Hello rockylizard

A good read as always

Re June 1 1968 - Helen Keller, blind and deaf author and lecturer, dies.

It puts life into a slightly different perspective, when you realise what this lady actually overcome, just to be able to communicate

Gday...

1769  -             Lieutenant James Cook observes the transit of Venus across the sun, on the trip during which he would chart Australia's eastern coast.

Lieutenant James Cook was not the first to discover Australia, as he was preceded by numerous Portuguese and Dutch explorers. He was, however, the first to sight and map the eastern coastline when he was sent to observe the transit of Venus across the sun from the vantage point of Tahiti. The transit of Venus occurs when the planet Venus passes directly between the Earth and the Sun, and its unlit side can be seen as a small black circle moving across the face of the Sun. Transits of Venus occur in pairs, eight years apart, approximately once every 120 years. Cook's ship, the 'Endeavour', departed England, on 25 August 1768. Cook reached Tahiti in time for his crew and scientists to set up their instrumentation necessary to observe and report on the transit, which occurred on 3 June 1769.

After observing the transit of Venus, Cook went on to search for Terra Australis Incognita, the great continent which some believed to extend round the pole. It was shortly after observing the transit of Venus that Cook came across New Zealand, which had already been discovered by Abel Tasman in 1642. He spent some months there, charting the coastline. Nearly a year later, he set sail east for New Holland, later Australia.

1787  -             The First Fleet arrives in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, to take on extra supplies.

Conditions in England in the 18th century were tough: the industrial revolution had removed many people's opportunities to earn an honest wage as simpler tasks were replaced by machine labour. As unemployment rose, so did crime, especially the theft of basic necessities such as food and clothing. The British prison system was soon full to overflowing, and a new place had to be found to ship the prison inmates. The American colonies were no longer viable, following the American war of Independence. Following Captain Cook's voyage to the South Pacific, the previously uncharted continent of New Holland proved to be suitable.

On 18 August 1786 the decision was made to send a colonisation party of convicts, military and civilian personnel to Botany Bay, New South Wales, under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip, who was appointed Governor-designate. The First Fleet consisted of 775 convicts on board six transport ships, accompanied by officials, crew, marines and their families who together totalled 645. As well as the convict transports, there were two naval escorts and three storeships.

The First Fleet assembled in Portsmouth, England, and set sail on 13 May 1787. On 3 June 1787, the fleet arrived at Santa Cruz, Tenerife in the Canary islands, to take on board fresh water, vegetables and meat. Phillip and the chief officers were entertained by the local governor, while one convict tried unsuccessfully to escape. The First Fleet arrived in New South Wales in January 1788. Australia Day, celebrated annually on January 26, commemorates the landing of the First Fleet at Port Jackson, and the raising of the Union Jack to claim the land as belonging to England.

1790  -             The Lady Juliana is the first ship of the Second Fleet to arrive in Sydney Cove.

The First Fleet of convicts, which established the colony of New South Wales, arrived in Port Jackson on 26 January 1788. The Second Fleet left England with a cargo of 1026 convicts, bound for New South Wales, on 19 January 1790. The Fleet comprised six ships: Justinian, Lady Juliana, Surprize, Neptune, Scarborough and Guardian, although the latter struck ice and was unable to complete the voyage.

The Second Fleet became notorious for its cruelty to the mostly female convicts. The convicts were limited to a starvation diet, despite the provision of adequate foods, and hundreds of them succumbed to scurvy, fever and dysentery. Between 267 and 278 died during the voyage, compared to the loss of between 30 and 40 convicts on the First Fleet voyage under Captain Arthur Phillip.

The Lady Juliana was the first ship of the Second Fleet to reach New South Wales, arriving on 3 June 1790. The Lady Juliana had departed Plymouth on 29 July 1789 with 226 female convicts, and taken 309 days to reach Port Jackson, one of the slowest journeys made by a convict ship. When the convicts disembarked, marks of cruelty were evident in the injuries shown on their bodies. The condition of the convicts led to public outcry in England, and although attempts were made to bring the perpetrators of the cruelty to justice, the crew members responsible were never prosecuted.

1862  -             John McKinlay, during his relief expedition to locate the missing Burke and Wills, loses a horse to snake bite.

The Burke and Wills expedition was supposed to mark the state of Victoria's greatest triumph: Victoria hoped to be the first state to mount an expedition to cross the continent from south to north. Instead, due to mismanagement and lack of clear communication, three of the four members of the party who finally made the attempt to cross to the gulf and back, never made it back. Robert O'Hara Burke, William John Wills and Charles Gray all died. John King alone survived, after being taken in and nursed by the Aborigines of the Cooper Creek area.

Although the expedition had been financed by the colony of Victoria, South Australia also mounted its own rescue mission for Burke and Wills, who were long overdue to return. John McKinlay, born at Sandbank on the Clyde in 1819, first came to New South Wales in 1836. He joined his uncle, a wealthy grazier, under whose guidance he soon gained practical bush skills, and then took up several runs in South Australia. McKinlay was chosen to head up the relief expedition for Burke and Wills, setting out from Adelaide in August 1861. During the course of his search, it is believed he crossed the continent from south to north, then east and back again, possibly making McKinlay the uncredited first explorer to cross the continent and survive. On 3 June 1862, one of his horses, Harry, was bitten by a snake and died at 9pm that night. (Another of their best horses, "Rowdy", was lost in a similar fashion on 18 June.) The remains of Burke and Wills were eventually located by the Victorian relief expedition.

Cheers - John

Gday...

yeah. My sources advise that everyone turned into Grey Nomads in 1863 and onwards - therefore nothing has been done since.

Cheers - John

Gday...

Mabo Day

Mabo Day occurs annually on 3 June. It commemorates Eddie Koiki Mabo (c. 29 June 193621 January 1992) a Torres Strait Islander whose campaign for Indigenous land rights led to a landmark decision of the High Court of Australia that, on 3 June 1992, overturned the legal fiction of terra nullius which had characterised Australian law with regards to land and title since the voyage of James Cook in 1770.

Cheers - John

You might be right Rocky, see below, mate.

Dougwe wrote:

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Must have been a very ordinary day after 1862 Rocky! ?

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 My lovely wife Marilyn was born on this day in 1950, that was a very special historic entry.. she is very quite about it, will not mind if the world don't read about it.

I just had a quick read, I am glad John sensors this day in history.

Rocky won't mind me going slightly off topic  or is it still on topic 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Marilyn on this yes, very important day. 

Thanks Rocky mate 

Edit.......ooops, typo.  

Gday...

1629  -             Dutch trading ship 'The Batavia' is shipwrecked off Australia's western coast.

The 'Batavia' was a ship built in Amsterdam in 1628. On 29 October 1628, the newly built Batavia, commissioned by the Dutch East India Company, sailed from Texel for the Dutch East Indies to obtain spices. During the voyage two of the crew, Jacobsz and Cornelisz, planned to hijack the ship, with the aim of starting a new life somewhere using the supply of trade gold and silver on board. After stopping at South Africa for supplies, Jacobsz deliberately steered the ship off course away from the rest of the fleet, planning to organise a mutiny against the captain at some stage.

On 4 June 1629 the ship struck a reef near Beacon Island, part of the Houtman Abrolhos island group off the Western Australian coast. 40 drowned but most of the crew and passengers were taken to nearby islands in the ship's longboat and yawl. The captain organised a group of senior officers, crew members and some passengers to search for drinking water on the mainland. Unsuccessful, they then headed north to the city of Batavia, now Jakarta. Their amazing journey took 33 days and all survived.

After they arrived in Batavia, a rescue attempt was made for the other survivors, but it was discovered that a mutiny had taken place. Cornelisz had planned to hijack any rescue ships, and organised the murder of 125 men, women and children. The rescue party overcame the mutineers, executing the major leaders, including Cornelisz. Two minor offenders were abandoned on Australia's mainland, and others were taken to be tried in Batavia. During the course of the mutiny, a stone fort was built on West Wallabi Island, where a group of the marooned soldiers under the command of Wiebbe Hayes were put ashore to search for water. The remains of the defensive structure can still be seen, evidence of the oldest European-built structure in Australia.

Relics and artefacts from the Batavia wreck were salvaged in 1971, and the stern of the ship was salvaged a year later. Some of the items, including human remains, which were excavated, are now on display in the Western Australian Maritime Museum in Fremantle, Australia. Others are held by the Geraldton Region Museum. Included in the relics is a stone arch which was intended to serve as a welcome arch for the city of Batavia.

1861  -             Explorer William Wills heads for the camp of local Aborigines in his desperate search for survival.

The Burke and Wills expedition was supposed to mark the state of Victoria's greatest triumph: Victoria hoped to be the first state to mount an expedition to cross the continent from south to north. John King alone survived, after being taken in and nursed by the Aborigines of the Cooper Creek area. 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 sent to rescue them.

In his journal which was recovered after his death, Wills wrote on Tuesday 4 June 1861: 'Started for the Blacks camp intending to test the practicability of living with them and to see what I could learn as to their ways & manners.' Wills was disappointed to find there were no Aborigines at the camp at that time - yet another fact that led to the men's premature death. Burke's continued suspicion of the Aborigines had driven them from the area. Ultimately, only John King survived, after he was taken in and nursed by another group of Aborigines of the Cooper Creek area, after Burke and Wills had perished.

1911  -             Dr Alan Walker, founder of Lifeline, is born.

