Australian History
Wednesday, September 26, 1855. : The first railway line in New South Wales is opened.
Up until the mid-1800s, the horse and carriage remained the major means of transporting goods and people long distances overland. Victoria was the first colony to build a railway line, which ran from Melbourne’s Flinders Street Station and Port Melbourne, then called Sandridge. The line was opened on 12 September 1854.
In 1849, the Sydney Railway Company started building the first railway track in New South Wales. It ran between Sydney and Parramatta, for a distance of 22 km. The construction suffered some setbacks, in particular financial difficulty, and was put on hold until taken over by the New South Wales colonial government. The line finally opened on 26 September 1855.
Australian History
Sunday, September 26, 1943. : Operation Jaywick, the secret Australian raid on Singapore Harbour, occurs.
During World War II, Australia was involved in numerous strategic operations in the Pacific arena, many of which are relatively unknown by most Australians. Operation Jaywick was one such operation, being a secret raid on Japanese shipping in Singapore Harbour.
Early in September 1943, a captured Japanese fishing vessel departed Exmouth Gulf in north-western Australia. This was the MV Krait, a wooden-hulled craft which was handed over to the Australian military when it reached Australia after it had been captured and used to evacuate over a thousand people from ships sunk along the Sumatran coast. The MV Krait carried eleven Australian and four British army and navy personnel, most of whom came from the Z Special Unit of the Special Operations Australia (SOA). Being a Japanese shipping vessel, the raiders were able to travel undetected through enemy territory in Lombok Strait and across the Java and South China seas. The crew enhanced the effect by covering their bodies with a dark dye.
Just over two weeks later, the Krait reached Pandjang Island, where six men from the raiding teams were offloaded, along with canoes and equipment. During the next week they paddled towards Singapore Harbour under cover of darkness. On 26 September 1943, they launched their raid from Subar Island, 11 kilometres from Singapore, attaching limpet mines to several Japanese vessels. When the mines exploded, seven Japanese ships were sunk or severely damaged. The men managed to escape undetected, rendezvousing a week later with the Krait 100 km away. The small vessel made its way back into Australian waters safely, returning to Exmouth in mid-October.
The Krait continued to be used by the Australian military throughout World War II. It is now located in the Australian Maritime Museum in Sydney.
World History
Friday, September 26, 0070. : Jerusalem falls to the Roman Emperor Vespasian.
Vespasian, also known as Titus Flavius Vespasianus, was a Roman Emperor who reigned from 69 AD until he died in 79 AD. For centuries, the Jews had revolted against Roman rule in their land, and the Romans became increasingly violent in their suppression of Jewish revolt. Appointed to oversee the war in judea in 66, Vespasian proved himself a ruthless enemy.
The cruel Emperor Nero, known for both his persecution of Christians and his personal excesses, was overthrown in 68 and Vespasian was declared Emperor in 69. Departing for Rome, Vespasian left his eldest son Titus in charge of operations. Titus led his troops in the final assault and siege of Jerusalem. On 26 September 70 AD, Jerusalem finally fell, marking the end of the Jewish revolt against Rome. By then, the Jewish temple, the very heart of Jewish worship and culture, had been completely destroyed, and many citizens taken captive.
World History
Wednesday, September 26, 1449. : Two gigantic reptiles, described as monsters or dragons, are seen fighting on the banks of the River Stour in England.
Whether dragons were real or only a myth has been the subject of many a debate over the years. However, according to a medieval chronicle, on 26 September 1449 two fire-breathing monsters were seen battling each other near the village of Little Cornard, on the banks of the River Stour along the English county borders of Suffolk and Essex. One dragon was from Killingdown Hill near Suffolk, and the other from Ballingdon Hill in Essex. There were many witnesses as the two beasts met in what later came to be known as Sharpfight Meadow, for an hour-long battle. One of the creatures was black, and its opponent reddish and spotted. The black one yielded first, returning to its lair.
Also in Suffolk at the time was a lake known as Bures Lake. Witnesses described a huge monster with a crested head and enormous tail, which was seen to devour a shepherd and numerous sheep. Similar creatures (or the same creature) have been described in Suffolk folklore.
World History
Sunday, September 26, 1824. : The tomato, previously regarded with suspicion, is proven to be harmless when Colonel Robert Johnson eats a basketful of tomatoes in public and without ill effect.
The tomato was not always the popular vegetable (or fruit) that it is today. During the 17th century, it was known as the stinking golden apple or wolf peach in northern Europe and the United States, due to the belief that it was poisonous. Its Latin genus name ‘Lycopersicon’ means wolf peach; ‘peach’ for its tempting, luscious appearance, and ‘wolf’ for its supposedly poisonous qualities. It was believed that eating a raw tomato would cause immediate death.
