A little ray of sunshine from Australia

[jackspratt]

A legend!

Does M&M stacking have potential as an Olympic (summer or winter) sport do you reckon?

But seriously, the GBR has become a bit of a nonsense.

[Barney]

ON THIS DAY – 21st February

1802 – Matthew Flinders' tragic encounter with dangerous waters led to the naming of Cape Catastrophe, South Australia, after the ship's cutter was destroyed and the lives of 9 crew members were lost.

1802 – John Murray sighted Corio Bay, site of present-day Geelong in Victoria.

1863 – James Cockle was appointed the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland.

1865 – A Royal Commission into the origin and nature of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (a cattle disease) presented its third and final report to the Parliament of Victoria.

1907 – The Bondi Surf Bather's Lifesaving Club was formed at Bondi Beach, Sydney, the first of its kind in the world.

1918 – WWI - Australians chase Turkish troop out of Jericho, Dutch Palestine.

1980 – A Beech 200 light aircraft crashed at Sydney Airport, killing 13.

1992 – A State of Emergency was declared in Maryborough and Gympie due to major flooding.

2017 – A plane crashed into shopping centre in Essendon, Melbourne, Australia killing the five people on board.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Barney]

ON THIS DAY – 22nd February

1791 – The first land grant in Australia was made to ex-convict James Ruse.

1879 – Norman Lindsay, one of Australia's best-known artists, was born.

1928 – First solo flight from England to Australia landed in Darwin, 15 ½ days after take-off, piloted by Australian aviator Bert Hinkler.

1955 – Hunter Valley floods: Enormous flooding of the Hunter River and adjacent areas of the Murray–Darling basin causes loss of life and set many rainfall and streamflow records.

1958 – Australian swimmer Jon Konrads set 6 world records in 2 days.

1965 – Royal Australian Mint opened in Canberra by Prince Philip and began producing the first Australian-made decimal coins.

1992 – After trialling Daylight Saving in Queensland for a total of three years, a referendum was held, with 54.5% of Queenslanders voting against daylight saving. Regional and rural areas strongly opposed daylight saving, while those in the metropolitan south-east vote in favour of it.

1992 – A state of emergency was declared in the whole of Noosa Shire, Queensland due to major flooding – the worst since 1968.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Barney]

ON THIS DAY – 23rd February

1849 – A public meeting in Perth called for introduction of convicts to the help the colony's depressed economy. The first consignment of convicts arrived in the following June.

1908 – Sir William "Billy" McMahon, Australian lawyer and politician, who served as the 20th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1971 to 1972 as leader of the Liberal Party, was born. He was a government minister for over 21 years, the longest continuous service in Australian history.

1931 – Dame Nellie Melba, Australian soprano and actress died. Born Helen Porter Mitchell, Dame Nellie Melba, became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early 20th century. She was the first Australian to achieve international recognition as a classical musician. She took the pseudonym "Melba" from Melbourne, her home town.

1987 – The first mobile phone call in Australia was made.

1998 – After generator breakdowns at four major coal-fired power stations, rolling blackouts hit the city of Brisbane and much of South-East Queensland.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Barney]

ON THIS DAY – 24th February

1802 – Flinders became the first European to officially sight Port Lincoln in South Australia.

1875 – The SS Gothenburg hit the Great Barrier Reef and sunk off the Australian east coast, killing 102 people, including a number of high profile civil servants and dignitaries.

1888 – Louisville, Kentucky, became the first government in the United States to adopt Australian ballot (i.e. secret ballot on standard voting forms).

1905 – Fanny Cochrane Smith, who it is thought may have become the last surviving full-blooded Tasmanian aboriginal in 1876, died.

1992 – Queen Elizabeth II visited Australia. Prime Minister Paul Keating broke royal protocol by placing his hand on the Queen's back, causing an outraged British tabloid newspaper to dub him the "Lizard of Oz".

1995 – Cyclone Bobby hit Western Australia near Onslow causing over 400 mm (15 inches) of rain in the town.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Earnest]

Ah yes, my favourite thread.

ON THIS DAY – 24th February

1992 – Queen Elizabeth II visited Australia. Prime Minister Paul Keating broke royal protocol by placing his hand on the Queen's back, causing an outraged British tabloid newspaper to dub him the "Lizard of Oz".

Bad form not to mention creepy, it's like touching up someone's Nanna.

