Australian Explorers
Sunday, February 21, 1802. : John Murray discovers Corio Bay, site of present-day Geelong in Victoria.
Port Phillip is a large bay in southern Victoria, Australia, on the northern end of which is situated the Victorian capital city of Melbourne. Port Phillip is dotted by numerous smaller bays; one of these is Corio Bay, in the southwest. The first non-aboriginal person to visit the Geelong region was Lieutenant John Murray, who commanded the brig Lady Nelson. On 15 February 1802, Murray manoeuvred the Lady Nelson through the narrow, treacherous entrance to Port Phillip, now known as the Rip, in order to explore the bay.
Murray discovered Corio Bay on 21 February 1802, but made no particular recommendations for settlement, although he formally took possession of the area for Great Britain. At this time, Corio Bay was known by the local indigenous Wathaurong people as “Jillong”, while the surrounding land was known as “Corayo”. Further surveys of the area later that year failed to reveal the Barwon River which, flowing into the ocean and not the bay, passes through present day Geelong on the inland side of a ridge. Matthew Flinders entered Corio Bay in April, and charted the entire bay. This was followed by further mapping of the area in January 1803 by Surveyor-General Charles Grimes aboard the “Cumberland”.
Errors by subsequent explorers and surveyors resulted in the names being swapped: Corayo became known as Geelong while Jillong became Corio Bay. In 1824, explorers Hume and Hovell believed they were actually at Westernport Bay, and returned with glowing reports of good land and water. However, when a party was sent to settle Westernport, they found only poor water and poor soil, forcing the abandonment of the settlement. Finally, in March 1836, three squatters by the names of David Fisher, James Strachan and George Russell arrived to settle the area. By 1838, when Geelong was first surveyed, the population was 545.
World History
Friday, February 21, 1947. : The first Polaroid camera is demonstrated by Edwin Land.
Edwin Herbert Land, born 12 May 1906, was an American scientist who was best known for inventing inexpensive filters for polarising light, and instant polaroid photography. He did not complete the science degree he began at Harvard, but set up the Land-Wheelwright Laboratories in 1932 with his Harvard physics professor. He established the Polaroid Corporation in Boston in 1937 to further develop and produce the sheet polarisers under the Polaroid trademark, with the intention of applying them to sunglasses and science. During WWII, he worked on military tasks developing dark-adaptation goggles, and target finders.
On 21 February 1947, Land demonstrated the first instant image camera and self-developing film to a meeting of the Optical Society of America in New York City. Called the Land Camera, it produced a black and white photograph in 60 seconds using developer and fixer chemicals sandwiched in pods with the photographic paper and film. After exposure, developing was initiated by turning a knob that squeezed open the pod of chemicals. It was on sale commercially less than two years later.
World History
Wednesday, February 21, 2001. : British milk, meat and livestock exports are banned in the wake of the UK’s first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease for 20 years.
Foot and mouth disease is an extremely contagious viral disease of cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and other cloven-hoofed animals. Symptoms include fever, loss of appetite and weight, and blisters on the mucous membranes, especially those of the mouth, feet, and udder. Though the disease is rarely fatal, saliva, milk, urine, blister discharge and other secretions from the affected animal are heavily infected with the virus. Thus, quarantine, slaughter and complete disposal of infected animals, and disinfection of contaminated material are necessary to contain outbreaks. Effective quarantine measures have meant the disease has been excluded or eliminated from North and Central America, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
In February 2001, Britain experienced its first outbreak of foot and mouth disease for twenty years. The disease was found at an abattoir near Brentwood, Essex. On 21 February 2001, the European Commission was forced to ban export of all British milk, meat and livestock products in an attempt to control the outbreak and prevent it from spreading. Further cases followed: in all, there were 2,030 confirmed cases of foot and mouth in the UK and Northern Ireland, resulting in the slaughter of about six million animals.