Today in History

World History

Monday, December 13, 1937. : Nanking, capital of China, falls to the brutal Japanese imperial forces.

Prior to World War II, Japan began a systematic invasion of Chinese territory, beginning with Manchuria in 1931. In the ensuing years, thousands of refugees fled Manchuria and settled in Nanking, or Nanjing, swelling the population of the city from 250,000 residents to over one million. In July 1937, Japan attacked China again, this time near Beijing. The Chinese government did not retreat as it had before, but declared war on Japan, marking the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, which soon became another facet of World War II.

To break the spirit of Chinese resistance, Japanese General Matsui Iwane ordered that the city of Nanking be destroyed. On November 25, Japanese forces began attacking Nanking in earnest. Then, on 13 December 1937, the Japanese Imperial Army marched into Nanking and commenced a massacre that continued for six weeks. In what became known as the "Rape of Nanking," the Japanese butchered an estimated 150,000 male "war prisoners," massacred an additional 50,000 male civilians, and raped between 20,000 and 80,000 women and girls of all ages, often mutilating, disembowelling or killing them in the process. Some figures suggest that 300,000 innocent Chinese died during the carnage.

It is estimated that during the Japanese occupation of China, at least fifteen million Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed. The city of Nanking still sombrely commemorates the atrocities committed by the Japanese army upon its citizens. After World War II, Matsui was found guilty of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, and executed.
 

13th December

1847 Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (under the pseudonym Ellis Bell) was published, as was Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte (under the pseudonym Acton Bell).

1904 The first electric train came into service on London's Metropolitan Railway.

1909 The British Polar explorer Ernest Shackleton was knighted by King Edward VII.

1976 The first oil was brought to Britain, by tanker, from the North Sea Brent Oil Field, located 116 miles north-east of Lerwick in the Shetland Islands.
 
1920
The League of Nations establishes the International Court of Justice in The Hague
1961
The Beatles sign a formal agreement to have Brain Epstein as their manager
1975
"Saturday Night Live" was ordered by NBC to use a 5 second delay because Richard Pryor was hosting the show
2003
U.S. Forces in 'Operation Red Dawn' captured former Pres/Dictator Saddam Hussein
 

Australian History

Monday, December 14, 1840. : Governor Gipps appoints the first Government Printer.

In the first two decades of British settlement in Australia, all government notices were printed on a portable wooden and iron printing press that had come to New South Wales on the First Fleet in 1788. There were no experienced printers among the convicts until the convict transport ship "The Royal Admiral" brought George Howe to Australia's shores. Howe was born in the West Indies but was well-educated in classical European literature, and he had extensive printing experience. His original death sentence for shoplifting in England was commuted to transportation to New South Wales. His skills in printing were immediately put to use for the publication of government documents. In 1802 Howe issued the first book printed in Australia, "New South Wales General Standing Orders", which listed Government and General Orders issued between 1791 and 1802. He was also permitted to commence Australia's first newspaper, which he printed from a shed at the back of Government House.

As the colony grew, so did the need for an official government printer. In November 1840, Governor Gipps announced plans to establish a printing office which would be "under the exclusive orders and control of the Government". The Government Printing Office was established, and John Kitchen was appointed as Government Printer on 14 December 1840. Kitchen’s staff included two free men as assistant printers, while another twenty convict men and boys became production staff.

Over the next decades, the Government Printing Office was responsible for printing official government documents, including parliamentary debates (Hansard), as well as postage stamps and railway tickets. Its services also included bookbinding, Photo-lithographic and lithographic and Photo-mechanical printing. The Government Printing Office remained in operation until it was finslly abolished in July 1989.

New Zealand History

Saturday, December 14, 1991. : Aoraki/Mt Cook, New Zealand, permanently loses 10m from its height.

Mt Cook, also known as Aoraki, is the highest mountain in New Zealand. The name Aoraki means "Cloud Piercer" in the Ngāi Tahu dialect of the Māori language. Situated on the South Island, Aoraki/Mt Cook is a popular destination for tourists and mountain-climbers. The mountain lies within the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park which was formally declared in 1953. Together with Westland National Park, it is one of the United Nations World Heritage Parks. Aoraki/Mt Cook lies adjacent to the Tasman Glacier in the east and the hooker Glacier in the west.

Abel Tasman is believed to be the first European known to see Aoraki/Mt Cook, when he formally discovered New Zealand in December 1642. The name Mount Cook was later assigned by Captain John Lort Stokes in honour of Captain James Cook, who was the first European to circumnavigate New Zealand in 1770. Ironically, Captain Cook did not sight the mountain during his journey. Its name was officially changed from Mt Cook to Aoraki/Mt Cook in 1998 to incorporate its historic Māori name, Aoraki.

The elevation of Aoraki/Mt Cook is 3,754 metres. The mountain permanently lost ten metres from its height on 14 December 1991 when 10 million cubic metres of rock and ice fell off the northern peak.
 
World History

Sunday, December 14, 1287. : The Zuider Zee sea wall in the Netherlands collapses, resulting in 50,000 deaths.

Zuider Zee was a former shallow inlet of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands, extending about 100km inland and 50 kilometres across at its widest point. Its overall depth varied from 4 to 5 metres, and its coastline measured about 300 kilometres. Zuider Zee, originally named Lake Flevo, lacked a navigable passage to the sea until a massive flood in the thirteenth century joined it to the North Sea. During a storm on 14 December 1287, the Zuider Zee seawalls collapsed, killing around 50,000 people. The resultant flood of seawater opened the way for the growth of the city of Amsterdam. Originally an insignificant fishing village, Amsterdam grew into a thriving centre for sea-going traffic.


Thursday, December 14, 1911. : Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen becomes the first European to reach the South Pole.

Roald Amundsen was born on 16 July 1872, near Oslo, Norway. At fifteen, he intended to study medicine but, inspired by Fridtjof Nansen's crossing of Greenland in 1888, altered his career intentions to eventually become one of the most successful polar explorers. He planned to be the first to the North Pole, but having been beaten by Frederick Cook and Robert Peary, he then altered his plans to make for the South Pole. He set out for Antarctica in 1910, and reached the Ross Ice Shelf on 14 January 1911 at a point known as the Bay of Whales. From here, on 10 February 1911, Amundsen scouted south to establish depots along the way. During the next two months, he and his party established three depots for storing their extensive provisions. They had their last glimpse of the sun for four months on 22 April 1911.

After maintaining their base at the Bay of Whales during the winter months, on 20 October 1911, Amundsen and four others departed for the South Pole. The remaining three in his expedition party went east to visit King Edward VII Land. The southern party consisted of five men, four sledges, fifty-two dogs and provisions for four months. The expedition reached the South Pole on 14 December 1911, a month before the famed Robert Scott reached it.

Tuesday, December 14, 1926. : Mystery writer Agatha Christie reappears eleven days after being reported missing, with no memory of where she has been.

British crime writer Agatha Christie was born Mary Clarissa Miller on 15 September 1890. She became the world's best known mystery writer, selling over a billion copies of her mystery novels in English, and another billion in 45 foreign languages, as of 2003. She also published over eighty novels and stageplays, mainly whodunnits and locked room mysteries, many of these featuring one of her main series characters, Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple.

