ON THIS day

1258 The city of Baghdad falls to the invading Mongols.

1542 King Henry VIII of England has Catherine Howard, his fifth wife, beheaded on charges of adultery. 1689

Following the Glorious Revolution, William and Mary are proclaimed king and queen of England, after which they rule jointly as King William III and Queen Mary II until her death in 1694.

1838 Cholera first appears in London.

1844 John Knatchbull, 56, fifth son of an English baronet, is hanged outside Darlinghurst Jail, Sydney, for the murder of Ellen Jamieson. His lawyer Robert Lowe defends him on grounds of moral insanity, the first time such a plea has been made in a British court. A crowd of 10,000, including women and children, watch the hanging.

1907 English suffragettes storm British parliament.

1907 South Australian officials agree in principle with prime minister Alfred Deakin to transfer the Northern Territory over to Commonwealth jurisdiction.

1938 Nineteen people drown when the ferry Rodney overturns in Sydney Harbour after passengers gather on one side to watch a US warship.

1978 A bomb blast kills 3 outside the Sydney Hilton Hotel, where a Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting is being held.

1984 A six year old boy from Texas gets the world’s first heart and liver transplant 1998

The Constitutional Convention winds up with vote in favour of a republic. 2008

Australian country music performer Smoky Dawson dies at 94. 2008

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologises to Indigenous Australians for abuses they suffered under earlier administrations.