Today in history
Today is Thursday, May 24, the 144th day of 2018. There are 221 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1841 — The General Legislative Council meets for the first time, in Auckland. It has the power to enact laws and ordinances proposed by Governor William Hobson.
1844 — Samuel Morse transmits the message ‘‘What hath God wrought?’’ from Washington to Baltimore as he formally opens America’s first telegraph line.
1847 — Governor George Grey, accompanied by Tamati Waka Nene and Te Wherowhero, arrives at Wanganui in an attempt to bring peace to the region.
1854 — New Zealand’s first House of Representatives is opened by Acting Governor
Robert Wynyard in Auckland.
1877 — The foundation stone for Dunedin’s town hall is laid on a site known as the Market Reserve on the northwest side of the Octagon.
1882 — The first shipment of New Zealand frozen
mutton arrives in London.
1883 — The Brooklyn Bridge is opened, linking
Manhattan to Brooklyn, New York.
1887 — The unveiling ceremony, attended by an estimated crowd of 8000, takes place for the statue of Robert Burns in the Octagon.
1903 — Empire Day (later Commonwealth Day) is
celebrated for the first time in New Zealand.
1915 — A formal truce is declared at Gallipoli, during which the Turkish dead from the May 19 attacks are buried.
1920 — A civic reception is held in Dunedin to welcome the Prince of Wales.
1941 — The German battleship Bismarck sinks the British battle cruiser Hood in the North Atlantic in World War 2. More than 1300 lives are lost.
1959 — The Auckland Harbour Bridge is opened to pedestrians only, with more than 100,000 taking the opportunity to walk over the city’s new landmark, which is officially opened a week later.
1964 — More than 300 people die during a riot at a soccer match in Peru after the referee disallows a goal.
1965 — Telford Farm Training Institute at Otanamomo, near Balclutha, opens for its first student intake.
1968 — An earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale rocks Inangahua Junction in the South Island’s West Coast region. Three people are killed in a landslip and three others die when a rescue helicopter crashes.
1974 — Minister of Works and Development Hugh
Watt announces proposals for a hydroelectricity scheme for the Clutha and Kawarau rivers, eventually leading to the relocation of the old Cromwell township and the creation of Lake Dunstan behind the Clyde Dam.
1976 — Britain and France begin a transatlantic
Concorde service to Washington.
1994 — A stampede kills 270 pilgrims at a shrine
in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
1995 — Auckland’s CBD is chockfull, with around 300,000 wellwishers gathered for a tickertape parade honouring Team New Zealand winning the America’s Cup.
2001 — Temba Tsheri, a 15yearold Sherpa who lost five fingers to frostbite in 2000, becomes the youngest person to conquer Mount Everest.
2013 — Thick smoke engulfs central Queenstown as fire units from throughout Central Otago and Invercargill are called to battle a large blaze in Shotover St that affects three businesses.
2014 — A storm brings strong winds and heavy rain to Dunedin about 3pm as temperatures plummet 10degC within minutes, from a high of 17degC. The quick change felled trees and power lines, caused sports matches to be called off, including a premature end for all five Dunedin premier rugby matches, and left surface flooding around the city. Emergency services were inundated with calls as strong winds brought down power lines and damaged poles, while power authorities scrambled to restore electricity to 1790 Dunedin consumers.
Today’s birthdays:
Queen Victoria (18191901); Alfred Picard, New Zealand politician (18241855); Dame Joan Hammond, NZborn soprano (19121996); Sir Ivor Richardson, New Zealand and Commonwealth jurist (19302014); Bob Dylan, US singer/songwriter (1941); Gary Burghoff, US actor (1943); Priscilla Presley, US actress (1945); Ian Kirkpatrick, All Black captain (1946); Jim Broadbent, British actor (1949); Roseanne Cash, US singer/ songwriter (1955); Kevin Iro, New Zealand rugby league international (1968); Sarah Hagan, US actress (1984); Kimberley Crossman, New Zealand actress (1988).
Thought for today:
There is noone who became rich because he worked on a holiday, and noone who became fat because he broke a fast. — Ethiopian proverb.