On the evening of Friday, 3 December 1926, Christie disappeared from her home near a small town in Berkshire, England. After her car was found abandoned several kilometres away with her belongings scattered around inside, there was a great deal of speculation about her fate. Theories ranged from it being a publicity stunt, to suicide, to murder. On 14 December 1926, Christie was found staying under an assumed name at a health spa in Harrogate, where she claimed to have suffered amnesia due to a nervous breakdown, following her mother's death and her husband's open infidelity. To this day, opinions remain divided over whether this was the truth, or the amnesia story was a publicity stunt.

Tuesday, December 14, 2004. : The Millau Viaduct, the world's tallest vehicular bridge, is opened.

The Millau Viaduct is a cable-stayed road bridge that crosses the valley of the River Tarn near Millau in southern France. It consists of a 2,460 metre long eight-span steel roadway supported by seven concrete piers. It is the tallest vehicular bridge in the world; the summit of one of its piers stands at 341 metres, which is marginally higher than the Eiffel Tower. This makes it nearly twice as tall as the previous tallest road bridge in Europe, the Europabrücke in Austria.

Designed by British master-architect Lord Foster, together with French bridge engineer Michel Virlogeux, construction on the Millau Viaduct began on 10 October 2001. The bridge was formally opened on 14 December 2004 and opened to traffic on 16 December 2004.

Milau.jpg

Born on this day

Monday, December 14, 1503. : Physician, philosopher and seer, Nostradamus, is born.

Michel de Nostredame, more commonly known as Nostradamus, was born on 14 December 1503, although some reports say he was born one week later. He was a well-educated man, studying mathematics, philosophy, astrology and medicine.

Using his skills in astrology, Nostradamus wrote a series of books, consisting of "quatrains", which were purported to be prophecies about the future. Attention was attracted when some of his prophecies seemed to come true. However, academic studies have concluded that the apparent associations made between events and Nostradamus's quatrains are essentially the result of misinterpretations or even deliberate mistranslations of his words. With enough manipulation, the words of his quatrains can be made to coincide tenuously with major events of the world. Nonetheless, through the years, the writings of Nostradamus have attracted a huge following of people who believe he had supernatural foresight into the future.

Nostradamus died on 2 July 1566. Originally buried in the local Franciscan chapel, he was later re-interred in the Collégiale St-Laurent at the French Revolution, where his tomb remains to this day.
 
Dec 14th
1751
The Theresan Academy founded in Austria became the world's 1st miltiary academy
1959
"Time Out' by Dave Brubeck Quartet became the 1st jazz album to sell a million copies.It peaked at # 2 on Billboard albums chart
2016
Univ of Toronto scientists presented findings of the world's oldest water, 2 billion yrs old from a mine in Canada
 
Australian History

Saturday, December 15, 1810. :Governor Lachlan Macquarie introduces a building code into the New South Wales colony.

Lachlan Macquarie was born on 31 January 1762 on the Isle of Mull in the Hebrides islands of Scotland. He joined the army at age 14 and gained experience in North America, India and Egypt. In 1808, he was appointed Governor of the New South Wales colony, a position he held from 1810 to 1821. With his military training and vision for organisation and discipline, Macquarie was an ideal candidate to restore order to the colony, following the Rum Rebellion against deposed Governor William Bligh.

On 15 December 1810, Macquarie introduced the first building code into the colony. The code required that all buildings were to be constructed of timber or brick, covered with a shingle roof, and include a chimney. Whilst Governor, Macquarie also ordered the construction of roads, bridges, wharves, churches and public buildings. Following an inspection of the sprawling, ramshackle settlement of Hobart Town in Van Diemen's Land, now Tasmania, Macquarie ordered government surveyor John Meehan to survey a regular street layout: this layout still forms the current centre of the city of Hobart.

Monday, December 15, 2014. : Sydney, Australia, is gripped by a siege that lasts almost 17 hours and leaves three dead.

Martin Place in the Sydney CBD is a popular plaza for both workers and visitors. It incorporates a range of commercial and retail businesses, as well as an amphitheatre utilised for corporate and community events, and is usually a bustling thoroughfare. On the morning of 15 December 2014, this peaceful and previously safe venue became the scene of a terrifying siege which lasted into the early hours of the following day.

At around 9:45am, 50 year old Iranian cleric Man Haron Monis, who had been granted political asylum in Australia, entered the Lindt Chocolat Café in Martin Place. All people inside were taken hostage. After some were seen with their arms in the air, the CBD went into lockdown. Workers in surrounding buildings were ordered to evacuate, while a 150m exclusion zone was established around the cafe with specialist police outside the shop. During the course of the day, five hostages managed to escape, but at that stage it was not known how many remained inside. Several of the hostages were seen being made to hold a black flag with Arabic writing against a window, in a move which caused the world to fear it was an Islamic terrorist attack. The flag contained the Muslim testimony of faith. The gunman ordered his hostages to deliver his list of demands, but at the request of police, newspapers declined to publish these demands. The demands were later revealed to be the provision of an Islamic State flag, for the media to describe it an as Islamic State attack upon Australia, and a conversation with the Prime Minister. The demands were denied as experienced negotiators recognised they could lead to public execution of one or more hostages.

It transpired that Monis was out on bail for numerous violent offences, including being an accessory to the murder of his ex-wife, and had been accused of sending offensive letters to the families of deceased Australian soldiers. Although he forced his hostages to wave an Islamic flag used by terrorist organisations, he acted alone and Muslim leaders in Australia condemned his actions. The siege came to an end when armed police stormed the building about 2:00am the following morning after hearing shouting and shots from inside. Two hostages were killed, Lindt cafe manager Tori Johnson, 34, who tried to wrestle the firearm from the gunman, and Sydney lawyer Katrina Dawson, 38, who shielded her pregnant friend, while several others were injured. The gunman also died.
 
World History

Friday, December 15, 1961. : Adolf Eichmann, 'Chief Executioner of the Third Reich', is sentenced to death for his war crimes.

Adolf Eichmann was a member of the Austrian Nazi party in World War II. After his promotion to the Gestapo's Jewish section, he was essentially responsible for the extermination of millions of Jews during the war. He is often referred to as the 'Chief Executioner' of the Third Reich.

Eichmann escaped from a prison camp after US troops captured him at the close of the war. Wanting to avoid having to face the Nuremberg International War Crimes Tribunal, Eichmann fled to Argentina which was safely harbouring a number of Nazi war criminals. After his location was tipped off to authorities, agents from Israel's intelligence service, the Mossad, were deployed to Argentina, where they captured Eichmann.

Eichmann's trial in front of an Israeli court in Jerusalem started on 11 April 1961. He faced fifteen criminal charges, including crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people and war crimes. As part of Israeli criminal procedure, his trial was presided over by three judges instead of a jury, all of which were refugees from the Nazi regime in Germany. Eichmann was protected by a bulletproof glass booth and guarded by two men whose families had not suffered directly at the hands of the Nazis. Eichmann was convicted on all counts and sentenced to death on 15 December 1961. He was hanged a few minutes after midnight on 1 June 1962 at Ramla prison, the only civil execution ever carried out in Israel.

Friday, December 15, 2000. :The infamous Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine is permanently shut down.

