Australian Explorers
Wednesday, November 12, 1873. : Colonel Warburton’s exploration party is reduced to subsisting only on camel meat.
Peter Warburton was an ex-navy Colonel who had served in India. After his retirement, he came to Australia, and was appointed to command the Police Forces of the Colony of South Australia. It was during this time that he developed his love of exploring. Warburton’s goal was to complete the first crossing of the central Australian continent from east to west. In 1872, he was selected by Sir Thomas Elder, a Member of the Legislative Council to lead an expedition in an attempt to find a route from central Australia to Perth, and to report on what sort of country lay in between. His exploration party departed Alice Springs on 15 April 1873.
Warburton’s expedition was the first in Australia to use only camels. Travelling through the desert was hard-going, and scarcity of water was huge problem. Warburton was notorious for capturing Aboriginal women with the intent of forcing them to reveal where native wells were located. The party suffered from lack of water and a steadily decreasing food supply. His despair was recorded in his journal entry of 12 November 1873, in which he wrote, “We have tried to do our duty, and have been disappointed in all our expectations. The country is terrible. I do not believe men ever traversed so vast an extent of continuous desert.” By this date, the expedition party had used the last of its flour, sugar and tea, and was reduced to subsisting only on camel meat. Warburton included in his journal recipes for cooking and eating every part of a camel, including the head, tail, bones, tough hide, guts and feet.
Australian History
Monday, November 12, 1894. : Australian inventor Lawrence Hargrave demonstrates that it is possible for man to fly.
Lawrence Hargrave was born in England in 1850, but emigrated to Australia in 1865. He took on an engineering apprenticeship in Sydney, and was always interested in a variety of experiments, particularly those to do with flying machines. Hargrave invented the box kite in 1893, and used it to further his aerodynamic studies.
On 12 November 1894, Hargrave linked four of his kites together, added a sling seat, and flew about five metres in the air on a beach near Wollongong, New South Wales. In doing so, he demonstrated that it was possible for man to build, and be transported in, a safe and stable flying machine. His radical design for a wing that could support far more than its own weight opened up opportunities for other inventors to develop the design for commercial purposes. Hargrave never patented his designs, so did not receive the recognition he deserved.
Australian History
Friday, November 12, 1943. : The last of the World War II Japanese bombings raids against Australia occurs.
Darwin, capital city of Australia’s Northern Territory, was a strategically-placed naval port and airbase during World War II. On 19 February 1942, the city was attacked in a bombing raid by the Japanese, who launched two waves of planes comprising 242 bombers and fighters. At least 243 civilians and military personnel were killed, not counting the indigenous Australians whose deaths were not counted. Although it was a less significant target, a greater number of bombs were dropped than in the attack on Pearl Harbor. These attacks were the first of an estimated 64 air raids against Darwin during 1942-43.
Following the February raid, other parts of Australia including Darwin, northwest Western Australia and even regions of far north Queensland were subject to over one hundred more raids. Airport base areas attacked included Townsville, Katherine, Wyndham, Derby and Port Hedland, while Milingimbi, Exmouth Gulf and Horn Island were also targeted. 63 more Japanese raids occurred against Darwin and its immediate surroundings. The final attack occurred on 12 November 1943. There was only minor damage around the town of Darwin, and no casualties.
World History
Tuesday, November 12, 1799. : A large red pillar of fire is seen in the sky above Hereford, England.
On 12 November 1799, vivid electrical flashes lit up the sky above Hereford, England, at half-hour intervals commencing at 5:45am. Bright lights appeared, initially stationary, until they appeared to explode loudly, then continued across the sky, trailed by luminous, fiery streams. Something similar to a large pillar of fire then passed from north to south over Hereford.
On the same day across north and south America and western Europe, the Leonid meteor shower illuminated the sky with thousands of shooting stars for many hours. The Leonid meteor shower is an event which happens annually, in varying degrees of visibility and brightness, usually from November 12-17. In some years, the display is brighter than in others: a particularly brilliant display from the Leonid meteor shower was witnessed across north and central America on 12 November 1833. The Leonid shower that occurs every November is caused by the Earth passing through an especially dusty area of space, caused by the orbit of the Temple-Tuttle comet which passes near Earth’s orbit every 33 years and leaves behind a dusty trail.
World History
Tuesday, November 12, 1912. : The bodies of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his exploration companions are found in Antarctica.
Robert Falcon Scott was born on 6 June 1868 in Devonport, England. He was a Royal Naval officer and explorer who commanded the National Antarctic Expedition in Discovery which began in 1900. On 31 December 1902, Scott’s expedition reached the farthest point south of any known exploration party. Following new discoveries in the Antarctic region, Scott was keen to be the first to reach the South Pole. He took with him Lieutenant Henry Bowers, Dr. Edward Wilson, Petty Officer Edgar Evans and army Captain Lawrence Oates. Upon reaching the Pole on 17 January 1912, he found that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had beaten him to it.
Scott’s party made slow progress, due to a combination of particularly severe weather, and their own determination to forge ahead laden with their rock samples. Evans died after a fall which resulted in a quick physical and mental breakdown. Oates lost a foot to frostbite and was suffering residual effects of an old war wound. Feeling he was holding the party back, he departed their shelter one morning, uttering the famous words, “I am just going outside. I may be some time.” He did not return.
The bodies of the remaining three members of Scott’s party were found in their camp on 12 November 1912, just twenty kilometres from a substantial depot of supplies. With them were their diaries detailing their journey and their demise. A large cairn made of ice was constructed over the men’s bodies, and topped with a cross made from skis. It was not until February of the following year that the rest of the world heard the news.