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 6 April 1895, The song ‘Waltzing Matilda’ is first performed at the North Gregory Hotel, Winton, Queensland.
On 6 April 1895, Banjo Paterson publishes his first major collection of poetry, The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses.
On 6 April 1895, Oscar Wilde is arrested in London for “gross indecency”, after losing a criminal libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry.
On Tuesday, 6 April 1920, The short-lived Far Eastern Republic is declared, in eastern Siberia.
On Friday, 6 April 1945, WWII: Sarajevo is liberated from Nazi Germany and the Independent State of Croatia (a fascist puppet state) by Yugoslav Partisans.
On Friday, 6 April 1945, The Battle of Slater’s Knoll on Bougainville Island concludes with a decisive victory for the Australian Army’s 7th Brigade.
On Friday, 6 April 1945, Allied forces reach Merkers Salt Mines in Thuringia where gold reserves of the Nazi German Reichsbank are stored.
On Monday, 6 April 1970, BBC Radio 4 broadcasts the first edition of PM.
On Friday, 6 April 1990, Robert Mapplethorpe’s “The Perfect Moment” show of nude and homoerotic photographs opens at the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, in spite of accusations of indecency by Citizens for Community Values.
On Thursday, 6 April 2000, Train carriages derail at Redfern, Sydney. No passengers are involved.
On Monday, 6 April 2015, Prince Harry starts a month-long secondment at Royal Military College in Duntroon.
Images Citations in Composite: ID 17208541 © Anhong | Dreamstime.com; ID 35001957 © DiversityStudio1 | Dreamstime.com; ID 156394527 © Gerd Zahn | Dreamstime.com
Neville Buch