Chernobyl is a city in northern Ukraine, near the border with Belarus. It is located 14.5 kilometres south by south-east of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which is notorious for the Chernobyl accident of 26 April 1986. Regarded as the worst accident in the history of nuclear power, clouds of radioactive particles were released, and the severely damaged containment vessel started leaking radioactive matter. 31 people died, 28 of them from acute radiation exposure. Between 100,000 and 200,000 people were evacuated from the city and other affected areas, but because there was no containment building, a plume of radioactive fallout drifted over parts of the western Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, UK, and the eastern United States.

The incident began with a steam explosion that resulted in a fire, a series of additional explosions, and the subsequent nuclear meltdown. Blame for the accident has been attributed to a combination of error by the power plant operators, and flaws in the reactor design, specifically the control rods. Health officials predicted that in the next 70 years there would be a 2% increase in cancer rates in much of the population which was exposed to the radioactive contamination released from the reactor. Another 10 people have already died of cancer as a result of the accident.

Following the 1986 accident, individual reactors at Chernobyl were gradually shut down. A fire caused one to be shut down in 1991, while another was deactivated in 1996. On 15 December 2000, the final nuclear reactor was taken offline, completing the permanent shut down of Chernobyl.

Chernobyl remains inhabited by a small number of residents who chose to return to their homes after the accident, but most of the evacuated population now lives in specially constructed towns.

Saturday, December 15, 2001. : The Leaning Tower of Pisa is reopened after extensive restoration work to correct too much lean.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is the bell tower, or campanile, of the cathedral in Pisa's Campo dei Miracoli (field of Miracles). The tower took nearly 200 years to complete, being finished in 1372. Shortly after its construction began, it started to list to one side. The tower was seriously in danger of toppling completely by 1964, when the Italian government sought aid and advice in preserving its famous icon. Following decades of consultation and preparatory efforts, the tower was closed to the public in January 1990, remaining closed until December 2001 while corrective reconstruction and stabilisation work was implemented. The excessive lean of the tower was corrected by removing 38 cubic metres of soil from underneath the raised end: it is expected to remain stable for another 300 years. The Tower reopened for the first time in almost twelve years on 15 December 2001.
 
Australian Explorers

Thursday, December 16, 1824. :Hume and Hovell mistakenly arrive at Corio Bay, instead of Westernport Bay.

Hamilton Hume was an Australian-born settler with excellent bush skills. He was interested in exploring south of the known Sydney area in order to open up new areas of land, but could not gain Government support for his proposed venture. William Hovell was an English former ship's captain with little bush experience, keen to assist Hume's expedition financially, and accompany him. Hume and Hovell commenced their expedition on 3 October 1824. Although the two men argued for most of their journey, and even for many years after their return, the expedition was successful in many ways. Hume and Hovell were the first to discover the "Hume River", though it was later renamed by Sturt as the Murray River. They were the first white men to see the Australian Alps. Much good grazing and pasture land was also found.

There was one major mistake, however. Hovell, as navigator, managed to incorrectly calulate their position when they thought they had reached Westernport on the southern coast. They were actually at Corio Bay within Port Phillip, where the city of Geelong now stands. They reached this point on 16 December 1824. As a result of their reports of excellent farmland when they returned to Sydney, a party was sent to settle the Westernport area in 1826, only to find poor water and soil quality. The Port Philip settlement was abandoned, and not resumed for another ten years. Nonetheless, Hume and Hovell's expedition was still valuable for opening up vast tracts of fertile land.

Tuesday, December 16, 1845. : Thomas Mitchell departs Orange, New South Wales, in search of a great river flowing to the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Major Thomas Mitchell was born in Craigend, Scotland, in 1792. He came to Australia after serving in the Army during the Napoleonic Wars, and took up the position of Surveyor-General of New South Wales. He undertook four separate expeditions into the NSW interior.

Mitchell departed on his fourth and final expedition on 16 December 1845, in search of a great river that he believed must flow from southern Queensland to the Gulf of Carpentaria. He left from Orange in central New South Wales, and headed into what is now western Queensland. Mitchell discovered and named the Balonne, Culgoa, Barcoo and Belyando rivers, which mostly flowed south-west into the Darling. Although this area was not as rich as the land he had found in Victoria on his third expedition, it would prove to be excellent grazing country in the future.

Sunday, December 16, 1860. : Burke makes the fateful decision to push on to the Gulf from Cooper Creek, despite waterless country and searing summer heat.

Robert O'Hara Burke and William Wills led the expedition that was intended to bring fame and prestige to Victoria: being the first to cross Australia from south to north and back again. They set out on Monday, 20 August 1860, leaving from Royal Park, Melbourne, and farewelled by around 15,000 people. The exploration party was very well equipped, and the cost of the expedition almost 5,000 pounds.

Because of the size of the exploration party, it was split at Menindee so that Burke could push ahead to the Gulf of Carpentaria with a smaller party. The smaller group went on ahead to establish the depot which would serve to offer the necessary provisions for when the men returned from the Gulf. On November 20, Burke and Wills first reached Cooper Creek. From here, they made several shorter trips to the north, but were forced back each time by waterless country and extreme temperatures. On 16 December 1860, Burke decided to push on ahead to the Gulf, regardless of the risks. He took with him Wills, Charles Grey and John King.

The expedition to the Gulf took longer than Burke anticipated: upon his return to Cooper Creek, he found that the relief party had left just seven hours earlier, less than the amount of time it had taken to bury Gray, who had died on the return journey. Through poor judgement, lack of observation and a series of miscommunications, Burke and Wills never met up with the relief party. They perished on the banks of Cooper Creek. King alone survived to lead the rescue party to the remains of Burke and Wills, and the failure of one of the most elaborately planned expeditions in Australia's history.
 
World History

Tuesday, December 16, 1631. : Mount Vesuvius erupts, destroying six villages and killing up to 4,000 people.

Mount Vesuvius is the only active volcano on the European mainland. It is located on the coast of the Bay of Naples, about nine kilometres east of Naples. Mt Vesuvius gained notoriety when, on August 24 AD 79, the city of Pompeii and the neighbouring city of Herculaneum were buried under a pyroclastic flow, a cloud of superheated gas, ash, and rock erupting from the volcano.

Mount Vesuvius continued to erupt dozens of times through the years, though not with the same destructive force. Its most devastating eruption since AD 79 occurred on 16 December 1631, when six villages were buried under lava flows and torrents of boiling water spewed from the volcano. Between three thousand and four thousand people were killed in this eruption.

This event signalled a new phase of regular, destructive eruptions. Since 1631, Vesuvius has erupted explosively another 22 times, with constant rumblings in between. There have been no major eruptions since 1944, the longest recorded period of inactivity in almost 500 years.

Tuesday, December 16, 1997. : 700 people, mostly children, are hospitalised following the broadcast of a cartoon which triggers 'Nintendo epilepsy'.

On 16 December 1997, over 700 people in Japan were rushed to hospital suffering similar, but unusual, symptoms of simultaneous seizures. The common factor was that they had all watched a cartoon segment on the "Pokemon" show, based on Nintendo's "Pocket Monsters" Game Boy game. The catalyst to their problem seemed to be a scene featuring an explosion, which was then followed by several seconds of flashing red light in the eyes of one of the show's characters. Viewers who were admitted to hospitals complained of convulsions, vomiting, and other symptoms.

