Australian History
Monday, February 6, 1832. : The Swan River colony is officially renamed “Western Australia”.
The first official, recorded sighting of Australia’s western coastline occurred in 1611, when Dutch mariner Hendrik Brouwer attempted a different route to the Dutch East Indies. Dutch captain Dirk Hartog sailed too far whilst trying out Brouwer’s route from the Cape of Good Hope to Batavia, via the Roaring Forties. Reaching the western coast of Australia, he became the first European to set foot on the western shores, landing on what is now known as Dirk Hartog Island, at Cape Inscription, in 1616. Further Dutch sightings of Australia followed as the route became more popular: hence the early name of “New Holland”.
Although the northwest was forbidding and inhospitable, the southwestern corner held more promise. In 1697, Dutch captain Willem de Vlamingh sailed down a wide river which he named the Swan River because of the black swans he saw in abundance there. The name remained even after the English took possession of the western half of the Australian continent. When Captain Charles Fremantle raised the Union Jack on the south head of the Swan River in 1829, he claimed the territory for Britain: thus was the Swan River colony born.
The Swan River colony thrived, and within three years, had a population of around 1500 British settlers. On 6 February 1832, the Swan River colony was officially renamed as Western Australia.
Australian History
Saturday, February 6, 1926. : The South Australian nickname “crow-eater” is first explained in the Adelaide newspaper, the Register.
South Australians have long been referred to as “crow-eaters”, but most people do not know the origin of the nickname. Several explanations for the term have been made through the years, the first being published in the newspaper, the ‘Register’, on 6 February 1925. On this day, the paper reported the following:
“[It] was first applied to some of the original settlers at Mount Barker who – whether from necessity or a desire to sample strange native fauna – killed, cooked and ate some crows disguised under the term “Mount Barker pheasants”… Later the term… was applied generally to all.”
On 15 March 1927, another report suggested the term originated as early as the 1850s. A reader recounted how, when his father and grandfather arrived at the gold diggings in Bendigo, upon being discovered as coming from South Australia they were accused of being “crow eaters”. This was because their arrival had been preceded by another group of South Australians who had run out of food during their journey across from their home state and had been forced to shoot crows to eat. When they recounted their experience, they were dubbed “crow-eaters”, a term which was henceforth applied to all new arrivals from South Australia.
Australian History
Sunday, February 6, 1938. : Hundreds of swimmers are washed out to sea at Bondi Beach, and four drown, on ‘Black Sunday’.
Swimming in the ocean in Australia began to take off as a popular pastime from the early 1900s. Soon, Bondi Beach in Sydney was recognised as an ideal swimming spot, and crowds thronged this popular location on the weekends. Amidst concerns about water safety, in 1906 Lyster Ormsby of the Bondi Surf Bathers Lifesaving Club modelled a design for a simple surf lifesaving reel that could be used to rescue swimmers in trouble. Over time, this humble invention developed into the surf lifesaving reel that was eventually used by clubs around Australia.
The surf lifesaving reel showed its worth on Sunday, 6 February 1938. Australia had been celebrating its 150th anniversary and a parade through Sydney called “Australia’s March to Nationhood” had enhanced the air of festiveness. Although rough seas pounded the coast, with up to 74 rescues within one hour being carried out during the morning, Waverley Council beach inspectors decided to keep the beach open. Temperatures were soaring and approximately 35 000 people had gathered at Bondi to celebrate, with hundreds in the water. As the tide ebbed, many swam out to a sandbar that ran parallel to the beach, where they could still remain in waist-deep water some distance from shore. Around 70-80 Surf Lifesaving Club members were present, equipped with 8 reels, preparing for a race. These volunteers were constantly trying to direct swimmers back to safer zones between the flags.
Witnesses stated afterwards that the surf did not follow its usual pattern but seemed ‘strange’, particularly when an eerie lull came over the beach, at around 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Suddenly, the lull broke and a quick succession of three or four freak waves washed in to the beach with no time in between for the water to recede. This created a huge buildup of water close to the beach. When the mass of water finally retreated, it created a strong backwash that blew away the sandbank and dragged up to 300 swimmers into the channel where a powerful undertow pulled them out further. The lifesavers immediately got to work, using the reels attached to ‘beltmen’ with surf boats, surf skis and any other equipment they could find to bring people back to shore. Their efforts were hampered by panicking swimmers who clung to the lifelines in large numbers, even dragging one lifesaver underwater, causing him to require medical attention. Once back on the beach, many swimmers had to be resuscitated. In the end, from the hundreds dragged out into the ocean, there were 4 deaths, the first surf related deaths ever on Bondi Beach.
Australian History
Monday, February 6, 1989. : The town of Rosewood, near Ipswich, Queensland, experiences a shower of sardine-sized fish.
