ON THIS DAY
1541
Spanish explorer and soldier Pedro de Valdivia founds Santiago de Chile, capital of modern 1554 Chile.
At age 16, Lady Jane Grey, titular queen of England, is beheaded in London for treason by the order of 1788 Mary I.
NSW governor Arthur Phillip instructs Philip Gidley King to form a settlement at 1808 Norfolk Island.
In the wake of the Rum Rebellion, John Macarthur is appointed a magistrate and “secretary to the Colony’’, its virtual administrator. 1851 Edward Hammond Hargraves and his partners find gold at Summerhill Creek near Orange, triggering the Australian gold rush. 1900
Seven Australian soldiers die in South Africa’s Boer War as Afrikaaner troops attack Pink Hill in Cape Colony. 1912
Pu Yi, the last emperor of China, abdicates, ending more than 2000 years of imperial rule. 1924
Tutankhamen’s sarcophagus is opened to reveal his coffin, 15 months after the tomb was first discovered. 1929 Death of Lillie Langtry (Emilie Charlotte Le Breton), actor and King Edward VII’S mistress (pictured). 1931
The All for Australia League, an anti-labor political movement led by Majorgeneral Gordon Bennett, is launched at rallies in Killara, Sydney and Caulfield in Melbourne. 1990
Carmen Lawrence, 41, becomes Australia’s first woman premier when state Labor MPS elect her Western Australia’s leader. 1994 About 100 people walk the 50km Channel Tunnel before it opens to trains. They are the first to walk from France to Britain since the Ice Ages.