Alan Walker, Australian theologian and the founder of Lifeline, was born on 4 June 1911 in Australia. He served as Superintendent of the Methodist (later Uniting Church in Australia) Wesley Mission, Pitt Street, Sydney, from 1958 to 1978. Soon after his arrival at Sydney's Central Methodist Mission, he initiated a 30-minute program called "I Challenge the Minister", which went to air on the Nine Network at 4:30 pm on Sundays. The format of the show allowed Walker five minutes to address a subject then take questions from the studio audience. The show was so successful that it ran for seven years.

Walker established Lifeline in March 1963 after the death of a man named Roy Brown. Brown phoned Dr Walker late one night to talk about deep personal issues that were overwhelming him. However, he committed suicide before he had the opportunity to be met by Walker and properly counselled. From this incident, Walker envisaged a non-intrusive counselling service which people could access any time of the day or night. Originally conceived in Sydney with the tag line "Help is just a phone call away", Lifeline's counselling services have been established in cities around the world, ministering to and counselling millions more. Lifeline counsellors take 400,000 phone calls each day, with 20,000 of them in Sydney alone.

Dr Walker died on 29 January 2003. Tributes to the man and his work were received from The Hon. Robert John Carr, MP and the Rev Dr Billy Graham along with messages from the Hon. John Howard, PM and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.

1939  -             US President Roosevelt denies entry to the United States of hundreds of Jewish refugees.

In May 1939 the SS St Louis, a German ocean liner, sailed out of Hamburg into the Atlantic Ocean, carrying 963 Jewish refugees, mostly wealthy, who were seeking asylum from Nazi persecution just before World War II. The ship was headed for Cuba, where the refugees would await their quota number to be able to enter the United States. All of the refugee passengers had legitimate landing certificates for Cuba. However, during the two-week voyage to Cuba, their certificates were invalidated by the pro-fascist Cuban government. When the St Louis arrived in Havana on May 27 only 22 Jewish refugees were allowed entry.

Initially, US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was willing to take in some of those on board, but he faced vehement opposition by his Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, and from Southern Democrats. Some of those who were opposed went so far as to threaten to withhold their support of Roosevelt in the 1940 Presidential election if he accepted the refugees. On 4 June 1939 Roosevelt issued an order to deny entry to the ship, which was waiting in the Caribbean Sea between Florida and Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, many of the refugees died in Nazi concentration camps.

1989  -             Thousands of students are massacred at Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Tiananmen Square is a large open area in central Beijing, China. The world's largest public square, it contains the monument to the heroes of the revolution, the Great Hall of the People, the museum of history and revolution, and the Mao Zedong Memorial Hall. As such, many rallies, protests and demonstrations have been held in the square; the most notorious were, arguably, the student protests of 1989 which led to the Tiananmen Square Massacre on 4 June 1989.

Hu Yaobang, a leader of the People's Republic of China, was a dedicated reformer who was deposed from his position. His ideas of freedom of speech and freedom of press greatly influenced the students. Following his death, approximately 100,000 students gathered at Tiananmen Square on 21 April 1989 to commemorate Hu and protest against China's autocratic communist government. When protestors were denied their demands to meet with Premier Li Peng, students all over China boycotted the universities, marching to Tiananmen Square and calling for democratic reforms. The demonstrators were joined by workers, intellectuals, and civil servants, filling the square with over a million people.

The government declared martial law in Beijing in May, and on 3 June, troops and tanks were sent in to retake the square. On 4 June 1989, between 2,000 and 4,000 students were massacred by the tanks and infantry, although exact figures have never been determined due to suppression by the Chinese government. Many protestors were also arrested and executed in the months following the protests. The event sparked international condemnation of China, and harsh economic sanctions were imposed on China until the nation released some of those who were arrested.

1989  -             Poland's ruling Communist party is defeated by Lech Walesa.

Solidarity is a Polish trade union federation founded in September 1980 at the Gdask Shipyards, and originally led by Lech Wasa. In the 1980s, it constituted a broad anti-communist social movement ranging from people associated with the Catholic Church to members of the anti-communist Left. Solidarity advocated nonviolence in its members' activities. Walesa, who had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, was a Polish trade union leader and human rights activist.

On the same day that hundreds of student protestors in China were killed for their stand in favour of democracy, Poland's Communist party was defeated. The country's first free elections in 40 years saw the triumph of the Solidarity Party, led by Lech Walesa, on 4 June 1989. Lech Wasa won the presidency in 1990. The Solidarity movement greatly contributed to the collapse of Communism all over Eastern Europe, which followed soon afterwards. Poland's economy transformed into one of the strongest in Central Europe. Despite a temporary slump in social and economic standards, there soon followed numerous improvements in other human rights such as free speech and functioning democracy.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1788  -             First Fleet cattle from the government herds go bush, disappearing for seven years.

The First Fleet of convicts to Australia departed Portsmouth, England in May 1787, and arrived in New South Wales in January 1788. Whilst one of the primary purposes of the First Fleet was to establish a penal colony on the east coast of the Australian continent, removing excess prisoners from England was not the only rationale. It was intended that New South Wales would eventually become a self-supporting British presence in the South Pacific. This would not only help expand the British Empire and provide a trading outpost, but would help to deter the French from establishing a presence in the region. To that end, the First Fleet carried many supplies that would assist the colonys long-term prospects of survival. This included livestock such as cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and horses. Further livestock was purchased at Cape Town, the final stop before New South Wales.

On 5 June 1788, a large number of cattle from the government herds that had arrived with the First Fleet strayed from the colony and went bush. The cattle were not recovered until pardoned convict John Wilson, who settled southwest of Sydney, found the herd and its descendants living near the Nepean River in 1795. The herd had thrived in the bush, and the cattle were strong and healthy. The location where the lost cattle were located became known as Cow Pastures.

1823  -             Explorer Allan Cunningham breaks through the Warrumbungle Range on his quest to find an overland route to the Liverpool Plains.

Allan Cunningham was a botanist who came to Australia suffering from tuberculosis. As he found that Australia's climate helped him regain some of his health, he was keen to discover more of the country he came to love. Initially, he explored with John Oxley, following the Lachlan and Macquarie Rivers in 1817.

By the 1820s, the pastoral industry in the young colony of New South Wales was growing, and there was greater need for more grazing land. On 15 April 1823, Cunningham departed from Bathurst, supported by Governor Brisbane, to find an easier route north between the settlements around Bathurst and the Liverpool Plains which Oxley had discovered five years earlier. On this expedition, Cunningham discovered the only point where sheep and cattle could easily cross the mountain barriers, at the junction of the Warrumbungle and Liverpool Ranges. This gap became known as Pandora's Pass. He broke through the previously impenetrable Warrumbungle Range on 5 June 1823.

1866  -             Explorer John McDouall Stuart, first to successfully cross Australia from north to south, dies.

John McDouall Stuart was born in Dysart, Fife, Scotland, on 7 September 1815. He arrived in South Australia in 1839. He had a passion for exploration and gained experience when he was employed as a draughtsman by Captain Charles Sturt on an expedition into the desert interior. Following his experience with Sturt, Stuart led a number of expeditions west of Lake Eyre. When the South Australian government offered a reward of two thousand pounds to the first expedition to reach the northern coast, Stuart found sponsors and made his first attempt in 1860. He was beaten back several times by the Aboriginal attack and the harsh conditions.

The crossing of Australia from south to north became a race against Burke and Wills, who were financed by the Victorian government. Whilst the latter won the actual crossing, they did not survive. Stuart, on his fifth expedition and third attempt to cross the continent, crossed Australia and returned alive, blinded from scurvy, but alive. His health suffered for the rest of his life, and he died on 5 June 1866, aged fifty years.

1968  -             An assassin shoots Robert Kennedy in Los Angeles.

Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy was born on 20 November 1925 in Brookline, Massachusetts. He was the younger brother of assassinated American President John F Kennedy, and ran JFK's successful Presidential campaign. As Attorney General of the United States under his brother's Presidency, Robert Kennedy played a key advisory role, especially through such crises as the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961, the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the escalation of military action in Vietnam and the widening spread of the Civil Rights Movement and its retaliatory violence. He began a nationwide campaign against organised crime, mob violence and labour rackets, but was also heavily involved in civil rights, namely the integration of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi, and his support of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Soon after President John F. Kennedy's assassination, Robert Kennedy left the Cabinet to run for a seat in the United States Senate representing New York. His campaign was successful and he represented New York from 1965 until 1968. In March of 1968 he declared his candidacy for US President in the Democrats. He won the Indiana and Nebraska Democratic primaries, and early in June, he scored a major victory in his drive toward the Democratic presidential nomination when he won primaries in South Dakota and in California. Following his victory celebration at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California, in the early hours of 5 June 1968, Kennedy was shot in the head at close range as he left the ballroom through a service area to greet supporters working in the hotel's kitchen.

The assassin was 24 year old Palestinian immigrant Sirhan B Sirhan, now a resident of Los Angeles. Kennedy never regained consciousness and died in the early morning hours of 6 June 1968, at the age of 42. Sirhan confessed to the shooting, claiming he acted against Kennedy because of his support for Israel in the June 1967 Six-Day War. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1969, but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, which he is still serving. To this day he claims he has absolutely no memory of shooting at Kennedy, but his numerous applications for parole have been denied. It is generally believed that Sirhan fired the shots that hit Kennedy. As with his elder brother John's death, however, many have suggested the official account of Robert Kennedy's murder is inconsistent or incomplete, and that his death was the result of a conspiracy.

