TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY is Monday, November 9, the 314th day of 2020. There are 52 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1814 — The rights of Maori are protected by an order given by Governor Lachlan Macquarie.
1820 — Manukau Harbour is discovered by the Rev Samuel Marsden.
1842 — Almost 40 homes are lost in a fire at Lambton Quay, Wellington.
1873 — The foundation stone for St Patrick’s Catholic Church, Arrowtown, is blessed and laid by Bishop Moran.
1885 — As part of preparations for a possible Russian invasion during the Second Russian Scare, New Zealand troops stage a mock landing in Auckland.
1888 — Tamworth, NSW, becomes the first town in Australia to be lit by electricity.
1902 — The steamer Elingamite founders in fog near the Three Kings Islands, northwest of Cape Reinga, with the loss of 45 lives.
1907 — The Transvaal Colony Government gifts the Cullinan Diamond to King Edward VII on the occasion of his 66th birthday.
1912 — The third Maori king, Mahuta Tawhiao Potatau Te Wherowhero, dies.
1913 — The Great Lakes Storm of 1913, the most destructive natural disaster ever to hit the lakes, reaches its greatest intensity after beginning two days earlier. The storm destroys 19 ships and kills more than 250 people.
1918 — Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II announces his abdication, then flees to the Netherlands.
1920 — The Immigration Restriction Amendment Act 1920 is introduced. It required immigrants to apply for a permanent residence permit before they arrived in New Zealand. Permission was given at the discretion of the Minister of Customs. The Act enabled officials to prevent Indians and other nonwhite British subjects from entering New Zealand.
1923 — Fourteen Nazis are killed as federal troops break up a march of Adolf Hitler’s stormtroopers in Munich.
1938 — Bands of Nazis roam the streets of Germany, burning and destroying Jewish synagogues, homes and stores in ‘‘crystal night’’, or Reichskristallnacht, also referred to as the ‘‘Night of Broken Glass’’.
1962 — Monocled Englishman Brigadier Sir Bernard Edward Fergusson takes office as GovernorGeneral. Both his grandfathers, Sir James Fergusson (187374) and the Earl of Glasgow (189297), were governors of New Zealand, and his father, Sir Charles Fergusson, was GovernorGeneral (192430). He is also the first GovernorGeneral to speak fluent Maori.
1963 — At Miike coal mine, Miike, Japan, an explosion kills 458, and 839 are taken to hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning.
1965 — A power failure blacks out New York City, parts of eight northeastern states and areas of Canada, affecting 30 million people.
1967 — The first Saturn V rocket, carrying the unmanned Apollo 4 spacecraft, is successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Center; the first issue of Rolling Stone magazine is published.
1980 — The main ward block opens at Dunedin Hospital.
1985 — Richard Hadlee takes a career best 9/52 in the first innings of the first test against Australia in Brisbane. Hadlee took the first eight wickets before taking a sharp catch to give Vaughan Brown his maiden test wicket and spoiling his own attempt at claiming all 10. Hadlee finished with match figures of 15/123, setting up New Zealand’s first test victory on Australian soil.
1989 — East Germany opens its borders. 1990 — The Bundesrat, the upper house of the German Parliament, meets in Berlin for the first time in 31 years.
1993 — Stari Most, the ‘‘old bridge’’ in the Bosnian city of Mostar, built in 1566, collapses after several days of bombing by Croat forces during the Croat–Bosniak War.
1998 — Capital punishment in the United Kingdom, already abolished for murder, is completely abolished for all remaining capital offences.
2006 — Jews are welcomed back into the heart of Munich with a procession of Torah scrolls and the dedication of a new downtown synagogue, replacing one Adolf Hitler personally ordered destroyed, calling it an ‘‘eyesore’’ in the centre of his power base.
Today’s birthdays:
Ivan Turgenev, Russian writer (181883); Edward VII of Britain (18411910); David Jones, New Zealand politician/ administrator (18731941); Princess Te Puea Herangi, New Zealand Maori leader (18831952); Freda Mary Cook, New Zealand socialist/feminist/peace activist/ social reformer (18961990); Colin Falkland Gray, New Zealand fighter ace World War 2 (191495); Florence Ann Humphries, New Zealand boardinghouse manager/trade unionist/consumer advocate (191581); Janet Paul, New Zealand publisher/painter/ historian (19192004); Graham Hamer,
New Zealand rugby union coach (1936); Di ffrench, New Zealand artist/photographer (194699); Parekura Horomia, New Zealand politician (19502013); Lou Ferrigno, US actor (1951); Eve de CastroRobinson,
New Zealand composer (1956); Shanley Del, New Zealandborn country music singer (1962); Sisqo, US singer (1978); Delta Goodrem, Australian singer/actress (1984); Marcus Daniell, New Zealand tennis player (1989); Grace Palmer, New Zealand actress (1994).
Quote of the day:
‘‘I’ve found a formula for avoiding these exaggerated fears of age; you take care of every day — let the calendar take care of the years.’’ — US actor and comedian Ed Wynn, who was born on this day in 1886. He died in 1966, aged 79.
ODT