Australian Explorers

Tuesday, May 8, 1838. :   Eyre’s first overlanding venture is threatened as he discovers the Loddon River is almost dry.

Edward John Eyre was born on 5 August 1815 in Hornsea, Yorkshire. After coming to Australia, he gained valuable bush skills whilst droving cattle overland from Sydney through to the Liverpool Plains, Molonglo and Port Phillip. He was keen to open new stock routes through the country, and aimed to be the first to overland cattle from Sydney to the fledgling colony of South Australia.

On 21 December 1837, Eyre departed from Limestone Plains where Canberra now stands, with one thousand sheep and six hundred cattle. His route took him first to Melbourne where he replenished his supplies, then he hoped to head directly west to Adelaide, thus avoiding returning along the better-known route of the Murray River. Conditions were difficult, with the countryside in the grip of late summer drought, and he was beaten back by the impenetrable mallee country of western Victoria. Reports from Mitchell, who had travelled through the area in 1836, indicated that the Loddon River was a good source of fresh water; however, on 8 May 1838, Eyre’s expedition was threatened when he arrived at the Loddon to find that it was practically dry.

Eyre was forced to retrace his steps to the Murray River. The overlanding venture ended up covering close to 2,500 kilometres and took nearly seven months. Because of his unsuccessful short-cut, Eyre was not the first to overland cattle to South Australia: he was beaten by drovers Joseph Hawdon and Charles Bonney.

Australian Explorers

Wednesday, May 8, 1861. :   Brahe and Wright reach Cooper Creek to check whether Burke and Wills have found the cache of supplies beneath the Dig Tree.

Burke and Wills, with a huge party of men and supplies, departed Melbourne in August 1860 to cross Australia to the north coast and back. Burke, being impatient and anxious to complete the crossing as quickly as possible, split the expedition at Menindee. He moved on ahead to establish a depot at Cooper Creek, leaving William Wright in command of the Menindee depot. Splitting his party yet again at Cooper Creek, Burke chose to make a dash to the Gulf in the heat of Summer with Wills, Gray and King. He left stockman William Brahe in charge with instructions that if the party did not return in three months, Brahe was to return to Menindee. The trek to the Gulf and back took over four months, and during that time Gray died. A full day was spent in burying his body. When Burke returned to Cooper Creek, he discovered lettering freshly blazed on the coolabah tree at the depot, giving instructions to dig for the supplies Brahe had left. Thus the name ‘Dig’ Tree was spawned.

When Burke left the Dig tree to try to reach the police station at Mt Hopeless, 240km away, he failed to leave further messages emblazoned on the Dig tree indicating that his party had returned and were now making for Mt Hopeless. On 8 May 1861, Brahe and Wright returned to check the depot, but they found no evidence of Burke’s return, and saw no need to dig up the cache beneath the tree. Had they done so, they would have found evidence of Burke and Wills’ return. Believing the explorers were lost, a rescue expedition was organised in Melbourne. Headed up by Alfred Howitt, the rescue party reached the Dig tree in early September 1861. Finding no sign of Burke and Wills, the men moved downstream. It was there that they found King, the only survivor, who was able to tell how Burke and Wills had died six weeks earlier.

Australian History

Monday, May 8, 1876. :   Truganini, believed to be the last full-blooded Tasmanian Aborigine, dies.

As an island isolated from mainland Australia, Tasmania enjoyed the uniqueness of its own fauna and flora, and its own indigenous peoples. All of these were severely disrupted by the arrival of Europeans. Van Diemen’s Land was settled as a separate colony in 1803. In May 1804, the first of the major hostilities between whites and Aborigines occurred, paving the way for the decimation of pure-blooded Tasmanian Aborigines. The “Battle of Risdon” happened when a large group of about 300 aboriginal men on a kangaroo hunt inadvertently wandered into the British settlement. Thinking they were being attacked, the soldiers fired upon the party, killing three of the hunters.

Hostilities between Europeans and Tasmanian Aborigines escalated in the following decades. Due to increased tensions between the Aborigines and white settlers, the government initially offered bounties for the capture of Aboriginal adults and children. The next plan was to implement ‘the Black Line’, using military forces to round up Aborigines on Eaglehawk Peninsula. Following this rather costly fiasco, several hundred Aborigines were then relocated to Flinders Island. Conditions on Flinders Island were not what was promised to the aboriginal people, and many of them succumbed to disease and starvation. The remaining Aborigines were returned to Tasmania in 1856.

