Australian History

Thursday, September 23, 1965. :   Lawyer and judge Roma Mitchell becomes the first female judge in Australia.

Roma Flinders Mitchell was born in Adelaide on 2 October 1913. She was educated at St Aloysius Convent College, Adelaide, and held ambitions from a young age to be a barrister. She excelled at Adelaide University, and her involvement in student politics led to her being a pioneer for women’s rights when she was denied entrance to the Law Students’ Society because she was a woman. This event led to the formation of the Women Law Students’ Society.

Roma Mitchell was admitted to the Bar in 1934, and became a partner in the legal firm of Nelligan, Angas Parsons and Mitchell in 1935. She continued to excel in her career, an example of which was in 1940 when she was instrumental in assisting the drafting of the Guardianship of Infants Act, passed later that year by the South Australian Parliament.

On 23 September 1965, Mitchell was made a Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia, the first Australian woman to achieve this position. Pioneering the Australian women’s rights movement, Mitchell was also the first woman in Australia to be a Queen’s Counsel (1962) and a chancellor of an Australian university, being Chancellor of the University of Adelaide from 1983-1990. As Governor of South Australia from 1991-1996, she also became the first woman Governor of an Australian state. In 1982 Roma Mitchell became a Dame Commander of the British Empire.

Australian History

Thursday, September 23, 1993. :   Sydney is announced as the venue for the 2000 Olympic Games.

Sydney launched its bid to host the 2000 Olympic Games in 1991. The main contender against Sydney was Beijing, and voting was close right up until the final decision. On 23 September 1993, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Juan Antonio Samaranch, announced from Monte Carlo that Sydney, Australia, would be the host for the Olympic Games in the year 2000.

Sydney won for its emphasis on safety for athletes and the fact that it was more environmentally conscious. Further, China was known for its human rights abuses, and while some IOC members hoped that a Beijing win might signal a movement towards adopting democratic values in China, in the end Australia’s security and political stability won out.

Australian History

Wednesday, September 23, 2009. :   A huge dust storm blankets parts of eastern Australia.

On 23 September 2009, residents in Sydney discovered that, overnight, a huge dust storm had descended on their city. Deep red and orange dust-laden skies obscured major landmarks in the city as 16,000 tonnes of soil per hour travelled in from the west and spread through most of the state, borne by high winds of up to 100 kph. Flights were delayed, and ferry services on the Harbour were cancelled. Absenteeism increased dramatically, with an extra 27,000 people staying away from work, whilst construction unions shut down building sites after workers experienced eye irritations and respiratory problems. The NSW economy was estimated to be affected to tens of millions of dollars. Originating in South Australia and the Northern Territory, the dust storm reduced visibility to just 10 metres at Broken Hill in the state’s far southwest.

Within a few hours, the winds turned, pushing the dust north to Queensland. Flights which had been diverted from Sydney were delayed at Brisbane airport. Although not as thick and intense as it was in Sydney, the dust created widespread respiratory problems, with medical centres reporting increased numbers of asthma and related breathing difficulties. The dust gradually made its way northwards up the coast.

The high winds were caused by a cold front coming in from the west, meeting the heatwave conditions which had preceded the dust storm. Deepening El Nino conditions contributed to the dust storm.

World History

September 23. :   Augustus Caesar, first emperor of the Roman Empire, is born.

Augustus Caesar was born Gaius Octavius Thurinus on 23 September 63 BC. He was adopted by his great uncle Julius Caesar, and became known as Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. He later became the first emperor of the Roman Empire, ruling from 27 BC until he died in AD 14.

Prior to coming to power in 27 BC, Augustus Caesar was commonly known by the name Octavian. Following the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, Octavian was a member of the Second Triumvirate, along with Marc Antony and Lepidus. This ended after Antony became involved with Cleopatra, Pharaoh of Egypt, and sided against Rome. In 32 BC, Octavian declared war on Antony and Cleopatra. The senate deprived Antony of his powers, and the Romans supported Octavian. When Octavian’s forces defeated Antony and Cleopatra in the naval battle at Actium, they fled to Egypt, where Marc Antony committed suicide. Once Antony was out of the way and Lepidus was forced to retire, Octavian became Augustus Caesar. Octavian’s leadership through this tumultuous time made him a perfect contender for the position left vacant after Julius Caesar’s death.

Octavian worked to restructure the powers of the Roman Republic until he was in a position to establish the new framework of the Roman Empire. He gained unprecedented control over the Roman Senate by his position of authority and leadership within the armed forces. He had the respect of the people and loyalty among his powerful companions, and none in the Senate dared oppose him. His rule as Emperor began an era of relative peace known as the Pax Romana, or Roman peace, which continued for two centuries.

World History

Wednesday, September 23, 1846. :   The planet Neptune is discovered.

