ON THIS DAY

1620

The first Pilgrims go ashore from the ship Mayflower at Plymouth Harbor, in what is now Massachusetts.

1817

Governor Lachlan Macquarie recommends adopting the name Australia for the continent instead of New Holland. Matthew Flinders first suggested the name before Macquarie started using it in official dispatches.

1898

Marie and Pierre Curie discover the radioactive element radium, a silvery white metal that will be used to treat cancer.

1907

Henry Jones, a young man of Spencer St, Mosman, shrieks and disappears as water around him turns red in Sugarloaf Bay, Middle Harbour. Police can find no body but believe it was a shark attack.

1916

Australian Light Horsemen capture El Arish in the Sinai during World War I.

1937

Snow White and the Seven

Dwarfs, the first full-length feature cartoon in colour, by Walt Disney, premieres in LA.

1945

General George Patton, referred to by his men as “Old Blood and Guts’’, dies after a car accident in Germany.

1968

Apollo 8 is launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida, for the first manned orbits of the Moon. Commander Frank Borman, 40, and two other military men make 10 circuits of the Moon before returning to Earth.

1995

Australia’s CRA and Britain’s RTZ complete their merger to create the world’s biggest mining company, Rio Tinto.

2004

The James Hardie company signs a $1.5 billion agreement to compensate people injured by its asbestos products.

2006

Australia’s master spin bowler Shane Warne, 37, with 699 Test wickets, announces his retirement from international cricket (above).