Born on this day
Thursday, January 25, 1759. : Scottish poet Robert Burns is born.
Robert Burns, often called the Bard of Ayrshire, was born on 25 January 1759 near Ayr, in Alloway, Scotland. His father was a tenant farmer who undertook much of his seven children’s education, as the Burns children were required to help on the farm. Robert received instruction from his father in subjects such as English, History, Geography and Arithmetic, and he was encouraged to read works by Shakespeare and Milton. When he was older, he was instructed in Latin, French, and Mathematics through parish churches.
Burns showed an interest in poetry from his teenage years, and his love songs were inspired by his many dalliances with local lasses. His father never succeeded as a tenant farmer, so young Robert’s life was marked by poverty, but this did not stop him from fathering numerous children to different women before finally marrying Jean Amour in 1788. His first major collection of verse published in 1786, “Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect”, resounded with both countryfolk and the upper classes in Scotland, and Burns became an instant success. Within three years of his marriage, he left farming and accepted a position as an excise officer, whilst continuing to write both poems and songs. It was during this time that he wrote “Tam O’Shanter”, in essence an autobiography of his life as an unsuccessful farmer: it is now considered a masterful example of narrative poetry.
Burns’s prolific writing, which included the iconic “Auld Lang Syne”, “A Red, Red Rose” and “The Battle of Sherramuir”, came to an abrupt end on 21 July 1796. Never of a strong constitution, and weakened by his many years of hard labour on his father’s farm, Burns was just 37 when he died.
Australian History
Sunday, January 25, 1885. : One of Australia’s earliest rail disasters occurs at Cootamundra in New South Wales.
Cootamundra is a small town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, 390 kilometres from Sydney and 161 km from Canberra. It lies along the main Sydney to Melbourne railway line, and was the scene of one of Australia’s earliest rail disasters on 25 January 1885.
Telegraph wires had come down, preventing sufficient warning to be given that the culvert over Salt Clay Creek, 5km from the town, had been washed away. Twenty-five centimetres of rain had turned the dry creekbeds into rushing torrents, and part of the embankment of Salt Clay Creek had collapsed, taking with it the railway line. The Sydney-bound train was unable to avoid plunging into the creek bed. Many of the train’s passengers were people on their way to the horse races at Randwick in Sydney. Eight people were killed and another 49 injured in the accident. A coroner’s inquiry found that the Railways Department was at fault for constructing a culvert too small to carry water flows of the volume experienced before the tragedy.
Australian History
Thursday, January 25, 1973. : The Northern Territory sees the latest arrival of the monsoon, to date.
Unlike the rest of Australia with its typical four seasons, Darwin and the Top End are commonly considered to have only two clear seasons: the ‘wet’ and the ‘dry’. The dry season extends from May to October, while the wet usually begins in November and continues through to April. The distinction is significant: Darwin has a mean annual rainfall of 1728.8mm, and 97.4% of this is recorded between October and April. According to the Bureau of meteorology, the wet season is defined as when at least 50mm of rain has fallen since September 1. This period is then followed by a gradual increase in temperatures and humidity, with the weather becoming progressively uncomfortable for residents of the region.
One of the key features of the wet season is the arrival of the monsoon trough, a region of low atmospheric pressure at sea level which brings sustained, heavy rainfall to the northernmost parts of Australia. It is also likely to lead to the formation of cyclones. Onset of the monsoon usually occurs in late December, often around Christmas, although this can vary depending on the influence of El Nino or La Nina on Australia’s weather patterns. To date, the latest arrival of the monsoon on record was 25 January 1973.
Australian History
Friday, January 25, 1974. : The devastating 1974 Brisbane floods begin.
Brisbane is the capital city of the state of Queensland, Australia. The city grew up around the Brisbane River, which is fed by catchment areas in the Brisbane Valley to the west of the city. Following a particularly wet summer season for 1973-’74, the rivers in the catchment area were filled to capacity.
Cyclone Wanda made landfall on 24 January, drawing the Monsoonal Trough south, providing the extra rainfall to the Brisbane valley to produce widespread and severe flooding. The flooding commenced on 25 January 1974 as the cyclone dumped over 300mm of rain within 24 hours. Over a three-day period, 580mm of rain fell over Brisbane. There were heavier falls in river catchments and other areas, with nearby Mt Glorious recording 1,300mm in five days. The situation was made worse by the fact that a huge container ship broke loose from the shipyards, wedging across the Brisbane River just before the mouth. This prevented the escape of the water to the sea, exacerbating the floods in the CBD. By the time the floods abated four days later, 16 people had died, 300 had been injured, and 9,000 people left homeless. Total cost of the damage, in 1974 values, was $200 million.
