Anniversaries and commemorations come and go daily. Most of us, even the best historians, miss most occasions. If we think of history as events then we are faced with a continually showering in the grains of sand. Nevertheless, we do pick out certain patterns in the remembrance of historical dates. The blog here reminds us of some dates where the local, state, national, and global perspectives entwine.
What Time is It? It is flow of a sandstorm that will on each day compress somewhere into a structure – sandstone, selected and only remembered in the longue durée.
On 17 August 1895, The Albert Railway Bridge opens in Brisbane
On Friday, 17 August 1945, Philippines President José P. Laurel issues an Executive Proclamation putting an end to the Second Philippine Republic, thus ending to his term as President of the Philippines.
On Friday, 17 August 1945, Proclamation of Indonesian Independence: Indonesian nationalists Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declare the independence of the Republic of Indonesia, with Sukarno as president and Mohammad Hatta as vice-president, igniting the Indonesian National Revolution against the Dutch Empire.
On Friday, 17 August 1945, The allegorical dystopian novella Animal Farm by George Orwell, a satire on Stalinism, is first published by Fredric Warburg in London.
On Wednesday, 17 August 1960, The newly named Beatles begin a 48-night residency at the Indra club in Hamburg, West Germany.
On Wednesday, 17 August 1960, Gabon becomes independent from France.
On Wednesday, 17 August 1960, The trial of the American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers begins in Moscow.
On Monday, 17 August 1970, The United States sinks 418 containers of nerve gas into the Gulf Stream near the Bahamas.
On Monday, 17 August 1970, Venera program: Venera 7 is launched toward Venus. It later becomes the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet.
On Sunday, 17 August 1980, Nine-week-old Azaria Chamberlain disappears from a campsite at Ayers Rock (Uluru), reportedly taken by a dingo.
On Thursday, 17 August 2000, It is announced that the current Queensland Assistant Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson will replace Jim O’Sullivan as Police Commissioner when he retires on October 31.
On Monday, 17 August 2015, A bombing takes place inside the Erawan Shrine at the Ratchaprasong intersection in Pathum Wan District, Bangkok, Thailand, killing 20 people and injuring 125.
Images Citations in Composite: ID 17208541 © Anhong | Dreamstime.com; ID 35001957 © DiversityStudio1 | Dreamstime.com; ID 156394527 © Gerd Zahn | Dreamstime.com
Neville Buch
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