ON THIS day

2011

1429

Joan of Arc, 17, and her troops enter the besieged city of Orleans during the Hundred Years War to defeat the English.

1587

Francis Drake, commanding about 30 English ships, starts his raid on Spanish port Cadiz, destroying vessels and stores in an armada planning to invade England.

1770

Captain Cook sails into Botany Bay, originally Stingray Bay. Cook fires his musket at Indigenous people threatening them on the shore. 1841

Explorer Edward Eyre’s overseer John Baxter is murdered by two Aboriginal assistants travelling with them on the first recorded east-towest crossing of Australia. 1933

Soccer players are numbered for the first time, in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium. Everton defeat Manchester City 3-0. 1945

US World War II soldiers in Germany free 32,000 victims from horror conditions of the concentration camp at Dachau.

1957

A public meeting of the Aboriginal Australian Fellowship (AAF) at Sydney Town Hall launches a petition to change the federal Constitution to include Aborigines in the census count and empower the federal government to make laws that economically benefit Aborigines.

1967

A referendum on a new state in northern NSW is lost.

1992

A Los Angeles jury acquits four white police officers who beat up black motorist Rodney King. At least 53 die in ensuing riots. 1997

BHP says it will shut down steelmaking in Newcastle and other plants, costing 2500 jobs.

2005

Lebanon: Syria completes withdrawal after 29 years’ occupation.

2011

On this day in 2011, Prince William of Wales marries his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Middleton, in a lavish ceremony broadcast to millions of television viewers.