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KF5JRV > TODAY 26.01.19 13:30l 52 Lines 2667 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 30075_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Jan 26
Path: IW8PGT<IR2UBX<SR1BSZ<LU4ECL<CT2KCK<KE0GB<KF5JRV
Sent: 190126/1227Z 30075@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.18
On January 26, 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip guides a fleet of 11 British
ships carrying convicts to the colony of New South Wales, effectively
founding Australia. After overcoming a period of hardship, the fledgling
colony began to celebrate the anniversary of this date with great
fanfare.
Australia, once known as New South Wales, was originally planned as a
penal colony. In October 1786, the British government appointed Arthur
Phillip captain of the HMS Sirius, and commissioned him to establish an
agricultural work camp there for British convicts. With little idea of
what he could expect from the mysterious and distant land, Phillip had
great difficulty assembling the fleet that was to make the journey. His
requests for more experienced farmers to assist the penal colony were
repeatedly denied, and he was both poorly funded and outfitted.
Nonetheless, accompanied by a small contingent of Marines and other
officers, Phillip led his 1,000-strong party, of whom more than 700 were
convicts, around Africa to the eastern side of Australia. In all, the
voyage lasted eight months, claiming the deaths of some 30 men.
The first years of settlement were nearly disastrous. Cursed with poor
soil, an unfamiliar climate and workers who were ignorant of farming,
Phillip had great difficulty keeping the men alive. The colony was on
the verge of outright starvation for several years, and the marines sent
to keep order were not up to the task. Phillip, who proved to be a tough
but fair-minded leader, persevered by appointing convicts to positions
of responsibility and oversight. Floggings and hangings were
commonplace, but so was egalitarianism. As Phillip said before leaving
England: “In a new country there will be no slavery and hence no
slaves.ö
Though Phillip returned to England in 1792, the colony became prosperous
by the turn of the 19th century. Feeling a new sense of patriotism, the
men began to rally around January 26 as their founding day. Historian
Manning Clarke noted that in 1808 the men observed the “anniversary of
the foundation of the colonyö with “drinking and merriment.ö
Finally, in 1818, January 26 became an official holiday, marking the
30th anniversary of British settlement in Australia. And, as Australia
became a sovereign nation, it became the national holiday known as
Australia Day. Today, Australia Day serves both as a day of celebration
for the founding of the white British settlement, and as a day of
mourning for the Aborigines who were slowly dispossessed of their land
as white colonization spread across the continent.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
email: KF5JRV@ICLOUD.COM
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