Born on this day
Thursday, February 25, 1943. : Former Beatles member, George Harrison, is born.
George Harrison was born on 25 February 1943 in Liverpool, England. His mother had always stated that he was born at ten minutes after midnight, and that is the date officially recorded on his birth certificate; in his later life, however, he discovered that he had, in fact, been born at 11:40pm on the 24th, and from then on always dated his birthday as being February 24.
Harrison tended to be a loner at his school, the Liverpool Institute. In the mid-1950s he knew Paul McCartney, also a Liverpool Institute student, and in February 1958 began playing lead guitar in the band (initially called the Quarry Men) that eventually became the Beatles. He was a creative and highly accomplished lead and rhythm guitarist and soloist, although under the direction of Paul McCartney, he did not get many opportunities to ad lib. Whilst he composed songs, he was limited to contributing only one song per album, and tended to miss the accolades awarded to the other Beatles members. Consequently, he had a more fulfilling career once the Beatles disbanded, writing and producing for musical groups and film.
George Harrison died in Los Angeles, California, on 29 November 2001, at the age of 58. His death was ascribed to lung cancer that had metastasized to the brain.
Australian Explorers
Sunday, February 25, 1798. : Bass returns to Sydney after discovering Bass Strait.
George Bass, together with Matthew Flinders explored and charted much of the coastline south of Sydney in the early days of the New South Wales colony, adding valuable information to charts of the Australian coastline. Bass and Flinders each completed significant voyages in their own right. In 1797, Bass sought sponsorship from Governor Hunter to determine whether a navigable strait existed between Van Diemen’s Land and the Australian continent. It was on this journey that Bass discovered the strait that is now named after him.
After determining that there was indeed a strait between the southern Australian coast and Van Diemen’s Land, Bass and his crew faced a gruelling six-week voyage home, alternating between sailing and rowing. The expedition party rowed into Port Jackson, exhausted, at 10:00pm on 25 February 1798.
Australian History
Tuesday, February 25, 1834. : English newspaper ‘The Leeds Mercury’ reports that a secret expedition to Australia has located a large settlement of descendants of Dutch survivors from shipwrecks of the late 1600s.
It is generally accepted that the Dutch were the first Europeans to step foot on Australia’s shores. When Willem Jansz stepped ashore at the Pennefather River in Cape York in 1606, his was the first of several Dutch expeditions to determine whether the “Great southern land” was worth pursuing as a possible trade interest. Dirk Hartog’s explorations of Australia’s western coast were followed up in 1622 by plans by the Governor General of Dutch East Indies, Jan Pieterszoon Coen, for more intensive exploration of the continent. Further charting of the coastline was conducted by Francois Thijssen, Pieter Nuyts and Abel Tasman.
It is also generally accepted that the Dutch were disinclined to colonise Australia, and that the first European settlement occurred with the convicts, marines and officers of the First Fleet. This, however, is not entirely the case. The first prisoners in Australia were Dutch seamen Wouter Loos and Jan Pellegrimsz de Beye who were abandoned on the mainland for their part in the murders of the passengers of the wrecked ship ‘Batavia’ in June 1629. This was not the only time that Dutch made Australia their home.
It is estimated that, between 1629 and 1727, around 300 Dutch passengers and crew linked to the Dutch East India company occupied parts of Western Australia because of the many shipwrecks which occurred off the coast of what was then known as “New Holland”. On 25 February 1834, English newspaper ‘The Leeds Mercury’ reported on the findings of a secret English expedition to Australia which had taken place in 1832. Led by Lieutenant Nixon, the expedition claimed to have discovered a settlement of several hundred Europeans who were descendants of Dutch survivors from shipwrecks between the mid 1600s and early 1700s, such as the Vergulde Draeck (1656), the Concordia (1708), the Zuytdorp (1712), and the Zeewijck (1727). The survivors were said to have established a colony some 1500 km from the coast, in central Australia’s Palm Valley.
However, although Palm Valley exists as a desert oasis in the Red Centre, no evidence of, or artifacts from, such a colony have ever been located.
Australian History
Tuesday, February 25, 1890. : In Australia, Robert Louis Stevenson begins writing his famous defence of Father Damien, missionary in Molokai, Hawaii.
One of the most well-read adventure writers of the eighteenth century, Robert Louis Stevenson is best known for novels such as ‘Kidnapped’, ‘Treasure Island’ and ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’. In 1889, he settled in Western Samoa, where he was regarded with affection by the natives, who called him Tusitala, meaning “teller of tales”.
In 1890, whilst on a visit to Australia, Stevenson felt compelled to answer charges against Belgian missionary, Father Damien De Veuster, who had worked with native lepers in Molokai, Hawaii, and recently died from leprosy himself. Following his death, he was subject to much criticism from the Congregational and Presbyterian churches in Hawaii, who derided Father Damien as a “false shepherd” and openly questioned his morality. Stevenson, with his great interest in fostering harmony with the islander peoples of the Pacific, had visited Molokai intending to uncover the truth about Father Damien: instead he had heard only stories of the man’s courage, compassion and resourcefulness which contradicted rumours that the priest had contracted leprosy through intimacy with female patients.
The most famous treatise published against Damien was by a Honolulu Presbyterian, Reverend C M Hyde, to a fellow pastor in a letter dated 2 August 1889. It was this letter which Stevenson set out to challenge, writing it in the foyer of the Union Club in Sydney, Australia, on 25 February 1890 and finally publishing it on the front page of ‘The Australian Star’ on 24 May 1890. Stevenson’s letter, entitled “Father Damien: An Open Letter to the Reverend Dr Hyde of Honolulu”, accused Hyde of meanness, cowardice, and jealousy of Father Damien’s work. Fortunately for Stevenson, Hyde dismissed his letter as that of a “crank” and did not sue for libel. Careful examination of published and unpublished criticisms against the missionary’s life and work proved that Father Damien was, indeed, a hero, and that the criticisms were unjustified.
Australian History
Sunday, February 25, 2001. : Sir Donald Bradman, rated the greatest player in the history of cricket, dies.
Donald George Bradman was born on 27 August 1908 in Cootamundra, New South Wales, Australia. One of Australia’s most popular sporting heroes, he is often regarded as the greatest batsman of all time. The Bradman Museum and Bradman Oval are located in the New South Wales town of Bowral, where Bradman grew up, spending many an hour practising his cricket using a stump and a golf ball. Bradman developed his legendary split-second speed and accuracy by practising batting into a water tank on a brick stand behind the Bradman home: when hit into the curved brick stand, the ball would rebound at high speed and varying angles. Bradman’s batting average of 99.94 from his 52 Tests was nearly double the average of any other player before or since.
Bradman was drafted in grade cricket in Sydney at the age of 18. Within a year he was representing New South Wales and within three he had made his Test debut. In the English summer of 1930, he scored 974 runs over the course of the five Ashes tests, the highest individual total in any test series. Even at almost forty years of age – most players today are retired by their mid-thirties – Bradman returned to play cricket after World War II. On 12 June 1948, he scored 138 in the First Test Cricket at Trent Bridge. In his farewell 1948 tour of England the team he led, dubbed “The Invincibles”, went undefeated throughout the tour, a feat unmatched to date. It has been said of Bradman that, for the Australian public, he became a hero at a time when heroes were sorely needed.
Bradman was awarded a knighthood in 1949 and a Companion of the Order of Australia, the country’s highest civil honour, in 1979. In 1996, he was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame as one of the ten inaugural members. After his retirement, he remained heavily involved in cricket administration, serving as a selector for the national team for nearly 30 years. Sir Donald Bradman died on 25 February 2001.