1988  -             Kay Cottee returns to Sydney, the first woman to sail solo around the world.

 Kay Cottee, nee McLaren, was born in Sydney on 25 January 1954. Born into a yachting family, she was first taken sailing when she was just a few weeks old. Her family engendered in her a keen love of and skill for the sport. When she married at eighteen, her husband also shared a love for sailing. Kay became involved in refitting second-hand sailboats, and also started a bareboat charter business.

After developing a taste for solo sailing, Cottee harboured a desire to sail solo around the world. On 29 November 1987, she sailed out of Watsons Bay at the entrance to Sydney Harbour in her 11.2m yacht named "First Lady". Ever aware of the dangers of modern-day pirates, bad weather, rocks and even icebergs, Cottee succeeded in her objective, taking 189 days to complete her solo circumnavigation. She sailed back into Sydney Harbour to a heros welcome on 5 June 1988. Cottee's yacht remains on display, fully rigged, at the National Maritime Museum at Sydney's Darling Harbour.

Cheers - John

Gday...

Cheers - John

G'day back to you - how's life? Still down south? Cold enough up here now. Take care

Gday...

Got away - spent some time up in outback NSW .... camping all over the place and out of mobile/internet range mostly.

However, got in range when moving camp one day ... got txt and had to return to VIC for family funeral 

Weather is TERRIBLE here  and waiting to get back on the road - after family things sorted.

Stay well

Cheers - John

Gday...

1827  -             Explorer Allan Cunningham discovers the Darling Downs.

Allan Cunningham was born on 13 July 1791 in Wimbledon, England. As a botanist who came to Australia suffering from tuberculosis, he found that Australia's climate helped him regain some of his health, and he was anxious to discover more of the country he came to love. Initially, he explored as part of John Oxley's expeditions to follow the Lachlan and Macquarie Rivers in 1817.

By the 1820s, the pastoral industry in the young colony of New South Wales was growing, and there was greater need for more grazing land. In April 1823, Cunningham departed from Bathurst to find an easier route north between the settlements around Bathurst and the Liverpool Plains which Oxley had discovered five years earlier. On this expedition, Cunningham discovered Pandora's Pass, the only point where sheep and cattle could easily cross the mountain barriers, at the junction of the Warrumbungle and Liverpool Ranges. In 1827, Governor Darling sent Cunningham to determine what lay north of the Liverpool Plains and west of Brisbane. On 6 June 1827, Cunningham found a vast area of excellent pastoral land which he named the Darling Downs, in honour of the Governor. A year later, Cunningham discovered an easier route to the Darling Downs, travelling through the Great Dividing Range from Brisbane; thus was found Cunningham's Gap. [Thereya Jules

1835  -             John Batman, the native-born founder of Melbourne, signs a treaty with Aborigines entitling him to 250,000 hectares of land in Port Phillip Bay.

John Batman was born in Parramatta, Sydney, in 1801. As a native born Australian, Batman was interested in opening up new pastureland and promoting the growth of the colonies. He applied for land in the Westernport Bay area of southern Australia, now Victoria, but was not granted any. In May 1835, he led a syndicate calling themselves the 'Port Phillip Association' to explore Port Phillip Bay, looking for suitable sites for a settlement. On 6 June 1835, he signed a 'treaty' with the Aborigines, giving him free access to almost 250,000 hectares of land. In August that year, Governor Bourke declared Batman's treaties invalid, and issued a proclamation warning off him and his syndicate as trespassers on crown land. Despite the attempts at government intervention, the foundling settlement of Melbourne remained, and flourished.

Batman's place in Australian history is unique for several reasons. He was the only 19th century white to acknowledge that Aborigines owned land. He set out to undertake an annual rental for what was then a reasonable amount of food and goods, rather than buy it from them for a pittance. Further, he is the only native-born Australian to have founded a state capital city.

1859  -             Today is Queensland Day, marking the day that Queensland separated from the colony of New South Wales.

The colony of the Moreton Bay District was founded in 1824 when explorer John Oxley arrived at Redcliffe with a crew and 29 convicts. 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. Another convict settlement was established under the command of Captain Patrick Logan. On 10 September 1825, the settlement was given the name of Brisbane, but it was still part of the New South Wales territory.

In 1859, Queen Victoria signed Letters Patent, which declared that Queensland was now a separate colony from New South Wales. On 6 June 1859, the former Moreton Bay District was granted separation from New South Wales, and given the name of Queensland, with Brisbane as its capital city. June 6th is celebrated every year as Queensland Day, the day which marks the birth of Queensland as a self-governing colony. On 1 January 1901, Queensland became one of the six founding States of the Commonwealth of Australia.

1888  -             The British Crown annexes Christmas Island.

The Territory of Christmas Island is a small, non self-governing Territory of Australia located in the Indian Ocean, 2,360 km northwest of Perth in Western Australia and 500 km south of Jakarta, Indonesia. It was named by Captain William Mynors of the East India Ship Company vessel, the Royal Mary, when he arrived on Christmas Day, 25 December 1643. Over the years it was visited by explorers until the discovery of nearly pure phosphate of lime led to annexation of the island by the British Crown on 6 June 1888.

Soon afterwards, a small settlement was established in Flying Fish Cove by G Clunies Ross, the owner of the Keeling Islands, and phosphate mining began in the 1890s using indentured workers from Singapore, China, and Malaysia. The island was administered jointly by the British Phosphate Commissioners and District Officers from the UK Colonial Office through the Straits Colony, and later the Colony of Singapore. Japan invaded and occupied the island in 1942, and interned the residents until the end of World War II in 1945.

After the war, the United Kingdom transferred sovereignty to Australia. In 1957, the Australian government paid the government of Singapore 2.9 million pounds in compensation, the estimated value of the phosphate foregone by Singapore. The first Australian Official Representative arrived in 1958 and was replaced by an Administrator in 1968. Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands together are called Australia's Indian Ocean Territories (IOTs) and since 1997 share a single Administrator resident on Christmas Island. As of 2011, there were approximately 2000 Christmas Islanders. The ethnic composition is 70% Chinese, 20% European and 10% Malay. English is the official language, but Chinese and Malay are also spoken.

1944  -             Allied forces land on the coast of Normandy as D-Day commences.

General Dwight 'Ike' Eisenhower, born 14 October 1890, served as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II. In this position, he was charged with planning and carrying out the Allied assault on the coast of Normandy under the code name Operation Overlord, with the ultimate aim of the liberation of western Europe and the invasion of Germany.

In the early hours of 6 June 1944, Allied forces began their assault against Hitler's "Fortress Europe", marking the beginning of D-Day in the largest amphibious assault ever launched. By the end of the day 155,000 Allied troops, including some 18,000 paratroopers and glider-borne troops, were in Normandy. The initial assault involved about 1,300 RAF planes, followed by 1,000 American bombers dropping bombs on targets in northern France.

The United States and Britain each lost about 1,000 troops whilst Canada lost 355 in the initial stages of D-day. The invasion cracked Nazi Germany's grip on Western Europe and marked the beginning of the advance that eventually ended the war with Germany.

1980  -             For the second time in a week, a computer error falsely warns US forces of an impending Soviet nuclear attack.

The Cold War began in the aftermath of World War II. It was marked by political tensions and military rivalry between the worlds emerging super-powers, the United States and the USSR. It was so called the Cold War because of the fact that no direct fighting occurred between USA and the USSR. Instead, the 'war' took the form of diplomatic pressure, trade embargos, propaganda, espionage and proxy wars. In the many proxy wars that marked the Cold War era, countries were supported by either the US or USSR, but did not directly involve troops from the super powers. Proxy wars included the Bay of Pigs Invasion and Cuban Missile Crisis, the Prague Spring, the Vietnam War, the Soviet-Afghan War and the subsequent boycotting of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games by many Western countries.

In 1980, the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union had been simmering for thirty years. On 3 June 1980, the US computer warning system predicted a 220-missile nuclear attack on the US. Shortly after the initial alarm, it was revised to an all-out attack of 2200 missiles. A computer error had created the illusion. Three days later, on 6 June 1980, the same computer error occurred again.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1654  -             Louis XIV is crowned King of France.

Louis XIV was born on 5 September 1638, the son of Louis XIII and Anne of Austria. He was christened "Louis-Dieudonné" (the latter word meaning "God-given"), and received the titles premier fils de France, meaning "First Son of France", and the more traditional title Dauphin de Viennois. His father Louis XIII died in May 1643, and the four-year-old Louis XIV ascended the throne on 14 May 1643. However, he was not officially crowned King of France until 7 June 1654, almost three years after he officially "came of age".

Also known as "Louis the Great" or Le Grand Monarque, his reign was the longest in French history and characterised by the significant expansion of French influence in Europe and colonisation abroad. An extravagant spender, he was also known as "The Sun King", or Le Roi Soleil. Louis XIV waged four major wars: the War of Devolution, the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the Grand Alliance, and the War of the Spanish Succession. Louis XIV died on 1 September 1715.

1770  -             Lieutenant James Cook names Palm Island, off Australia's eastern coast.

Lieutenant James Cook was not the first to discover Australia, as he was preceded by numerous Portuguese and Dutch explorers. However, he was the first to sight and map the eastern coastline. Cook's ship, the 'Endeavour', departed Plymouth, England, on 26 August 1768. After completing the objective of his mission, which was to observe the transit of Venus from the vantage point of Tahiti, Cook went on to search for Terra Australis Incognita, the great continent which some believed to extend round the pole. After spending nearly a year charting the coastline of New Zealand, which had been documented by Abel Tasman in 1642, he set sail west.

