TODAY IN HISTORY

31BC

Octavian (later Augustus Caesar) wins a decisive victory over Mark Antony’s naval force in the Battle of Actium.

1666

The Great Fire of London begins in a baker’s shop. In four days it razes about 13,000 houses but sanitises the plague-ridden city.

1752

The Julian calendar ends in Britain and its colonies, replaced by the Gregorian calendar. Parliament decided an 11-day discrepancy between the two would be rectified by making the following day September 14.

1792

Drunken mobs begin slaughtering more than 1000 prisoners in Paris as fear of the advancing Prussian army leads to a witch-hunt for traitors. 1890featherweight Sydney fighter Albert Griffiths “Young Griffo’’ (pictured), 19, is the first Australian to win a world boxing title, taking out the World Featherweight title in Sydney against Bill Murphy of New Zealand.

1894

Shearing sheds at Dagworth station, Queensland, burn down as striking shearers exchange gunfire with police and non-unionists. One union member is found dead. The fracas is said to have inspired Waltzing Matilda.

1922

Bush poet Henry Lawson dies a poverty-stricken alcoholic at Abbotsford in Sydney aged 55.