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 26 June 1870, Richard Wagner’s opera Die Walküre is first performed at Munich’s National Theatre.
On Tuesday, 26 June 1945, Dr H. V. Evatt signs the United Nations Charter on behalf of Australia.
On Tuesday, 26 June 1945, The United Nations Charter is signed.
On Sunday, 26 June 1960, The State of Somaliland (the former British Somaliland protectorate) receives its independence from the United Kingdom. Five days later, it unites as scheduled with the Trust Territory of Somalia (the former Italian Somaliland) to form the Somali Republic.
On Sunday, 26 June 1960, The Malagasy Republic, now Madagascar, becomes independent from France.
On Thursday, 26 June 1980, Australian Richard Thorp, of the United States firm Mitchell, Giurgola and Thorp, wins the competition for the design of the new Parliament House, Canberra.
On Monday, 26 June 2000, A preliminary draft of genomes, as part of the Human Genome Project, is finished. It is announced at the White House by President Clinton.
On Saturday, 26 June 2010, The bodies of eleven people, including six board members of the Australian mining company Sundance Resources who were killed in a plane that crashed in West Africa, are recovered.
Images Citations in Composite: ID 17208541 © Anhong | Dreamstime.com; ID 35001957 © DiversityStudio1 | Dreamstime.com; ID 156394527 © Gerd Zahn | Dreamstime.com
Neville Buch