ON THIS day
1576
Henry of Navarre escapes from the court of France’s King Henry III. The future French king renounces his forced Catholicism.
1811
British Regency Act is passed, whereby the Prince of Wales becomes prince regent during King George III’s temporary insanity.
1827
George Worrall is hanged for killing his neighbour, Frederick Fisher, at Campbelltown, NSW. Legend has it that Fisher’s Ghost pointed to the murder victim’s burial spot.
1836
NSW Supreme Court Justice Burton rules that Australian land was “unappropriated by anyone’’ before colonisation and thus was lawfully taken into possession by the King of England. The king’s laws applied to everyone, including Indigenous Australians. Jack “Congo’’ Murrell, convicted of murder had argued he was not bound by the laws of Britain.
1869
South Australian surveyor-general George Woodroffe Goyder arrives at the port of Darwin to establish a permanent settlement.
1869
A nugget known as The Welcome Stranger, yielding 69.92kg of pure gold, is found at Moliagul, Victoria, by John Deeson and Richard Oates.
1996
Royal commissioner Justice Wood’s interim report concludes that the police service’s internal security, ICAC and the Ombudsman’s office are all incapable of dealing with police corruption. It recommends establishment of a special body, which will be called the Police Integrity Commission.
1997
Alan Bond is sentenced in the WA Supreme Court to four years’ jail for Australia’s biggest corporate fraud ($1.2 billion). He is already serving three years for a fraud involving French impressionist Edouard Manet’s painting La Promenade.
2017
In the first overtime game in Super Bowl history, the New England Patriots overcame a 25-point deficit to defeat the Atlanta Falcons.