[Barney]

ON THIS DAY – 25th February

1798 – John Hunter named Bass Strait in honour of George Bass.

1834 – English newspaper 'The Leeds Mercury' reported that a secret expedition to Australia had located a large settlement of descendants of Dutch survivors from shipwrecks of the late 1600s.

1890 – While in Australia, Robert Louis Stevenson began writing his famous defence of Father Damien, missionary in Molokai, Hawaii.

1961 – Last electric tram service in Sydney.

2001 – Cricketer Don Bradman died in Adelaide aged 92.

2004 – Qantas launched its low cost domestic airline Jetstar.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Barney]

ON THIS DAY – 26th February

1606 – Dutch explorer Willem Jansz became the first recorded European to land on Australia's shores.

1872 – The brig Maria was wrecked when it struck a reef near Cardwell off the coast of Queensland, killing 39 people.

1942 – WWII - A floatplane from Japanese submarine I-25 made a reconnaissance flight over Melbourne and Port Phillip Bay.

1968 – Boxer Lionel Rose became world bantamweight champion after beating Japan's Fighting Harada in Tokyo.

1974 – Mungo Man uncovered at Lake Mungo.

1983 – Value of a rugby league try was increased to four points for the start of the 1983 season. A number of other rule changes were also made, including a "hand over" after six tackles instead of a scrum.

1997 – Arnott's Biscuits restocked Queensland supermarket shelves with its biscuits three weeks after it was rocked by an extortion threat. The threat cost the company at least $10 million.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Barney]

ON THIS DAY – 28th February

1790 – John Irving became the first convict to be emancipated in New South Wales.

1793 – d'Entrecasteaux expedition left Tasmania towards the Friendly Islands, continuing search for La Pérouse.

1851 – Formation of an Anti-Transportation League from anti-transportation organisations in Victoria and Tasmania.

1890 – The steamship RMS Quetta sunk off Cape York Peninsula, killing 133.

1940 – The Australian 7th Division was formed.

1973 – The federal voting age was lowered from 21 to 18. The state of New South Wales had already enacted such a change in 1970.

ON THIS DAY – 29th February

1796 – Macarthur resigns as Inspector of the Public Works and is replaced by Richard Atkins.

1904 – Women's suffrage is granted in Tasmania.

1964 – Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser sets a new world record in the 100 metres freestyle in North Sydney.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Barney]

ON THIS DAY – 1st March

1901 – Following federation naval and military forces of the States were transferred to Commonwealth control.

1901 – The Postmaster-General's Department in Australia was put into effect.

1914 – The first military aircraft in Australia were flown.

1919 – The Potts, believed to be the world's longest running cartoon strip drawn by the same artist, was first published in The Sun News-Pictorial.

1937 – Bernard O'Reilly located the wreckage of an Airlines of Australia Stinson airliner, VH-UHH City of Brisbane, in the McPherson Range in southern Queensland. Two survivors were rescued, five others did not survive.

1942 – WWII - The cruiser HMAS Perth was torpedoed by Japanese destroyers in the Battle of Sunda Strait, sinking with the loss of 354 crew and three civilians, 109 died later in prison camps.

1951 – The Bank of Australasia merged with the Union Bank of Australia to form the ANZ Bank.

1962 – The final section of the Cahill Expressway opened in Sydney.

1965 – Echuca, Victoria, was gazetted as a city.

1965 – The Amateur Swimming Union of Australia stunned the nation with its decision that Olympic champion and 1964 Australian of the Year Dawn Fraser would be banned from all amateur competition for ten years. The decision followed an inquiry into Fraser's alleged misbehaviour during the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

1967 – The Royal Australian Navy replaced the British White Ensign flag on all its ships with the Australian White Ensign.

1967 – The Duke of Edinburgh visited Australia.

1975 – Television was broadcast in colour for the first time in Australia.

1997 – The Australian Rugby Super League competition commenced with 2 matches, with the Brisbane Broncos defeating the Auckland Warriors 14–2 in Brisbane & the North Queensland Cowboys defeating the Adelaide Rams 24–16 in Townsville.