In mid-April 1770, Cook's crew first sighted land, although it was not known whether the land belonged to an island or a continent. The land was in fact the far southeastern corner of the Australian continent, and Cook went on to chart the eastern coast of what was then known as New Holland, claiming it for Great Britain under the name of New South Wales.

Cook named many points of interest along the way. On 7 June 1770, four days after sighting the Whitsunday Passage off Queensland's coast, Lieutenant James Cook sighted and named Palm Island. The island was named after the many cabbage tree palms growing there.

1825  -             Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) officially separates from New South Wales.

Tasmania was first discovered by Abel Tasman on 24 November 1642. Tasman discovered the previously unknown island on his voyage past the "Great South Land", or "New Holland", as the Dutch called Australia. He named it "Antony Van Diemen's Land" in honour of the High Magistrate, or Governor-General of Batavia.

When the First Fleet arrived in 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip claimed the entire eastern coast for the British Empire, including Tasmania, though it was not yet proven to be separate from the mainland. In January 1799 Bass and Flinders completed their circumnavigation of Tasmania, proving it to be an island. Tasmania was settled as a separate colony in 1803, but continued to be administered by the Governor of New South Wales. On 7 June 1825, Van Diemen's Land was separated administratively from New South Wales, and Hobart Town was declared the capital of the colony. As the actual founding documents have not been located, there remains some conflict regarding the date, as some sources state this as occurring on 14 June 1825.

1942  -             The Battle of Midway, between American and Japanese forces, ends with a US victory.

The Battle of Midway was a naval battle of World War II, during which land and carrier-based American planes engaged a Japanese fleet on its way to invade the Midway Islands. The battle, which continued for four days, finished on 7 June 1942 with a decisive victory for the US, and marked a turning point for the war in the Pacific.

The purpose of the Battle of Midway was to eliminate the United States as a strategic power in the Pacific. The Japanese intended to lure the American carrier fleet into a trap and destroy it by staging a feint toward Alaska. This would be followed by an invasion of Midway by a Japanese strike force. The US Pacific Fleet was expected to arrive at Midway in response to the invasion, whereby it would be destroyed by the superior Japanese fleet waiting unseen to the west. This would effectively finish off the US Pacific Fleet, and guarantee Japanese naval supremacy in the Pacific, whilst enabling the expansion of Japan's defensive perimeter further from the Japanese Home Islands. The success of this operation was also considered preparatory for further operations against Fiji and Samoa, as well as an anticipated invasion of Hawaii.

American Intelligence determined that the Japanese were preparing to launch a massive offensive against an objective, and that the objective was the Midway Atoll, 1,600 km northwest of Hawaii. Because of US anticipation of the ambush, Japan lost four carriers, a cruiser, 292 aircraft and suffered 2,500 casualties, severely depleting its naval forces. The USA lost a carrier, a destroyer, 145 aircraft and suffered 307 casualties.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1856  -             The first free settlement is established on Norfolk Island.

Norfolk Island lies approximately 1,500 km northeast of Sydney, and along with two neighbouring islands forms one of Australia's external territories. The first European to discover Norfolk was Captain Cook, on 10 October 1774. Cook's reports of tall, straight trees (Norfolk pines) and flax-like plants piqued the interest of Britain, whose Royal Navy was dependent on flax for sails and hemp for ropes from Baltic sea ports. Norfolk Island promised a ready supply of these items, and its tall pines could be utilised as ships' masts. Governor Arthur Phillip, Captain of the First Fleet to New South Wales, was ordered to colonise Norfolk Island before the French could take it.

Following the arrival of the First Fleet in New South Wales, Lieutenant Philip Gidley King led a party of fifteen convicts and seven free men to take control of the island and prepare for its commercial development. They arrived on 6 March 1788. Neither the flax nor the timber industry proved to be viable, and the island developed as a farm, supplying Sydney with grain and vegetables during the early years of the colony's near-starvation. More convicts were sent, and many chose to remain after they had served their sentences. The initial Norfolk Island settlement was abandoned in 1813, but a second penal colony was re-established in 1824, as a place to send the very worst of the convicts. The convicts were treated accordingly and the island gained a reputation as a vicious penal colony. It, too, was abandoned in 1855, after transportation to Australia ceased.

The third settlement was established by descendants of Tahitians and the HMAV Bounty mutineers, resettled from the Pitcairn Islands which had become too small for their growing population. The British government had permitted the transfer of the Pitcairners to Norfolk, which was established as a colony separate from New South Wales but under the administration of that colony's governor. On 8 June 1856, 194 Pitcairn Islanders arrived to form the first free settlement. After the creation of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901, Norfolk Island was placed under the authority of the new Commonwealth government to be administered as an external territory. Norfolk Island was granted self-government in 1979.

1861  -             Burke and Wills attempt to collect Nardoo in their quest for survival.

The Burke and Wills expedition was supposed to mark the state of Victoria's greatest triumph: Victoria hoped to be the first state to mount an expedition to cross the continent from south to north. Instead, due to mismanagement and lack of clear communication, three of the four members of the party who finally made the break to cross to the gulf and back, died. Robert O'Hara Burke, William John Wills and Charles Gray all died. John King alone survived, after being taken in and nursed by the Aborigines of the Cooper Creek area.

Whilst awaiting the rescue that never came, on 8 June 1861 Burke and Wills made their way to where they knew Aborigines collected Nardoo. They were disappointed to find no Aborigines at the camp. Nardoo was an important bush food for Aborigines, who knew how to prepare its seedpods (or, strictly speaking, sporocaps) to make flour. The sporocarps contain poisons that must first be removed for them to be eaten safely. Studies of the explorers' journals indicate that they probably died of nardoo poisoning, after failing to follow precautions from the Aborigines of how to prepare it safely.

1951  -             The School of the Air begins broadcasting from the Flying Doctor base in Alice Springs.

School of the Air provides quality educational services for children in remote areas of Australia. Classes are conducted via shortwave radio with each student having direct contact with a teacher in a major inland town such as Broken Hill or Alice Springs. Where once children relied on mail services to deliver their assignments, now Internet services enable quicker and more reliable delivery.

The concept of the School of the Air was first proposed in 1944 by Adelaide Miethke, a member of the Council of the Flying Doctor service of SA, who suggested using two way radio to give educational talks to children in the Outback. Once the necessary communications equipment was acquired six years later, the trial program began, with teachers from Alice Springs volunteering to present lessons. Initially lessons were conducted as a one way affair, but soon a question and answer time was added to the end of each broadcast. The following year, 8 June 1951, saw the official opening of the School of the Air at the Flying Doctor base. The Alice Springs School of the Air currently caters for about 140 students spread over an area of 1,000,000 square kilometres.

1968  -             James Earl Ray, suspected of assassinating Martin Luther King, is arrested in London.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on 15 January 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He became a Baptist minister, and African American civil rights activist. In his fight for civil rights, he organised and led marches for desegregation, fair hiring, the right of African Americans to vote, and other basic civil rights. Most of these rights were successfully enacted later into United States law with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Martin Luther King's life was tragically cut short when he was shot in the neck by a rifle bullet in Memphis, Tennessee, on 4 April 1968. On 8 June 1968, James Earl Ray was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport as he tried to board a flight to Brussels. Ray was an escapee from Missouri State Penitentiary, who had been on the run since 23 April 1967. After being questioned, extradition proceedings were authorised against him.

James Earl Ray was convicted of Martin Luther King's murder and sentenced to 99 years in prison. Ray's appeals on the basis that he was only a minor player in a conspiracy gained support from some members of King's family. Regardless, while King's life was taken from him prematurely, his legacy lives on in the equal rights now enjoyed by millions of African-Americans in the USA.

2000  -             The Olympic Torch relay ahead of the Sydney Olympic Games begins in Uluru-Kata Tjuta.

In 1991, Sydney launched its bid to host the 2000 Olympic Games. In September 1993, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Juan Antonio Samaranch, announced from Monte Carlo that Sydney, Australia, would be the host for the Games of the XXVII Olympiad in the year 2000.

The Olympic Torch relay commenced in Greece and then moved to Oceania, where it passed from Guam to the Cook Islands to New Zealand. On 8 June 2000, the Olympic Torch relay in Australia began at Uluru-Kata Tjuta, a location of particular significance to the indigenous Australians. Many gathered to watch the ceremony at Uluru on a particularly cold winters morning, with temperatures around 1 degree Celsius and a high wind chill factor. Governor-General, Sir William Deane, lit the torch, although due to the strong winds, the flame had to be re-lit, a pattern which was repeated several times during the day. Olympic gold medallist Nova Peris-Kneebone carried the torch for the first leg of the relay, running barefoot as a sign of respect for her people, the indigenous Australians. The torch was then handed to former tennis champion Evonne Goolagong Cawley, before being passed to the traditional owners who were to complete the nine kilometre circuit of the base of Uluru.

From Uluru, the torch was taken by aeroplane into Mount Isa in northwestern Queensland, on a 27 000 km journey in which it was carried by 11 000 torchbearers over 100 days. This was the longest torch relay in Olympic history. A range of unique Australian transportation methods were utilised: the Indian Pacific train carried it across the Nullarbor Plain, the Royal Flying Doctor Service aircraft conveyed it through the isolated expanse of the outback; it was transported by camel-back on Cable Beach at Broome in north-west Western Australia; and finally by a surf boat at Bondi, Sydney. The relay ended on 15 September at Sydney Olympic Park, Homebush Bay, in time for the Opening Ceremony.

