Born on this day
Saturday, February 15, 1564. : Italian scientist and astronomer Galileo Galilei is born.
Galileo Galilei was an Italian astrologer, physicist and astronomer. He was 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.
Born on this day
Thursday, February 15, 1934. : Australian radio and television personality, Graham Kennedy, is born.
Graham Cyril Kennedy was born on 15 February 1934 in Melbourne, Australia. Because his parents divorced when he was very young, he was raised by his grandmother. He left school prematurely, working first as a news runner for the Australian Broadcasting Commission on their Radio Australia shortwave service, then working in the record library at radio station 3UZ. Later, after being panel operator for radio personality “Nicky” (Cliff Nicholls), Nicholls put Kennedy to air with him as his sidekick in 1950. Kennedy first worked with popular personality Bert Newton on 3AK morning radio in 1961-1962.
When television debuted in Melbourne in 1957, Kennedy was chosen to present the evening show, In Melbourne Tonight, for GTV-9. This was the beginning of his 40-year career, throughout which he held the unofficial title of the “King” of Australian television.
Kennedy’s last programme was ‘Graham Kennedy’s Funniest Home Videos’ which was broadcast in 1990 on the Nine Network. He retired in 1991 and moved to a rural property near Bowral, New South Wales. A diabetic, and a heavy smoker and drinker, his health declined during the 1990s. Kennedy died on 25 May 2005 from complications from pneumonia.
Australian History
Friday, February 15, 1788. : Lieutenant Philip Gidley King leaves Sydney to establish a settlement on Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island lies approximately 1,500 km northeast of Sydney, and forms one of Australia’s seven external territories. The first known European to discover Norfolk Island was James Cook, on 10 October 1774. Cook’s reports of tall, straight trees (Norfolk pines) and flax-like plants piqued the interest of Britain, whose Royal Navy was dependent on flax for sails and hemp for ropes from Baltic sea ports. Norfolk Island promised a ready supply of these items, and its tall pines could be utilised as ships’ masts. Thus, Governor Arthur Phillip, Captain of the First Fleet to New South Wales, was ordered to colonise Norfolk Island, before the French could take it.
Shortly after the First Fleet arrived at Port Jackson in January 1788, Phillip Gidley King was appointed Superintendent and Commandant of the proposed settlement at Norfolk Island. King led a party of nine male and six female convicts, and seven free men to take control of the island and prepare for its commercial development. On 15 February 1788, King and his group left for Norfolk Island on the armed tender ‘Supply’. The group arrived early in March. Neither the flax nor the timber industry proved to be viable, and the island developed as a farm, supplying Sydney with grain and vegetables during the early years of the colony’s near-starvation. More convicts were sent, and many chose to remain after they had served their sentences. By 1792, four years after its initial settlement, the population was over 1000.
Australian History
Monday, February 15, 1796. : Australia’s first bushranger, John ‘Black’ Caesar, is shot.
John Caesar, nicknamed “Black Caesar” was Australia’s first bushranger. Most likely born in Madagascar, he was a slave on a sugar plantation until he escaped and headed for London. The theft of 240 shillings resulted in his transportation on the First Fleet, and he one of the first black people to be part of Australia’s colonisation.
Due to difficulties with establishing farms and the limited supplies purchased during the journey of the First Fleet, Governor Arthur Phillip was forced to reduce convict rations in the early part of the penal settlement. This meant that hunger was rife. ‘Black’ Caesar was a big man and powerfully built, and like many convicts, resorted to theft to feed his hunger. He was tried and punished in April 1789. Two weeks later, he escaped to the bush, taking stolen food supplies and a musket with him.
Caesar apparently had difficulty hunting native wildlife, and began stealing food from both free settlers and convicts’ supplies. He was caught on 6 June 1789, and following his trial, was sent to Garden Island to work. He managed to escape yet again, on 22 December, but survived for only a short while before giving himself up on 31 December.
Governor Phillip pardoned Caesar, but sent him to Norfolk Island as a free settler, where Caesar fathered a child. Three years later he returned to Sydney and took up his life of bushranging once more. He was captured several months later. He enjoyed brief recognition when he directly assisted the capture of the Aborigine Pemulwuy, who had led numerous attacks against Europeans and their occupation of aboriginal land. In 1795, Caesar escaped once more, but on 15 February 1796 was shot and killed by a bounty hunter.
Australian History
Tuesday, February 15, 1876. : The current state flag of New South Wales is adopted.
New South Wales was the name given to the first colony in Australia. Originally, the name encompassed territory in the entire eastern half of the continent, until the colony of South Australia was established, and its territory separated from that of New South Wales. The separation of other colonies followed. In 1869, Queen Victoria proposed that each of the colonies in Australia adopt a flag, which should consist of a Union flag with the state badge in the centre.
The current state flag of New South Wales was adopted on 15 February 1876. The badge was designed by Colonial Architect James Barnet and retired Royal Navy officer Captain Francis Hixson. It comprised a silver background with a red St George’s Cross bearing a golden lion in the centre, with four 8-pointed golden stars, one on each of the lion’s limbs. The lion is believed to represent the vice-regal authority of the Governor.
World History
Sunday, February 15, 1942. : The Battle of Singapore reaches its conclusion as Singapore falls to the Japanese.
The Battle of Singapore was a battle of the South-East Asian theatre of World War II fought between Imperial Japan and the Allies, from 7 February 1942 to 15 February 1942. The fall of Singapore represented the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history. About 80,000 Indian, Australian and British troops became prisoners of war. At 8.30pm on February 8, Australian machine gunners opened fire on vessels carrying the first wave of 4,000 Japanese troops towards Singapore island. Many more such battles were fought over the ensuing days, but the Japanese held the upper hand in numbers as well as in weaponry and military intelligence. By the morning of February 15, the Japanese had broken through the last line of defence, and the allies were beginning to run out of food and ammunition. The Allied forces formally surrendered to the Japanese shortly after 5.15pm on 15 February 1942.
The Japanese were particularly brutal to the prisoners they took. Many of the Allied soldiers taken prisoner remained in Singapore, at infamous Changi Prison. Thousands of others were shipped on prisoner transports known as “Hell Ships” to other parts of Asia, including Japan itself, to be used as slave labour
World History
Wednesday, February 15, 1989. : After a ten-year war, the Soviet Union officially announces that all of its troops have left Afghanistan.
Afghanistan has a long history of violence and unrest. The catalyst to the Soviet invasion of 1979 was the growth of the communist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), which had close ties to the Soviet Union. Following years of coups and seizing of power by various parties, the PDPA imposed a Marxist-style “reform” program, which led to revolts and unrest among the various classes of Afghans. In December 1978, Moscow signed a bilateral treaty of cooperation with Afghanistan, which meant that the current regime became dependent on Soviet military equipment and advisers. Soviet advice to stabilise government in Afghanistan met with resistance and tensions between the two countries increased.
On 27 December 1979 700 KGB spetsnaz special forces troops dressed in Afghan uniforms stormed the Presidential Palace in Kabul, killing President Hafizullah Amin. On that day, Soviet ground forces also invaded from the north. It was intended that such action would end the factional struggles within the PDPA. However, the Afghans mounted a resistance movement which ultimately meant that the Soviet-Afghan war continued for ten years. The war did not end until Soviet troops finally withdrew from the area on 2 February 1989. This move was announced on 15 February 1989.