Today in history
Today is Thursday, November 29, the 333rd day of 2018. There are 32 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1790 — The Chatham Islands are discovered by
Lieutenant Broughton, of HMS Chatham.
1864 — The Sand Creek Massacre occurs when a 675man force of Colorado United States Cavalry volunteers under Colonel John Chivington attacks and destroys a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians in southeastern Colorado, killing and mutilating an estimated 160, twothirds of whom are women and children.
1781 — The crew of slave ship Zong murder approximately 142 African slaves by dumping them into the sea, to claim insurance
1877 — Free compulsory primaryschool education is assured in New Zealand with the passing of the Education Act.
1880 — Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon takes office as governor. His term, which lasted until June 1882, is remembered for his numerous disagreements with the Government, particularly native minister John Bryce.
1893 — The day after New Zealand women led the world in voting in a general election for the first time, Elizabeth Yates is elected mayor of Onehunga. She became the first woman in the British Empire to hold the office of mayor when she was sworn in three weeks later.
1895 — Alfred Whitehouse demonstrates motion pictures in New Zealand for the first time at a studio in Auckland.
1900 — In the final regular battle of the Boer War, New Zealand troops are engaged in an attack on Rhenoster Kop.
1904 — A large crowd gathers at Omakau Railway Station for the official opening of the Central Otago railway line to that point.
1910 — Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s illfated Antarctic expedition departs from Port Chalmers on the Terra Nova.
1918 — King Nicholas, of Montenegro, is deposed,
and the kingdom is united with Serbia.
1922 — Archaeologists announce they have found fabulous treasures in the tomb of Tutankhamun in Egypt.
1929 — United States Navy Lieutenant Richard E. Byrd radios that he has made the first aircraft flight over the South Pole.
1945 — A communist state is proclaimed in
Yugoslavia, and the monarchy is abolished.
1949 — Iriaka Matiu Ratana is elected to
Parliament, becoming the first female Maori MP.
1955 — James Edward Connell (22) dies when
Terry’s Private Hotel in Dunedin is engulfed by fire. The blaze is thought to have started around 4am and caused damage estimated at £20,000. 1961 — Enos the chimp is launched from Cape Canaveral aboard the MercuryAtlas 5 spacecraft, which orbits Earth twice before returning Enos safely back to Earth .
1963 — US president Lyndon Johnson names a commission headed by Earl Warren to investigate the assassination of President
John F. Kennedy.
1969 — At New Zealand’s general election, 20yearolds vote for the first time. Before this, the voting age had been 21. The number of MPs was increased to 84.
1975 — All permanent residents of New Zealand over the age of 18 are permitted to vote in the general election, whether or not they hold New Zealand citizenship.
1982 — Mountaineers Phil Doole and Mark Inglis are rescued from Mt Cook after spending almost two weeks trapped in a snow cave.
1987 — A Korean Air jet with 115 people on board disappears over Burma. A North Korean agent is arrested in Bahrain and confesses to planting a bomb on her government’s orders to disrupt the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
1999 — Northern Ireland’s rival parties form a ProtestantCatholic government that requires the bitter enemies to share power for the first time.
Today’s birthdays
Sir James Glenny Wilson, New Zealand politician (18491929); Sir Alister McIntosh, New Zealand diplomat (19061978); Jacques Chirac, French politician (1932); Sir Malcolm Grant, New Zealandborn chairman of the NHS, England (1947); Dave Bright, New Zealand football international (1949); Cathy Moriarty, US actress (1960); Kim Delaney, US actress (1961);
Tom Sizemore, US actor (1961); Andrew McCarthy, US actor (1962); Don Cheadle, US actor (1964); Anna Faris, US actress (1976); Aaron Mauger, All Black (1980); Corey Webster, New Zealand basketball international (1988).
Quote from history
‘‘The nicest thing is to open the newspapers and not to find yourself in them.’’ — Former Beatle George Harrison, who died of cancer on November 29, 2001.
ODT and agencies