Australian Explorers
Sunday, February 14, 1779. : Captain James Cook is killed by natives in Hawaii.
James Cook was born at Marton in North Yorkshire, on 27 October 1728. At age 17 he was taken on as a merchant navy apprentice. Here he was educated in algebra, trigonometry, navigation, and astronomy, which later set Cook up to command his own ship. He completed three major voyages of discovery. On his first, departing in 1768, he commanded the ‘Endeavour’ on an expedition to chart the transit of Venus. He returned to England in 1771, having also circumnavigated the globe, including exploring and charting New Zealand and Australia’s eastern coast. On his second journey which lasted from 1772-1775, he commanded the ‘Resolution’ and the ‘Adventure’ on an expedition to the South Pacific, disproving the rumour of a great southern continent, exploring the Antarctic Ocean, New Hebrides and New Caledonia.
On his third journey, commencing in 1776, Cook visited and named the Sandwich Islands, now known as Hawaii, and unsuccessfully sought a northwest passage along the coast of North America. Returning from this journey, he stopped at Hawaii again. After a boat was stolen by natives, he and his crew had an altercation with the Hawaiians. On 14 February 1779, Cook was speared by Hawaiian natives. It was an horrific end for one of the world’s greatest navigators, and a man who contributed so much to charting previously unknown areas of the Pacific.
Australian History
Friday, February 14, 1936. : The Walter Taylor Bridge in Brisbane, the only habitable bridge in the southern hemisphere, is opened.
The Walter Taylor Bridge is a 300 metre long suspension bridge crossing the Brisbane River between the suburbs of Indooroopilly and Chelmer.
Several signifying points distinguish the bridge. It is the longest span suspension street in Australia. Its support cables were actually surplus support cables used to hold up the incomplete halves of the Sydney Harbour Bridge during its construction. It is also unique in that the two towers of the bridge house residential accommodation, making it the only habitable bridge in the southern hemisphere. For 74 years, the apartment on the Indooroopilly side was occupied by three generations of the same family, who were descendants of the bridge’s original toll master, Morton John Green.
The Walter Taylor Bridge was opened on 14 February 1936 by the Governor of Queensland, Sir Leslie Orme Wilson. Initially named the Indooroopilly Toll Bridge as it operated as a toll bridge up until the 1960s, it was later renamed after the local contractor who built it.
A little-known fact about the bridge is that, during its construction, a vein of gold was found about 15 metres down on the Indooroopilly side. Not wanting the work on the bridge to stop, Walter Taylor bought the mineral rights on that side. The gold was not important to him, and when the Brisbane City Council bought the bridge in 1965, the council inherited the mineral rights. The gold vein is remembered in the name of the cinema just down the road from the bridge – the El Dorado.
Australian History
Monday, February 14, 1966. : Decimal currency is introduced in Australia, and the Australian dollar makes its debut.
Decimal currency was first introduced in Australia on 14 February 1966. The new Australian dollar replaced the Australian pound (different from the Pound Sterling) as the nominal currency of Australia, and introduced a decimal system. Australian Prime Minister at the time, Robert Menzies, a devout monarchist, wished to name the currency “the Royal”, and other names such as “the Austral” were also proposed. Menzies’s influence meant that the name “Royal” prevailed, and trial designs were prepared and printed by the printing works of the Reserve Bank of Australia. The name “Royal” proved unpopular, and it was later shelved in favour of “Dollar”.
An extensive advertising campaign was implemented to assist the Australian public in making the transition to decimal currency. The Dollar Bill Decimal Currency Jingle, with lyrics written by Ted Roberts, was sung to the tune of “Click go the Shears”. The jungle was as follows:
In come the dollars and in come the cents
to replace the pounds and the shillings and the pence.
Be prepared folks when the coins begin to mix
on the 14th of February 1966.
Clink go the cents folks, clink, clink, clink.
Changeover day is closer than you think.
Learn the value of the coins and the way that they appear
and things will be much smoother when the decimal point is here.
Initially, the Australian dollar was introduced at a rate of two dollars per pound, or ten shillings per dollar. The Australian dollar, AUD or A$, is the official currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including the Australian Antarctic Territory, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu.
Australian History
Wednesday, February 14, 1990. : The first of the Australian-designed and built Collins class submarines is laid down.
Australia’s first submarines were commissioned in 1914 and deployed during World War 1. They were followed by the J Class submarines, commissioned in 1919, and the Oberon class in the 1960s and ‘70s. None of these submarines were produced in Australia, so in 1982, the Collins Class project was founded to provide six new Australian submarines for the Royal Australian Navy.
The Australian Submarine Corporation was established in 1985 at Osborne, South Australia and, two years later, began designing and constructing the Collins Class submarines. The name was chosen to honour Vice-Admiral Sir John Augustine Collins who was among the first graduates of the Royal Australian Navy, having joined the intake at age 14. He served in both world wars and was the Chief of Navy from 1948 to 1955.
HMAS Collins was the first of the Collins Class submarines. Based on the Type 471 design from Swedish shipbuilder Kockums, the vessel was laid down on 14 February 1990. The bow section was built by Kockums, and numerous other components were also produced in Sweden and shipped to Australia for assembly at the Australian Submarine Corporation facility in Port Adelaide, South Australia. The length of the HMAS Collins is 77.42m, its beam is 7.8 metres and it has a waterline depth of 7m, displacing 3,353 tonnes when submerged. HMAS Collins was launched in Adelaide by Lady Phyllis Collins, the widow of Vice Admiral Sir John Collins, in August 1993. However, further work on some components was required to make it properly functional, and it was removed from the water several weeks later. The vessel was completed in June 1994 and commissioned in July 1996.
Special Days
Tuesday, February 14, 0496. : St Valentine’s Day is first declared.
Valentine’s Day falls on February 14 each year, and is the traditional day on which lovers in some cultures declare their love by sending Valentine’s cards, which are often anonymous. Valentine’s Day is the second largest card-sending holiday of the year after Christmas. St Valentine himself is believed to have been Valentinius, a candidate for Bishop of Rome in 143. In his teachings, the marriage bed assumed a central place in his version of Christian love, which contrasted sharply with the asceticism of mainstream Christianity.
The feast of St. Valentine was first declared by Pope Gelasius I to be on 14 February 496. In Ancient Rome, the day of February 15 was Lupercalia, the festival of Lupercus, the god of fertility, but there was initially no connection between romantic love and the declaration of St Valentine’s Day. The first recorded association of St. Valentine’s Day with romantic love was in the 14th century in England and France, where February 14 was traditionally the day on which birds paired off to mate. By the 17th century, it had become common for lovers to exchange notes on this day and to call each other “Valentines”. By the latter half of the 20th century, the practice of the giving of gifts, usually from the man to the woman, had become common, and that is how many cultures know Valentine’s Day today.