ON THIS DAY
1519
Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortez reaches Tenochtitlan, now Mexico City. Aztec emperor Montezuma II welcomes him with pomp but is taken hostage.
1520
Danish king Christian II begins mass executions of Swedish nobles in what becomes known as the Stockholm Bloodbath.
1674
English poet John Milton dies, aged 65.
1793
On Norfolk Island, British naval officer Phillip Gidley King arranges to return two Maori chiefs to New Zealand after finding the men did not know flax dressing as it was “women’s work’’.
1895
German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen discovers X-rays by accident in his Bavarian laboratory. He later takes the first X-ray photographs.
1907
Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration Justice Henry Higgins sets a minimum basic male wage of seven shillings a day, in a judgment relating to Sunshine Harvester Co. It is the only decision under a protection law that ties excise duties to wages. The High Court will declare the law unconstitutional.
1923
Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler tries to mount a coup in Munich. The failed attempt becomes known as the Beer Hall Putsch.
1935
Aviator Charles Kingsford Smith, 38, dies with co-pilot J.T. (Tommy) Pethybridge after the Lady Southern Cross disappears over the Bay of Bengal.
1944
The Equity Court in Sydney decides William Dobell’s painting of Joshua Smith (above) is a legitimate portrait in a dispute over Dobell’s Archibald.
1960
John F. Kennedy, 43, is narrowly elected 35th US president.
1987
A bomb planted by the Provisional IRA at Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, kills 11 and injures 63.
2002
The UN Security Council passes Resolution 1441 which urges Iraq to disarm.