Add Your Piece of History… 23rd June

• On this day in 1961.  The Antarctic Treaty System comes into force to regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, “all land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude parallel”.   Antarctica is the Earth’s only continent without a native human population.
  The Antarctic Treaty consists of a number of articles agreed by the 12 original signatories Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the USSR, the United Kingdom and the United States.
  The treaty includes the following important rules.                                                                                                                                                            1. Research be used for peaceful purposes only.
  2. Military activity, such as weapons testing, is prohibited.
  3. Free exchange of information and personnel.
  4. The Antarctic Treaty does not recognise, dispute, or establish territorial sovereignty claims .
  5. Prohibits nuclear explosions or disposal of radioactive wastes.                                                                                                                         There are a number of other articles but those above are the most important combined with the mission statement  “The main objective of the “Antarctic Treaty System” ATS is to ensure in the interests of all mankind that Antarctica shall continue forever to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and shall not become the scene or object of international discord.”

• On this day in 2000.  15 people die in a fire at a Backpacker hostel in Childers, Queensland.  In the early hours of the morning, a fire swept through the Palace Backpackers Hostel, killing 15 people.  The first started in a downstairs TV lounge, from where it quickly spread, rushing up the stairwell and destroying the century-old former pub.  Five days after the fire, fruit-picker Robert Long was captured, after his girlfriend named him as a likely suspect.  Long had a history of petty crimes until he tried to burn his girlfriend and her daughter in Darwin.  Long appeared to be seeking revenge after the hostel ousted him for non-payment of rent.  In 2002 Long was jailed for life over the blaze.

• On this day in 1868.  Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for an invention he called a ”Type-Writer.”

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

Emblem of the Antarctic Treaty. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sholes typewriter, 1873. Museum, Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Childers Palace Backpackers Hostel, Childers, Qld. (Photo credit: jemasmith)

Advertisement