Pictured:
Early mail coaches, from PMGs [Postmaster General's] department, Brisbane, five-horse team, all-white [location in Qld possibly Charleville] (as captioned by National Archives of Australia) – Top
The Potts Annual, (The Sun News Pictorial 1958) – Bottom Right
STW9 Perth Colour Test Pattern – 2nd November 1974 (NSFA) – Bottom Left



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[pepesgrill]

1942 a floatplane launched from a jap submarine
i-25

a bit of ww2 trivia . i think this sub even launched
attacks against u.s. state of oregon

[jackspratt]

Oh dear!

Prime Minister Scott Morrison tests positive to COVID-19

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-01/ ... /100873840

[Whistler]

Hearts and prayers

[Barney]

ON THIS DAY – 2nd March

1860 – Stuart departed Chambers Creek on the first of his expeditions to cross from the south to the northern coast.

1868 – Louise “Louie” Blanche Riggall, artist and WWI Red Cross nurse was born.

1869 – After several days hiding in bushland near Bunbury, Western Australia, Irish political prisoner John Boyle O'Reilly escaped to America on the whaler Gazelle.

1898 – Australia completed a 4-1 cricket series annihilation of England.

1949 – A cyclone crossed the Central Queensland coast impacting Gladstone and Rockhampton.

1959 – Construction officially began on Stage 1 of the Sydney Opera House with Premier JJ Cahill laying a plaque.

1976 – Cyclone Colin hit the south Queensland coast, forcing the suspension of shipping services into Brisbane and causing winds of up to 93 km an hour.

1981 – Good Morning Australia premiered on Network Ten, marking the return of breakfast television to Australian television screens.

1987 – The First ARIA Awards were held in Sydney to recognise excellence and innovation in all genres of Australian music.

1994 – A bomb exploded in the Adelaide headquarters of the National Crime Authority killing one man, Detective-Sergeant Geoff Bowen, and severely wounding another.

Pictured:
"Louie B Riggall, VAD, who gave her life for the sick and wounded at Rouen”. – Top Left
Photograph of imprisoned O'Reilly, 1866 (Wiki) – Top Right
The Opera House shells under construction, 1965. Image: Max Dupain (SLNSW) – Bottom



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Barney]

ON THIS DAY – 3rd March

1799 – Hawkesbury River floods, killing one.

1818 – Throsby, Hume and Meehan discovered an overland route from Sydney to Jervis Bay.

1837 – The city of Melbourne, Australia, was named.

1841 – The Albion Mills and Inn, at Darling Harbour, Sydney, were destroyed by fire.

1854 – The first telegraph line in the southern hemisphere began operating in Victoria.

1869 – William Lanne, also known as "individual Billy", the last "full-blooded" Tasmanian Aboriginal man died.

1885 – The New South Wales Contingent, consisting of an infantry battalion and an artillery battalion, left Sydney to fight in the Sudan Campaign.

1911 – The city of Palmerston in the Northern Territory was renamed Darwin in honour of Charles Darwin.

1942 – WWII - 88 Allied civilians and military personnel were killed and 22 aircraft were lost when Japanese Zero fighters strafed Broome.

1943 – WWII - Battle of the Bismarck Sea: Australian and American air forces devastated the Japanese navy convoy.

1967 – The Duke of Edinburgh laid a foundation stone for a new Western Stand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which was completed in 1968 (known as the Ponsford Stand after 1986).

1986 – The Australia Act 1986 came into effect at 1600 AEST, granting Australia legal independence from the United Kingdom by removing the power of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to legislate with effect in Australia and its states and territories.

Pictured:
Hamilton Hume 1873 (Wiki) – Top Right
Settlement of Melbourne c. 1837 [Robert Russell 1808-1900] (SLV) – Top Left
Albion Mills March 3rd 1841, George Roberts (SLNSW) – Bottom Left
William Lanne, sometimes known as individual Billy (Wiki) – Bottom Right




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[pepesgrill]

that flooding looks bad our thoughts with
the australians reeling from latest climate disaster

[Barney]

ON THIS DAY – 4th March

1804 – The Castle Hill convict rebellion, also known as the Battle of Vinegar Hill, took place: 200 convicts, mostly Irish, rebel. Fifty-one convicts are punished, and nine hanged.

1825 – A penal settlement was established on Maria Island, Tasmania
.
1831 – James Stirling commissioned as Lieutenant-Governor of Western Australia.

1899 – Cyclone Mahina struck Bathurst Bay in Queensland. Approximately 400 persons were killed, and the pearling fleet was sunk. A storm surge of up to 14 metres swept 5 kilometres inland.

