TODAY IN HISTORY

1609

Spain’s Philip III orders deportation of Moriscos, former Muslims who had converted to Christianity

1882

The Garden Palace, a vast exhibition centre full of heritage items in Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens, is destroyed by fire. aap says arson is suspected but never proved

1918

Radio pioneer Ernest Fisk, in Wahroonga, Sydney, receives the first radio message from Britain. The Morse Code signal comes directly from Guglielmo Marconi’s broadcasting station in Wales.

1940

Jean Decoux, Vichy French governorgeneral of Indochina, concludes an agreement with Japan that permits the stationing of 30,000 Japanese troops in Indochina

1948

Doc Evatt elected president of the United Nations general assembly

1951

In a close referendum, Australians vote against banning the Communist Party

1975

Accountant Sara Jane Moore tries to assassinate US president Gerald Ford in San Francisco. She fires a revolver but is foiled by a disabled former marine who pushes her arm up so the shot goes astray

1980

Saddam Hussein’s Iraq invades Iran in a border dispute, starting an eight-year war which costs an estimated 500,000 lives

1996

Darwin resident Bob Dent, assisted by proeuthanasia doctor Philip Nitschke, becomes the first person in the world to die using euthanasia legislation

2019

US President Donald Trump admits that he spoke to Volodymyr Zelensky, president of the Ukraine, asking him to “look into” the affairs of Joe Biden’s son