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Benjamin Franklin flies a kite during a thunderstorm to prove that lighting is electricity.
On a dark June afternoon 46-year-old Benjamin Franklin and his son flew a kite with a metal key attached and a silk string leading to a leyden jar. The experiment successfully showed that lightning was static electricity. -
mozart performs at the age of 6.
During Mozart's childhood, his family made several European journeys in which he and Nannerl performed as child prodigies. These began with an exhibition, in 1762, at the court of the Prince-elector Maximilian III of Bavaria in Munich, and at the Imperial Court in Vienna. -
James Cook lands in New Zealand
With the help of a Tahitian named Tupaia, who had lots of knowledge on Pacific geography, Cook managed to reach New Zealand on 6 October 1769. Cook mapped the complete New Zealand coastline, making only some small errors -
Phyllis Wheatly is the first African American woman to have her poems published
Phillis Wheatley was born in Africa (probably Senegal) about 1753 or 1754. When she was about eight years old, she was kidnapped and brought to Boston to work as a slave for the Wheatly family. They taught her Latin, ancient history, mythology and classical literature. This led her to publishing poems and being the first black woman to do so. -
Christianity introduced in Korea
The Koreans had their first contact with Christianity in 1777 through two little books written in Chinese. One of these two books was written by Father Ricci and was about the Existence of God, and the second one by another community. That community was completely isolated and under the leadership of Peter Hoon -
mozarts opera
the marriage of Igaro premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 1 May 1786, the cast for which is included in the "Roles" section below. Mozart himself directed the first two performances, conducting seated at the keyboard, the custom of the day. Later performances were by Joseph Weigl. The first production was given eight further performances, all in 1786. -
George Washington elected forst president of the US
Despite being a member of the Federalist Party, George Washington was immensely popular as a war hero and was an obvious choice as the first president for both federalists and anti-federalists. He was unanimously elected by the 69 electors. His runner up, John Adams, was named Vice President. -
Volta invents the electricity battery
Volta discovered in 1800 that certain fluids would generate a continuous flow of electrical power when used as a conductor. This discovery led to the invention of the first voltaic cell (otherwise known as the battery.) -
World population reaches 1 billion
The world population is the totality of all living humans on the planet Earth. As of today, it is estimated to number 6.995 billion by the United States Census Bureau -
Victorian gold rush begins
Fuelled by extravagant stories of wealth gained at the 1849 Californian gold rush, gold fever hit Victoria following the early gold discoveries in and around Clunes, Warrandyte and Ballarat. But the real rush began with the discovery of the Mount Alexander goldfield 60 kilometres north-east of Ballarat. -
Florence nightingale nurses wounded in Crimea
Florence Nightingale is famous for her nursing work during the Crimean War (1854 - 56). She changed the face of nursing from a mostly untrained profession to a highly skilled and well-respected medical profession with very important responsibilities. -
First AFL match
The game that is now known as Australian Rules football was created in 1858. Cricketers, invented the football game to keep cricketers, fit during winter. The Melbourne Football Club was formed on August 7, 1858, and in the same year the first recorded match was played between teams from two Melbourne schools, Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar. -
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg took place on July 1-3, 1863 in and near the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. This battle was one of the most important battles of the Civil War for the North. Robert E. Lee had invaded the North and was trying to defeat the Union Army once and for all. However, the Union Army held him off and sent him retreating. -
Trial and hanging on Ned Kelly
The Kelly gang made their last stand at the Glenrowan Inn, Glenrowan, Victoria. Wearing their famous armour, the Kelly brothers held a shootout with police. Gang members Dan Kelly, Steve Hart and Joe Byrne were killed, and Ned was shot twenty-eight times in the legs. He survived to stand trial, and was sentenced to death by hanging in October. Ned Kelly was hanged in Melbourne on 11 November 1880. -
Eiffel Tower built for the Paris exposition
After years of deliberation and design, in 1889 the Eiffel Tower was built and completed. It was built for the Paris exposition (commemorating the 100 year anniversary of the French Revolution in Europe.) -
NZ Becomes the first country to grant women the vote
Women's suffrage was granted after about two decades of campaigning by women such as Kate Sheppard and Mary Ann Müller and organisations such as the New Zealand branch of the Women's Christian Temperance Union led by Anne Ward. They felt that female voting would increase the morality of politics -
the boer war begins in south africa
1899 Valuables were discovered in Transvaal, an insurgence was captured in Johannesburg. British immigrants poured into the Boer territories and demanded equal voting rights, which would have allowed a pro-British government to take over the Boer states. Britain unleashed its might in an earth campaign By 1902 had won the war. -
Alfred Deakin becomes first P.M. of Australia
Alfred Deakin, Australia’s second Prime Minister in 1903 after Edmund Barton. Alfred was also the fifth and the seventh Prime Minister. He was in office three times in the first ten years of Federation. -
North Pole reportedly reached by American explorers Robert.E.Peary and Mathew Henson
It is true that Robert Peary did lead the expedition but the actual person that made it to the North Pole first was the BLACK explorer Mathew Alexander Henson. Henson had accompanied Perry on 3 other expeditions as well. The reason Henson was chosen were based on Henson's studies of the arctic region and his knowledge of naval science. -
Titanic Sinks on maiden voyage – over 1500 people die
As the great ship Titanic made her way from Queenstown to New York City, she steamed through the North Atlantic. Nearing the Grand Banks, she got to a dangerous area called Iceberg Alley. The ‘unsinkable ship’ hit an iceberg, killing 1500 people. -
WWI begins
World War One was triggered on 28 June 1914 by the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his pregnant wife Sophie. World War 1 was a military conflict lasting from 1914 to 1918 which involved nearly all the biggest powers of the world. -
Australian soldiers fight at Gallipoli
The first Australian troops left to fight in Gollipoli in November 1914. They were combined with recruits from New Zealand into a joint Australia–New Zealand Army Corps – the ANZACs.