Gday...

1580  -     The Book of Concord, a collection of doctrinal standards of the Lutheran Church, is published for the first time.

"The Book of Concord: The Lutheran Confessions of 1529-1580" is a collection of confessions of faith published in 1580, which outline the doctrines of the Lutheran church. The book was first published on 25 June 1580, fifty years after the presentation of the Augsburg Confession, the central document of the Lutheran reformation, to Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Augsburg.

The Lutheran Church resulted when Martin Luther, a Roman Catholic monk, openly questioned the teachings of the Roman Catholic church, in particular, the nature of penance, the authority of the pope and the usefulness of indulgences, which were monetary payments of penalty believed to absolve one of one's sins. The Reformation of the church began with Luther's act of nailing his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Church, Germany, in 1517. That document contained an attack on papal abuses and the sale of indulgences by church officials. After Luther died, the fledgling Lutheran church struggled with its own divisions. The Book of Concord was an attempt to heal this divisiveness and it came to serve as the source book for Lutheran orthodoxy.

1847  -     Melbourne, capital of Victoria, is proclaimed a city. 

The city of Melbourne, Australia, began as an illegal settlement after native-born Australian John Batman applied for land in the Westernport Bay area of southern Australia but was denied his request. In May 1835, he led a syndicate known as the 'Port Phillip Association' to explore Port Phillip Bay and, when he found a suitable site, he established a small settlement, naming it Batmania. Shortly afterwards, he signed a 'treaty' with the indigenous Wurundjeri people, giving him free access to almost 250,000 hectares of land, and in return, paying them an annual offering of dozens of items such as blankets, axes, knives, scissors, mirrors, handkerchiefs, flour and clothing. However, Governor Bourke declared Batman's treaty invalid, and issued a proclamation warning off him and his syndicate as trespassers on crown land. Regardless, the infant and illegal settlement thrived.

Conceding its existence, early in March 1837 Governor Bourke directed that the town be laid out. He named the flourishing settlement 'Melbourne' after the British Prime Minister of the day. By the end of April, the proposed Melbourne city plan by Sydney surveyor Robert Hoddle was lodged at the government survey office in Sydney.

On 25 June 1847, Melbourne was declared a city by letters patent of Queen Victoria. When Victoria separated from New South Wales in 1851, it was the natural choice to be the capital. Melbourne is now the second largest city in Australia.

1852  -     89 people die as the town of Gundagai, NSW, Australia, is inundated by floods

The town of Gundagai is located on the Murrumbidgee River 390 km south-west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Australian explorer Hamilton Hume, together with immigrant William Hovell, were the first Europeans to visit when they passed through the area in 1824, and their expedition subsequently opened up the area for farming land. Explorer Charles Sturt identified a spot near Gundagai as the best crossing point of the river for coaches and drovers. A settlement gradually grew up along the Murrumbidgee River at the river crossing, and by 1852, there were around 300 people living along the river flats.

It had already been seen that the flats were prone to flooding, but people ignored the warnings and continued building in close proximity to the water. Torrential rain had been falling in the Snowy Mountains for most of the month of June 1852. Despite the rising river, many people chose to wait out the floods in the lofts of their houses rather than evacuate, as they were familiar with floods. However, in the early hours of 25 June 1852, a torrent swept down the Murrumbidgee valley. Houses collapsed and people were swept away. A punt sent out to rescue people capsized, its occupants thrown into the raging waters. Two Aborigines, Yarri and Jackey Jackey, showed great courage and heroism as they took their canoes out into the torrent to rescue people stranded in trees and the water. Although they rescued 49, another 89 were killed in the Gundagai flood.

After another, higher flood in 1853, the town was relocated to its current site on the hill, Mount Parnassus, above the river. In 1867 an iron truss bridge, the Prince Alfred bridge, was built to span the flood plain. Until the completion of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932, the Prince Alfred bridge, at 921 metres, was the longest bridge in New South Wales.

1895  -      Jack Dempsey is born

Born in Manassa, Colorado, Dempsey was an American boxer and world heavyweight champion. Nicknamed the "Manassa Mauler," he emerged from fights on saloon floors to seal his slugging reputation in his first title fight by knocking down the gigantic champion, Jess Willard, seven times in the first three minutes. He successfully defended his title five times before losing to Gene Tunney in an upset.

1950  -     North Korea invades South Korea, sparking the Korean War, which lasted for 3 years. 

The Korean War was a conflict between North Korea and South Korea during the Cold War era. Some consider the war to have been a proxy war between the United States and its allies, and the Communist powers of the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union.

Korea, a former Japanese possession, was initially divided in the final days of World War II, on 10 August 1945. With the Japanese surrender imminent, the United States and the Soviet Union divided Korea along the 38th parallel: Japanese forces north of that line would surrender to the Soviet Union and those south of that line would surrender to the United States. Whilst the division was not considered to be permanent, in December 1945, the US and the Soviet Union agreed to administer the country temporarily. Subsequently, both countries established governments in their respective halves according to their political ideology.

In the early morning of 25 June 1950, North Korea launched a full-scale invasion of South Korea. Seoul, the capital of South Korea, was overrun three days later. The USA immediately pushed a resolution through the U.N.'s Security Council calling for military assistance to South Korea, and US troops arrived on the 1st of July to engage the enemy. American intervention prompted the arrival of communist Chinese forces in late 1950, and subsequently the war became a stalemate, spanning three years. During the war, South Korea suffered 1,312,836 military casualties, including 415,004 dead. This figure does not include the innocent civilians. 36,940 Americans were killed, and UN allies lost 3,094. A truce agreement was signed on 27 July 1953, and resulted in the continued division of North and South Korea.

1983  -     Sally Ride Returns to Earth

Before astronaut Sally Ride became the first American woman to reach outer space, she made a name for herself as a nationally-ranked tennis player. After earning her bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees from Stanford University, she took part in her first space shuttle mission in 1983, serving on board the Challenger. She later served on the panels that investigated the Challenger and Columbia shuttle disasters.

Cheers - John