jenny cares 

Illustration 'Sea Dragons in their Stables' for Snugglepot and Cuddlepie story. Author/artist May Gibbs

BORN ON THIS DAY

1860 - GEORGE ROBERTSON, co-founder of Australia's largest bookseller, ANGUS & ROBERTSON, is born in Scotland. At age 21 he emigrated to Australia, [arr. Feb 1882] and began working at a Sydney bookshop. Fellow Scotsman David Angus opened his own bookstore and Robertson joined partnership in 1886. Within ten years the bookstore branched out into publishing. Robertson had a flair for recognising talent, and promoted the careers of such Australian writers as Henry Lawson, AB 'Banjo' Paterson, Norman Lindsay, CJ Dennis and May Gibbs (Snugglepot and Cuddlepie books, see Gibbs' illustration). Robertson continued with the business until he died in 1933 [more]

1866 - ANNIE SULLIVAN, teacher of deaf-blind student HELEN KELLER, [see portrait at right] is born in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts. Annie was partially blind and in 1880, underwent surgery and regained some sight. After graduating in 1886, she began teaching Helen Keller [who lost her sight and hearing at 19 months old.] Annie's big breakthrough in communication with Helen came when Helen realised that the motions Annie was making on her palm, while running  water over her palm, symbolised the idea of "water". From that point on, Helen nearly exhausted Sullivan by demanding the names of all the other familiar objects in her silent, dark world.
Annie Sullivan died 20 Oct 1936, having left the legacy in Helen Keller of a deaf/blind author, activist and lecturer who inspired many others to succeed. [more]

AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

 1999 - SYDNEY'S HAILSTORM- Large hail is not an uncommon phenomenon in New South Wales, although hailstorms are less likely in Autumn. On the evening of 14 April 1999, a supercell of a ferocity previously unparalleled in the city's records, hit Sydney. Hailstones hit at over 200 kph, damaging over 35,000 buildings, destroying roofs and damaging thousands of cars. The total insured damages bill exceeded AUD$1.4 billion, making it the most costly natural disaster in Australian history at the time.
Note from Jenny: my own home was struck... destroying the roof, while house contents, car, windows and garden were damaged or destroyed.
[more] [and here] [meterology]

WORLD HISTORY

70AD - MASS SUICIDE IN MASADA; Nearly 1,000 JEWISH zealots commit mass suicide at the desert fortress of MASADA, rather than be captured by the Romans. Masada is an ancient mountaintop fortress in Israel, on the western shore of the Dead Sea. For centuries, the ruling Romans became increasingly violent in suppression of the Jewish resistance. Jewish Zealots fortified themselves against Rome in the Masada. In 70 AD, the Romans conquered Jerusalem, but Masada remained strong. 73AD 10,000-15,000 soldiers marched on Masada. After failed attempts the Romans built a circumvallation wall and then a rampart using thousands of tons of stones and beaten earth. From the top of this ramp, the fortress was attacked.
Jewish historian JOSEPHUS records how, on 14 April AD 73, leader Eleazar urged the Jewish defenders of 960 to mass suicide rather than capture and enslavement. Two women and five children hid and later related their story to Josephus. [more]

1865 - US PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN is assassinated. Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, from 1861 to 1865, and the first president from the Republican Party. Lincoln was assassinated whilst attending a performance of the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre on 14 April 1865. He was shot at close range by JOHN WILKES BOOTH. Booth was hunted down and shot, near Bowling Green, Virginia. [more]