars in production. In February 1972, the Volkswagen Beetle surpassed the previous production record set by the Model T Ford, to become the most heavily produced car in history.