ON THIS DAY
1306 Robert the Bruce is crowned king of Scotland after a rival is murdered. The king would free his country from English rule.
1655 Christiaan Huygens discovers Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.
1807 The Slave Trade Act comes into force, banning British ships from carrying slaves.
1812 Surveyor George William Evans sails from Sydney on the Lady Nelson to survey Jervis Bay. He returns overland via Appin after passing through the sites of Nowra, Port Kembla and Wollongong, opening the Illawarra to settlement.
1821 Revolts break out in Greece against the rule of Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II, beginning the 11-year Greek War of Independence.
1877 Humanitarian Caroline Chisholm dies, aged 68.
1927 A means-tested child endowment scheme of five shillings per week to mothers of children under age 14 is launched in NSW.
1931 Premier Jack Lang informs Prime Minister James Scullin that NSW will not meet payment deadline of interest to overseas bondholders on April 1.
1945 Lieutenant Albert Chowne, 24, dies in an heroic attack on Japanese soldiers near Dagua, New Guinea, which wins him a posthumous VC.
1957 The Treaties of Rome are signed, establishing the European Community.
1997 Federal Parliament overturns the world’s first directly pro-euthanasia law, nine months after its introduction in the Northern Territory.
1999 Convicted armed robber John Reginald Killick, 57, escapes from Silverwater Jail in a helicopter when his armed girlfriend Lucy Dudko forces the pilot to land on the jail’s oval.
2001 Russell Crowe (above) wins an Academy Award for his role in Gladiator.