Stories abound of creatures falling from the sky: frogs, shells, fish and even starfish have been known to fall in showers occurring inland, many kilometres from the coast. Usually this is the result of a violent storm causing updraughts, which take creatures from shallower waters into the atmosphere, dumping them somewhere else later. A similar occurrence took place in Rosewood, a small country town near Ipswich in Queensland, approximately fifty kilometres from Brisbane, the state’s capital city. On 6 February 1989 at about 11:30am, hundreds of fish fell over a single two-acre plot of land. The sardine-sized fish (which were determined later to actually be bream) came down in a light rain lasting only about five seconds.
World History
Monday, February 6, 1928. : A woman claiming to be the youngest daughter of the murdered czar of Russia arrives in America.
Czar Nicholas II, full name Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov, was the last crowned Emperor of Russia. He ruled from 1894 until he was forced to abdicate in 1917 amidst civil war. A year later, on 17 July 1918, he and his wife, together with their five children, the family doctor and three attendants, were taken to the cellar of a house in Yekaterinburg. They were told to line up for a family portrait, but instead a detachment of Bolsheviks led by Yakov Yurovsky burst in and began firing, killing the family and servants. Attempts were made to hide the evidence of the bodies, disposing of them down a mine-shaft. As rumours of what had happened began to surface, most of the bodies were removed and buried in a sealed, concealed pit.
On 6 February 1928, a woman claiming to be the youngest daughter of the murdered czar of Russia arrived in New York City. The woman, bearing numerous ugly scars and evidence of broken bones, underwent various investigations to prove whether or not she was the Czar’s child Anastasia. Whilst she gained many supporters for her cause, ultimately she was proven not to be a Romanov, and her claims to the fallen throne of Russia were dismissed,
World History
Wednesday, February 6, 1952. : King George VI of England dies, allowing Elizabeth II to ascend the throne.
King George VI of England was born Albert Frederick Arthur George Saxe-Coburg-Gotha on 14 December 1895 at Sandringham, Norfolk, England. He was the great-grandson of Queen Victoria and the second son of King George V. He was born with the family name of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, which became the British Royal Family’s name when Queen Victoria married Prince Albert, son of Ernst, Duke of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha in 1840. King George V replaced the German-sounding title with that of Windsor during the First World War. Albert was created Duke of York in 1920. The Duke became King George VI when his elder brother, King Edward VIII, abdicated on 10 December 1936 to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson. George VI was formally crowned on 12 May 1937, and reigned from 11 December 1936 until his death on 6 February 1952. He suffered a coronary thrombosis, a fatal blood clot in his heart. It was later revealed that he had also been suffering from lung cancer.
The King was survived by his wife Elizabeth, whom he married in 1923, and his two daughters, Princess Elizabeth, who then became Queen at the age of 25, and Princess Margaret, four years younger.
World History
Thursday, February 6, 1964. : The British and French Governments announce their commitment to build a tunnel under the English Channel.
The Channel tunnel is a rail tunnel, 50 kilometres in length, beneath the English Channel at the Straits of Dover, connecting Cheriton in Kent, England and Coquelles near Calais in northern France. The concept of such a tunnel linking Britain and France had been under discussion for centuries, but it was only seriously realised in 1957 when le Tunnel sous la Manche Study Group was formed. On 6 February 1964, the British and French Governments announced their commitment to build a tunnel under the English Channel.
In 1984, a joint United Kingdom and French government request for proposals to build a privately funded link brought forth four submissions, one of which closely resembled the 1973 route. The Fixed Link Treaty was signed by the British and French governments on 12 February 1986, and ratified in 1987. It took 15,000 workers over seven years to dig the tunnel, with tunnelling operations carried out simultaneously from both ends. On 1 December 1990, workers bored through the final wall of rock to join the two halves of the Channel Tunnel.
New Zealand History
Thursday, February 6, 1840. : The Treaty of Waitangi is signed, protecting Maori land interests in exchange for recognition of British sovereignty in New Zealand.
The Treaty of Waitangi effectively signalled the founding of New Zealand by white settlers, and made New Zealand a British colony. The Treaty was signed on 6 February 1840 by over 500 Māori chiefs of New Zealand and the British Governor William Hobson, representing the British Government. It was intended to protect Māori land interests in exchange for recognition of British sovereignty. The Māori agreed to hand over ownership of their land to Queen Victoria and in return, were to retain the right to occupy their land as long as they wished, and to be protected in so doing.
Major issues concerning the original translation of the treaty from English to Māori resulted in the terms of the Treaty being in dispute. The most critical difference revolved around the interpretation of two Māori words, kawanatanga (literally governorship) which is ceded to the Queen in the first article and rangatiratanga (literally chieftainship) which is retained by the chiefs in the second. Many Māori at that time had little understanding of either ‘sovereignty’ or ‘governorship’ and because of this translation difficulty, some questions have arisen as to whether they fully understood what they were signing. The Treaty subsequently remains the topic of much controversy and political debate.