Add Your Piece of History… 20th June

• On this day in 1988.  The Australian $2 banknote is replaced by the $2 coin.  Decimal currency was first introduced in Australia on the 14th February 1966.  The new Australian dollar replaced the Australian pound.  Australian Prim Minister at the time, Robert Menzies, wished to name the currency “the Royal”.  Menzies’s influence meant that the name “Royal” prevailed, and trial designs were prepared and printed.  the name “Royal” proved unpopular, and it was later shelved in favour of “Dollar”.  The $2 gold coin features an Aboriginal tribal elder set against a background of the Southern Cross and native grass trees.

• On this day in 1756.  British prisoners are captured and imprisoned in the infamous “Black Hole of Calcutta”.  The “Black Hole of Calcutta” was a 4.3 x 5.5 metre detention cell found at Fort William in Calcutta.  Fort William had been established to protect British East India Company trade in the city of Calcutta.

• On this day in 1837. Queen Victoria ascends the British throne following the death of King William IV.  Victoria’s father died when she was less than a year old.  Her grandfather, George III, died less than a week later.  Princess Victoria’s uncle, the Prince of Wales, inherited the Crown, becoming King George IV.  When George IV died in 1830, he left the throne to his brother, the Duke of Clarence and St Andrews, who become King William IV.  Victoria was recognised as heiress-presumptive to the British throne, and on the 20th June 1837 at the age of 18 she succeeded her uncle, William IV, to the throne to become the last monarch of the House of Hanover.  Queen Victoria’s formal titles included Queen of Great Britain and Ireland (1837 – 1901) and empress of India (1876 – 1901).

Please feel free to add your piece of history (something personal or general history).

Australian two dollar banknote.  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Black Hole, inclosed by railing, Calcutta, India. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Queen Victoria, wearing her small diamond crown in 1887. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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