ON THIS DAY

1794: Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, French chemist who identified oxygen, is guillotined in Paris by the Revolutionary Convention.

1876: Death of Truganini, formerly believed to be the last Tasmanian Aborigine, but now a symbol of the struggle and survival of the island state’s indigenous population.

1901: Federal Labor Party is founded in Australia with JC Watson as leader.

1978: David Berkowitz pleads guilty in a Brooklyn courtroom to the Son of Sam killings.

1995: Giant celebrations mark the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.

2011: Lionel Rose, the first Australian indigenous boxer to win a world title, dies, aged 62.

Birthdays: David Attenborough, British naturalist and broadcaster (1926-); Darren Hayes, Australian singer Savage Garden (1972-); Enrique Iglesias, Spanish-born pop star (1975-).