2004  -             The first transit of Venus across the sun for this millennium is seen.

The transit of Venus occurs when the planet Venus passes directly between the Earth and the Sun, and its unlit side can be seen as a small black circle moving across the face of the Sun. Transits of Venus occur because its orbit around the Sun is inside that of the Earth. Transits of Venus occur in pairs, separated by periods of eight years. The pairs are separated by either 105.5 or 121.5 years. Thus, the next transit occurred in June 2012, but the one after that will not be until 2117. The first transit of Venus across the sun for this century and this millennium occurred on 8 June 2004. The last pair of transits occurred in December of 1874 and 1882.

The transit of Venus is a significant event for the southern hemisphere. Australia's eastern coast was first discovered when Captain James Cook was sent to Tahiti to observe the transit of Venus which occurred in 1769. Following his scientific mission, he then opened his sealed orders instructing him to sail west and search for "Terra Australis Incognita", the great unknown southern continent which, at that time, was not yet recognised as the "New Holland" recorded by Dutch traders.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1804  -             Beethoven conducts an open rehearsal of his 3rd symphony, the "Eroica".

Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the world's greatest composers, had a talent that 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. The "Eroica" was written five years after Beethoven began to experience symptoms of the deafness that would eventually rob him of the ability to hear his own magnificant compositions. On 9 June 1804, Beethoven conducted an open rehearsal of the "Eroica" prior to its first performance for a private audience in August 1804.

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.

1851  -             Victorian Governor La Trobe offers a reward of 200 pounds to anyone finding gold within 200 miles of Melbourne.

Gold was first officially discovered in Australia in 1851, not far from Bathurst, New South Wales. Edward Hargraves had carefully studied the geology of the area and, convinced that it was similar to that of the California goldfields from where he had just returned, went prospecting. The discovery caused an outbreak of "gold fever" as people from all over Australia downed the tools of their own trades and picked up the necessary tools for joining the goldrush.

The subsequent exodus of the population from Victoria was significant. Already rivals with New South Wales, the Victorian government was unwilling to lose more of its population to the northern goldfields. Subsequently, on 9 June 1851, Governor Charles Joseph La Trobe assembled a gold discovery committee, and offered a reward of £200 to anyone who found payable amounts of gold within 200 miles (320 kilometres) of Melbourne. In 1851, six months after the New South Wales find, gold was discovered at Ballarat, and a short time later at Bendigo Creek.

1928  -             Charles Kingsford Smith arrives in Brisbane after completing the first flight across the Pacific Ocean.

Charles Edward Kingsford Smith, nicknamed 'Smithy', was born on 9 February 1897 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. One of Australia's best-known early aviators, he completed the first non-stop crossing of the Australian mainland and the first flight from Australia to New Zealand. In 1930 he flew 16 000 kilometres single-handedly and won the England to Australia air race.

Kingsford Smith is perhaps best known for being the first to cross the Pacific from the United States to Australia. On 31 May 1928, he and his crew left the United States to make the first Trans-Pacific flight to Australia in the Southern Cross, a Fokker FVII-3M monoplane. The flight was in three stages, from Oakland, California to Hawaii, then to Suva, Fiji, and on to Brisbane, where he landed on 9 June 1928. On arrival, he was met by a huge crowd at Eagle Farm Airport, and was feted as a hero. Fellow Australian aviator Charles Ulm was the relief pilot, and the other two crew members were Americans James Warner and Captain Harry Lyon, who took the roles of radio operator, navigator and engineer for the trans-Pacific flight.

Kingsford Smith disappeared in 1935 in the Bay of Bengal whilst flying from England to Australia in the Lady Southern Cross. Wreckage from the aircraft was located off the south coast of Burma eighteen months later, but no evidence of the crew was ever found. Sydney's major airport was named Kingsford Smith International Airport in his honour. A federal electorate for the federal parliament of Australia which encompasses the airport is called Kingsford Smith. His original aircraft, the Southern Cross, is now preserved and displayed in a memorial at the International Terminal at Brisbane Airport. Kingsford Smith Drive in Brisbane passes through the suburb of his birth, Hamilton.

1934  -             Donald Duck makes his debut in the cartoon "The Wise Little Hen".

Donald Duck is an animated cartoon and comic-book character from Walt Disney Productions, distinctive for his sailor shirt and cap. His birthday is generally regarded as being 9 June 1934, the day his debut film was released. Disney's Donald Duck appeared for the first time in the cartoon "The Wise Little Hen". Bert Gillett, director of The Wise Little Hen, brought Donald back in his Mickey Mouse cartoon, The Orphan's Benefit, on 11 August 1934. In the film, Donald is one of a several characters giving performances in a benefit for Mickey's Orphans. Donald's act is to recite the poems Mary Had a Little Lamb and Little Boy Blue, but every time he tries, the mischievous orphans eat his specially made pie, leading Donald to fly into a squawking fit of anger. This explosive personality became his signature trademark for some decades. Eventually, Donald Duck went on to star in 128 cartoons, and appear in many more as a secondary character. Donald Duck's middle name is Fauntleroy.

1979  -             A fire on the Ghost train ride at Sydney's Luna Park kills six children and one adult.

Luna Park Sydney is an historical amusement park, located on the northern shore of Sydney Harbour, Australia. The heritage-listed park first opened in 1935, but has seen many closures over time, due to changes of ownership, legal battles and other difficulties.

On 16 April 1979, 13 people were injured on the Big Dipper ride when a steel runner came loose, halting one of the three rollercoaster trains. The following train rammed the stationary one, causing the injuries. However, any warning this may have given of potentially faulty equipment in the park was largely ignored.

On 9 June 1979, Luna Park's Ghost Train ride caught fire. Inadequate staffing and safety equipment enabled the fire to quickly spread, destroying the entire ride. Six children and one adult were killed in the fire. A coronial inquest conducted by the NSW government was unable to establish the cause of the fire, but concluded that Luna Park's managers and operators had failed in their duty of care towards the Park's patrons.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1770  -             Lieutenant James Cook's "The Endeavour" runs aground and nearly sinks on the Great Barrier Reef.

Following Lieutenant James Cook's observations in Tahiti of the transit of Venus across the sun, he sailed southwest, where he explored and mapped the coastline of New Zealand. He then continued west, making the first European sighting of Australia's eastern coast in April 1770. Claiming the continent for England, Cook sailed up the coast, charting and naming points of interest as he went.

Cape Tribulation, in far North Queensland, was so named by Cook after his ship, the HM Bark Endeavour, struck the reef and nearly sank. The Endeavour managed to stay afloat for another week whilst the crew sought desperately for land, eventually sighting the harbour formed by the Endeavour River. The ship was landed on 10 June 1770, and Cook spent almost two months repairing it, thus giving rise to the fledgling township of Cooktown.

The harbour was originally named the Charco, but Cook renamed it Endeavour when he departed on 4 August 1770. At that stage, the town had developed into nothing more than a tent village. The spot where Cook beached his damaged ship is marked by a stone monolith, called Cook's Pillar, on the banks of the Endeavour River.

1838  -             28 Aborigines are massacred by vengeful stockmen at Myall Creek.

Australian history is dotted with instances where Aborigines have been massacred, but their deaths have gone unrecorded. The Myall Creek massacre stands alone as one in which there was some attempt to bring the white perpetrators to justice.

On 10 June 1838, a gang of stockmen, heavily armed, rounded up between 40 and 50 Aboriginal women, children and elderly men of the Wirrayaraay people at Myall Creek Station, near Bingara, not far from Inverell in New South Wales. 28 Aborigines were murdered. It was believed that the massacre was payback for the killing of several colonists in the area, yet most of those massacred were women and children.

At a trial held on 15 November 1838, twelve Europeans were charged with murder but acquitted. Another trial was held on November 26, during which the twelve men were charged with the murder of just one Aboriginal child. They were found guilty, and seven of the men were hanged in December under the authority of Governor George Gipps. As a result of the hangings, the government received a huge backlash from people in Sydney, who saw the Aborigines as mere pests that deserved to be exterminated. Colonists who were outraged at the massacre of Aboriginal people were largely in the minority.

On 10 June 2000, a memorial to the Aborigines of Myall Creek was dedicated. An annual memorial service has been held on 10th June at the site of the massacre ever since. Some reconciliation between the descendants of the perpetrators of the massacre and of the people who were massacred has occurred, as documented in the ABC Australian Story episode "Bridge Over Myall Creek".

1851  -             Sydney Ducks gang member John Jenkins is lynched by San Franciscan vigilantes.

During the convict era, between 1788 and the end of transportation in 1868, over 174,000 men, woman and children were sent to Australia. Once pardoned or given a ticket-of-leave, many ex-convicts chose to remain in Australia. However, prospects were sometimes grim for those who chose to stay, some finding it impossible to earn a respectable living with the stigma of their convict past hanging over them. Nor could they return to their families in England, for the same reasons. Thus, when the goldrush began in California in 1848, many ex-convicts made their way to San Francisco.

With the population explosion in southern California, crime became rampant, particularly as many immigrants failed to find their fortune in gold and resorted to crime in order to survive. Criminals began to congregate in San Francisco, east of modern day Chinatown, forming gangs. Among the most notorious were those dominated by Australians, ticket of leave and escaped convicts. By 1849, so many were gathering on the Barbary Coast that it was commonly called 'Sydney Town', populated by gangs such as the 'Sydney Ducks' and 'Sydney Coves'. The Sydney Ducks were California's first known gang.

