Australian History
Friday, September 11, 1863. : Bushranger Captain Thunderbolt escapes from the supposedly escape-proof Cockatoo Island gaol.
Bushranger Captain Thunderbolt was born Frederick Ward at Wilberforce near Windsor, NSW, in 1836. As an excellent horseman, his specialty was horse stealing. For this, he was sentenced in 1856 to ten years on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour. On 1 July 1860, Ward was released on a ticket-of-leave to work on a farm at Mudgee. While he was on ticket-of-leave, he returned to horse-stealing, and was again sentenced to Cockatoo Island. Conditions in the gaol were harsh, and he frequently endured solitary confinement. On the night of 11 September 1863, he and another inmate escaped from the supposedly escape-proof prison by swimming to the mainland.
After his escape, Ward embarked on a life of bushranging, under the name of Captain Thunderbolt. Much of his bushranging was done around the small NSW country town of Uralla. A rock originally known as “Split Rock” became known as “Thunderbolt’s Rock”. After a six-year reign as a “gentleman bushranger”, Thunderbolt was shot dead by Constable Alexander Walker in May 1870.
Australian History
Friday, September 11, 1914. : Australian troops land in New Guinea in the first significant Australian action of World War I.
The assassination by Serbian Nationals of His Imperial and Royal Highness Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in June 1914 caused a chain reaction, as countries throughout the world allied themselves with either Serbia or Austria-Hungary. Great Britain’s formal declaration of war on Germany on 4 August 1914 also brought its dominions and colonies into the war.
Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and South Africa were among the first to offer military and financial assistance. The day after Britain’s declaration of war, Australian Prime Minister Joseph Cook pledged support, offering Britain 20 000 troops, and stating that “…when the Empire is at war, so also is Australia.” Britain was quick to accept this offer, with the Secretary of State for the Colonies sending a telegram stating “His Majesty’s Government gratefully accept offer of your Ministers to send to this Country force of 20,000 men and would be glad if it could be despatched as soon as possible”. A recruitment drive to form the first Australian forces was underway within days, using anti-German propaganda posters and recruitment songs.
Australia’s first significant action in World War I occurred when the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (ANMEF) landed in New Guinea. This volunteer expeditionary force of 1500 men departed Australia on the troop ship ‘Berrima’ in early September. It was the first force ever to leave the country on an Australian ship, under the command of Australian officers. The ANMEF landed in Rabaul at dawn on 11 September 1914. German New Guinea was taken without opposition six days later, and the neighbouring islands of the Bismarck Archipelago the following month.
Australian History
Monday, September 11, 1978. : The coat of arms of the Northern Territory is granted by Queen Elizabeth II.
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, bordered by the states of Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia. From 1825 to 1863, the Northern Territory was part of New South Wales. In 1863, control of the Northern Territory was handed to South Australia. This was as a result of the successful 1862 expedition of John McDouall Stuart to find an overland route through the desert from Adelaide to the north. This route was subsequently utilised for the building of the Overland Telegraph line, which provided an important communications link between Australia and the rest of the world. On 1 January 1911, the Northern Territory was separated from South Australia and transferred to Commonwealth control.
The coat of arms of the Northern Territory was granted by HM The Queen of Australia, Elizabeth II, on 11 September 1978. It is the only state or territory in Australia to incorporate all of the floral, animal and bird emblems, as well as reflecting the Territory’s indigenous heritage. The coat of arms features a Wedge tailed Eagle holding an Aboriginal Tjurunga stone; two Red Kangaroos, one holding a Chiragra Spider Conch and the other holding a True Heart Cockle; between them, the kangaroos are also holding a shield decorated with aboriginal motifs; a grassy sandy mound with two Sturt’s Desert Roses; and a female aboriginal figure.
World History
Friday, September 11, 1609. : Henry Hudson discovers the Hudson River and Manhattan Island, where New York City now stands.
Henry Hudson was an English explorer of the 1500s. He was the first European to sail up what is now known as the Hudson River, New York. In 1607 he was hired by the English Muscovy Company to lead an expedition from England to discover a northeastern sea passage to Asia and the spice islands of the South Pacific. Making his way as far as Greenland and Spitzbergen, he found his route was blocked by ice. He attempted a second voyage a year later, sailing farther to the east along the northern coast of Norway, but was again blocked by ice.
In 1609, he was hired by another company, the Dutch East India Company, to attempt yet another voyage to find a northeastern passage. After being thwarted by ice again at Spitzbergen, Hudson sailed in the opposite direction, to North America. He explored along the coast of Nova Scotia and down to what is now New York Harbor, sailing up the Hudson River on 11 September 1609 as far north as the site where Albany now stands.
Because Hudson had been hired by the Dutch East India Company, the Dutch later claimed the area and established a colony, naming it New Amsterdam. Peter Minuit of the Dutch West Indies Company bought the island in 1626 from the Manhattan Indians for $24 worth of merchandise. However, it was renamed New York when the English took control in 1664.
World History
Tuesday, September 11, 2001. : The United States is hit by terrorist attacks, leaving thousands dead.
11 September 2001 will long be remembered as the day the Twin Towers fell. At 8:45am local time in New York City, American Airlines Flight 11 which had been hijacked 20 minutes earlier, crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Centre. At 9:03am, United Airlines Flight 175, which was hijacked within minutes of the first plane, was flown into the south tower. The impact of each plane and subsequent explosions killed hundreds immediately and trapped many more people on higher floors.
At 9:40am, a third hijacked airliner, American Airlines Flight 77, was flown into the side of the Pentagon in Washington, killing 64 passengers and 125 military personnel and civilians. A fourth hijacked aeroplane crashed into a field near Pittsburgh, killing the 45 on board after its suicide flight was thwarted by civilian heroes on board the plane. Its intended target remains unknown.
The south tower of the World Trade Centre collapsed an hour after being hit, and was followed shortly afterwards by the north tower, compounding the loss of life. 365 fire-fighters and police who were assisting with the evacuation were also killed in the collapse. Over three thousand people were killed in the terrorist attacks that day in September. The attacks were linked to al-Qaeda, the Islamic militant group headed by Osama Bin Laden. A sustained attack by British and American forces was carried out on numerous Afghanistan targets where Bin Laden was presumed to be hiding, and the regime in Afghanistan quickly fell. 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, on 2 May 2011.