Australian History
Thursday, October 24, 1889. : Sir Henry Parkes, ‘Father of Australian Federation’, makes his famous Tenterfield Oration.
Henry Parkes was born in Warwickshire, England, on 27 May 1815. A failed business venture prompted him to seek passage with his wife to Australia, and he arrived in Sydney in 1839. Moving up from a position of farmer’s labourer, to clerk, to managing his own business, a number of failed ventures indicated that he did not have good business acumen. He was first elected to the New South Wales Parliament in 1854, and was Premier of New South Wales several times between 1872 and 1891.
Parkes was a staunch supporter of the Australian culture and identity. As a politician, he is perhaps best remembered for his famous Tenterfield Oration, delivered on 24 October 1889, at the Tenterfield School of Arts. In this speech, he advocated the Federation of the six Australian colonies. Tenterfield was selected as the place to make his stand as it was part of New South Wales but a far distance from Sydney. This meant that the town was disadvantaged by the steep tariffs imposed on the transport of goods across the border to Queensland and the closer trade centre of Brisbane. His promotion of Federation was based on the fact that it would enable free trade across the borders.
World History
Wednesday, October 24, 1945. : The United Nations is founded.
The term “United Nations” was first used officially during World War II, on 1 January 1942, when 26 states joined in the Declaration by the “United Nations”, pledging themselves to continue their joint war effort and not to seek peace as separate entities. During the course of the war, it was recognised that there was a need for a new organisation to replace the largely ineffectual League of Nations. This was stated in the Moscow Declaration, issued by China, Great Britain, the United States, and the USSR in 1943.
As the war drew to an end, USA President Franklin D Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin initiated a conference to take place in April 1945. Its purpose was to plan the charter of an organisation to promote peace, security, and economic development. Nations which had agreed to the original 1942 declaration, declaring war on Germany or Japan by 1 March 1945, were called to the founding conference held in San Francisco, to draft the UN charter. The conference was attended by representatives of fifty nations. The UN charter was signed on June 26 and ratified by the required number of states on 24 October 1945.
World History
Monday, October 24, 1960. : In the world’s worst space-related disaster, 126 people are killed when a rocket explodes on a Russian launch pad.
The Soviet space programme was initiated by the Soviet Union, or USSR, in the 1930s. In the ensuing years, it was responsible for pioneering major milestones in space exploration, such as the first satellite, the first animal in space, the first man to orbit the Earth and the first moon impact.
Unfortunately, it was also within the Soviet space programme that the world’s biggest apce-related disaster to date occurred. On 24 October 1960, 126 people were killed in an explosion on the launch pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome. During work on a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system, a rocket exploded, burning or completely vaporising a number of people, while others died of noxious fumes or burn-related injuries later. The accident was apparently caused when the testing crew accidentally initiated the second stage of the rocket, thus igniting the first stage.
Under Nikita Kruschev’s orders, total silence was imposed over the tragedy, with relatives being informed the victims had been killed in a plane crash. Information on the accident only became available after the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991.
World History
Friday, October 24, 2003. : Supersonic aircraft, the Concorde, completes its last commercial passenger flight.
The Concorde was a form of specially designed supersonic air transport. The concept of supersonic aircraft was conceived in the 1950s. During the 1960s, Britain’s Bristol Aeroplane Company and France’s Sud Aviation were simultaneously working on designs, but the anticipated costs of the project were too great to be developed by an individual company: hence, France and Britain decided to work cooperatively. An international treaty between Britain and France was negotiated for the development of the project. The first test flight took place from Toulouse, France, on 2 March 1969, and the first supersonic flight occurred on October 1 of that year.
In July 2000, a Concorde jet on its way from France to New York crashed just a couple of minutes after a left-hand engine caught fire during take-off. All 109 people on board were killed, and another 4 on the ground. Following the accident, all Concorde aircraft were taken out of service until the cause of the crash could be determined. The report from France’s Accident Investigation Bureau (BEA) found that a 40cm piece of metal had been lost by another plane that took off minutes earlier, puncturing one of the Concorde’s tyres. Debris was subsequently flung into the fuel tank, starting the fire that downed the aircraft. The Concorde aircraft underwent improvements and modifications, but after the accident continued to be dogged by problems.
Due to continuing problems and the loss of profitability, all Concorde aircraft were decommissioned by October 2003. The final transatlantic flight of the supersonic aircraft landed at London’s Heathrow airport, at 1605 BST on 24 October 2003. A huge auction of Concorde memorabilia was held in Paris in November 2003.