AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
Friday, January 1, 1915. : Four Australians are killed when two Turks attack a picnic train near Broken Hill.
Each New Year’s Day in Australia, the Manchester Unity Lodge customarily held a picnic at Silverton, 25km northwest of Broken Hill in far western New South Wales. On 1 January 1915, at 10:00am, a train pulled out of the Broken Hill railway station at Sulphide Street, carrying 1200 men, women and children in 40 open trucks fitted with wooden seats. Just a few kilometres out of Broken Hill the train passed an ice-cream cart bearing a Turkish flag.
Two Turks lying in wait started shooting at the train, killing two picnickers immediately. A pipeline inspector cycling alongside the train was also killed, whilst a man chopping wood in the yard of a local hotel was killed by a ricocheting bullet from the Turks. Police and locals quickly descended on the scene and a gun battle ensued, during which the snipers were killed. Looking for scapegoats, the public descended on the local Muslim community, but further bloodshed was prevented by police and militia. Local Muslims did not condone the shooting and refused to be responsible for the burial of the Turks. The bodies were later buried away from the local cemetery, in an undisclosed location.
AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
Sunday, January 1, 1911. : The Commonwealth of Australia takes over control of the Northern Territory from South Australia.
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, bordered by the states of Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia. From 1825 to 1863, the Northern Territory was part of New South Wales. In 1863, control of the Northern Territory was handed to South Australia. This was as a result of the successful 1862 expedition of John McDouall Stuart to find an overland route through the desert from Adelaide to the north. This route was subsequently utilised for the building of the Overland Telegraph line, which provided an important communications link between Australia and the rest of the world.
On 1 January 1911, the Northern Territory was separated from South Australia and transferred to Commonwealth control. At the time, former Prime Minister Alfred Deakin made the comment that “To me the question has been not so much commercial as national, first, second, third and last. Either we must accomplish the peopling of the northern territory or submit to its transfer to some other nation.”
AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
Wednesday, January 1, 1908. : The Australian Bureau of Meteorology is founded.
The Bureau of Meteorology is the main agency of the Australian Government which is responsible for observing and reporting on weather events in and around Australia. Compiling data from a number of sources, it provides forecasts, warnings and observations to the Australian public, as well as offering feature articles and educational resources.
The earliest regular weather observations in Australia were undertaken by Captain William Dawes in 1788, who established the first observatory at what is now known as Dawes Point on the western point of Sydney Cove. Dawes originally named the location Maskelyne Point in honour of his British sponsor, Nevil Maskelyne, the Astronomer Royal, who had secured Dawes’s position upon the First Fleet. Successive observatories were built at strategic locations as colonial settlement spread across the Australian continent. Initially, following Federation in 1901, each of the states continued to maintain its own observatories. However, it was soon decided that a central national weather bureau was needed to consolidate all of the information from across Australia.
The Meteorology Act 1906 enabled such an institute to be founded and, on 1 January 1908, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology was established in Melbourne. Its inaugural Director was Henry Ambrose Hunt, who served in this capacity until 1931. During his time with the Bureau, Hunt developed several ground-breaking meteorological theories which were compiled in a 1929 book ‘A basis for seasonal forecasting in Australia’. This book was the catalyst to new research into the relationship between the weather cycle and droughts, an especially pertinent topic for Australians.
AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
Friday, January 1, 1915. : Four Australians are killed when two Turks attack a picnic train near Broken Hill.
Each New Year’s Day in Australia, the Manchester Unity Lodge customarily held a picnic at Silverton, 25km northwest of Broken Hill in far western New South Wales. On 1 January 1915, at 10:00am, a train pulled out of the Broken Hill railway station at Sulphide Street, carrying 1200 men, women and children in 40 open trucks fitted with wooden seats. Just a few kilometres out of Broken Hill the train passed an ice-cream cart bearing a Turkish flag.