Major video game manufacturers now admit that some games can trigger seizures or "seizure-like symptoms" in some video game players. Such seizures are usually triggered by repetitive flashing lights, combined with the presentation of certain geometric patterns within the games.


Born on this day

Sunday, December 16, 1770. : The great composer, Ludwig van Beethoven, is born.

The true date of Beethoven's birth is not known, but it is commonly regarded that he was born on 16 December 1770. He was baptised on 17 December 1770, and it was common practice for infants of his time to be baptised the day after they were born. Born in Bonn, Germany, Beethoven's talent was recognised when he was very young, but only began to develop fully after he moved to Vienna in 1792 and studied under Joseph Haydn. This marked his "Early" composing career, when he tended to write music in the style of his predecessors, Haydn and Mozart. His first and second symphonies, the first six string quartets, the first two piano concertos, and the first twenty piano sonatas, including the Pathétique and Moonlight, were written in this period.

Beethoven's "Middle" period of composing began shortly after he was beset with deafness. His music of this period tended towards large-scale works expressing heroism and struggle, and included six symphonies, commencing with the "Eroica", and including the rich and penetrating Fifth Symphony. Other works include the last three piano concertos and his only violin concerto, five string quartets (Nos. 7 – 11), many piano sonatas, including the Waldstein and Appassionata, and his only opera, Fidelio.

The "Late" period of Beethoven's career encompassed the final eleven years of his life, and his compositions reflected his personal expression in their depth and intensity. Among the works of this period are the Ninth Symphony, the "Choral", the Missa Solemnis, the last six string quartets and the last five piano sonatas. Beethoven died on 26 March 1827, but his legacy lives on in his brilliant, expressive compositions.
 
16th December

1784 The birth in Llanfihangel-y-pennant, near Dolgellau, Wales of Mary Jones. At the age of 15 she walked twenty-six miles barefoot across the countryside to buy a copy of the Welsh bible from Thomas Charles because she did not have one of her own. The walk inspired the founding of the British and Foreign Bible Society.

1775 The birth of Jane Austen, English novelist whose works of romantic fiction make her one of the most widely read writers in English literature.

1969 UK - MPs voted by a big majority for the permanent abolition of the death penalty for murder.

1991 Britain named Stella Rimington as the first woman to head its security service, MI5.
 
1631
Mount Vesuvius in Italy erupts burying villages with lava flow killing around 3,000 people
1903
The 1st U.S. theatre to employ women ushers was the Majestic Theatre in NYC
1937
Theodore Cole&Ralph Roe attempt to escape from federal prison,Alcatraz in San Fransicso Bay.They were never seen again
1971
Don McLean's 8 minute single'American Pie' is released It stayed #1 for 4 weeks on Billboard Charts
1972
NFL team,Miami Dolphins ends the season undefeated 14-0 They win Super Bowl by defeating Washington Redskins 14-7 to end at 17-0 No other NFL team has done this
 
Australian History

Tuesday, December 17, 1918. : Protestors march on Government House in the Northern Territory in an event later described as the Darwin Rebellion.

The city of Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory. Located on Australia's far north-western coastline, the settlement was founded when the first white settlers arrived at Darwin Harbour in 1869, several years after control of the Northern Territory was relinquished from New South Wales to South Australia. It was originally named Palmerston after the Prime Minister of Britain, Lord Palmerston, Henry Temple. When South Australia handed control of its northern half to the Commonwealth of Australia in 1911, the town adopted the name Darwin.

In the second decade of the twentieth century, Darwin was a turbulent place. The town was already suffering from the stresses brought about by World War I. When the Northern Territory was handed over to Commonwealth control, it left the people of the Northern Territory with diminished political representation, and Commonwealth interest in the far north was reduced with the advent of war. The introduction of the White Australia Policy after Federation had also led to unrest as it restricted access for migrants of non-European background, meaning that white Australians had to be given first preference in employment. This allowed unions much greater bargaining power, leading to more industrial disputes. When industrial action caused the partial closure of Vestey’s Meatworks, hundreds were left unemployed. In a further blow, nationalisation of Darwin’s hotels in 1915 led to a 30% increase in the price of beer by 1918.

The first Administrator, or Commonwealth representative, of the Northern Territory was Dr John Gilruth, a Scottish-born veterinary scientist. Although his official title was “His Excellency”, he quickly earned the ignominious name of “His Obstinacy”. Known for his autocratic, rather than diplomatic, style of administration, he was the subject of numerous complaints. Harold Nelson, organiser of the Darwin branch of the North Australian Workers’ Union, had enough influence to wage industrial war against Gilruth, who found himself without sufficient political support to enact effective policies for the region. He was forced to make unpopular decisions, which ultimately led to his demise as Administrator.

On 17 December 1918, a group led by Nelson began marching from Vestey’s Meatworks, garnering support along the way. By the time they reached Government House, where they confronted Gilruth to demand his resignation as Administrator, they had gained hundreds more – close to two-thirds of Darwin’s entire population. The protestors swarmed the grounds where they burnt an effigy of Gilruth in an event now referred to as the Darwin Rebellion. For the following two months, Gilruth and his family were protected by the Royal Navy, unable to leave the house. Gilruth was subsequently recalled by the Federal Government and, in the dead of night on 20 February 1919, he and his family were taken from Government House to board the HMAS Encounter, leaving Darwin permanently.

Although the Federal Government appointed a Royal Commission on Northern Territory Administration in November 1919, only minor recommendations in administration were made by the Commissioner. In 1922, the instigator of the protest, Harold Nelson, became the first representative for the Territory. However, the Darwin Rebellion did not achieve improved conditions for the militant unionists. Industrial action continued, and many workers left Darwin to find stable employment elsewhere.

Sunday, December 17, 1967. : Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt goes missing whilst swimming at Portsea, Victoria.

Harold Edward Holt was born in Sydney on 5 August 1908. After studying law at the University of Melbourne, he practised as a solicitor before being elected to Federal Parliament in 1936. After a thirty-year career in politics, he became Prime Minister following the retirement of Sir Robert Menzies in January 1966. Holt's time as Prime Minister was noted in particular for his gradual dismantling of the controversial White Australia policy which had restricted access for migrants of non-European background. Another major change under the Holt government were two significant changes in the Australian Constitution: power was given to the Federal Parliament to legislate on behalf of the Indigenous people, and the discriminatory clause under which Indigenous people were not counted in the census was removed.

On 17 December 1967, just one week before the Holt family were due to leave for their Christmas break at Portsea on the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne, Holt went swimming at Cheviot Beach at Point Nepean, not far from Portsea. After plunging into the notoriously rough surf, Holt disappeared. He was never seen again, and theories as to his fate have abounded since then. These theories include that he committed suicide, faked his own death in order to run away with his mistress, or that he was a Chinese spy. Despite an extensive search, neither his body nor any trace of his clothes was ever found. He was officially presumed dead on 19 December 1967.

Australian Explorers

Wednesday, December 17, 1845. : After a gruelling journey of 4827km, Leichhardt reaches Port Essington in Australia's north.

Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt was born on 23 October 1813, in Trebatsch, Prussia, which is now Brandenburg, Germany. Passionate about the natural sciences, he came to Australia in 1842, where he promptly undertook to explore the continent and gather botanical and geological specimens.

