Gday...

1945  -     Joseph Benedict Chifley, Australia's fifth wartime Prime Minister, is sworn into office.

At the time that World War II began, Australia's Prime Minister was Robert Menzies. It was Menzies who made the announcement in September 1939 that Australia was at war with Germany. However, party dissension led Menzies to resign as Prime Minister in August 1941. He was succeeded by Arthur Fadden on 29 August 1941 but in the federal election five weeks later, the coalition government lost majority support in the House of Representatives. Thus, John Curtin became Prime Minister on 7 October 1941, announcing in December of that year that Australia was also at war with the Japanese Empire. Curtin suffered a coronary occlusion in November 1944 which led to his hospitalisation for many weeks. Although he resumed office in January 1945, he never fully recovered, and died unexpectedly in The Lodge on 5 July 1945.
Ben Chifley, born Joseph Benedict Chifley in 1885, had won the Bathurst-based seat of Macquarie in the House of Representatives in 1928, 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. After Curtin's death, Deputy Prime Minister Frank Forde temporarily acted as Prime Minister. Chifley defeated Forde when the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party elected Ben Chifley as its new leader, to become the new Prime Minister of Australia.
Chifley was sworn into office on 13 July 1945. He effectively implemented necessary post-war economic controls, remaining Prime Minister until his defeat by Robert Menzies and the Liberal Party in 1949. Two years later, Chifley died of a heart attack.

1985  -     The Live Aid concert raises in excess of £150 million for famine relief in Africa.

Live Aid was a rock concert held at several venues around the world on 13 July 1985 to raise money to assist the famine-affected people in Africa. The main stadia for the event were Wembley in London, and JFK Stadium, Philadelphia. Some acts performed at other venues such as Sydney and Moscow. It was estimated that 1.5 billion viewers in 100 countries watched the live broadcast, in the largest satellite link-up and TV broadcast to date. It was organised by Boomtown Rats singer Bob Geldof, and conceived as a follow-up to the release in the previous December of the hit single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" Originally, it was envisaged that the concert would raise £1 million but when the money was ultimately added up, the concert had raised more than £150 million.

1994  -     41 refugees, including 23 children, are killed by agents of the Cuban government.

In the early hours of 13 July 1994, a group of 72 refugees sought to flee the communist regime of Cuba in a tugboat named "13 de Marzo". When the small craft was just over ten kilometres from the Cuban coast, it was intercepted by the Cuban Coast guard. The government boats first attacked the tugboat repeatedly, causing it to split in two. Equipped with water tanks and hoses, they then positioned themselves on opposite sides of the tugboat and proceeded to direct powerful streams of water from pressured hoses onto the passengers. As the tugboat sank, the boats then circled the tug at high speed, creating a whirlpool which swallowed many of those who had not been drowned in the initial spraying attack. In all, 41 people were killed, including 23 children.
When confronted with accusations of ordering the massacre, Cuban dictator President Fidel Castro denied that coast guard had anything to do with the attack, claiming they arrived at the scene after the event. On 16 October 1996 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights concluded that the Cuban government was responsible for the massacre and for the subsequent trauma endured by relatives of the victims. However, the Cuban government has denied closure for the relatives of the victims, by refusing to allow recovery of the bodies for proper burial. Castro himself remains unrepentant of his actions.

1995  -     The spacecraft 'Galileo' releases a probe to penetrate and take measurements of Jupiter's atmosphere. 

Galileo was an unmanned spacecraft designed to study Jupiter and its moons. On 13 July 1995, the Galileo Orbiter and the probe separated for the latter to penetrate Jupiter's atmosphere. Its scientific objectives included measuring Jupiter's temperature, chemical composition and its atmospheric pressure structure. The probe entered Jupiter's atmosphere on 7 December 1995. In order to collect data, it was required to drop its protective shield during its 57 minute descent, and was subsequently crushed by the density of the core. However, the probe collected valuable data in that time, which it relayed back to the Orbiter.

Cheers - John