Among those to return to the Tasmanian mainland was Trugernanner, also known as Truganini. Truganini was symbolic of all the injustices done to the Tasmanian Aborigines. Born around the year 1812 on Bruny Island, she was the daughter of Mangana, Chief of the Bruny Island people. While she was still in her teens, her mother was killed by whalers, her first fiancé killed while saving her from being kidnapped, and her sisters abducted and taken to Kangaroo Island, South Australia, where they were either sold as slaves, or killed. Truganini died on 8 May 1876, the last known member of the “Palawa” race. Although she begged to be buried, and not to be cut up, her skeleton was later dug up and placed on display in a museum. This last victim of British genocide only received her dying wish for dignity when her bones were removed from the museum, cremated, and scattered in the water around her homeland, in 1976, a century after her death.

When the Australian government announced the death of Truganini, the intention was to indicate an end to what was perceived as a “native problem” in Tasmania. However, Truganini was outlived by several other aboriginal women who had been relocated to Kangaroo Island or Flinders Island. There are still thousands of descendants of the Tasmanian Aborigines alive today.

Australian History

Wednesday, May 8, 1901. :   The Federal Labor Party is formed with John Christian Watson as its leader.

The Australian Labor Party is one of the major political parties in Australia. It has its roots in the labour movement that arose from unrest amongst labourers, particularly shearers in Australia who endured meagre wages and poor working conditions in the late 19th century. This led to the formation of the Australian Shearers’ Union which, by 1890, had tens of thousands of members. Early in 1891, in an attempt to reduce union influence, Charles Fairbairn, Manager of Logan Downs Station near Clermont, Queensland, required that shearers sign the Pastoralists Association contract of free labour before commencing work. The situation came to a head when the shearers refused to work unless the station agreed to their union’s terms. This marked the beginning of many months of union shearers striking around Australia, and when the strike action was violently suppressed, it highlighted the need for a political party to represent the rights of the union workers.

Labour parties sponsored by the trade union movement were established in the colonies in an attempt to elicit sympathy from politicians elected to colonial parliaments. The labour movement in Australia, represented by the various parties in different Australian colonies, came together as a federal political party just before the first sitting of the Australian Parliament following federation in 1901. On 8 May 1901, the Federal Labor Party, later the Australian Labor Party, was formed with John Christian ‘Chris’ Watson as its leader. In 1904, Watson became Australia’s first Labor Prime Minister.

World History

Thursday, May 8, 1902. :   Mt Pelee, Martinique, erupts, burying the city of St Pierre and leaving just two survivors.

Mount Pelée is an active volcano on the northern tip of the French “overseas département” of Martinique in the Caribbean. Previously thought to be dormant, Mount Pelée began to erupt on 25 April 1902, emitting a large cloud containing rocks and ashes from its top. Over the next fortnight, the volcano continued to rumble and belch volcanic ash. At 7:52am on 8 May 1902, it erupted with a massive and devastating explosion.

A pyroclastic cloud consisting of superheated steam and volcanic gases and dust travelled down the mountain to the city of St Pierre, some four kilometres away. Covering the entire city, it instantly ignited everything combustible with which it came in contact. This was followed by a half-hour downpour of muddy rain mixed with ashes. Of the population of between 28,000 and 30,000, there were only two survivors: a prisoner held in an underground cell in the town’s jail, later pardoned, and a man who lived at the edge of the city.

Mount Pelée continued to erupt and cause further devastation into the following year. On 20 May 1902, another eruption similar to the first one in both type and force obliterated what was left of St Pierre, and on 30 August 1902, about 2,000 people are believed to have died when a lava flow struck the village of Morne Rouge.

Special Days

Tuesday, May 8, 1945. :   Today marks VE Day (Victory in Europe), when Germany’s unconditional surrender to the Allies is announced.

World War II was fought from 1939 to 1945 and centred around Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, the United States, China, and other allies ultimately defeating Germany, Italy, and Japan. It began as a conflict between Germany and the combined forces of France and Great Britain. To date, it caused the greatest loss of life and material destruction of any war in history: in all, twenty-five million military personnel and thirty million civilians were killed through its duration.

On 7 May 1945, after six years of war, Germany signed an unconditional surrender to the Allies. Germany’s collapse had come after the Western and Russian armies met at Torgau in Saxony in late April, and after Hitler’s death amid the ruins of Berlin, which fell to the Russians. Germany’s surrender was ratified at Berlin on 8 May 1945, which came to be known as VE Day (Victory in Europe). On that day, British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, officially announced the end of the war with Germany.