Born on this day
Friday, February 3, 1809. : German composer Felix Mendelssohn is born.
Felix Mendelssohn was born Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy on 3 February 1809 in Hamburg, Germany. Initially Jewish, Mendelssohn’s family converted to Christianity, joining the Lutheran church. Considered to be the greatest child prodigy since Mozart, Mendelssohn was responsible for reviving the work of Johann Sebastian Bach, another gifted Lutheran, which had been largely forgotten for eighty years. Mendelssohn directed a performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion in 1829, the first performance of the work since Bach’s death, and it earned Mendelssohn an international reputation at age twenty. Mendelssohn also revived much of Mozart’s work, and the influence of both Bach and Mozart can be seen in his own compositions.
Mendelssohn wrote his first twelve symphonies before he was fourteen, and by the time he was seventeen, his compositions had developed maturity. He wrote incidental music for the performance of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, including the Wedding March that is played as the recessional at many weddings. Other popular works include his Violin Concerto in E Minor, Piano Concerto No 1 in G Minor and Piano Concerto No 2 in D Minor, the oratorio Elijah and the concert overture The Hebrides, otherwise known as Fingal’s Cave.
Ever prone to over-working, Mendelssohn died at age thirty-eight from a series of strokes, on 4 November 1847.
Australian History
Sunday, February 3, 1788. : The first Christian church service is conducted in the colony of New South Wales.
The First Fleet of convicts to New South Wales consisted of eleven ships. One of these was the ‘Golden Grove’ which carried Reverend Richard Johnson, the first chaplain to the New South Wales colony. Johnson was a true man of God, and he worked passionately to preach to the convicts. During the journey of the First Fleet, he conducted services every Sunday, read prayers to the convicts every evening and, when the Fleet stopped at Rio de Janeiro, he visited the other ships to also minister to the marines and the convicts.
Just over a week after the arrival of the First Fleet on Australia’s shores, Johnson was called upon to conduct the first Christian church service in the colony, on 3 February 1788. The service was conducted under a tree at the point where, today, Richard Johnson Square stands, at the corner of Bligh and Hunter Streets in the Sydney CBD. It was attended by Governor Arthur Phillip, twenty officers and their servants, 213 marines, some of whom had wives and children, and more than 750 convicts.
The verse selected for the day, according to the Book of Common Prayer, was Psalm 116 verse 12: “What shall I render unto the Lord for all that He has done for me?” Johnson lived his life, rendering all to the Lord, passionately concerned for people’s salvation. Although a relatively unknown figure in Australian history, he was significant for pioneering education for all children in New South Wales. In addition, he established a fund to care for orphans, and he personally attended to those who arrived sick and dying on the Second Fleet. He was not just a preacher: he was a man of compassion and action.
Australian History
Wednesday, February 3, 1830. : George Robinson sets off on a four-year walk around Tasmania as missionary to the Aborigines.
George Augustus Robinson was born in London in 1788, although some sources set his year of birth at 1791. It is uncertain when he arrived in Australia, but he was concerned for the well-being of the Tasmanian Aborigines. Following increased tensions between the Aborigines and white settlers, the government was intending to implement their policy entitled the Black Line, a military plan to round up Aborigines in Tasmania. In 1829, Robinson requested permission from Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur to travel around Tasmania, persuading the Aborigines that the government’s plan to relocate and “civilise” them was desirable.
Robinson set out on 3 February 1830, accompanied by several Aborigines whom he had befriended, to act as cultural intermediaries for him. Robinson’s journey took him almost four years, during which he travelled around almost the complete perimeter of Tasmania. Whilst he succeeded in assisting the relocation of many tribes, ultimately the government did not live up to their end of the bargain in providing suitable food, clothing and shelter. Because of this, Robinson’s role in Tasmanian Aboriginal history tends to be viewed negatively.
Australian History
Friday, February 3, 1899. : It is decided at the Premier’s Conference that the capital city of Australia should be neither Melbourne nor Sydney.
Rivalry between Australia’s two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, has been rife since the days of the goldrushes in the mid-1800s. Sydney, as the main city in New South Wales, was regarded as the logical choice for Australia’s capital city. Melbourne, however, was close to the wealth of Australia’s richest goldfields, and lacked the dubious convict past of Sydney. As the idea of Federation of the states gained momentum, it was decided that a new federal capital should be chosen. Thus, on 3 February 1899, at the Premier’s Conference held in Melbourne, it was decided that the new capital city would be in New South Wales but situated at least 100 miles from Sydney.
Over the next nine years, numerous locations were considered, until the Yass Plains location was finally selected in 1908.