On 3 May 1851, the Sydney Ducks were blamed for a fire which broke out following a severe earthquake on May 1. Looting was rife, and blame centred on the Australians when a man recognised as a Sydney-Towner was seen running from a paint shop shortly before it exploded in flames. The area remained notorious for its vicious crimes until Sydney Duck member John Jenkins was lynched by vigilantes on 10 June 1851. Following his hanging, the population of Sydney Town dropped significantly as many Australians fled the area.

1886  -             At least 153 die as Mt Tarawera in New Zealand erupts.

Mount Tarawera is a volcanic mountain situated 24 kilometres southeast of Rotorua in the North Island of New Zealand. It is 1,111m high, and its crater is now a 6 km long chasm following the eruption that occurred in the early hours of 10 June 1886.

The volcanic ash in the air resulting from the eruption was observed as far south as Christchurch, over 800 km south. In Auckland the sound of the eruption and the flashing sky was thought by some to be an attack by Russian warships. The eruption also destroyed the Pink and White Terraces, which were a natural wonder located at Lake Rotomahana near Rotorua in New Zealand. They were considered to be the eighth wonder of the natural world and were New Zealand's most famous tourist attraction. The eruption also buried the Maori village of Te Wairoa. The official death toll was 153 people, although actual numbers are believed to have been higher.

1944  -             642 residents of Oradour-sur-Glane, France, are killed by Nazi troops.

Nazi Germany's troops were known for their brutality. After Germany invaded France in World War II, the local French Resistance developed to hinder the activities of the Germans. In 1944, with the Allied invasion looming, the French Resistance increased its activities in order to occupy the German forces and hinder communications.

Oradour-sur-Glane was a village in the Limousin région of Limoges France. It had come under direct German control in 1942. On 10 June 1944, a German command leader (Sturmbannführer) reported that he had been approached by two French citizens, who claimed another Sturmbannführer was being held captive in Oradour-sur-Glane, and his public execution was to be held that night. The entire village was reported to be working with the French Resistance guerrilla, the maquis.

As a result, 200 Nazi German troops rounded up the entire village of Oradour-sur-Glane, France, ostensibly to examine people's papers. The men were rounded into barns, and the women and children into the church. The Nazi troops then set fire to the entire village. Anyone not burned was then killed by machine gun fire or grenades. Out of a population of 652, 10 people survived the conflagration and pretended to be dead until the troops had departed.

A new village was later built nearby, but the burnt ruins of the original village remain as testimony to the atrocities of Nazi Germany in World War II.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1509  -             Henry VIII marries the first of his six wives, Catherine of Aragon.

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 religion 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.

1851  -             The first gold is found in Victoria.

Gold was discovered in Australia as early as the 1830s, but discoveries were kept secret, for fear of sparking off unrest among the convicts. However, as more people left the Australian colonies to join the gold rush in California, it became apparent that the outward tide of manpower would need to be stemmed. The government began to seek experts who could locate gold in Australian countrysides.

Gold was first officially discovered in Australia in 1851, not far from Bathurst, New South Wales, by Edward Hargraves. Less than three months later, on 9 August 1851, Victoria had its first gold strike at Sovereign Hill near Ballarat, and the real goldrush began when gold was discovered at Mt Alexander, 60km northeast of Ballarat, and close to the town of Bendigo.

However, the first payable gold in Victoria was actually found at Clunes and Warrandyte. James Esmond was a prospector who had come from the Californian goldfields, just like Edward Hargraves. He made what is believed to be the first gold discovery at Clunes on 11 June 1851. However, at almost the same time, gold was also discovered at Anderson's Creek, near Warrandyte, by Melbourne publican Louis Michel. Both Clunes and Warrandyte claim to be the first town in Victoria where gold was found.

1863  -             New South Wales sees the first public demonstration of electric lighting, to honour the marriage of the Prince of Wales.

Thanks to the efforts of Governor Richard Bourke, Sydney first received street lighting in the 1830s. Sydney was also the site of the first public demonstration of electric lighting in New South Wales. On 11 June 1863, the city was lit up to honour the occasion of the wedding of the Prince of Wales. This early electric lighting used arc lamps which burned extremely hot, and produced fumes, so they could not be used indoors.

Electric lighting was used regularly in Sydney from 1878. Again, this involved the use of arc lamps to allow work on the Exhibition Garden Palace in the Botanical Gardens to be completed in time for the International Exhibition the government wished to host.

By 1896, the government sought advice from Edison, Swan and various other experts, and subsequently planned ahead to legislate for the eventual establishment of The Municipal Council of Sydney's Electricity Undertaking. On 8 July 1904, the Electricity Undertaking's supply system was officially switched on. At 5:00pm on this day, Sydney's Lord Mayor Samuel E Lees started the steam to fire up the engine and generators, while his wife, the Lady Mayoress, switched on the actual electric current with a special gold presentation key.

1901  -             New Zealand annexes the Cook Islands.

The Cook Islands are a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean, named after Captain Cook who sighted them in 1770. Situated about halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii, they consist of about fifteen small islands with a total land area of 240 square kilometres.

The Cook Islands became a British protectorate at their own request in 1888, then were transferred to New Zealand on 11 June 1901. They remained a New Zealand protectorate until 1965, after which they became a self-governing territory in free association with New Zealand. Today, the Cook Islands are essentially independent, but are still officially placed under New Zealand sovereignty. New Zealand oversees the country's foreign relations and defence, but may not impose legislation on the Cook Islands without the latter's consent. The Cook Islands are one of three New Zealand dependencies, along with Tokelau and Niue.

1987  -             British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wins a record third term.

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, née Roberts, was born on 13 October 1925 in the town of Grantham in Lincolnshire, eastern England. She was to become one of the dominant political figures during the 1980s after she became Britain's first female Prime Minister on 4 May 1979. An Oxford-educated chemist and lawyer, she led the Conservatives to a 44-seat majority. Mrs Thatcher's election campaign promised income tax cuts, reduction in public expenditure, and strategies to make it easier for people to buy their own homes and curb the power of the unions.

Thatcher remained in power for 11 years, implementing tax policy reforms, some of which were successful, and some which were not. She won a record third term on 11 June 1978, making her the first prime minister for more than 160 years to win three successive terms of office. The Conservative Party's winning candidate beat Labour by 376 to 229 seats.

Thatcher's poll-tax policy of 1990 resulted in protests and rioting in English cities, and largely led to her downfall. Her poll tax, together with her opposition to further British integration into the European Community, alienated some members of her own party and in November 1990 she failed to received a majority in the Conservative Party's annual vote for selection of a leader. Thatcher resigned in November 1990.

1992  -             The Mount Schank State Heritage Area, around extinct volcanic remnant Mount Schank, is declared.

Mount Schank, in South Australia, is a volcanic cinder cone which rises about 100m above the surrounding coastal plain. It lies about 12.5 kilometres south of Mount Gambier, the remnant of another extinct volcano which is believed to be slightly younger than Mount Schank. It was named by James Grant, a young lieutenant sent out on a survey voyage of the southern coast, in December 1800, to honour Captain (later Admiral) John Schank of the Royal Navy.

Volcanic activity from thousands of years ago is evident in the landscape of volcanic craters, lakes, caves and underground aquifers in the area. The region is also believed to be the site of the most recent volcanic activity in Australia's ancient past. Mount Schank is estimated to have first erupted about 4,500 years ago.

On 11 June 1992, the Mount Schank State Heritage Area was declared, in order to protect the unique geological formations of the area. The lack of urban development around Mount Schank, as compared to Mount Gambier, makes the site of great value to scientists for learning more about Australia's volcanic history.

1999  -             Star Trek star, DeForest Kelley, who played "Bones" McCoy, dies.

DeForest Kelley was born on 20 January 1920 in Atlanta, Georgia. The son of a Baptist minister, he sang in the church choir as a child, which led to him singing solos and gaining an appearance on radio station WSB in Atlanta. Following this exposure, he won an engagement with Lew Forbes and his orchestra at the Paramount Theatre, his first real taste of the entertainment industry. He decided to pursue an acting career after he completed three years serving in World War II as a member of the Army Air Forces.

In the early years of his acting career, he played mostly minor characters in Western movies and TV Westerns. He gradually built up an impressive list of credits, alternating between television and motion pictures. He eventually won the role of Dr Leonard "Bones" McCoy, ironic for the fact that he had originally wanted to be a doctor, but his family could not afford for him to go to college. He played Dr McCoy from 1966 to 1969 in Star Trek (The Original Series) and in the first six Star Trek motion pictures 1979 to 1991. He also had a humorous cameo role in the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Encounter at Farpoint". Kelley died from stomach cancer on 11 June 1999, the first member of the original Star Trek cast to pass away.

Cheers - John

1999.......It was a sad day when he told Scotty to "Beam me up Scotty" for the final time Rocky.

Edit....ooops, I nearly got beamed up. 

Gday...

1929  -             WWII Holocaust diarist, Anne Frank, is born.

Anne Frank was born on 12 June 1929. As persecution of the Jews escalated in WWII, she was forced to go into hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands. She, her family and four other people hid in an annex of rooms above her fathers office in Amsterdam. After two years of living in this way, they were betrayed to the Nazis and deported to concentration camps. At the age of 15, Anne Frank died after a typhus epidemic spread through the camp killing an estimated 17,000 prisoners at Bergen-Belsen. The date has been variously estimated as 31 March 1945, just two months before the end of the war. After the war, it was estimated that of the 110,000 Jews deported from the Netherlands during the Nazi occupation, only 5,000 survived.

