Australian History

Friday, July 29, 1836. :   Governor Richard Bourke enacts the Church Act, allocating public funds for the advancement of other churches besides the Church of England in New South Wales.

Major-General Sir Richard Bourke was the eighth Governor of New South Wales. He succeeded Lieutenant General Sir Ralph Darling, and was appointed Governor on 3 December 1831. Bourke was a major reformer in the colony of New South Wales. He had significant influence in bringing to an end the transportation of convicts to New South Wales, although that did not happen during his tenure. He was an advocate of emancipation and integration of convicts into civilian life, and his concern for the convicts was not appreciated by the conservative elements in the colony. Raising the ire of local magistrates who abused their powers, he set a punishment limit of fifty lashes where no previous limit had existed, and granted more rights to the emancipists, or freed convicts.

One of Bourke’s major reforms was in the allocation of public funds for religious purposes. Although nominally Anglican himself, he did not agree with the Church of England being the state church of New South Wales. On 29 July 1836, he enacted the Church Act. This Act allowed for public funds to be given to the three major denominations present in the colony, Anglican, Catholic and Presbyterian, based on the number of adherents. It was later extended also to the Jewish, Wesleyan and Baptist churches. The Act diminished the power and dominance of the Anglican Church. A direct result was the great increase in numbers of new churches and clergy throughout the colony, while allowing better access for convicts and emancipists to religious communities.

Australian History

Sunday, July 29, 1917. :   The accident of stockman Jim Darcy causes a chain of events that eventually leads to the founding of the Flying Doctor Service in Australia.

Much of the Australian outback is characterised by extreme isolation. In the early 1900s, the population density of the outback was less than one person per square kilometre, and essential services beyond urbanised areas were few and far between.

James Darcy, more commonly known as Jim, was a stockman at Ruby Plains, a pastoral and cattle station about 50 km south of Halls Creek in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. On 29 July 1917, Darcy was mustering stock when his horse stumbled in a hole, throwing the stockman to the ground before rolling over him and pinning him down. It was several hours before Darcy was discovered by his workmates. He had to be ferried many kilometres back to Ruby Plains on a flat wagon with no springs to cushion him during the bumpy ride. No one was qualified to give him the necessary treatment there, so he faced an agonising twelve-hour ride to Halls Creek.

There was neither doctor nor hospital in the township, but the postmaster, Fred Tuckett, had limited medical knowledge. He administered morphine for Darcy’s pain, and recognised the young man was suffering internal injuries. In search of a doctor, Tuckett telegraphed both Wyndham and Derby, but the doctors from both settlements were out of town. He then telegraphed his former first-aid instructor in Perth, Dr Joe Holland, who diagnosed Darcy as having a ruptured bladder. Holland advised the postmaster that Darcy needed to be operated on immediately. Following instructions by telegraph, Tuckett operated on Darcy, using just a pocket-knife and razor. Dr Holland checked in on Darcy’s progress when he could. The young stockman seemed to be healing at first, but when complications set in, it was apparent that the doctor needed to attend. On 9 August, Holland found passage on the only ship travelling to Derby, the cattle boat SS Moira, which was not licensed to carry passengers. At Derby, Holland continued overland by Model T Ford until he had to change to a horse and sulky. He then walked the remaining distance to Halls Creeks. The journey covered over 3 700 km and took two weeks. When he arrived, a grief-stricken Tuckett informed him that, although the operation had been a success, Darcy had died a day earlier as a due to complications and malarial fever.

The case caught the attention of John Flynn, a Presbyterian minister who had become aware of the need for better medical facilities for people who lived far from major settlements. Although Flynn had established numerous bush hospitals in the Australian outback, he had an even greater vision: that of a medical service utilising the emerging technology of radio and aircraft to bring assistance to people in remote areas. Thanks to assistance from various benefactors and other visionaries, in May 1928 Flynn’s vision was realised when the Australian Inland Mission Aerial Medical Service was established at Cloncurry, in western Queensland. The service succeeded, and in 1942 was renamed the Flying Doctor Service. Queen Elizabeth II approved the prefix “Royal” in 1955 following her visit to Australia. The Royal Flying Doctor Service, or RFDS, is still an integral part of Australia today, providing essential medical services to people living in remote areas.