With the Brisbane River rising to a level of 5.45 metres, the flood was the largest in Australia in the twentieth century. As a result of the floods, measures were taken to expand Somerset Dam, which released water into the Brisbane River, and to construct another larger dam, the Wivenhoe, completed in 1985. Until the devastating floods in 2011, the dam was considered to give complete protection against any more such flooding in Brisbane.
World History
Tuesday, January 25, 0033. : Today commemorates the conversion of St Paul from persecutor of Christians to apostle of Christ.
Saul of Tarsus, who became St Paul, was an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin, a tent-maker and a Pharisee. The Pharisees were an ancient Jewish religious group who interpreted and practised strict adherence to the law of Moses. Saul, proud of his heritage as an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin, is mentioned in the Biblical book of Acts as being present and approving of the stoning of Christianity’s first martyr, Stephen. Further Bible references indicate that Saul was responsible for the persecution of many more Christians, and for trying to stamp out the fledgling Christian group.
January 25 is popularly commemorated as the feast of St Paul’s conversion. Saul was travelling along the road to Damascus when he was blinded by a brilliant light, accompanied by the voice of Jesus. In Saul’s vision, Christ rebuked him for his persecution and instructed him to continue on to Damascus, where he was tended by a Christian named Ananias. Upon the completion of Paul’s conversion, his sight was returned to him, and he became Paul, one of Christendom’s most avid missionaries, enduring hardship, torture and imprisonment for the sake of his Lord.
World History
Friday, January 25, 1924. : The first Winter Olympics open.
The Olympic Games were established with the ancient Olympics, held in Olympia, Greece from the 8th century BC to the 5th century AD. Interest in the Games declined with the rise in Roman influence in Greece, and for centuries, the tradition languished. During the 1700s and 1800s there were sporadic attempts to resurrect the Games, but it was not until 1896 that the Games of the Olympiad were revived. From early in the twentieth century, the showcase for winter sports was the Nordic Games, which began in Sweden in 1901. Due to the popularity of the Olympic Games in the twentieth century, several offshoots were spawned, among them the Paralympics, Youth Olympics and Winter Olympics.
The opening ceremony for the first Winter Olympics was held on 25 January 1924. The ceremony was held at Chamonix, France, at the foot of Mont Blanc. The original events included alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and speed skating. Since then, the Winter Olympics have expanded to include events such as luge, short track speed skating, and freestyle skiing. Countries in North America, Europe and Asia have hosted the Winter Olympics but, to date, the Games have not been held in the southern hemisphere.
World History
Sunday, January 25, 2004. : NASA’s Exploration Rover ‘Opportunity’ lands on Mars.
NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Mission began in 2003. The mission involves two automated rovers, or robotic exploration vehicles, the ‘Spirit’ and the ‘Opportunity’, which have explored the surface and geology of Mars, and sent data back to Earth. The main purpose of the mission has been to analyse the geology of Mars to determine the nature of any water activity in the past on the planet. In addition, the rovers have obtained astronomical observations and collected atmospheric data. The Mars Exploration Rover Mission was preceded by the Mars Pathfinder mission, which landed the rover ‘Sojourner’ on Mars in July 1997, and the two Viking landers in 1976.
MER-B (Mars Exploration Rover-B) ‘Opportunity’ was launched on 7 July 2003 and landed on Mars on 25 January 2004. Although largely successful, the rover programme has experienced some setbacks. Martian dust storms have prevented sunlight from reaching the solar panels which power the rovers, rendering them temporarily disabled. In 2009, the ‘Spirit’ had to be redeployed as a stationary science platform after becoming stuck in the soft soil of Mars, but it ceased communications in 2010. For two months in 2005, the ‘Opportunity’ was stuck in soft sand, but analysis of its movements and simulation of the conditions by Mission scientists resulted in its successful release from the sand dune dubbed “Purgatory Dune”.
The ‘Opportunity’ remained functioning until mid-2018, by which time it had driven more than 45 kilometres during its mission.