ON THIS day

46BC

Julius Caesar’s forces deliver the final blow against supporters of Pompey the Great at the Battle of Thapsus.

1515

Aldus Manutius, Italian editor and printer who invented italics and paperbacks, dies.

1611

Chongzhen, the 16th and last emperor (1627–44) of the Ming dynasty, is born in Beijing.

1643

Dutch mariner Abel Tasman discovers the Fiji islands in the Pacific. 1788

Female convicts are finally unloaded from the First Fleet. A ”scene of riot and debauchery’’ ensues during a fierce thunderstorm. 1808

The US whaler Topaz, under the command of Mayhew Folger, discovers the last survivor of the Bounty mutineers, John Adams (alias Alexander Smith), on Pitcairn Island with mutineers’ descendants.

1840

Maori tribes of New Zealand sign the Treaty of Waitangi with Great Britain, a historic agreement purported to protect Maori rights that was the immediate basis of the British annexation of New Zealand.

1851

Bushfires rage from Melbourne to Mount Gambier, killing 10 people and burning five million hectares as temperatures reach 47C. 1938

A 35ft high wave at Bondi Beach kills five people; 200 bathers are saved by lifesavers.

1952

Elizabeth II ascends the throne following the death of her father, King George VI.

1958

Standover man Frederick William (Freddie “the Frog”) Harrison, 35, has half his head blown off with a 12-gauge shotgun at close range on the Melbourne waterfront. A black sedan drives off. At least 30 workers standing nearby later say they saw nothing.

2005

Prime minister John Howard orders an inquiry into why Cornelia Rau, an Australian, was held for 10 months in immigrant detention centres under false identities.