Australian Explorers
Saturday, September 5, 1699. : Sea explorer William Dampier departs ‘New Holland’ after sailing along the western coastline for five days.
The first European to “discover” Australia was not Captain Cook. Numerous Dutch and Portuguese explorers had mapped sections of coastline of the “Great South Land” prior to Cook. Nor was he the first English sea captain to land on Australian soil. That honour went to William Dampier.
Dampier was born in 1652. As an experienced sea captain and pirate, he became the first Englishman to explore and map parts of New Holland and New Guinea. In 1688, he landed briefly at King Sound near Buccaneer Archipelago on the north-west coast of Australia. He was unimpressed by the dry, barren landscape, the lack of water and what he described as the “miserablest people in the world” – the native population.
Eleven years later, he was back, after the British Admiralty commissioned Dampier to chart the north-west coast, hoping to find a strategic use for ‘New Holland’. He arrived at Shark Bay in the west, and spent five days exploring north. Having failed to find any fresh water, Dampier departed Roebuck Bay in disgust on 5 September 1699.
Australian History
Sunday, September 5, 1880. : The first Salvation Army meeting in Australia is held in Adelaide.
The Salvation Army began on 2 July 1865 when William Booth preached the first of nine sermons in a tattered tent on an unused Quaker cemetery in London. Initially running under the name of the East London Christian Mission, Booth and his wife held meetings every evening and on Sundays, to offer repentance, Salvation and Christian ethics to the poorest and most needy, including alcoholics, criminals and prostitutes. Booth and his followers practised what they preached, performing self-sacrificing Christian and social work, such as opening “Food for the Millions” shops (soup kitchens), not caring if they were scoffed at or derided for their Christian ministry work. In 1878, the organisation became known as the Salvation Army. They adopted a uniform and adapted Christian words to popular tunes sung in the public bars.
The first Salvation Army meeting in Australia was conducted from the back of a greengrocer’s truck in Adelaide Botanic Park on 5 September 1880. It was initiated by Edward Saunders and John Gore, two men with no theological training, but who both had a heart for their fellow man’s physical and spiritual condition. Saunders and Gore had been converted by the Salvation Army in London. With the words “If there’s a man here who hasn’t had a square meal today, let him come home to tea with me”, the men began a ministry that was soon to expand throughout Australia.
Australian History
Monday, September 5, 1994. : Australia’s first political assassination occurs.
John Newman was born John Naumenko on 8 December 1946 to Austrian and Yugoslavian parents. He already had a strong history of involvement in the Australian Labor Party and the union movement by the time he opted to change his surname by deed poll to Newman in 1972. From 1970 to 1986, he was a State union organiser with the Federated Clerks Union, and he undertook post-graduate studies in industrial law at the University of Sydney, along with numerous Trade Union Training Authority education programs.
Newman first represented Fairfield Council in 1977, a position he retained until 1986. He was Deputy Mayor in 1985–86 and also served as Acting Mayor in 1986. A by-election in the seat of Cabramatta saw Newman elected to the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales early in February 1986. Here, in an electorate populated by a wide range of southeast Asians, and in which there were underlying racial tensions, Newman undertook a protracted campaign to fight Asian organised crime and corruption: a fight for which he would pay the ultimate price.
At around 9:30pm on 5 September 1994, Newman was shot twice in the driveway of his home. This was Australia’s first political murder.
It was four years before an arrest was made. In 2001, after three earlier trials, two of which were aborted and another which ended in a hung jury, former Fairfield City Councillor and local club owner, Phuong Ngo, who had a history of conflict with Newman, was convicted of the assassination.
World History
Saturday, September 5, 1885. : In the US, the first petrol pump, manufactured by Sylvanus F Bowser, is sold.
When automobiles were invented, the need became apparent for alternative fuel sources to power them. Coal gas, camphene and kerosene were inefficient fuels for the purpose, so petroleum became the fuel of choice. Early refiners could convert only a small percentage of their crude oil to petrol for cars. As automobiles became more common, there was increased need for higher quality in the fuels, to enhance the efficiency and power of engines. Once the refining system was improved, supply also became an issue. Whilst automobiles had not yet become available to the “man on the street”, petrol-driven engines were emerging as more common in industry.
The first petrol pump (called gasoline in the USA) was manufactured by Sylvanus F Bowser of Fort Wayne, Indiana, in his barn. It was delivered to the very first petrol-pump owner, Jake D Gumper, on 5 September 1885. The pump tank used marble valves and wooden plungers, and had a capacity of one barrel or 42 gallons of petrol.
World History
Friday, September 5, 1997. : Mother Teresa, famous for ministering to lepers, the homeless and the poor in the slums of Calcutta, dies.
Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on 27 August 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia. When she was just 17, she joined the Sisters of Our Lady of Lareto, a Catholic order that did charity work in India. She founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950, which was a new order devoted to helping the sick, disabled and poor, and continued to tirelessly minister to the world’s most needy people. The Missionaries of Charity now operates schools, hospitals, orphanages, and food centres in over 100 cities worldwide. Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, “for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitute a threat to peace”.
Mother Teresa died on 5 September 1997. She was given a full state funeral by the Indian Government, an honour normally given only to presidents and prime ministers. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in October 2003.