Australian History

Friday, July 29, 1938. :   The ‘Territory for the Seat of Government’ becomes the Australian Capital Territory.

The Australian Capital Territory, or ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia, and the location of the national capital city, Canberra. The land for what was then the Federal Capital Territory was ceded to the Commonwealth by New South Wales in the Yass-Canberra district on 1 January 1911, and comprised an area of 2 360 square kilometres.

The foundations for the city of Canberra were laid in 1913, but the city only became the seat of power in Australia upon the completion of Parliament House in 1927 (now known as Old Parliament House). The land transferred from New South Wales was commonly known as the Federal Capital Territory, but its official title was “Territory for the Seat of Government”. A bill was introduced into Parliament to change this name, which was seen as long and cumbersome. Further, it was widely felt that a precedent had been set by the fact that the Supreme Court was known as the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory. A Bill to change the name was introduced into Parliament, but it took several attempts before the Bill was passed, particularly as the colloquial Federal Capital Territory, or FCT, was preferred by many departments, including that of the Attorney-General.

On 29 July 1938, the territory was officially renamed the Australian Capital Territory.

Australian History

Wednesday, July 29, 1942. :   During World War II, Japanese forces attack Kokoda on the island of New Guinea, forcing Australian troops to retreat.

During World War II, fears of a Japanese invasion of Australia increased when, in January 1942, Japanese forces landed in Rabaul, on the island of New Guinea. This began the serious Japanese offensive in the South Pacific. The first of over 100 Japanese bombings of the Australian mainland began in February, and on 8 March, the Japanese invaded the New Guinean mainland, capturing Lae and Salamaua.

In May 1942, the Japanese launched an invasion fleet to Port Moresby from Rabaul. Thus began the Battle of the Coral Sea, the largest naval battle ever fought close to Australia’s shores. Australian Prime Minister John Curtin had sought help from the United States to defend the Pacific. Although a bitter campaign and one in which many troops were lost from both sides, the Battle of the Coral Sea was a successful one. Repelled by the American forces, the Japanese then sought to invade Port Moresby from the northern coast, over the rugged Owen Stanley Range via the Kokoda Trail, which linked to the southern coast of Papua New Guinea.

There were two significant engagements between Australian and Japanese troops late in July 1942. During the first engagement, the Japanese defeated the Australian forces led by Lieutenant Colonel Owen, and captured the airstrip, forcing the Australians to retreat to Deniki. However, when the Japanese did not occupy Kokoda, Lt Col Owen and his troops returned to Kokoda. Although two Allied aircraft reinforcements arrived by air, circling the field, they did not land as they did not know whether the area was occupied by Japanese. There at Kokoda, at 2:30 in the morning on 29 July 1942, the Australian troops were attacked by Japanese forces led by Captain Ogawa, commander of No. 1 Company of the first battalion of 144 Regiment. Lt Col Owen was killed early on in the fighting. Within an hour, the Australian defence line collapsed; Major Watson of the Papuan Infantry Battalion, who had assumed command, ordered the forces to retreat to Deniki. Seven Australians had been killed and six wounded, compared to the Japanese losses of 12 dead and 26 wounded.

Months later, with much assistance from the Papua New Guinean natives, dubbed “Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels”, the Australian troops turned back the Japanese forces, which then retreated to bases at Buna, Gona and Sanananda. Here, the Japanese were eventually defeated in a hard-fought campaign which lasted through December 1942 to 23 January 1943 – one year after the Japanese first landed at Rabaul.

World History

Friday, July 29, 1588. :   British General, Sir Francis Drake, defeats the Spanish Armada off the coast of Plymouth.

Sir Francis Drake, born c. 1540, was a skilled seaman, having experience in piracy, navigation and civil engineering. He was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world, doing so between 1577 and 1580.

In 1585, war broke out between England and Spain. Drake led several attacks against the Spanish and, as vice-admiral in command of the English fleet, he was instrumental in defeating the Spanish Armada as it attempted to invade England. After capturing the Spanish galleon Rosario and its crew, On the night of 29 July 1588, along with his commander, Lord Howard of Effingham, Drake organised fire-ships, causing the majority of the Spanish captains to break formation and sail out of Calais into the open sea. Thus, Drake became a folk hero to the English, and a statue commemorating his feat still stands on Plymouth Hoe. Drake died of dysentery while unsuccessfully attacking San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1596.

