History

Illawarra Mercury

Tuesday January 4, 2005

1688 - English mariner William Dampier anchors near Cape l'Eveque on Western Australia's north-west coast.

1885 - Dr William Grant of Davenport, Iowa, performs what is believed to be first appendectomy.

1930 - Douglas Mawson discovers what became known as MacRobertson Land in Antarctica.

1932 - Indian Government introduces emergency powers as Indian National Congress is declared illegal and Mahatma Gandhi is arrested.

1943 - Conscription introduced by Australian Government in WWII.

1965 - Death of TS Eliot, American-born poet, playwright and Nobel Prize winner.

1967 - Donald Campbell, British car and speedboat racer, is killed on Coniston Water in England during attempt to break world water speed record.

1982 - Former Australian Liberal prime minister Sir William McMahon (pictured) announces retirement from politics.

1999 - Europe's new currency, the euro, makes a strong debut on the financial markets.