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 Friday, 30 January 1920, The oldest surviving pro wrestling match on film takes place, with Joe Stecher defeating Earl Caddock.
On Tuesday, 30 January 1945, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester becomes Australia’s first royal Governor-General.
On Tuesday, 30 January 1945, WWII: MV Wilhelm Gustloff, with over 10,000 mainly civilian Germans from Gotenhafen (Gdynia) is sunk in Gdańsk Bay by three torpedoes from the Soviet submarine S-13 in the Baltic Sea; up to 9,400, 5,000 of whom are children, are thought to have died; the greatest loss of life in a single ship sinking in history.
On Tuesday, 30 January 1945, Raid at Cabanatuan: 121 American soldiers and 800 Filipino guerrillas free 813 American prisoners of war from the Japanese-held camp in the city of Cabanatuan in the Philippines.
On Tuesday, 30 January 1945, Adolf Hitler makes his last public speech to be delivered personally, on broadcast radio, expressing the belief that Germany will triumph.
On Saturday, 30 January 1960, The African National Party is founded in Chad, through the merger of traditionalist parties.
On Wednesday, 30 January 1980, Kingswood Country debuts on the Seven Network.
On Tuesday, 30 January 1990, An inquiry into the Grafton bus crash begins.
On Monday, 30 January 1995, John Howard becomes federal Liberal Party leader and thus federal leader of the opposition after the resignation of Alexander Downer.
On Sunday, 30 January 2000, Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes off the coast of Ivory Coast into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 169.
Images Citations in Composite: ID 17208541 © Anhong | Dreamstime.com; ID 35001957 © DiversityStudio1 | Dreamstime.com; ID 156394527 © Gerd Zahn | Dreamstime.com
Neville Buch