1931 – Holden's Motor Body Builders was purchased by General Motors, and renamed General Motors–Holden's Ltd.

1932 – Brigadier-General Iven Giffard Mackay was appointed as the Commonwealth Film Appeals Censor, replacing the Censorship Appeals Board.

1943 – Damien Parer won Australia's first Academy Award (Best Documentary Feature) for the film Kokoda Front Line.

1962 – NBN Television opened in Newcastle, New South Wales as NBN-3.

1988 – First game of rugby league played at the newly built Sydney Football Stadium. St. George defeat Eastern Suburbs 24-14.

1989 – First ACT (Australian Capital Territory) elections were held.

Pictured:
Convict uprising at Castle Hill, 1804 [Artist unknown] (Wiki) - Top
James Stirling (Wiki) – Bottom Left
Studio portrait of Damien Parer, official photographer with the Department of Information Film Unit (wearing an Australian war correspondent's uniform) taken during his last leave period before he resigned from the Department of Information. Parer served in the Middle East, Greece and the South-West Pacific from 1940 until his resignation in August 1943 to join the staff of Paramount Pictures Film Services. He was killed on Peleliu Island on 17 September 1944 while filming front line operations with the US Marine Corps. (AWM) – Bottom Right



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Barney]

ON THIS DAY – 5th March

1803 – George Howe published the first issue of the weekly ‘The Sydney Gazette and The New South Wales Advertiser’, Australia's first newspaper.

1824 – The first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Francis Forbes arrived in Sydney.

1839 – George Grey became the first European to sight the Gascoyne River, the longest river in Western Australia.

1868 – Lucy Osburn and five other nurses trained by Florence Nightingale arrived in Sydney; Osburn is later regarded as the founder of nursing in Australia.

1869 – The New South Wales government declared that Saint Patrick's Day, St. Andrew's Day and St George's Day were no longer public holidays.

1915 – Mary Gonzaga Barry, an Irish Catholic religious sister whose life work led to the establishment of the Loreto Sister schools across Australia, died.

1988 – Newcastle Knights played their first game in the NSWRL at Newcastle International Sports Centre (later EnergyAustralia Stadium). Parramatta won 28–4. On the same day, the Gold Coast Giants (later Seagulls & finally Chargers) play their first game in the same competition at Seagulls Stadium. Canterbury won 21–10.

Pictured:
Front page of "The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser" Saturday 5th March 1803. (TROVE) – Top Left
Sir George Edward Grey 1861 (Wiki) – Top Right
Mary Gonzaga Barry. (Archives Loreto) – Bottom



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Barney]

ON THIS DAY – 6th March

1788 – Lieutenant Philip Gidley individual was sent from the Port Jackson colony to settle Norfolk Island with a party of fifteen convicts and seven men.

1812 – Two Wesleyan Methodist classes were established in Sydney by Thomas Bowden and John Hosking—the beginning of Methodism in Australia.

1837 – The Theatre Royal in Hobart opened. It remains Australia's oldest working theatre.

1879 – The town of Cleve, South Australia was officially gazetted.

1916 – The Sydney Conservatorium of Music accepted it’s first students.

1984 – A bomb blast wrecked the home of Judge Richard Gee in the Sydney suburb of Belrose.

1988 – Brisbane Broncos played their first match, defeating defending premiers Manly 44–10 at Lang Park.

1999 – A world record crowd of 104,583 attend the first rugby league matches held at Stadium Australia. The Newcastle Knights defeated the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 41–10 & the Parramatta Eels defeated the St George Illawarra Dragons 20–10 in what is also the joint venture team's first match.

2012 – 9,000 residents were evacuated from Wagga Wagga, Australia, as the Murrimbidgee River threatened to overflow.

Pictured:
Governor Kingundated (SLNSW) – Bottom Left
The Theatre Royal Hotel in the late 1800s before it was demolished to be replaced by the current building (TAHO) – Top
Conservatorium of Music August 1916 (SLNSW) – Bottom Right



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[GT93]

ON THIS DAY – 2nd March

...
1869 – After several days hiding in bushland near Bunbury, Western Australia, Irish political prisoner John Boyle O'Reilly escaped to America on the whaler Gazelle.

...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That reminds me of Tony Mokbel's escape: