31 years ago, the landmark Australian legal case Mabo v Queensland was resolved in the High Court against the principle of terra nullius, i.e that it was owned by nobody before the British arrived. It was brought by a Torres Strait Islander named Eddie Mabo, and became the first in Australia to recognize pre-colonial land interests of Indigenous Australians within the common law of Australia. READ more… (1992)
Prime Minister Paul Keating during his Redfern speech praised the decision, saying it “establishes a fundamental truth, and lays the basis for justice.” Soon after the decision, the Keating government passed the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth), which codified the rights recognized in Mabo and set out a new process for applicants to have their rights recognized through the newly established Native Title Tribunal and the Federal Court of Australia.
MORE Good News from this day in History:
- Lou Gehrig and his teammate Tony Lazzeri hit four home runs in one game, and hit for the natural cycle, respectively. These two feats are both less common than a perfect game, which has occurred twenty-one times in one hundred and twenty years (1932)
- In Gideon v. Wainwright, the United States Supreme Court ruled that all accused persons must be given the right to an attorney (1960)
- Reggae star Bob Marley‘s classic album Exodus was released, which was named “Album of the Century” by Time magazine in 1999 (1977)
- Barack Obama became the first African-American to emerge from a primary season of any major political party capturing the role as presumptive nominee for President of the United States – beating Hillary Clinton for the honor (2008)
- New Hampshire became the sixth U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage (2009)
99 years ago today, Congress established what is generally regarded as the world’s first true wilderness area. 40 years before Congress gained the power of the Wilderness Act, American Forest Serviceman, author, and wildlife hero Aldo Leopold proposed the idea of turning a 558,014 acre (225,820 ha) part of the Mogollon Mountains containing the headwaters of the Gila River as an area to be excluded from all development through the denying of permits for roads and other uses. When Lyndon B Johnson signed the Wilderness Act into law, it came with the establishment of Gila National Wilderness through all the means Leopold had already used 40 years before.
Leopold’s work in the Forest Service and observations of the mountains and forests of New Mexico brought about a revolution in American land management equivalent in gravity to the establishment of the National Parks system—almost more so because rather than protecting spectacular mountains, picture book valleys, crystal clear lakes, and the world’s biggest trees, National Forests protected beautiful, but not unusual wild areas for quite normal activities, or for no particularly specific reason.
Described as having a climate of “four gentle seasons” Gila National Wilderness is a paradise inhabited by many rare and exciting endemic creatures like the Mexican wolf, white-nosed coati, dusky grouse, zone-tailed hawk, Gila monster, and Gila trout. Part of the wilderness is the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, protecting caves carved into sandstone cliff faces that were inhabited by a mix of the Mogollon and Mimbres cultures which predate the Pueblo Indians. (1924)
242 years ago today, farmer and politician Jack Jouett began his successful midnight ride to warn Thomas Jefferson, the Governor of Virginia of an impending British cavalry raid intended to capture him and his legislature toward the end of the American Revolutionary War.
The Virginia patriot—later called the ‘Paul Revere of the South’—rode 40 miles to Charlottesville to warn Jefferson at Monticello, and the others further away, giving them time to head south where they set up a temporary capital in Staunton so they could continue the business of the state. Just a few months later the British surrendered to George Washington at Yorktown, ending the war.
That night, the 27-year-old was sleeping in Louisa County, Virginia, when he heard the sound of approaching cavalry and spotted the ‘White Coats’ of Col. Tarleton’s British cavalry.
Jouett knew that the legislature was completely undefended, with most of Virginia’s forces deployed elsewhere. He quickly mounted his horse and, with the British troops on the main highway, he rode through rough trails of vines and woodlands—likely traveling with only the light of the full moon, and as fast as he could to outrun the British.
Luckily, Tarleton, who was under orders from General Cornwallis to capture Virginia leaders like Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee, paused for breakfast on the way, giving Jouett enough time to warn ‘the British are coming’.
After the war, the hero moved across the Appalachian Mountains and served multiple times in the Virginia House of Delegates and in Kentucky’s new government. (1781)
59 years ago today, Jimmy Nicol got to be a Beatle for 13 days during the height of Beatlemania. When Ringo Starr collapsed with tonsillitis and was hospitalized on the eve of a world tour, The Beatles producer George Martin telephoned the British session drummer inviting him to sit in as the fourth mop top. Nicol appeared at press conferences and performed with the band in a total of eight concerts, which elevated him “from relative obscurity to worldwide fame, and then back again in the space of a fortnight.” (1964)
Also Happy 84th Birthday to English musician Ian Hunter, vocalist and guitarist with Mott The Hoople, a British band that climbed the charts with the single ‘All The Young Dudes’, which was written for them by David Bowie. Other hits include All the Way from Memphis, Roll Away the Stone, and Once Bitten twice Shy. (1939)
And, on this day 135 years ago, Casey at the Bat was first published. The famous baseball poem written by humor columnist Ernest Lawrence Thayer, were the final verses— the last words—he penned for the San Francisco Examiner. “Casey” turned him into the ideal specimen of the one-poem poet. (1888)
131 years ago today, the Liverpool Football Club was founded in Merseyside, England. Competing in the Premier League, the top tier of English football, The Reds are one of the best-supported clubs in Europe and have accumulated more top-flight wins and points than any other English team.
Liverpool’s most successful decade was the 1980s, when the club, managed by Bob Paisley, and former player Kenny Dalglish, won 6 League titles, 2 FA Cups, four League Cups, 5 Charity Shields, and 2 European Cups. Captained by Steven Gerrard in 2005, Liverpool became European champion for the fifth time, winning the UEFA Champions League Final against Milan, in spite of being 3–0 down at halftime.
Liverpool FC had not won the top-flight title in 30 years, before their German manager Jürgen Klopp brought in a number of critical signings and beefed up the team’s youth academy and overall revenue, before winning the UEFA Champions League in 2018-2019, and, the coveted Premier League Title in 2019-2020. (1892)
Also, 58 years ago today, NASA astronaut Ed White became the first American to walk in space. During the Gemini 4 mission, he opened the hatch and used a hand-held oxygen-jet gun to push himself out of the capsule and propel himself to the end of the 8-meter tether.
In this photo by Commander James McDivitt over a cloud-covered Pacific Ocean, the maneuvering gun is visible in White’s right hand. The visor of his helmet is gold-plated to protect him from the unfiltered rays of the sun. (1965)
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