ON THIS DAY
1656 The Dutch trade ship Vergulde Draeck (Gilt Dragon) strikes a reef north of Perth, killing 118 crew. Seven of the 75 survivors sail a small boat to Batavia (Jakarta) but would-be rescuers sent from there find no trace of the castaways.
1789 On a return trip from Tahiti, the crew of British naval ship Bounty mutinies and sets Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors loyal to him adrift on a 6m launch in the South Pacific.
1936 King Farouk ascends the throne in Egypt on the death of King Fuad. Fuad had told doctors and his Australian dentist just beforehand: “I am not going to die’’.
1944 A rehearsal for D-Day ends with 750 US soldiers dead after their convoy ships are attacked by German torpedo boats off Slapton Sands, southwest England.
1945 Former fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are shot dead in Italy by the Resistance while trying to escape from the country.
1947 Thor Heyerdahl and five crew mates set out from Callao, Peru, on the Kon-Tiki raft to prove that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia.
1965 US marines land in the Dominican Republic following the overthrow of the government of Donald Cabral.
196 7 After refusing induction into the United States Army (citing religious reasons), Muhammad Ali is stripped of his boxing title.
1987 Sydney electronics entrepreneur and adventurer Dick Smith, 42, becomes the first person to reach the North Pole by solo helicopter flight.
1996 Port Arthur massacre: Martin Bryant, 29, kills 35 and wounds 18 with military-style firearms at the Tasmanian tourist spot.