Plenty of Nothing

First Flight in Australia

Harry Houdini made the first successful airplane flight in Australia on this date in 1910. Source.

Kanguroo (1816)

Source.

Miss Collins, 1924

W. B. McInnes' portrait of Gladys Neville Collins won the 1924 Archibald Prize. Source.

Julia Gillard

Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia, 2010-13. Source. Hear her.

American Bison

Teddy Roosevelt's Great White Fleet pulled into Sydney Harbour on this date in 1908, one hundred and ten years ago. It was probably the last moment in time when the USA could be represented by a bison, whose numbers were already down to a few hundred. Source.

Before and After Waxing

The King Edward VII Memorial, erected 1920 in Adelaide, Australia, got a cleaning recently. Compare these before and after views of one of Edward's three girlfriends, Peace, Justice, and South Australia. Source.

Mad Max: Beyond Hippodrome

Kongouro

David Attenborough has successfully prevented the export of two 18th-century paintings of zoological importance. George Stubbs' Kongouro From New Holland and Portrait of a Large Dog contain the first British depictions of a kangaroo and a dingo. The National Marine Museum rounded up a £1.5m donation to buy the canvasses and keep them out of the hands of an overseas buyer. Read about it in the Independent. What the Independent opts not to mention is that the overseas buyer was the National Gallery of Australia. Read about it in the Sydney Morning Herald. Goddamn English.

Fire Tornado!

Australian news report.

Asteroid Brisbane

Minor planet 5277 Brisbane is shown here against its namesake Brisbane, Queensland. (Brisbane Times.) The city of Brisbane is named after colonial administrator and astronomer SIr Thomas Brisbane, who was born near Largs, Scotland, a connection that recently drew Mark Rigby, curator of the Brisbane Planetarium, to Largs for an interview with the Wee Paper.