TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY is Thursday, October 1, the 275th day of 2020. There are 91 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1831 — John Guard jun is the first European born in the South Island, at Te Awaiti.
1834 — Forces from HMS Alligator shell Waimate Pa on the South Taranaki coast, in the first action taken by British troops in New Zealand.
1867 — Das Kapital, a foundational theoretical text in materialist philosophy, economics and politics by Karl Marx, is published.
1869 — The world’s first official prepaid postcards are issued by the Austrian Post Office.
1877 — The Mosgiel to Outram railway is opened.
1881 — New Zealand’s first manual telephone exchange is officially opened in the chief post office in Christchurch.
1887 — Made possible by the development of the railways, New Zealand’s first inland parcel post service begins.
1908 — Ford Motor Company introduces the Model T, the first car to be massproduced. It cost $825.
1914 — Turkey closes the Dardenelles to the Allies in World War 1.
1918 — Arab forces assisted by the British under T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) capture Damascus from the Turks.
1923 — A team from Dunedin’s Seacliff Football Club defeats Wellington YMCA 40 at Wellington’s Athletic Park to become the first winner of the Chatham Cup, New Zealand soccer’s premier knockout competition.
1925 — New Zealand takes over administration of the Tokelau Islands from Great Britain.
1928 — The Soviet Union inaugurates its first fiveyear plan to increase production.
1933 — The fourth Maori king, Te Rata Mahuta Potatau Te Wherowhero, dies.
1941 — The Royal New Zealand Navy is created, with the country’s naval forces no longer part of the Royal Navy; at Wangaehu, near Whanganui, an Ab class locomotive and 11 trucks plunge into the Wangaehu River after at least one of the trucks derailed while approaching the bridge, injuring the driver.
1949 — The People’s Republic of China is proclaimed in Beijing under Mao Tsetung, with Zhou Enlai as premier and foreign minister.
1962 — Sir Guy Powles takes up his role as New Zealand’s first ombudsman.
1964 — Japan’s first passengercarrying bullettrain service, on the Tokaido Shinkansen line between Tokyo and Osaka, the first line built in the Shinkansen highspeed network, begins operation.
1969 — An AngloFrench Concorde supersonic aircraft breaks the sound barrier for the first time in a test flight over France.
1975 — In what is called ‘‘The Thrilla in Manila’’, heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in 14 rounds, by TKO, at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City, Philippines.
1978 — The South Pacific archipelago of Tuvalu, formerly the Ellice Islands, becomes independent from Britain.
1979 — The Panama Canal Zone is formally handed over to Panama after 70 years of US control.
1986 — New Zealand’s goods and service tax (GST) comes into force. Initially adding 10% to the cost of all goods and services, it is raised to 12.5% three years later, and to 15% on this day, October 1, in 2010.
1987 — Fiji coup leader Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka formally revokes his country’s constitution, saying he has replaced Queen Elizabeth II as head of state, with power to rule by decree.
1989 — Pakistan rejoins the Commonwealth after a 17year absence; Denmark becomes the first nation in the world to allow homosexuals to marry.