Two Turks lying in wait started shooting at the train, killing two picnickers immediately. A pipeline inspector cycling alongside the train was also killed, whilst a man chopping wood in the yard of a local hotel was killed by a ricocheting bullet from the Turks. Police and locals quickly descended on the scene and a gun battle ensued, during which the snipers were killed. Looking for scapegoats, the public descended on the local Muslim community, but further bloodshed was prevented by police and militia. Local Muslims did not condone the shooting and refused to be responsible for the burial of the Turks. The bodies were later buried away from the local cemetery, in an undisclosed location.
AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
Tuesday, January 1, 1901. : The Commonwealth of Australia is proclaimed.
Prior to 1901, Australia was made up of six self-governing colonies; New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania. These colonies were ultimately under British rule from the time the First Fleet landed, in 1788, until 1901. Numerous politicians and influential Australians through the years had pushed for federation of the colonies, and self-government. After not being accepted by the states the first time, the amended Commonwealth Constitution was given Royal Assent on 9 July 1900.
On 1 January 1901, federation of the colonies was achieved and the Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed. Australia’s first Governor-General, John Hope, made the proclamation at Centennial Park in Sydney. Australia’s first Prime Minister was Edmund Barton.
This event did not mark independence from Great Britain: it gave Australia the right to govern itself. Independence was a gradual process which continued right up until the Australia Acts came into effect on 3 March 1986.
AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
Friday, January 1, 1864. : The Queensland Police Force is inaugurated.
Prior to Queensland’s separation from New South Wales in 1859, there was no formalised police force for the settlers north of Tenterfield. Police were appointed by local police magistrates or justices of the peace. A separate Mounted police force was established at Goondiwindi, now on the border of Queensland and New South Wales. Under the command of Captain Fred “Filibuster” Walker, the Native Police Corps, comprising both European and indigenous troopers, protected the early settlers of the inland, and their property.
The “Police Act of 1863” came into effect on 1 January 1864, and with it, the Queensland Police Force was inaugurated, meaning the force began officially operating under its own legislation. Queensland’s first Police Commissioner, David Thompson Seymour, headed up a force of between 143 and 157 police as well as the 120 members of the Native Police Corps. He was appointed in a temporary capacity in January 1864, and his appointment was confirmed in July of that year. He continued to command the Queensland Police Force for thirty years. Commissioner Seymour was nominally in charge of the Water Police in regard to appointments, dismissals and punishments but actual control sat with Water Police Magistrate William Thornton.
AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
Tuesday, January 1, 1856. : The name change from ‘Van Diemen’s Land’ to ‘Tasmania’ comes into effect.
Tasmania was first discovered by Abel Tasman on 24 November 1642. Tasman discovered the previously unknown island on his voyage past the “Great South Land”, or “New Holland”, as the Dutch called Australia. He named it “Antony Van Diemen’s Land” in honour of the High Magistrate, or Governor-General of Batavia.
When the First Fleet arrived in 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip claimed the entire eastern coast for the British Empire, including Van Diemen’s Land, though it was not yet proven to be separate from the mainland. In January 1799 Bass and Flinders completed their circumnavigation of Van Diemen’s Land, proving it to be an island. Van Diemen’s Land was settled as a separate colony in 1803, but continued to be administered by the Governor of New South Wales. In 1825, Van Diemen’s Land was separated administratively from New South Wales, and Hobart Town was declared the capital of the colony.
The push to change the name of the colony gained momentum through 1854, and in 1855 Queen Victoria approved the new constitution. In November 1855, the colony’s first governor, Lieutenant-Governor Henry Fox-Young, signed the Order to change the name of the colony from Van Diemen’s Land to Tasmania, in honour of its discoverer. On 1 January 1856, the colony gained self-government, and its new name became official throughout Australia.
WORLD HISTORY
Saturday, January 1, 1622. : January 1 is declared as the first day of the year.
Today is New Year’s Day, the first day of the year, and is celebrated as a holiday in many countries. Among the ancient peoples, New Year’s Day was traditionally celebrated in conjunction with the vernal or autumnal equinox or the summer or winter solstice. In the Middle Ages it was set at the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere, usually on March 25.
The Gregorian calendar, which is widely in use throughout the western world today, was adopted by many Catholic countries in 1582. However, England, Scotland and all countries within the British Empire did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752. January 1 was declared as the first day of the new year on 1 January 1622.