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 Monday, 12 July 1920, Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty: The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic recognizes independent Lithuania.
On Thursday, 12 July 1945, Ben Chifley is elected leader of the Labor Party and consequently becomes the 16th Prime Minister of Australia, defeating Frank Forde as well as Norman Makin and H.V. Evatt. As a result, Forde becomes the shortest serving Prime Minister in Australian history; nevertheless, he retained his post as Deputy leader.
On Tuesday, 12 July 1960, Chin Peng is exiled from Malaysia to Thailand and the Malayan state of emergency is lifted.
On Sunday, 12 July 1970, Thor Heyerdahl’s papyrus boat Ra II arrives in Barbados.
On Thursday, 12 July 1990, Foster v British Gas plc decided in the European Court of Justice, a leading case on the definition of the “state” under European law.
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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