On 1 October 1844, Leichhardt commenced his first expedition, leaving from Jimbour Station on the Darling Downs to find a new route to the tiny military outpost of Port Essington in the north, not far from where Darwin now stands. Leichhardt was not a good bushman, lacked skills of organising his party, and often became lost. One man was killed by aborigines on the marathon expedition, and numerous horses and supplies were lost. Leichhardt reluctantly discarded his extensive collection of botanical specimens, as there were too many to carry. His journey of nearly 5,000km took fourteen months, which was so much longer than expected that a friend of Leichhardt's composed a funeral dirge for him, expecting to never see him again. Leichhardt arrived at Port Essington on 17 December 1845.
 
World History

Saturday, December 17, 1538. : King Henry VIII is excommunicated from the Catholic Church, paving the way for him to establish a new Christian denomination.

Henry VIII was born on 28 June 1491 at the Palace of Placentia at Greenwich, England. He was the third child of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. In 1494, he was created Duke of York. He was subsequently appointed Earl Marshal of England and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, though still a child. His elder brother Arthur and Catherine of Aragon married in 1501, but his brother died of an infection very soon afterwards. At the age of eleven, Henry, Duke of York, found himself heir-apparent to the Throne. Soon thereafter, he was created Prince of Wales.

Henry VIII ascended the throne in 1509 after the death of his father Henry VII. He married Catherine of Aragon about nine weeks after his accession, on 11 June 1509, at Greenwich. Queen Catherine suffered numerous failed pregnancies until she gave birth to a daughter in 1516. Henry sought to divorce Catherine over her inability to produce a male heir, but the Pope refused permission: Henry divorced her anyway. He pronounced himself Head of a new Protestant denomination known as the Church of England and took the power for himself. Henry VIII became notorious for his many wives, eventually marrying Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr.

On 17 December 1538, Henry VIII was formally excommunicated from the Roman Catholic church by Pope Paul III. There remains some dispute over who excommunicated the king and when, as other sources suggest he was excommunicated by Pope Clement VII in 1533, following his marriage to Anne Boleyn. Either way, the act of excommunication contributed to the Protestant Reformation.

Thursday, December 17, 1903. : The Wright brothers make the first sustained, controlled flights in a powered aircraft.

Wilbur Wright was born in 1867 and his brother Orville in 1871. The brothers are credited with being the first to build a flying machine, although debate continues as to whether they really were the first. It is true, however, that the Wrights were first to design and build a flying craft that could be controlled whilst in the air.

On 17 December 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright made the first sustained, controlled flights in a powered aircraft. Their flight lasted 12 seconds, and continued for 120 feet. Their achievement, however, went largely ignored by most American newspapers. The headlines in the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, the only newspaper to capture the story, read "Flying Machine Flies 3 Miles in Teeth of High Wind over Sand Hills and Waves at Kitty Hawk on Carolina Coast".


Born on this day

Thursday, December 17, 1778. : Humphry Davy, inventor of the Davy miner's safety lamp and discoverer of numerous elements, is born.

British chemist and inventor Humphry Davy was born at Penzance in Cornwall on 17 December 1778. Davy is known for discovering the alkali metals of potassium and sodium, and the alkaline earth metals of calcium, barium, magnesium, potassium and strontium.

The son of a talented wood-carver and educated at Penzance grammar school, Davy was interested in history, literature and science from a young age. He showed a remarkable memory and eagerness to read and learn. At age twenty, Davy joined the ‘Pneumatic Institution’ at Bristol, an institution established to investigate the medical powers of factitious airs and gases. Davy superintended the various experiments, discovering more about gases and elements. He also helped develop the field of electrolysis, i.e. the separation of chemically bonded elements and compounds by passing an electric current through them, using a battery to split up common compounds.

Of major importance was Davy's invention of the miner's safety lamp. Mining explosions were frequently caused by firedamp or methane which was often ignited by the open flames of the lamps used by coal miners. He pioneered a method of using an iron gauze to enclose a lamp's flame, and so prevent the methane burning inside the lamp from passing out to the general atmosphere. Whilst his design had flaws of its own, the concept was taken up by other inventors who perfected it. The Davy safety lamp greatly reduced the number of mining accidents.

Davy's experiments required the regular inhalation of various gases, a fact which took its toll on his health. He died in Switzerland in 1829, aged just 51. He is comemmorated by a statue in his hometown of Penzance.
 
Dec 17th
1843
Henry Cole founder of the Victoria/Albert Museum in England commissions the printing of the 1st Xmas card
1953
U.S. FCC approves RCA's black/white compatible color TV specifics
1965
Houston Superdome opens,the 1st event Judy Garland and the Supremes concert
2017
French sailor,Francois Gabart sets a around the world record for fastest solo naviagation in 42 days 16hrs
 
Australian History

Tuesday, December 18, 1894. : Women in South Australia unofficially gain the right to vote.

Women in South Australia gained the right to vote in 1894, and voted for the first time in the election of 1896. It is generally recognised that this right occurred with the passing of a Bill on 18 December 1894. However, a letter from the Attorney-General advising Governor Kintore that Royal Assent would be required to enact the Bill, is dated 21 December 1894. The Bill was enacted when Queen Victoria gave Royal Assent on 2 February 1895.

South Australia was the first colony in Australia and only the fourth place in the world where women gained the vote. The issue of women voting had been discussed since the 1860s, but gained momentum following the formation of the Women's Suffrage League at Gawler Place in 1888. Between 1885 and 1894, six Bills were introduced into Parliament but not passed. The final, successful Bill was passed in 1894, but initially included a clause preventing women from becoming members of Parliament. Ironically, the clause was removed thanks to the efforts of Ebenezer Ward, an outspoken opponent of women's suffrage. It seems that Ward hoped the inclusion of women in Parliament would be seen as so ridiculous that the whole Bill would be voted out. The change was accepted, however, allowing the women of South Australia to gain complete parliamentary equality with men.
 
World History

Monday, December 18, 1865. : Slavery is abolished in the United States of America.

The first African slaves arrived in north America in 1526, and though the practice of slavery took many years to become popular, it thrived under British colonialism. On 1 January 1808 American Congress voted to ban further importation of slaves, but children of slaves automatically became slaves themselves. There was no legislation against the internal US slave trade, or against the involvement in the international slave trade and the outfitting of ships for that trade by US citizens.

Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, was not in favour of abolition of slavery, but he opposed its expansion into new territories and states in the American West. It was this issue that led to the secession of the southern states to form the Confederate States of America, and ultimately also led to the Civil War. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 made the abolition of slavery an official war goal and it was implemented as the Union of northern states retook territory from the Confederacy. The Republican Party introduced the Thirteenth Amendment into Congress to enable the implementation of the Proclamation as the War drew to a close. When the last Confederate troops surrendered on 26 May 1865, the final ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment took place on 6 December 1865, officially ending chattel slavery in the United States. Final recognition of the amendment occurred on 18 December 1865.

Wednesday, December 18, 1912. : The skull of Piltdown Man, the fraudulent and so-called missing link between ape and man, is unveiled to the public.

