Todays History

Abel Tasman is the first recorded European to sight New Zealand.

HMS Duchess sinks after a collision with HMS Barham off the coast of Scotland with the loss of 124 men

Cronulla riots: Thousands of White Australians demonstrate against ethnic violence resulting in a riot against anyone thought to be Lebanese in Cronulla, New South Wales;…

United Nations General Assembly recognizes the Convention against Torture.

A volcano on White Island, New Zealand, kills 22 people after it erupts.

Metallica performs a show in Antarctica, making them the first band to perform on all seven continents.

The Galileo spacecraft arrives at Jupiter, a little more than six years after it was launched by Space Shuttle Atlantis during Mission STS-34.

A coal mine explosion at Monongah, West Virginia, kills 362 workers.

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow is destroyed on orders from Joseph Stalin.

The Million Dollar Quartet (Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash) get together at Sun Studio for the first and last time.