Australian Explorers
Sunday, October 7, 1798. : Sea explorers Flinders and Bass set out to prove that Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) is an island.
Matthew Flinders and George Bass were early sea explorers who charted sections of Australia’s coastline, adding valuable information to the current charts. In 1798, Bass explored along the southern coast of what would later become the colony of Victoria. His journeys led him to the belief that Van Diemen’s Land (later Tasmania) was separate from the mainland. Governor Hunter wished for this theory to be proven conclusively, so he commissioned Flinders and Bass to circumnavigate Van Diemen’s Land.
The two men set out at dawn on 7 October 1798. By January of the following year, they had completed their circumnavigation of the island. Governor Hunter subsequently named the stretch of water between the mainland and Van Diemen’s Land as “Bass’s Strait”, later to be known as Bass Strait.
Australian History
Saturday, October 7, 1854. : Scottish gold miner James Scobie dies, a catalyst to events that will eventually result in the Eureka Stockade.
James Scobie was an unassuming gold miner who came to Australia from Scotland to make his fortune on the Ballarat goldfields. After becoming involved in a fight at the Eureka Hotel, also known as Bentley’s Hotel, Scobie died on 7 October 1854.
An inquest into his death absolved the hotel owner, Bentley, and his staff of any wrongdoing. The miners, however, felt that justice had been thwarted, and held a meeting outside the hotel on October 17. Tempers flared, a riot ensued and the hotel was burnt to the ground. As a result of this, more troopers were sent from Melbourne, and miners were subjected to more frequent licence checks, and more frequent clashes between miners and troopers.
Another inquest into Scobie’s death was held on 18 November 1854, during which Bentley and two of his staff were found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to three years’ hard labour in the road-gangs. The general dissatisfaction generated by these events was a catalyst in the events leading up to the Eureka stockade of December 3.
World History
Friday, October 7, 1949. : East Germany is formed after Germany is split, following WWII.
Following Germany’s defeat in World War II, Germany was split into two separately controlled countries. West Germany, also known as the Federal Republic of Germany, was proclaimed on 23 May 1949, with Bonn as its capital. As a liberal parliamentary republic and part of NATO, the country maintained good relations with the Western Allies. East Germany, or the German Democratic Republic, was proclaimed in East Berlin on 7 October 1949. It adopted a socialist republic, and remained allied with the communist powers, being occupied by Soviet forces.
The Soviet powers began to dwindle in the late 1980s, and the Communist Party in East Germany began to lose its grip on power. On 18 March 1990, the first and only free elections in the history of East Germany were held, producing a government whose major mandate was to negotiate an end to itself and its state. The German “Einigungsvertrag” (Unification Treaty) was signed on 31 August 1990 by representatives of West Germany and East Germany. German reunification took place on 3 October 1990, when the areas of the former East Germany ceased to exist, having been incorporated into The Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany
World History
Wednesday, October 7, 1959. : The far side of the moon is photographed for the first time.
The far side of the moon is sometimes called the “dark side” of the moon. There is no true “dark side” of the Moon as all parts of the Moon get sunlight half the time, except for some deep craters near its poles. Up until 1959, however, the far side of the moon, which is always facing away from the Earth, was completely unknown.
The Russian probe, Luna 3, was launched on 3 October 1959. It was launched on a figure-8 trajectory bringing it to within 6,200 km of the Moon and around to the far side, which was illuminated by the sun at the time. The first photographs of the far side of the moon were taken on 7 October 1959. Although the pictures were indistinct and of poor resolution, they clearly showed features on the far side, including a mountainous region.
World History
Sunday, October 7, 2001. : The USA, assisted by Britain, commences a series of military strikes against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Following the terrorist attacks in the USA on 11 September 2001, in which over 3,000 people were killed, America acted quickly to determine who was responsible. The attacks were linked to al-Qaeda, the Islamic militant group headed by Osama Bin Laden.
Beginning on 7 October 2001, British and American forces carried out a sustained attack on a number of Afghanistan targets where Bin Laden was presumed to be hiding. Around 50 cruise missiles were launched from submarines in the Arabian Sea, whilst B2 Stealth bombers were also flown in. Within three months, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan fell, assisted by the Northern Alliance, an army of rebel Afghan factions. Almost a decade after the attacks, Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan by United States Navy SEALs of the US Naval Special Warfare Development Group.