The planet Neptune, named after the Roman god of the sea, is the eighth planet from the sun and the fourth largest in diameter. It is the smallest and outermost of the gas giants. The planet’s blue appearance is caused by 2,000 km/h winds of hydrogen, helium, and methane. It has eight known moons and five unconfirmed moons.

Neptune was first observed by the astronomer Galileo on 27 December 1612, but Galileo believed it to be a star. The unusual orbit of Uranus caused astronomers to speculate on the influence of an eighth planet, but it was not until 23 September 1846, that German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle discovered Neptune.

World History

Thursday, September 23, 1869. :   ‘Typhoid Mary’, the woman responsible for major outbreaks of typhoid in the New York City area, is born.

‘Typhoid Mary’ is the nickname of Mary Mallon, the woman who became responsible for a number of outbreaks of typhoid in New York in the early twentieth century. Mary Mallon was born on 23 September 1869, in Cookstown, Ireland. As a teenager she emigrated to America, where she found work as a cook. Mallon was hired by New York banker Charles Henry Warren to be the family’s cook during a summer holiday on Long Island. Shortly afterwards, one of Warren’s daughters contracted typhoid fever. Next, Mrs Warren and two maids became ill, followed by the gardener and another of Warren’s daughters. The owners of the holiday property hired investigators to find the cause.

Investigator George Soper, a civil engineer with experience in typhoid fever outbreaks, found that from 1900 to 1907, Mallon had worked at seven jobs in which 22 people had become ill with typhoid fever. The case that Mallon was a carrier was difficult to prove, as Mallon herself was perfectly healthy, showing no signs whatsoever of the disease. However, after being forcibly taken to the Willard Parker Hospital in New York, Mallon was shown to be harbouring Typhoid bacilli. She was then quarantined for several years, only being released on the condition that she no longer work as a cook.

Unable to find work that paid as well as a cook’s wages, Typhoid Mary returned to cooking five years later at the Sloane Maternity Hospital in Manhattan, under the name of Mrs Brown. 25 people became ill with typhoid fever, and two of them died. Mallon was tracked down, and quarantined for another 23 years. Mallon eventually died on 11 November 1938.

World History

Sunday, September 23, 1973. :   Tens of thousands of small toads rain down in France.

Stories abound of creatures falling from the sky: frogs, shells, fish and even starfish have been known to fall in showers occurring inland, many kilometres from the coast. Usually this is the result of a violent storm causing updraughts, which take creatures from shallower waters into the atmosphere, dumping them elsewhere later.

A similar occurrence took place in Brignoles, a town in southern France, on 23 September 1973. On this day, tens of thousands of small toads fell from the sky during what was described as a “freak storm”. At the same time in another French village, Chalon-sur-Sanone, toads continued to rain down for two days.

World History

Tuesday, September 23, 2008. :   A large lump of ‘something unpleasant’ and unidentifiable washes up on a New Zealand beach.

In September 2008, newspapers reported that large lumps of ‘something unpleasant’ had washed up on several New Zealand beaches. The first was at Breaker Bay, on New Zealand’s North Island, on 20 September. The 500 kg foul-smelling, greasy lump was about the size and shape of a 44-gallon drum. The regularity of the lump’s shape suggested that it could be a type of cheese such as brie, or just cooking lard. On 23 September 2008, another two lumps were found washed up, this time at Waikanae Beach. Both lumps were discovered by people walking their dogs.

Rumours that it could be ambergris had locals rushing to try to cut off chunks to sell. Ambergris is a solid, waxy discharge from the intestinal tract of some species of whales. It is so valuable in making perfumes that it can sell for thousands of dollars per kilogram. Because locals were keen to cart parts of the object away in lumps, Wellington City council workers were spared the task of finding a way to remove the first smelly, unsightly object from the beach.

The incidents were investigated by the Environmental Protection Department, and the objects were later identified as lumps of tallow or lard.

World History

Tuesday, September 23, 2008. :   A gunman kills 11 at a Finnish school, the day after being interviewed and released by police.

Matti Juhani Saari was a 22-year-old student at a trade school in Finland. On 22 September 2008, he posted a video of himself firing a handgun at a shooting range on the internet. The YouTube video contained the chilling words, “You will die next”. The video drew the attention of police who, after questioning Saari, saw no need to terminate the temporary licence he held for a .22-calibre gun. Police released him.

The following day, 23 September 2008, Saari began a shooting rampage at the trade school at the town of Kauhajoki, 360km from Helsinki, in southwest Finland. The killing spree began at 11am and lasted for an hour and a half, during which time Saari killed 8 of his female classmates, one male, and a teacher before setting fire to the classroom where the class had been sitting a test. Finally, he turned the gun on himself.

Saari died later in hospital. Police stated that he left a note saying he had been planning such an attack since 2002, and that he hated the human race.