Gday...

1865  -  Australian bushranger Ben Hall is shot dead by police. 

1894  -  The Australian slang term 'fair dinkum' appears in print for the first time. 

"Fair dinkum" is an Australian slang term meaning honest, genuine or real. The derivation dinky-di means a native-born Australian or "the real thing". The word "dinkum" had appeared by itself in print, in the novel "Robbery Under Arms" by Australian writer Rolf Boldrewood, when it was published in 1888. However, the term "fair dinkum", giving the term an extra quality of incredulity, appeared in print for the first time in the magazine 'The Bulletin' on 5 May 1894. The Bulletin was immensely influential in Australian culture and politics from about 1890 until World War I.

It has been suggested that the word dinkum was a dialect word from Lincolnshire and Derbyshire in England, where it meant "hard work" or "fair work"; this was also the original meaning in Australian English.

1906  -  The first electric tram in Melbourne, Australia, begins operating. 

1945  -  Six people are killed in the only deaths caused by Japanese bombs on the American mainland in World War II.

The fire balloon, or Fu-Go, was a weapon developed by Japan during the Second World War, which made use of a hydrogen balloon carrying a bomb and incendiary devices. Around 9300 fire balloons were launched by Japan between November 1944 and April 1945, with the intention of them being carried east by the jet stream over the Pacific Ocean to Canada and mainland USA. Around 340 of these made their way to North America, with some of them causing minor damage: only one of them caused any deaths.The bombing attack by the Japanese on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in 1941 is one of the best-known and most tragic incidents in World War II. What is less known are the Japanese attempts to bomb the North American mainland using fire balloons, and the success of one such weapon.

On 5 May 1945, Sunday School teacher Elyse Mitchell, who was pregnant, her Minister husband and five of her young teenage students were on their way to a picnic, driving along a mountainous road near Klamath Falls in eastern Oregon. They stopped when Mrs Mitchell felt sick, and she and the students walked some distance from the car. A short time later, just as Mrs Mitchell called her husband to see what the group had found, there was a tremendous explosion. All six in the group were killed.

This was the only incident of Japanese bombing on the American mainland which resulted in casualties. These were also the only combat deaths from any cause on the US mainland to date.

Cheers - John