ON THIS day

1408

In England, the Northumberland Rebellion ends when Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, is defeated by Henry IV at the battle of Bramham Moor. 1516

The Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey is consecrated by Henry VII. 1797

Pope Pius VI cedes the Italian regions of Romagna, Bologna and Ferrara to France as Napoleon

advances to Vienna. 1856

Henry Seekamp, editor of the Ballarat Times, publishes a criticism of the colourful past of exotic dancer Lola Montez. She later attacks him in a hotel and the two fight with whips.

1878

A US patent for the first phonograph using a tinfoil cylinder is issued to inventor Thomas Edison. 1918

Russia’s Soviet Central Executive Committee issues a decree abolishing all private ownership of land, water and natural resources. 1936

A Gannet plane flying from Young to Sydney bursts into flames and crashes near Cordeaux Dam, NSW, killing five aboard.

1937

A Stinson airliner crashes in Lamington National Park, near the NSWQld border. Five die but two survivors are found a week later by Bernard O’Reilly who treks through rugged rainforest to the wreck.

1942

Three months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and days after the Fall of Singapore, Japan launches the first air raids on Australia. 234 are killed in the Battle of Darwin. 1943

Legislation passes enabling conscripts to be sent outside Australian territories as far north as the equator.

1977

Christopher Worrell, a young charismatic psychosociopath, dies with a friend in a car accident, ending the Truro murders. He and James Miller, 40, a drifter, were accused of the murders. 2007

Customs officers raid the Sydney hotel room of Hollywood star Sylvester Stallone, 60, who is later fined for bringing in banned growth hormones.