Section 125 of the Constitution of Australia provided that:
“The seat of Government of the Commonwealth shall be determined by the Parliament, and shall be within territory which shall have been granted to or acquired by the Commonwealth, and shall be vested in and belong to the Commonwealth, and shall be in the State of New South Wales, and be distant not less than one hundred miles from Sydney.
Such territory shall contain an area of not less than one hundred square miles, and such portion thereof as shall consist of Crown lands shall be granted to the Commonwealth without any payment therefore. The Parliament shall sit at Melbourne until it meets at the seat of Government.”
Australian History
Wednesday, February 3, 1954. : Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first reigning monarch to visit Australia.
Australia was originally colonised by Great Britain, and is still a constitutional monarchy. Since Federation in 1901, when it became the Commonwealth of Australia, its independence from its founding country progressed via numerous Acts and Statutes through the 20th Century. The 1986 Australia Acts established Australia as a Sovereign, Independent and Federal Nation. This essentially ended the ability of the British Government to make laws for Australia, removing the last legal link with the United Kingdom by abolishing the right of appeal to the judicial committee of the Privy Council. Despite the Australia Acts, however, visits to Australia by members of the royal family remain popular. From 1867 up until 1854, there were six royal visits to Australia, but none of them were by a reigning king or queen. Queen Elizabeth II changed that.
Queen Elizabeth II was crowned early in June 1953. Within less than a year, she became the first reigning monarch to set foot on Australian soil. Accompanied by her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen arrived in Farm Cove, Sydney, on 3 February 1954 on the SS Gothic. During their tour, they visited each of the states of Australia, as well as the Australian Capital Territory. This visit marked the first of dozens more by various members of the royal family.
World History
Tuesday, February 3, 1959. : 1950s rock and roll musician Buddy Holly is killed in an aeroplane crash.
Buddy Holly was born Charles Hardin Holley on 7 September, 1936, in Lubbock, Texas. Growing up in a musically-minded family, he played the violin, piano and guitar, and debuted in country and western music. He moved into the arena of rock ‘n’ roll, and became one of the first to use overdubbing and double-tracking during production of his music. He is best known for the songs “That’ll Be The Day” and “Peggy Sue.”
Following a performance at Clear Lake, Iowa early in February 1959, Buddy Holly was travelling by aeroplane with fellow rock ‘n’ roll musicians Ritchie Valens and J P “The Big Bopper” Richardson. The performers and their road crew drew straws to decide who would fly in the aeroplane and who would ride in the unheated tour bus. The four-passenger Beechcraft Bonanza took off with Holly, Valens and Richardson in a severe snow storm and crashed into a corn field several minutes later, at 1.05am on 3 February 1959. During the ensuing investigation, it was determined that the crash was caused by a combination of pilot error and bad weather conditions.
Holly’s death was recorded as ‘the day the music died’ in Don McLean’s classic ‘American Pie’. 3 February is now remembered in the US as “The Day the Music Died Day”.
New Zealand History
Tuesday, February 3, 1931. : A magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand kills 256 people.
Hawke’s Bay is a locality on the eastern coast of New Zealand’s North Island. A rich wine-growing region, it is home to two major urban centres, Hastings and Napier, as well as numerous smaller settlements. Last century, it was also the scene of the country’s deadliest earthquake disaster.
At 10:47 am on Tuesday, 3 February 1931, an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 hit Hawke’s Bay. After an initial lull of half a minute, the shaking returned, with the entire earthquake lasting for two and a half minutes. Many buildings collapsed: the highest death tolls occurred in Roach’s Department Store in Hastings; the Park Island Old Men’s Home (Taradale); the Nurses’ Home in Napier; Napier Technical College; Marist Fathers’ Seminary in Greenmeadows; and the Grand Hotel in Hastings. With the cities of Napier and Hastings already devastated by the tremors, much of what remained was incinerated by numerous fires which broke out and could not be fought due to damaged waterlines and emptied reservoirs.
One of the natural features of the area was Ahuriri Lagoon, or Ahuriri Harbour which extended for several kilometres north of Napier and covered an area of about 40 sq km. The earthquake caused the sea to drain from the harbour as much of Ahuriri was uplifted, permanently exposing some 30 km of seabed, and resulting in the creation of a new land bridge between Napier and nearby Taradale. The navy sloop HMS Veronica was left grounded as the seawater receded, but the crew was quickly deployed to assist in rescue efforts. The Napier airport now stands where part of the lagoon once covered the area.
With the city decimated and further aftershocks occurring, Napier was officially evacuated the following day. 5000 people left the city, many bound for refugee camps set up on the North Island. A 7.3 aftershock ten days later did substantial further damage. The official death toll was 256, with 161 of those in Napier, 93 in Hastings and 2 in Wairoa. A monument to the tragedy, however, lists 258 names.