Anne Frank's legacy is her diary. It was given to her as a simple autograph/notebook for her thirteenth birthday. In it she recorded not only the personal details of her life, but also her observations of living under Nazi occupation until the final entry of 1 August 1944.

1931  -             The territories of North Australia and Central Australia are reunited as the Northern Territory.

The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, bordered by the states of Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia. From 1825 to 1863, the Northern Territory was part of New South Wales. In 1863, control of the Northern Territory was handed to South Australia as a result of the successful 1862 expedition of John McDouall Stuart to find an overland route through the desert from Adelaide to the north. In 1911, a decade after Federation, the Northern Territory was transferred to Commonwealth control.

During the 1920s, George Pearce, Federal Minister for Home and Territories, campaigned for the separation of the Northern Territory into two smaller territories, on the grounds that it was too large to be properly governed. Thus, in 1926, the 'Northern Australia Act' separated the Northern Territory into North Australia and Central Australia, with the division at the 20th parallel of South latitude. Darwin was to be capital of North Australia and Alice Springs capital of Central Australia.

Although separation took effect in February 1927, within four years the Act was repealed. On 12 June 1931, North Australia and Central Australia were reunited as the Northern Territory.

1948  -             Donald Bradman scores 138 in the First Test at Trent Bridge.

Donald George Bradman was born on 27 August 1908 in Cootamundra, New South Wales, Australia. One of Australia's most popular sporting heroes, he is often regarded as the greatest batsman of all time. The Bradman Museum and Bradman Oval are located in the New South Wales town of Bowral where Bradman grew up, spending many an hour practising his cricket using a stump and a golf ball. Bradman developed his legendary split-second speed and accuracy by practising hitting into a water tank on a brick stand behind the Bradman home: when hit into the curved brick stand, the ball would rebound at high speed and varying angles. Bradman's batting average of 99.94 from his 52 Tests was nearly double the average of any other player before or since.

Bradman was drafted in grade cricket in Sydney at the age of 18. Within a year he was representing New South Wales and within three years he had made his Test debut. In the English summer of 1930 he scored 974 runs over the course of the five Ashes tests, the highest individual total in any test series. Even at almost forty years of age - most players today are retired by their mid-thirties - Bradman returned to play cricket after World War II. On 12 June 1948, he scored 138 in the First Test Cricket at Trent Bridge. In his farewell 1948 tour of England the team he led, dubbed "The Invincibles", went undefeated throughout the tour, a feat unmatched to date.

Bradman was awarded a knighthood in 1949 and a Companion of the Order of Australia, the country's highest civil honour, in 1979. In 1996, he was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame as one of the ten inaugural members. After his retirement, he remained heavily involved in cricket administration, serving as a selector for the national team for nearly 30 years. Sir Donald Bradman died on 25 February 2001.

1964  -             Anti-apartheid leader, Nelson Mandela, is given a life sentence in jail.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on 18 July 1918. Mandela was seven years old when he became the first member of his family to attend school: it was there that he was given the English name "Nelson" by a Methodist teacher.

In his university days, Mandela became a political activist against the white minority government's denial of political, social, and economic rights to South Africa's black majority. He became a prominent anti-apartheid activist of the country, and was involved in underground resistance activities. On 12 June 1964, Mandela was jailed for life after he confessed to plotting to destroy the South African state by sabotage. Although interred in jail from 1962 to 1990 for his resistance activities, Mandela continued to fight for the rights of the South African blacks. He was eventually freed, thanks to sustained campaigning by the African National Congress, and subsequent international pressure. He and State President F.W. de Klerk shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. Mandela was elected to the Presidency of South Africa in the country's first multi-racial elections held in 1994. He retired in 1999 and died fourteen years later.

2003  -             Optus launches the C1 satellite, the largest Australian hybrid communications and military satellite ever launched.

The Optus and Defence C1 satellite is a joint initiative between Australian communications provider Optus and the Australian Department of Defence. Launched on 12 June 2003 from French Guiana on an Ariane 5G rocket, it is the largest hybrid communications and military satellite launched, to date.

Costing A$500 million, the C1 has an expected life span of 15 years. The satellite carries 16 antennas which provide 18 beams across Australia, New Zealand and East Asia, in addition to global beams which cover from India to Hawaii. The C1 satellite is positioned in orbit at 156 degrees east longitude, and is controlled from Optus' Sydney earth station.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1874  -             Explorer John Forrest's party fires upon Aborigines during an attack in central Western Australia.

John Forrest was born on 22 August 1847, near Bunbury in Western Australia. Between the years of 1869 to 1874, Forrest led three expeditions, two of them with his brother Alexander, to explore the uncharted areas of Western Australia. In 1869, he led the search for Ludwig Leichhardt's party which had gone missing on their trek across Australia from east to west, a search which was unsuccessful. In 1870, he surveyed the route which Edward Eyre had taken in 1840-41 from Adelaide to Albany, across the Great Australian Bight.

In April 1874, the brothers departed Geraldton with three experienced white men, two aborigines and enough supplies for eight months, in search of a stock route and pasture land to the east. During this expedition, on 13 June 1874, the exploration party was attacked by Aborigines. The Aborigines retreated only when two of them were badly wounded by rifle fire. It is thought that the Aborigines attacked because the Forrest party was camping on sacred ground.

1923  -             Australia sees the introduction of Vegemite.

Vegemite is the registered brand name for a dark brown, salty food paste made from yeast extract, mainly used as a spread on sandwiches and toast. It is popular in Australia and is known as one of Australia's national foods. The iconic Australian spread was first developed in 1922 by food technologist Dr Cyril P Callister when his employer, the Australian Fred Walker Company, had him develop a spread from brewer's yeast after World War I had disrupted the supply of imported yeast spreads.

A trade name competition was held to find a name for the new product, and the winning name of Vegemite was chosen from the entries by Walker's daughter Sheilah, by being picked at random out of a hat. The product was introduced to the Australian public on 13 June 1923. Initial interest and sales were slow, but the product endured through a name change to "Parwill", then a return to "Vegemite" in 1935. Largely an acquired taste, Vegemite is notorious for the dislike it generates amongst some foreigners.

1951  -             Former Australian Prime Minister, Ben Chifley, dies.

Ben Chifley was born Joseph Benedict Chifley on 22 September 1885 in Bathurst, New South Wales. He was raised largely by his grandfather, and joined the railways at age 15. Moving up to the position of engine driver, he became one of the founders of the engine drivers' union, the AFULE, and was actively involved in the Australian Labor Party. In 1928, Chifley won the Bathurst-based seat of Macquarie in the House of Representatives, and in 1931 he became Minister for Defence, under Scullin. He lost his seat again shortly afterwards when the Scullin government fell, but regained it in 1940, becoming Treasurer in Curtin's government.

Curtin died in July 1945, and Chifley defeated Forde in the leadership ballot to become Australia's 16th Prime Minister. He implemented necessary post-war economic controls, remaining Prime Minister until his defeat by Robert Menzies and the Liberal Party in 1949. Two years later, on 13 June 1951, Chifley died of a heart attack.

1990  -             Official demolition of the Berlin Wall begins.

The Berlin Wall, which stood as a symbol of the Cold War for nearly thirty years, was originally erected overnight on 13 August 1961, when the Eastern and Western halves of Berlin were separated by barbed wire fences up to 1.83 metres high. The barbed wire was gradually replaced with permanent concrete blocks, reaching up to 3.6m high. Ultimately, the wall included over 300 watchtowers, 106km of concrete and 66.5km of wire fencing completely surrounding West Berlin and preventing any access from East Germany.

The wall remained as a barrier between East and West until 1989, when the collapse of communism led to its fall. On 9 November 1989, an international press conference began in East Berlin. Huge demonstrations against political repression had been continuing for months. At the conclusion of the peace conference, greater freedom of travel was announced for people of the German Democratic Republic. At midnight, the East German government allowed gates along the Wall to be opened after hundreds of people converged on crossing points. In the ensuing weeks, many people then took to the wall with hammers and chisels, dismantling it piece by piece.

The official demolition of the Berlin wall began on 13 June 1990, and was undertaken by former East German border guards under a democratically elected government.

1997  -             Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh is sentenced to death.

On 19 April 1995, Oklahoma City was the target of a terrorist attack. At 9:02am, a rented truck containing about 2,300 kg of explosive material exploded in the street in front of the Alfred P Murrah federal building, a US government office complex. The truck bomb was composed of ammonium nitrate, an agricultural fertiliser, and nitromethane, a highly volatile motor-racing fuel. 168 were killed in the explosion, including 19 children attending a day-care centre in the building. 800 more people were injured, while over 300 buildings in the surrounding area were destroyed or seriously damaged, leaving several hundred people homeless and shutting down offices in downtown Oklahoma City.

Within an hour of the explosion, 29-year-old Gulf War veteran Timothy McVeigh was arrested, travelling north out of Oklahoma City after being pulled over for driving without a licence plate by an Oklahoma highway patrolman. At the trial, the United States Government asserted that McVeigh's motivation for the attack was to avenge the deaths two years earlier of Branch Davidians near Waco, Texas, whom he believed had been murdered by agents of the federal government. On 13 June 1997, Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death by a jury consisting of seven men and five women, who unanimously voted that McVeigh should die by lethal injection. He was executed by lethal injection at a US penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, on 11 June 2001.