On 18 December 1912, fragments of a fossil skull and jawbone were unveiled at a meeting of the Geological Society in London. These bone fragments, estimated to be almost a million years old, were considered to be evidence of early man. The skull became known as Piltdown Man, and was recognised as the "missing link" between ape and man. The remains, officially named Eoanthropus dawsoni, were supposedly discovered in Piltdown Quarry near Uckfield in Sussex, England, by Charles Dawson, a solicitor and an amateur palaeontologist.

Forty years later, on 21 November 1953, a team of English scientists exposed Piltdown Man as a deliberate fraud. The skull fragments were a mixture of bone parts: the skull belonged to a medieval human, the jaw was determined to be that of an orang-utan, from approximately 500 years ago, and the teeth came from a chimpanzee. It has never been determined whether Dawson himself was the perpetrator of the fraud, as he died in 1916. However, further research on his "discoveries" has determined several dozen of them to be frauds.

Born on this day

Sunday, December 18, 1707. : Methodist leader Charles Wesley is born.

Charles Wesley was the younger brother of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement of Protestantism, but was also a leader of the Methodist movement in his own right. He was born on 18 December 1707, in Epworth, Lincolnshire, England. Whilst studying at Christ Church College, Oxford, Wesley formed the "Oxford Methodist" group among his fellow students in 1729, a group which his brother later joined. However, Charles did not wish to break away from the Church of England into which he and his brother were both ordained.

Charles Wesley is best known for writing up to six thousand popular and well-loved hymns, including:

"Amazing Love"
"And Can It Be?"
"Hark, The Herald Angels Sing"
"Jesu, Lover of My Soul"
"Christ the Lord Is Risen Today"
"Love Divine, All Loves Excelling"
"O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing"

Wesley's name is listed in the Gospel Music Hall of Fame for the enduring nature of his hymns. He died on 29 March 1788.

Friday, December 18, 1778. : England's most famous clown and the creator of the sad-clown face, Joseph Grimaldi, is born.

Grimaldi was born in Clare Market, London, on 18 December 1778. The son of an Italian ballet-master and a mother who was a theatre dancer, Grimaldi was destined for the stage in some capacity: when only three years old, he began to appear at the Sadler's Wells theatre.

Grimaldi was beset by personal tragedy: he lost his father when he was two, his wife died in childbirth, and his son drank himself to death by age thirty. However, he was considered a brilliant pantomime clown, with his greatest success being in Harlequin and Mother Goose; or the Golden Egg at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in 1808. This pantomime is still often revived. He developed the concept of the clown as a bumbling buffoon, and his physical dexterity was remarkable for achieving this. Grimaldi effectively developed the white painted "sad clown" face so popular with later clowns.

Suffering ill health, Grimaldi retired from the stage in the 1820s, his performances sadly missed. He died on 31 May 1837, and his grave lies in Joseph Grimaldi Park, formerly, the courtyard of St. James's Chapel, Pentonville Road in Islington.

Friday, December 18, 1863. : Franz Ferdinand, Austrian Archduke, whose assassination sparked WWI, is born.

Until 1878 Bosnia and Herzegovina, just outside Austria, had been governed by the Turks. After the Treaty of Berlin in 1878, Austria was granted the power to administer the two provinces. Bosnia was populated primarily by the Croats, ethnic Serbs and Muslims. Nationalism among the Bosnian-Serbs was inflamed when Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina directly into the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1908.

His Imperial and Royal Highness Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este, was born 18 December 1863. He was an Archduke of Austria and from 1896 until his death, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. The Archduke was one of the leading advocates of maintaining the peace within the Austro-Hungarian government during both the Bosnian Crisis of 1908-1909 and the Balkan Wars Crises of 1912-1913.

"The Black hand" was a secret nationalistic Serb society who determined to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand when he accepted the invitation of Bosnia's governor to inspect the army manoeuvres outside Sarajevo. Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated at approximately 11:00am on 28 June 1914. The assassination led to war between Austria and Serbia, which escalated into World War I as other European countries allied themselves with one side or the other.
 
Dec 18th
1796
The 1st newspaper to appear on Sundays was the Baltimore Monitor
1916
The Battle of Verdun the longest war of WWI,ends after 9months with a German defeat,1 million total deaths
1958
Project SCORE,world's 1st communincation satellite launched from Cape Canaveral in Fla
2011
The last U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq formally ends Iraq War
 
Australian History

Tuesday, December 19, 1865. : Chinese bushranger Sam Poo is hanged in Bathurst, Australia.

The discovery of gold in Australia brought an influx of new arrivals from overseas. The Chinese were particularly attracted to Australia's goldfields, and were known for their persistence and ethic of hard-work. Whilst most Chinese stayed together, occasionally an individual would break form the crowd and exlore other options for earning a living.

On the morning of 3 February 1865, Senior Constable John Ward was returning to Coonabarabran after escorting a prisoner to Mudgee. Upon hearing about a Chinese bushranger who was robbing travellers on the Gulgong-Mudgee road, he instigated a search and located where the bushranger, Sam Poo, was hiding. Both men drew their guns, but Sam Poo killed the Constable before disappearing into the bush. This murder, and the rape of a settler's wife, caused a determined posse to hunt down the bushranger. Nine months after being captured, on 19 December 1865, Sam Poo was executed at Bathurst, New South Wales.

sampoo.jpg

Saturday, December 19, 1964. : The newly-built town of Jindabyne, relocated for the building of the Snowy Mountain Hydro-electric scheme, is opened.

The town of Jindabyne resulted from the earliest settlements in Australia's Snowy Mountains. It is thought to have come about after the Pendergast brothers, sons of an ex-convict, arrived in the area possibly as early as the 1820s. Sheep farming, wheat and a flour mill gave the town its first start, and more impetus came with the goldrush of the high country, in 1859-1860. It is believed that as new settlers arrived in the district, the town sprang up around a popular crossing of the Snowy River. A general store and post office was established in 1862, followed by a school in 1882 and a police station in 1883. Rainbow trout were released into the Snowy River in 1884, starting the popular tradition of trout fishing in the area.

The construction of new buildings in Jindabyne was banned by the Australian Government in 1960, when it was announced that the town, together with the nearby town of Adaminaby, would be flooded to create Jindabyne Lake, a dam that would feed the proposed Snowy Mountain Hydro-Electric Scheme. Between 1962 and 1964, Jindabyne and Adaminaby were gradually relocated onto higher ground. On 19 December 1964, "new Jindabyne" was officially opened by Sir Eric Woodward, the Governor of NSW. The dam was completed in 1967, and thousands of hectares of land flooded.


Born on this day

Wednesday, December 19, 1764. : William Cox, the builder of the first road over the Blue Mountains of NSW, is born.

William Cox was to become the builder of the first road from Sydney, over the Blue Mountains to the Bathurst Plains, opening up the area for settlement. He was born in Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England on 19 December 1764. Following a prestigious military career in England, he became Lieutenant in the New South Wales Corps in 1797, being made paymaster the following year. He brought his wife and four sons to Australia, leaving England in August 1799 and arriving in Australia on 11 January 1800.

Cox briefly endured allegations of misappropriating funds, for which he had to return to England, but after being cleared of all charges, he returned again to Australia in 1811. He resigned his commission, becoming principal magistrate at the Hawkesbury, and also taking on responsibility for erecting many government buildings.

