Born on this day
Monday, January 5, 1778. : George Evans, explorer in the early New South Wales colony, is born.
George William Evans was born on 5 January in either 1778 or 1780, in Warwick, England. He arrived in Australia in October 1802, and after serving for a time as a storekeeper at Parramatta, he was then appointed acting Surveyor-General in New South Wales. His appointment as Deputy Surveyor-General was made in October 1809. After three years in Hobart Town, Evans returned to Sydney, where his duties as Deputy Surveyor-General called for him to explore beyond the Great Dividing Range.
Although Evans is one of Australia’s least known explorers, his expeditions added valuable information to the knowledge of Australia’s terrain and geography. He initially followed in the footsteps of Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth who had crossed the Blue Mountains of New South Wales in 1813, finding rich farming land in the Hartley Vale region. However, further exploration was needed so the colony could expand beyond the mountain ranges that had imprisoned the growing colony for twenty-five years. In the ensuing years, Evans made several significant discoveries, such as the Macquarie Plains, Oxley Plains, Macquarie River and Castlereagh River. Evans died on 16 October 1852.
Australian History
Tuesday, January 5, 1819. : English judge John Thomas Bigge is dispatched to inquire into Macquarie’s administration in the New South Wales
Lachlan Macquarie, Governor of the New South Wales colony from 1810 to 1821, upheld high standards for the development of New South Wales from penal colony to free settlement. He introduced the first building code into the colony, requiring all buildings to be constructed of timber or brick, covered with a shingle roof, and to include a chimney. He also ordered the construction of roads, bridges, wharves, churches and public buildings.
Macquarie was also a great sponsor of exploration. In 1813 he sent Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson across the Blue Mountains, where they found the grazing plains of the interior. Following their discovery, Macquarie ordered the establishment of Bathurst, Australia’s first inland city. He appointed John Oxley as surveyor-general and sent him on expeditions up the coast of New South Wales and inland to find new rivers and new lands for settlement.
Unfortunately, Macquarie’s progressive views and favourable treatment of both convicts and emancipists (freed convicts) met with disfavour among the upper-class British settlers. On 5 January 1819, English judge John Thomas Bigge was dispatched to inquire into Macquarie’s actions in the colony. Bigge felt that the convicts should be treated with stricter discipline and harsher punishment, and that the emancipists should be held in greater account. Bigge criticised Macquarie for his spending on public works and for his attempts to create an orderly colony out of the haphazard settlement that Sydney had grown into. Bigge felt that more monies should be returned directly into the economy of Sydney itself, rather than expansion beyond its confines. As a result of the inquiry and Bigge’s report, Macquarie was forced to resign his commission and return to England to defend his administration.
Australian History
Monday, January 5, 1891. : Australia’s great shearers’ strike, which led to the formation of the Labor Party in Australia, begins.
During the 19th century, shearers in Australia endured meagre wages and poor working conditions. This led to the formation of the Australian Shearers’ Union which, by 1890, had tens of thousands of members. Early in 1891, Manager Charles Fairbain of Logan Downs Station near Clermont, Queensland, required that shearers sign the Pastoralists Association contract of free labour before commencing work. This was an attempt to reduce union influence.
On 5 January 1891 the shearers refused to work unless the station agreed to their union’s terms. This marked the beginning of many months of union shearers around Australia downing their tools and going on strike. Tensions escalated as striking shearers formed armed camps outside of towns, and mounted troopers protected non-union labour and arrested strike leaders. Shearers retaliated by burning woolsheds and crops, and committing other acts of sabotage and harassment. By May of 1891, the violent suppression of the strike action forced shearers to give in. The strike, however, highlighted the need for a political party to represent the rights of the union workers: thus was ultimately born the Australian Labor Party.
Australian History
Sunday, January 5, 1975. : The Tasman Bridge in Hobart, Australia, is struck by bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra, killing 12.
The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania crosses the Derwent River near the central business district in Hobart. Opened in 1964, the bridge has a total length of 1395m, which is longer than the Sydney Harbour Bridge. At 9:27pm on 5 January 1975, the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra struck the bridge, causing two pylons and 127 metres of concrete decking to fall from the bridge and sink the ship. Seven crewmen on board the Lake Illawarra were killed, and five motorists died when four cars drove over the collapsed sections before the traffic was stopped. The wreck of Lake Illawarra remains on the bottom of the river, with the concrete slab still on top of it.
The city of Hobart was divided for nearly three years following the accident, which knocked out a 73 metre section of the bridge. The bridge was reconstructed and subsequently reopened on 8 October 1977.
World History
Sunday, January 5, 1941. : British pioneering aviatrix Amy Johnson is killed in an aeroplane crash.
Amy Johnson was born on 1 July 1903 in Kingston upon Hull, England. She was introduced to flying as a hobby, gaining a pilot’s licence at the London Aeroplane Club in late 1929. In that same year, she became the first British woman to gain a ground engineer’s licence.
On 5 May 1930, Johnson left Croydon, England, in her De Havilland Gypsy Moth which she named Jason. She landed in Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory on 24 May 1930. She received the Harmon Trophy as well as a CBE in recognition of this achievement.
Johnson made several other notable flights. In July 1931 she and her co-pilot Jack Humphreys became the first pilots to fly from London to Moscow in one day, completing the 2,800 km journey in approximately 21 hours. From there, they continued across Siberia and on to Tokyo, setting a record time for flying from England to Japan. In July 1932, she set a solo record for the flight from London, England to Cape Town, South Africa in a Puss Moth. The record was later broken, but Johnson reclaimed her record in a Percival Gull in May 1936.
Amy Johnson died on 5 January 1941 whilst flying an Airspeed Oxford to RAF Kidlington near Oxford. She went off course in poor weather and bailed out into the Thames estuary, where she drowned after a failed rescue attempt.
Special Days
Saturday, January 5, 2002. : Today is National Bird Day in the US.
National Bird Day is an American awareness day celebrating all things avian. Not to be confused with the many other Bird Days recognised around the world, National Bird Day was launched on 5 January 2002 by national animal advocacy group Born Free USA, in coordination with the Avian Welfare Coalition. The day is designed to promote awareness of the issues facing birds, both wild and those in captivity. Although conservative estimates put the number of bird species in the world between 9000 and 10000, new research led by the American Museum of Natural history estimates the number could be as high as 18000 species. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), twelve percent of the world’s bird species, or one in eight species, are in danger of extinction.
National Bird Day is not just a day for scientists and ornithologists to share information about birds: it also aims to educate everyday people on what can be done to help minimise the dangers to birds’ survival. This includes raising awareness of the cruel bird smuggling trade and bird breeding mills, as well as improving the welfare of captive birds.