TODAY IN HISTORY

1645

Native Americans and Dutch colonists make a treaty of peace at New Amsterdam, New York, smoking a peace pipe. 1800African

Gabriel, an

American bondsman, assembles an army of about 1000 slaves outside Richmond, Virginia, in the first major slave rebellion in US history. Most are captured and Gabriel and 25 others are hanged.

1870

The Intercolonial Exhibition opens in Prince Alfred Park in Sydney. 1901

Hubert Booth receives a British patent 17433 for his vacuum cleaner, it is petrol-powered and is so large it needs to be carried around on a horse and cart. 1906licence

The first driver’s

in Australia is issued, to chemist William Arthur Hargreaves. 1979

Comet Howard Koomur-Michels collides with the sun. It is the first recorded instance of a collision between a comet and the sun. 1992

More than 136,000 people walk through the 2.3km Sydney Harbour Tunnel after NSW governor Peter Sinclair declares it open. It opens to vehicles the next day. 1996

Peter Ryan from England is sworn in as NSW police commissioner.