Add Your Piece of History… 17th July

• On this day in 1799.  Matthew Flinders first sights and names Red Cliff Point, now Redcliffe, in Queensland.  The city of Redcliffe is named for its red cliff faces.  The area was first recommended by Captain John Oxley as the site for a new convict settlement.  In 1823, he set out to explore the Moreton Bay area, and it was there that he came across the stranded timber cutter, Thomas Pamphlett, who together with his companion Finnegan has been living with the aborigines for 7 months, after being shipwrecked off Moreton Island.  Oxley and Settlement Commandant Lieutenant Miller, together with a crew and 29 convicts, sailed on the ‘Amity’ from Sydney and arrived at Redcliffe in September 1824 to found the new colony.  The settlement was established at Humpybong, but abandoned less than a year later when the main settlement was moved 30km away to the Brisbane River.

• On this day in 1453.  France defeated England at Castillon, France, which ended the 100 Years’ War.  As a result of the battle, the English lost all landholdings in France, except Calais.  The term, “Hundred Years’ War” is problematic as the fighting between the English and the French during the period of 1337 to 1453 more represents a series of conflicts than a prolonged war.

Please feel free to add your piece of history (something personal or general history).

This is the portrait of Matthew Flinders displayed on page 466 in The Life of Matthew Flinders by Ernest Scott. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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