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.
| 4 January 1896 | Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state. |
| 4 January 1896 | Everett Dirksen born, American politician (d. 1969) |
| 4 January 1896 | André Masson born, French artist (d. 1987) |
| 4 January 1896 | Joseph Hubert Reinkens died, German Old Catholic bishop (b. 1821) |
| Tuesday, 4 January 1921 | Leo Sarkisian born, American musicologist, broadcaster (d. 2018) |
| Tuesday, 4 January 1921 | Pedro Richter Prada born, 115th Prime Minister of Peru (d. 2017) |
| Friday, 4 January 1946 | George Woolf died, Canadian jockey (b. 1910) |
| Wednesday, 4 January 1961 | Erwin Schrödinger died, Austrian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887) |
| Monday, 4 January 1971 | Federal Opposition Leader Gough Whitlam says in Port Moresby that Papuan leaders seem to accept completely the Australian Labor Party’s timetable for independence of Papua New Guinea. The timetable provides for self-government as soon as a Labor Government comes to power in Australia, and independence in 1976. |
| Monday, 4 January 1971 | Immigration Minister Phillip Lynch gives a ruling that three Asian doctors at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney, who entered Australia under the private overseas student program, will be sent home, but may apply to return to Australia as migrants conditionally. |
| Monday, 4 January 1971 | American children’s educational TV series Sesame Street premieres on ABC. |
| Monday, 4 January 1971 | Arthur Ford died, American psychic spiritual medium, clairaudient (b. 1896) |
| Sunday, 4 January 1981 | Silvy De Bie born, Belgian singer |
| Sunday, 4 January 1981 | Aaron Schwartz born, American actor |
| Friday, 4 January 1991 | In Melbourne, 35,000 march to demand the resignation of the government. |
| Friday, 4 January 1991 | The last remaining player Rachel McQuillan is out of the Danone Women’s Open. |
| Friday, 4 January 1991 | The United Nations Security Council votes unanimously to condemn Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. |
| Friday, 4 January 1991 | Pascal Bodmer born, German ski jumper |
| Friday, 4 January 1991 | Olivia Tennet born, New Zealand actress and dancer |
| Tuesday, 4 January 2011 | Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi dies after setting himself on fire a month earlier, sparking anti-government protests in Tunisia and later other Arab nations. These protests become known collectively as the Arab Spring. |
| Tuesday, 4 January 2011 | Prince Ali-Reza Pahlavi of Iran died (b. 1966) |
| Tuesday, 4 January 2011 | Gerry Rafferty died, Scottish musician (b. 1947) |
| Monday, 4 January 2016 | Australia Post raises the basic postage rate from 70 cents to $1, in addition to instituting a priority delivery service for an extra 50 cents. |
| Monday, 4 January 2016 | Immigration Minister Peter Dutton apologises for a text message in which he referred to a female reporter as a “mad f—ing witch”. |
| Monday, 4 January 2016 | The Australian stock exchange suffers after the Shanghai Industrial Index loses 7 per cent, rocking global markets. |
| Monday, 4 January 2016 | Robert Stigwood died, band manager (Bee Gees, Cream) and film producer (Grease, Saturday Night Fever) (died in London) |
| Monday, 4 January 2016 | [January 4–5] The highest ever recorded individual cricket score, 1,009 not out, is made by Pranav Dhanawade. |
| Monday, 4 January 2016 | Colin Butler died, British entomologist (b. 1913) |
| Monday, 4 January 2016 | Michel Galabru died, French actor (b. 1922) |
Images Citations in Composite: ID 17208541 © Anhong | Dreamstime.com; ID 35001957 © DiversityStudio1 | Dreamstime.com; ID 156394527 © Gerd Zahn | Dreamstime.com
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Neville Buch
Professional Historian at Professional Historians Association (Queensland) Inc.
Neville Buch (Pronounced Book) Ph.D. is a certified member of the Professional Historians Association (Queensland). Since 2010 he has operated a sole trade business in history consultancy. He was a Q ANZAC 100 Fellow 2014-2015 at the State Library of Queensland. Dr Buch was the PHA (Qld) e-Bulletin, the monthly state association’s electronic publication, and was a member of its Management Committee. He is the Managing Director of the Brisbane Southside History Network.
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