The legend goes that Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson, a gentleman farmer and horticulturalist of Salem, New Jersey, brought the humble tomato to the United States in 1808, but the food was initially regarded with much suspicion. On 26 September 1820, Johnson announced he would eat a bushel of tomatoes in public. A crowd of 2000 people gathered to watch what they believed would be a public suicide. However, the reputation of the tomato was changed when Johnson ate the whole basketful without ill effect.
World History
Wednesday, September 26, 1973. : Supersonic aircraft, the Concorde, makes its first trans-Atlantic crossing in record time.
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.
Concorde had a cruise speed of Mach 2.04, twice the speed of sound, and a cruise altitude of 17,700 metres (60,000 feet). Initially, it ran regular services between Britain and France, but on 26 September 1973 the Concorde made its first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic. The flight between Washington DC to Orly airport in Paris was made in three hours 32 minutes, halving the previous flight time of any trans-Atlantic aircraft crossing.
World History
Monday, September 26, 1983. : A potential nuclear war is averted when a Russian army colonel refuses to believe his computerised early warning systems.
Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov, born in 1939, is a relatively unknown hero who averted nuclear war on 26 September 1983 (local time). The computerised early warning systems he was monitoring indicated that the United States had launched a missile against the USSR. Petrov, however, refused to believe the systems, reasoning that if the USA really wished to attack the USSR, it would launch many missiles rather than the single one indicated. Further, the reliability of the warning system had been proven to be doubtful in previous instances. Shortly after the first alarm, the system warned that another four missiles had been launched. Still Petrov believed a computer error had occurred. Knowing that he could be condemning his own countrymen to death, but also knowing that a false report could result in an unprecedented Soviet attack on the US, he chose to declare the situation as a false alarm.
Due to the Cold War, Petrov’s actions were not made public until 1998. He was reprimanded by his own country for defying military protocol, reassigned, and ultimately retired from his military career. Whilst he was never awarded recognition within his own country for averting a major catastrophe, on 21 May 2004 the Association of World Citizens, based in the USA, awarded Colonel Petrov its World Citizen trophy and $1,000 US dollars in recognition of his actions.
World History
Thursday, September 26, 1991. : Eight people commence a two-year stay inside Biosphere 2, a sealed, manmade experimental environment in Arizona, USA.
Biosphere 2 is an artificial, sealed ecological system in Oracle, Arizona. It was built in the late 1980s, to test whether people could live and study in a closed, isolated environment, whilst carrying out scientific experiments. Biosphere 2 was designed as an airtight replica of Earth’s environment, and included a 3,406,000 litre ocean, rainforest, a desert, agricultural areas and a human habitat. It was called Biosphere 2, because Earth itself is considered the first biosphere. The experiment was intended to explore the possible use of closed biospheres in space colonisation.
The first mission involved four men and four women living in the Biosphere for two years. It commenced on 26 September 1991, and the eight people emerged on 26 September 1993. The experiment lost some credibility when oxygen and other necessities were required to be provided. The second mission, which extended for six months in 1994, was fraught with problems and the project met with considerable disdain among the scientific community. Biosphere 2 is now open as a hands-on, interactive science centre.
World History
Friday, September 26, 2008. : Actor and humanitarian Paul Newman dies.
Paul Newman was a humble actor who became a Hollywood legend, yet never lost his integrity and generous spirit. Born in the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights, Ohio on 26 January 1925, Paul Leonard Newman was the son of a Jewish father and a Slovak Catholic mother. He made his acting debut at 7 years old, as a court jester in a school production of Robin Hood. He graduated from Shaker Heights High School in 1943 and attended Ohio University in Athens for a short time.
Newman served in the Navy in World War II in the Pacific and returned to university, hoping to train to be a pilot. the discovery that he was colour blind prevented him from pursuing that career, but he remained in the military field, undergoing training as a radioman and gunner. He served on the USS Bunker Hill during the battle for Okinawa in 1945, and narrowly averted death when his pilot developed an infection shortly before the main attack and could not fly: all others in his troop who flew that day died.
Newman’s theatre career began on Broadway, and he successfully transitioned to films. In all, he appeared in around 60 films, including classics such as The Long, Hot Summer (1958), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), The Hustler (1961), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973).
Newman was a generous humanitarian: when he founded Newman’s Own, a line of food products, in 1982, he established a policy that all proceeds from the sale of Newman’s Own products, after taxes, would be donated to charity. By 2006, this had resulted in over $200 million in donations. In June 1999 Newman donated $250,000 to the relief of Kosovo refugees. He founded the “Hole in the Wall” camps which provide camps for children suffering chronic or fatal illnesses. Many other groups representing the socially disadvantaged have benefited from Newman’s philanthropy through the years.
Paul Newman died on 26 September 2008, at the age of 83, after a long battle with lung cancer. His daughters led the tributes to him, citing his “selfless humility and generosity” as a legacy that would continue, thanks to his humanitarian work.