In May 1813, Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth crossed the Blue Mountains, finding rich farming land in the Hartley region. George Evans, Deputy Surveyor-General of New South Wales, was keen to progress beyond the discoveries made by Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth so the colony could expand beyond the Great Dividing Range. Leaving Sydney in mid-November 1813, Evans soon reached a mountain which he named Mt Blaxland, which was the termination of Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth's explorations. He continued on through the countryside, eventually reaching the site of present-day Bathurst.

Upon Evans's return to Sydney, he recommended building a road which would follow the ridge track determined by Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth. Shortly after this, William Cox was commissioned to build the road to Bathurst, using convict labour. The original Great Western Highway was 3.7m wide, covered 161 km and incorporated twelve bridges. It was completed on 21 January 1815. Following completion of the road, Macquarie travelled along "Cox's Pass", taking eleven days to reach the site of Bathurst, where the Union Jack was raised.

The Governor commended Cox, stating that the project would have taken three years if it had been done under a contract. Cox was awarded 2,000 acres of land near Bathurst.
 
World History

Thursday, December 19, 1686. : The fictitious character of Robinson Crusoe is rescued from his island.

Robinson Crusoe is a novel written by Daniel Defoe and first published on 25 April 1719. The full title of the novel is:

The Life and strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, where-in all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver'd by Pyrates. Written by Himself

"Robinson Crusoe" is about the fictitious character of an English castaway who has to survive for 28 years on a remote tropical island near Venezuela before being rescued, on 19 December 1686. The story is unique in that it is written in autobiographical style, seeming to give an account of actual events. This style of writing was not common in the 18th century.

"Robinson Crusoe" is believed to have been based on the true story of Scottish castaway Alexander Selkirk, who lived for four years on the remote Pacific island of Más a Tierra, although in 1966 its name was changed to Robinson Crusoe Island.

Tuesday, December 19, 1843. : Charles Dickens's 'A Christmas Carol' is published for the first time.

English novelist Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on 7 February 1812 in Landport, Hampshire, England. Dickens spent a carefree childhood reading and roaming outdoors, but that changed when his father was imprisoned for outstanding debt when young Charles was only twelve. The boy was thrust into working 10 hours a day in Warren’s boot-blacking factory in London. The money he earned supported himself and his family who then lived in Marshalsea debtor's prison. When an inheritance from his father's family paid off the family's debt and freed them from prison, Dickens' mother insisted Charles stay working in the factory which was owned by a relative. Dickens' resentment of his situation and the conditions working-class people lived under coloured his later writings.

When in his early twenties, Dickens became a journalist. His writings were very popular and read extensively. His novella "A Christmas Carol" was first published on 19 December 1843, and thousands of copies were sold before Christmas Eve that year. The story tells of an old and bitter miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, who, on being visited by the ghost of his deceased business partner Jacob Marley, undergoes a profound transformation, becoming the kind and generous character he was before bad life experiences embittered him. The themes of social injustice and poverty are obvious throughout the story, and it remains to this day an enduring tale of man's need for love and forgiveness.

Friday, December 19, 1958. : The first radio broadcast from space is transmitted.

The experimental satellite "Project SCORE" was launched on 17 December 1958. Two days later, on 19 December 1958, the first radio broadcast was transmitted from space. A pre-recorded tape on a recorder on board the orbiting space satellite transmitted the following Christmas greeting from then-US President Eisenhower:

"This is the President of the United States speaking. Through the marvels of scientific advance, my voice is coming to you from a satellite circling in outer space. My message is a simple one. Through this unique means I convey to you and all mankind America's wish for peace on earth and good will to men everywhere."

Wednesday, December 19, 1984. :Britain signs an historic agreement to return Hong Kong to China in 1997.

Britain invaded China in 1839, during the First Opium War. After Britain occupied Hong Kong, China ceded the island to the British under the Convention of Chuenpi (Chuanbi) signed on 20 January 1841. Hong Kong Island then became a Crown Colony on 29 August 1842 under the Treaty of Nanking. Following the Second Opium War (1856-1860), China was forced to cede the Kowloon Peninsula, adjacent to Hong Kong Island, along with other area islands. In 1898, the UK commenced a 99-year lease of Hong Kong and surrounding islands and territories, increasing the size of the Hong Kong colony. The lease would expire at midnight on 30 June 1997.

Negotiations on the future of Hong Kong were initiated between Britain and China in 1982. On 19 December 1984, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang signed the Joint Sino-British Declaration approving the 1997 turnover of the colony. The Declaration allowed for the formulation of a "one country, two systems" policy by China's communist government, permitting Hong Kong to have a capitalist economy and enjoy existing rights and freedoms. Democratic elections for the new Legislative Council were held in 1995. In 1997, Hong Kong's Chief Executive, Tung Chee-hwa, was sworn in as the new leader.
 
19th December

1154 Henry II was crowned, at Westminster Abbey.

1783 William Pitt the Younger became the youngest British Prime Minister, at the age of 24 years, 6 months and 21 days.

1924 The last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost was sold, in London. The Silver Ghost is considered the most valuable car in the world. In 2005 its insured value was placed at more than £22 million. By 2011 it was valued at almost £37 million.

1981 The 8 man crew of the Penlee Lifeboat all lost their lives attempting to rescue the crew of the coaster Union Star that was wrecked in violent seas off the coast of Cornwall.
 
1823
Georgia becomes the 1st U.S. state to pass a birth registration law
1854
Allen Wilson of Conn patents sewing machine to sew curving seams
1985
Mary Lund becomes the 1st woman to received Jarvik 2 artifical heart in Minneopolis She lived for 45 days was 40
 
Born on this day

Thursday, December 20, 1894. : Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, twelfth and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia, is born.

Robert Gordon Menzies was born in the Victorian town of Jeparit on 20 December 1894. In 1928 he entered politics after being elected to Victoria’s Legislative Council for East Yarra. After six years in Victorian state politics as Attorney-General and Minister for Railways (1928–34), he was elected to federal parliament as Member for Kooyong. On 18 April 1939, he was elected leader of the United Australia Party following the death of Joseph Lyons eleven days earlier, and became Prime Minister on 26 April 1939.

On 28 August 1941, party dissension led Menzies to resign as Prime Minister. However, after forming the Liberal Party of Australia from the remnants of the UAP in 1944, Menzies regrouped to become Prime Minister for the second time on 19 December 1949 when the new Liberal Party, in coalition with the Country Party, beat Labor. He then remained as Prime Minister for another 16 years, a record which has not been broken in Australian politics. He retired in 1966, and died in 1978.

Portrait_Menzies_1950s.jpg

Wednesday, December 20, 1922. : Geoff "Tangletongue" Mack, who wrote the iconic Australian song "I've Been Everywhere", is born.

"Tullamore, Seymour, Lismore, Mooloolaba, Nambour, Maroochydore, Kilmore, Murwillumbah, Birdsville, Emmaville, Wallaville, Cunnamulla, Condamine, Strathpine, Proserpine, Ulladulla, Darwin, Gin Gin, Deniliquin, Muckadilla, Wallumbilla, Boggabilla, Kumbarilla"

This is just one verse of Geoff Mack's greatest claim to fame: the song "I've Been Everywhere", which incorporates dozens of uniquely Australian place names and earned him the nickname of "Tangletongue".

