Born on this day
Tuesday, January 15, 1929. : Civil rights activist, Martin Luther King, is born.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on 15 January 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He became a Baptist minister, and African American civil rights activist. In his fight for civil rights, he organised and led marches for desegregation, fair hiring, the right of African Americans to vote, and other basic civil rights. Most of these rights were successfully enacted later into United States law with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Martin Luther King’s life was tragically cut short when he was shot in the neck by a rifle bullet in Memphis, Tennessee, on 4 April 1968. James Earl Ray was convicted of his murder and sentenced to 99 years in prison. But while King’s life was taken from him prematurely, his legacy lives on in the equal rights now enjoyed by millions of African-Americans in the USA.
Australian History
Monday, November 15, 1976. : The first episode of the Australian drama series “The Sullivans” is broadcast.
“The Sullivans” was an Australian drama show set during World War II. The initial setting of the series was 1939, at the Australian declaration of war against Germany. The main characters were the average middle-class family, the Sullivans, who lived in the Melbourne suburb of Camberwell. The storyline focussed on the war and its effect on typical Australians, particularly the Sullivan family. It included battle scenes overseas, all of which were filmed in or around Melbourne. It was regarded as a high quality production, known for its authenticity with its attention to historical and cultural accuracy.
The first episode of The Sullivans aired on 15 November 1976 on the Nine Network. It ran from 1976 until 1983.
Australian History
Tuesday, January 15, 1991. : The Victoria Cross for Australia is created by letters patent signed by HM Elizabeth II.
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for acts of bravery in wartime. It was introduced by Queen Victoria on 29 January 1856 to honour bravery shown by individuals during the Crimean War.
The Victoria Cross for Australia was introduced over a century after its inception in the United Kingdom. The highest award in the Australian Honours System, it superseded the original Victoria Cross. The Victoria Cross for Australia was created by letters patent signed by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on 15 January 1991. It is the “decoration for according recognition to persons who in the presence of the enemy, perform acts of the most conspicuous gallantry, or daring or pre-eminent acts of valour or self-sacrifice or display extreme devotion to duty.”
The first Victoria Cross for Australia was awarded on 16 January 2009 to Trooper Mark Donaldson, who rescued a coalition forces interpreter during heavy fire in Afghanistan.
Australian History
Thursday, January 15, 2004. : The first freight train departs from Adelaide, bound for Darwin, on the newly completed AustralAsia Railway.
Early settlements in central Australia were isolated by more than distance. Tracks were rough and unsuitable for standard coaches. For many years, outback sheep and cattle stations and other remote settlements such as mining outposts relied on camel trains to bring them necessary goods, supplies and news from settled areas. These trains followed the route taken by explorer John McDouall Stuart, the first recorded European to successfully cross central Australia from south to north, and to return alive.
The concept of a railway line to replace the camel trains was proposed largely as a result of Stuart’s exploration, which was instrumental in the building of the Overland Telegraph Line. Construction of the original Ghan track commenced in 1878, and the first section of the railway reached Government Gums (now Farina) in 1881. The next stage of the line reached Marree in 1882, followed by Oodnadatta in 1891. It was several decades before the next stage of the railway began, in 1926, and this was to be the section that would connect Oodnadatta to Alice Springs. It was finally completed in 1929.
The original Ghan train was called the Afghan Express, a name which was soon shortened to just “The Ghan”. Its purpose was to transport passengers as well as goods between Adelaide and Alice Springs. It was named The Ghan because it followed the tracks of the Afghan camel teams which used to make the trek across central Australia. The first trip of the Ghan pulled out of Adelaide station on 4 August 1929, with 120 passengers on board.
Mr William Jervois, the premier of South Australia who turned the first sod at Port Augusta that signalled construction of the railway line, envisaged that eventually the train line would run from Adelaide to Darwin in the north. This moved closer to reality upon the establishment of the Asia Pacific Transport Consortium in 1999. The purpose of the consortium was to build the Darwin to Alice Springs section of the Ghan railway line. Prime Minister John Howard turned the first sod in April 2001, and the line was completed in September 2003. On 15 January 2004, the first Adelaide-Darwin freight train departed Adelaide, and arrived in Darwin two days later. The freight line was known as the AustralAsia Railway. The first Ghan from Adelaide to Darwin commenced its inaugural run on 1 February.
World History
Friday, January 15, 1790. : Seeking a new home, Fletcher Christian and the mutineers of the HMS Bounty sight the refuge of Pitcairn Island.
Pitcairn Island is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. It was discovered in 1767 and was the first Pacific island to become a British colony, which occurred in 1838. It lies approximately halfway between New Zealand and Peru. Today, it remains the last vestige of the British empire in the South Pacific.
The ‘HMS Bounty’ sailed with a crew of 45 men from Spithead, England in December 1787 under Captain William Bligh, bound for Tahiti. Their mission was to collect breadfruit plants to be transplanted in the West Indies as cheap food for the slaves. After collecting those plants, Bounty was returning to England when Fletcher Christian and part of the crew mutinied, taking over the ship, and setting the Captain and 18 Loyalists adrift in the ship’s 23-foot launch. Bligh sailed nearly 6000km back to Dutch East Indies, before returning to England and arriving there on 14 March 1790, where he was initially court-martialled and ultimately acquitted.
The mutineers took the HMS Bounty back to Tahiti, where they collected 6 Polynesian men and 12 women. Knowing they would be pursued by the British authorities, they sought an island refuge where they would not be found. Conflict with the natives on several Pacific islands drove them further east. Studying Bligh’s maps and charts, Christian noticed Pitcairn Island, apparently uninhabited, and unlikely to be visited by the English. He sat sail for Pitcairn, with an increasingly rebellious crew who were likely to attempt a second mutiny.
Finally, on 15 January 1790, the crew sighted Pitcairn Island in the distance. Pitcairn was ideal as its position on the map was shown incorrectly on British charts; the mutineers therefore did not expect to be found and punished. After burning the ship, they established a settlement and colony on Pitcairn Island that still exists.
In 1808, Captain Mayhew Folger of the American sealing ship ‘Topaz’ landed at Pitcairn Island. By that stage, many of the mutineers had succumbed to disease, suicide or been victims of murder. Of all the men, both whites and Polynesians, only John Adams survived. Adams, by then a changed man after his conversion to Christianity, went on to become the respected leader on Pitcairn. He died on 5 March 1829, forty years after the mutiny.
World History
Sunday, January 15, 1797. : The Top Hat makes its first appearance, causing a riot.
The first Top Hat was worn by haberdasher James Heatherington on 15 January 1797, in England. When Heatherington stepped from his shop wearing his unusual headgear, a crowd quickly gathered to stare. The gathering soon turned into a crowd crush as people pushed and shoved against each other. As a result, Heatherington was summoned to appear in court before the Lord Mayor and fined £50 for breaching the peace. He was also charged with appearing “on the public highway wearing a tall structure of shining lustre and calculated to terrify people, frighten horses and disturb the balance of society”. However, within a month, he was overwhelmed with orders for the new headwear.