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 20 July 1845, Charles Sturt enters the Simpson Desert in central Australia.
On Tuesday, 20 July 1920, born Arthur Boyd, artist (died 1999)
On Tuesday, 20 July 1920, The United Kingdom cedes its brief control of the key Black Sea port of Batum, to the Democratic Republic of Georgia.
On Wednesday, 20 July 1960, Ceylon elects Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike as its Prime Minister, the world’s first elected female head of government. She takes office the following day.
On Friday, 20 July 1990, Prime Minister Bob Hawke announces that some public service jobs would be cut under reforms to eliminate Commonwealth-State duplication.
On Friday, 20 July 1990, New South Wales Education and Youth Affairs Minister, Dr Terry Metherell, resigns from his ministry after revealing he faces tax charges.
On Monday, 20 July 2015, Cuba and the United States reestablish full diplomatic relations, ending a 54-year stretch of hostility between the nations.
Images Citations in Composite: ID 17208541 © Anhong | Dreamstime.com; ID 35001957 © DiversityStudio1 | Dreamstime.com; ID 156394527 © Gerd Zahn | Dreamstime.com
Neville Buch