Albert Geoffrey McElhinney, better known as Geoff Mack, is a country music singer and songwriter. He was born on 20 December 1922 in Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia. Mack's musical career developed during World War II, after he had enlisted in the RAAF and was serving in Borneo. His ability to sing and play the guitar was used to entertain the troops and visitors. After the war, he performed with the Occupation Forces, and was appointed to Radio WLKS as the voice of the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces.

Written in 1959, "I've Been Everywhere" became a hit when singer Lucky Starr released a version he recorded, in 1962. That same year, Mack was called upon to write a version using American and Canadian names: this single became a #1 hit in America. The song has now been recorded in 131 different versions, with arguably its most famous version included on Johnny Cash's 1996 album "Unchained".

Mack has received numerous awards and commendations. He was inducted into the International Songwriters Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee in 1963, into the Hands of Fame at Tamworth NSW in 1978, and he received the Tamworth Song Writer's Association Song Maker Award in 1997. As well, he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2005 for his service to country music, and his support of community and senior citizens' groups. More place names included in "Tangletongue's" work are:

Moree, Taree, Jerilderie, Bambaroo, Toowoomba, Gunnedah, Caringbah, Woolloomooloo, Dalveen, Tamborine, Engadine, Jindabyne, Lithgow, Casino, Brigalow, Narromine, Megalong, Wyong, Tuggeranong, Wanganella, Morella, Augathella, Brindabella, Wollongong, Geelong, Kurrajong, Mullumbimby, Mittagong, Molong, Grong Grong, Goondiwindi, Yarra Yarra, Boroondara, Wallangarra, Turramurra, Boggabri, Gundagai, Narrabri, Tibooburra, Gulgong, Adelong, Billabong, Cabramatta, Parramatta, Wangaratta, Coolangatta

And there is still another verse ...

geoff_mack.jpg
 
World History

Thursday, December 20, 1860. :South Carolina becomes the first US state to secede from the Union, ultimately sparking the Civil War.

The first African slaves arrived in north America in 1526, and though the practice of slavery took many years to become popular, it thrived under British colonialism. On the first day of January 1808 American Congress voted to ban further importation of slaves, but children of slaves automatically became slaves themselves. There was no legislation against the internal US slave trade, or against the involvement in the international slave trade and the outfitting of ships for that trade by US citizens.

Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, did not favour abolition of slavery, but he opposed its expansion into new territories and states in the American West. It was this issue that led to the secession of the southern states to form the Confederate States of America, and ultimately also led to the Civil War. On 20 December 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede. Within a few weeks, six other states also seceded, collectively forming the Confederate States of America. When the Civil War erupted, another four states joined the Confederacy.

Sunday, December 20, 1942. : During World War II, the Japanese bomb Calcutta.

Calcutta, also known as Kolkata since 2001, is situated in eastern India in the Ganges Delta. With a population in excess of 15 million, it is India's third-largest city and the world's 14th largest metropolitan area.

The arrival of the British East India Company in 1690 had a profound effect on future development of the city. With India subject to British Imperialism, Calcutta was the centre of the revolutionary movement for India's independence. During World War II, there was a strong British Defence force presence in the city. Consequently, it came under frequent attack by the Japanese.

The first attack on Calcutta took place on 20 December 1942. Docks, airfields and shipping were the main targets in this, the first of many air-raids. The longer term effects of these raids, which spread over several days, were that many food grain shops were forced to close down, providing a catalyst to the widespread famine of 1943. Whilst the bombing resulted in casualties, far more of the Indian population died as a result of the famine that followed.

Friday, December 20, 1957. : The "King of Rock 'n' Roll", Elvis Presley, receives his draft notice.

Elvis Aaron Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, on 8 January 1935. He began learning the guitar at age 11, and often busked around the Lauderdale Courts public housing development, where he lived during his teen years. At age 20, he signed with RCA records, and began to make the music charts regularly. During the course of his career, he had 146 Hot 100 hits, 112 top 40 hits, 72 top 20 hits and 40 top 10 hits. A strong television exposure followed, with appearances on shows such as the Ed Sullivan Show. His next step was movies: between 1956 and 1969, Elvis Presley starred in 31 films.

On 20 December 1957, Elvis Presley received his draft notice to join the U.S. Army for National Service. Presley was sworn in as a private in the U.S. Army on 24 March 1958. He was sent to basic training in Fort Hood, Texas, after which he was shipped to Germany, where he served in Company D, 32nd Tank Battalion, 3rd Armor Corps, from 1 October 1958 to 1 March 1960.

Friday, December 20, 1991. : Archaeologists announce the discovery of a fleet of 5,000 year old Egyptian royal ships buried 13km from the River Nile.

On 20 December 1991, American and Egyptian archaeologists announced that they had discovered a fleet of 5,000 year old Egyptian royal ships. In itself, this was not unusual: what was unusual was the fact that the ships were buried in the desert at Abydos, about 13km from the River Nile. The wooden vessels, discovered in September of that year, were estimated to be between 15 and 21m long. Twelve boats were located in the initial discovery; to date, at least fourteen have been excavated.

The ships were found lying in formation adjacent to a gigantic mud-brick enclosure, thought to have been the mortuary temple of the Second Dynasty Pharaoh Khasekhemwy. In 2000, however, archaeologists determined that the ships were buried prior to the construction of the funerary enclosure. Originally coated with mud plaster and whitewash, they were most likely intended for the afterlife of a First Dynasty Pharaoh.

Friday, December 20, 1991. : Archaeologists announce the discovery of a fleet of 5,000 year old Egyptian royal ships buried 13km from the River Nile.

On 20 December 1991, American and Egyptian archaeologists announced that they had discovered a fleet of 5,000 year old Egyptian royal ships. In itself, this was not unusual: what was unusual was the fact that the ships were buried in the desert at Abydos, about 13km from the River Nile. The wooden vessels, discovered in September of that year, were estimated to be between 15 and 21m long. Twelve boats were located in the initial discovery; to date, at least fourteen have been excavated.

The ships were found lying in formation adjacent to a gigantic mud-brick enclosure, thought to have been the mortuary temple of the Second Dynasty Pharaoh Khasekhemwy. In 2000, however, archaeologists determined that the ships were buried prior to the construction of the funerary enclosure. Originally coated with mud plaster and whitewash, they were most likely intended for the afterlife of a First Dynasty Pharaoh.

Friday, December 20, 2013. : The United Nations General Assembly proclaims 3 March as World Wildlife Day.

World Wildlife Day has become an annual celebration of the world’s unique plants and wild animals. Designed to raise awareness of the world’s biological diversity and the threat faced by flora and fauna all over the Earth, World Wildlife Day encourages people to learn about the animal and plant species under threat in their area or country, and to examine what can be done to conserve them.

The seed of World Wildlife Day was generated in 1963 at a meeting of members of IUCN (The International Union for Conservation of Nature), during which the need to protect endangered species throughout the world was highlighted. Ten years later, on 3 March 1973, the original resolution was agreed to and signed by representatives of 80 countries in Washington DC after many years of drafting the text of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

On 20 December 2013, at its 68th session, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 3 March as World Wildlife Day. This annual event is now considered to be the most important global celebration committed to preserving wildlife.
 

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