World History

Monday, July 29, 1907. :   Sir Robert Baden-Powell founds the Boy Scouts with a camp at Brownsea Island.

The Boy Scout movement was founded by Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell. Baden-Powell, born 22 February 1857, was a keen outdoorsman who enjoyed hunting, canoeing and yachting. Baden-Powell’s military career offered him opportunities to develop skills that would later become the essence of the Boy Scout movement, and he impressed his superiors enough to be transferred to the British Secret Service, where he continued to work as an intelligence officer.

After some years of this and other military experience, he wrote a small manual, entitled “Aids to Scouting”, which summarised lectures he had given on military scouting, to help train recruits. The lectures concentrated on training young men to think independently and with initiative, and to survive in the wilderness. Although intended for military use, the training manual soon became widely used by teachers and youth organisations. Baden-Powell consulted with the founder of the Boys’ Brigade, Sir William Alexander Smith, and subsequently re-wrote the manual to suit the youth market. He held the first camp to test out his reworked ideas on 29 July 1907 on Brownsea Island, for 22 boys of mixed social background.

World History

Wednesday, July 29, 1981. :   Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer marry.

Charles Philip Arthur George Mountbatten-Windsor, eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and heir-apparent to the Throne, was born on 14 November 1948. At the time of his birth, his mother was The Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, the elder daughter of King George VI, and first in the line of succession to the British throne. In 1952, his mother ascended the throne, becoming Queen Elizabeth II. Prince Charles immediately became Duke of Cornwall under a charter of King Edward III, which gave that title to the Sovereign’s eldest son, and was then referred to as HRH The Duke of Cornwall. He also became, in the Scottish Peerage, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick and Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland. From birth, Charles was also known as His Royal Highness Prince Charles of Edinburgh.

Buckingham Palace announced the engagement on 24 February 1981 of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, born 1 July 1961. When they married on 29 July 1981, it was classed as a fairytale wedding. Charles, 32, and Diana, 20, were married at St Paul’s Cathedral in a ceremony attended live by 3500 guests, and viewed by a television audience of 750 million. The ceremony was led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Robert Runcie, who was assisted by clergymen of various other denominations. A national holiday was called to mark the occasion.

Difficulties within the royal marriage were reported within a few years, in 1985. Fifteen years after the “fairytale wedding”, the marriage ended in divorce. Diana agreed to relinquish the title of “her royal highness,” to be known in the future as Diana, Princess of Wales.

Special Days

Thursday, July 29, 2010. :   Today is International Tiger Day.

The tiger is the largest cat species still in existence. Solitary hunters and entirely carnivorous, adult tigers can measure up to 3.3m from nose to tail and weigh up to 360kg. A unique characteristic of tigers is that they all have their own unique pattern: no two tigers have the same arrangement of stripes.

Tigers were once found from the Caucasus Mountains, where Europe and Asia meet, to Siberia, extending south to the Indian subcontinent and the islands of Indonesia, as well as the Philippines. During the twentieth century, their distribution shrank significantly as these majestic animals lost up to 95% of their natural habitat due to human activity. Poaching also contributed significantly to the decline, as tigers are prized for their fur and bones, which are used in traditional medicines. Tigers are now found only in limited areas of southeast Asia, India, western China and parts of Russia. At the beginning of the twentieth century, it was estimated that the population of wild tigers was around 100,000, but this had dropped to just a couple of thousand by the early 21st century.

International Tiger Day, also known as Global Tiger Day, is celebrated every year on 29 July. The day was established at the St Petersburg Tiger Summit in Russia in 2010 to build awareness of the plight of this majestic animal, and to support conservation efforts. During the summit, the thirteen countries where tigers are still found in the wild pledged to double the population by 2022 under the goal “Tx2”. In April 2016, WWF announced that wild tiger figures had increased for the first time in over 100 years. Slow but steady growth has continued and, as of 2019, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) estimated that the wild tiger population had increased to around 3900.