Cheers - John

Gday...

1789  -             Captain William Bligh, after being cast adrift following the mutiny on the 'Bounty', arrives at Timor.

William Bligh was born in Plymouth, south-west England, on 9 September 1754. He was only 8 when he first went to sea. At age 22, he was chosen to join Captain Cook's crew on the 'Resolution', and became commander of the 'HMAV Bounty' eleven years later.

The famous mutiny on the Bounty occurred after Bligh left Tahiti on his way to the Caribbean. For reasons undetermined by historical records, Master's Mate Fletcher Christian led the mutiny, with the support of a small number of the ship's crew. Theories have abounded, foremost among them being Bligh's stern discipline and tendency to push his crew very hard. Bligh and his own supporters were provided with a 7m launch, a sextant and enough provisions to enable them to reach the closest ports, but no means of navigation. Bligh chose not to head for the closer Spanish ports, which would have slowed down the process of bringing the mutineers to justice, but instead completed a 41 day journey to Timor. From here, he stood a better chance of communicating quickly to British vessels which could pursue the mutineers.

After navigating some 5,600km from memory of Cook's charts and voyages, Bligh and his surviving crew arrived at Timor on 14 June 1789. After recovering in Timor and being tended to by the inhabitants of the Dutch colony, Captain Bligh finally returned to England, arriving there on 14 March 1790. His men had suffered starvation, scurvy and dehydration. Whilst some of the died from the ravages of the journey, many of them survived to serve in the Royal Navy once more.

1823  -             The Brisbane River is discovered by three ticket-of-leave convicts, Parsons, Pamphlett and Finnegan. Oxley is later credited with the discovery.

Richard Parsons, Thomas Pamphlett and John Finnegan were three ticket-of-leave convicts, and timber-getters. They had been blown off course in a wild storm off the Illawarra coast of NSW, and, believing they were south of Port Jackson, headed north. They had a fourth companion, Thompson, who became delirious from lack of water and eventually died. His body was dropped overboard. The three remaining men became shipwrecked on the southern tip of Moreton Island. They made their way across the Moreton Bay islands to the mainland, then north where they came across the Brisbane River.

Aborigines assisted the men with food and shelter. During the course of their ventures, on 14 June 1823, they came across a "large river": they were the first white men to sight this river. John Oxley, meanwhile, was surveying the area as the site for a possible penal settlement. He came across Pamphlett and Finnegan on Bribie Island, and Parsons later rejoined them, having travelled further north. The men showed Oxley the large river, which he later named the Brisbane River, after Governor Brisbane. Because of Oxley's position as surveyor-general, he became the one credited with the discovery.

1864  -             Alois Alzheimer, the man who first identifies the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, is born.

Aloysius "Alois" Alzheimer was born on 14 June 1864 in Marktbreit, Bavaria. He was a German psychiatrist and neuropathologist, and the first to identify the symptoms of what is now known as Alzheimer's Disease.

Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disease, and the most common cause of dementia. It is characterised clinically by progressive intellectual deterioration, behaviour changes and gradually declining activities of daily living. The most common early symptom is memory loss (amnesia), which usually manifests as minor forgetfulness that becomes steadily more pronounced as the illness progresses, yet older memories tend to remain intact.

The symptoms of the disease as a distinct entity from senility were first identified by German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin, and the characteristic neuropathology was first observed by Alzheimer. He observed the disease in a patient he first saw in 1901, and published his findings from his postmortem examination of her brain in 1906. Although Krepelin and Alzheimer essentially worked together, because Kraepelin was dedicated to finding the neuropathological basis of psychiatric disorders, he made the generous decision that the disease would bear Alzheimer's name.

Alzheimer died of heart failure at age 51, on 19 December 1915.

1940  -             Paris falls as German troops enter the city and hoist the Swastika on the Eiffel Tower.

The Nazi invasion of France began on 12 May 1940, when German troops stormed the northwest corners of the Maginot Line, previously alleged by the French military command to be an impregnable defence of their eastern border. A week later Belgium, on France's northern border, had also been conquered. This in itself made Allied defence of France untenable.

In the early stages of World War II, a large force of British and French soldiers were cut off in northern France at the harbour city of Dunkirk by a German armoured advance to the Channel coast at Calais, and trapped at Dunkirk. Beginning in late May 1940, a mass evacuation of Dunkirk was carried out by Allied troops under the name Operation Dynamo. The Battle of Dunkirk was conducted from 26 May 1940 to 4 June 1940. Over a period of nine days, 338,226 French and British soldiers were taken from Dunkirk, France and the surrounding beaches by a quickly assembled fleet of about seven hundred vessels.

Once northern France was essentially abandoned, the Germans continued their relentless march through the rest of France. In the early morning hours of 14 June 1940, they marched into Paris, during which French troops retreated to prevent Paris from being completely destroyed. Two million citizens of Paris had already fled. The Nazi troops later hoisted the swastika on the Eiffel Tower.       

Cheers - John

Gday...

1215  -             King John of England puts his seal to the Magna Carta.

The Magna Carta, Latin for "Great Charter", set down rights that became a part of English law. These rights are now the foundation of the constitution of every English-speaking nation, and included the right of a jury trial, protection of private property, limits on taxation and certain religious freedom. The Magna Carta is the most significant early influence on the long historical process that has led to the rule of constitutional law today.

King John, who became king in 1199 when his brother King Richard I died, was a tyrannical king. His reign began with defeats he lost Normandy to Philippe Auguste of France in his first five years on the throne and ended with England torn by civil war and himself on the verge of being forced out of power. By 1215, the nobility of England had enough of paying extra taxation. Members of this nobility rebelled and captured London. In June, the King met these barons at Runnymede on the Thames River to try and reach a peaceful settlement. The King reluctantly agreed to their demands by signing the Magna Carta on 15 June 1215.

1844  -             Vulcanised rubber is patented by Charles Goodyear.

Vulcanisation, or curing, of rubber is a chemical process in which rubber molecules become locked together to a greater or lesser extent, making the bulk material harder, more durable and more resistant to chemical attack. The process also alters the surface of the material from a stickiness that adheres to other materials, to a smooth soft surface.

Prior to the mid-19th century, natural or India rubber had limited usefulness because it melted in hot weather, froze and cracked in cold weather, and tended to stick to virtually everything. Charles Goodyear, a businessman who experimented with the properties of gum elastic, accidentally discovered the process of vulcanisation of rubber when he dropped some rubber mixed with sulfur on a hot stove. He received US Patent No. 3,633 on 15 June 1844 for his invention.

Goodyear did not benefit from his invention as Englishman Thomas Han**** copied his idea and attained a British patent for the process before Goodyear applied for a British patent. However, vulcanised rubber was later was made into tyres emblazoned with Goodyear's name. The Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Company adopted the Goodyear name because of its activities in the rubber industry, but it has no other links to Charles Goodyear and his family.

1862  -             Australia's largest ever gold robbery is carried out by bushranger Frank Gardiner near Forbes, New South Wales.

Frank Gardiner was born Francis Christie in 1829, in Rosshire, Scotland. He was first convicted of horse stealing in Victoria in 1850, and sentenced to five years hard labour in Pentridge Gaol. After escaping a year later, he took up bushranging in the district around Goulburn, New South Wales. He was arrested again for horse stealing in 1854, and sent to Sydney's infamous ****atoo Island. He was released five years later on a ticket-of-leave, on condition that he remain in the Carcoar district and regularly report to the police. He broke parole by heading straight to the Kiandra gold diggings in the New South Wales high country. After a brief stint as a butcher near Lambing Flat (now Young, NSW) he gradually fell back into a life of crime, progressing from horse and cattle stealing, to highway robberies under arms, violent assaults, and the attempted murder of two police officers.

On 15 June 1862, together with Ben Hall and Johnny Gilbert, Gardiner bailed up the Lachlan Gold Escort in Eugowra Rock, near Forbes. This hold up is still considered to be the largest ever gold robbery in Australia's history. The total value of the 2,700 ounces of gold taken was estimated at £14,000 (approximately AUD$2 million in 2006 terms). Almost half of the gold was recovered by mounted police following a raid on one of the Gardiner hideouts in the Weddin Mountains near Forbes in NSW.

After initially disappearing form the scene, Gardiner was later recognised at Apis Creek near Rockhampton, Queensland. He served ten years of a thirty year sentence before heading off to California. There has been much speculation about two Californians who arrived in Wheogo in 1912, posing as mining prospectors. After digging up the area around Gardiner's former camp and departing with their specimen bags full, it has been speculated that they were Gardiner's sons returning for the remaining gold.

1996  -             200 people are injured as a bomb explodes in Manchester.

Manchester is a city in the northwest of England, particularly famous for its sport, and a centre for the arts, media and big business. At 11:20am on Saturday, 15 June 1996, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) detonated a large bomb in the city centre. Whilst the bomb caused over 200 injuries, it caused no deaths, and could have led to real tragedy were it not for a telephone warning to a local television station at around 10:00am. Police were kept busy clearing people from central Manchester for the next hour and twenty minutes, although they were unable to evacuate all citizens by the time the bomb detonated. The main damage was to the physical infrastructure of nearby buildings. It was the seventh attack by the IRA since it broke its ceasefire earlier in February, and the second largest attack to occur on the British mainland.

Cheers - John