Born on this day
Monday, November 6, 1893. : Edsel Ford, after whom the failed Edsel car was named, is born.
Edsel Bryant Ford, the only child of Henry Ford, was born in Detroit, Michigan, on 6 November 1893. He became secretary of the Ford Motor Company in 1915, and president of Ford from 1919 to 1943. He died on 26 May 1943.
The Ford Edsel was named after Edsel Ford. The car was introduced in response to market research which indicated that car owners wanted greater horsepower, unique body design, and wrap-around windshields. It took five years for the car to move from mere conception to driveable reality. By the time the Edsel was ready to be released on the US market, the country was in a recession, and consumers were turning to smaller, more economical models. The Edsel ran for three models over three years, and only 110,847 Edsels were produced before Ford dropped the line.
Australian History
Wednesday, November 6, 1861. : Queensland is linked with New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia by telegraph.
Canadian-born Samuel Walker McGowan is credited with bringing the telegraph technology to Australia. Lured by the opportunities created by the discovery of gold in Victoria, McGowan arrived in Melbourne in 1853. Although isolated from telegraph technology in America, and limited by lack of equipment and suitable component manufacturing firms in Australia, McGowan succeeded in opening up the first telegraph line in Australia on 3 March 1854. It ran from Melbourne to Williamstown.
The network of telegraph lines quickly spread throughout Victoria, and then to Adelaide, South Australia. In 1861, the first electric telegraph in Queensland was transmitted between Brisbane and Ipswich. Then on 6 November 1861, Brisbane was linked by telegraph to New South Wales, allowing transmission of telegraphs also to Victoria and South Australia.
Australian History
Saturday, November 6, 1999. : Australia votes against becoming a republic in a national referendum.
Constitutional monarchy vs Republic: the debate has been continuing in Australia for many years. In an effort to settle the matter once and for all, a Constitutional Convention was held in Canberra in February 1998. During the two-week convention, a model for a republic was adopted, which was then presented to the public at a referendum on 6 November 1999. In the final count, the “no” votes led 54.87% to 45.13%. All six states voted against the proposal. Victoria held the narrowest margin of 50.16% to 49.84%. Prime Minister John Howard said the Australian people had clearly rejected the republic proposal. Despite the referendum, however, the debate has continued to dog Australian politics.
World History
Thursday, November 6, 1884. : A British protectorate is proclaimed over the southern coast of New Guinea, now part of Papua New Guinea.
Papua New Guinea is a country in Oceania, positioned to the north of Australia. Consisting of the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, as well as numerous offshore islands, it shares the island with the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua. The country is renowned for being largely unexplored, with ancient tribes still occupying dense jungles in the rugged mountains, while it is also believed that undiscovered flora and fauna species lie in its interior.
The first known European incursions into the island began with the Dutch and Portuguese traders during the sixteenth century. The name ‘Papua New Guinea’ is a result of the country’s unusual administrative history prior to Independence. ‘Papua’ comes from a Malay word, pepuah, used to describe the frizzy Melanesian hair, while ‘New Guinea’ is derived from ‘Nueva Guinea’, the name used by Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez, who coined the term due to the physical similarities he noted in the people to those occupying the Guinea coast of Africa.
The northern half of the country fell to German control in 1884, and in 1899 the German imperial government assumed direct control of the territory. At this point, the territory was known as German New Guinea. On 6 November 1884, a British protectorate was proclaimed over the southern half, and on 4 September 1888, Britain annexed the territory completely. The southern half then became known as British New Guinea. After the Papua Act of 1905, the British portion was renamed to Territory of Papua. During World War I, Australian troops began occupying the island to defend the British portion. Once the Treaty of Versailles came into effect following World War I, Australia was permitted to administer German New Guinea, while the British portion came to be regarded as an External Territory of the Australian Commonwealth, though in effect still a British possession. The two territories remained separate and distinct as ‘Papua’ and ‘New Guinea’.
Following the New Guinea Campaign of World War II, the two territories were merged as ‘Papua New Guinea’. Australia continued to administer the country until it was granted full independence on 16 September 1975. Since independence, the two countries have retained close ties.
World History
Tuesday, November 6, 1962. : The United Nations condemns the policy of Apartheid.
Apartheid was an official policy of racial segregation under which the black majority was segregated and denied political, social and economic rights equal to those given to whites. It commenced in South Africa in 1948, and continued through to the early 1990s.
On 6 November 1962, the General Assembly of the United Nations established the UN Special Committee against Apartheid. In adopting a resolution condemning South Africa’s racist apartheid policies, it called on all member states to terminate diplomatic, trade, transport and military relations with the country. This was in the wake of the 1960 massacre of unarmed black demonstrators at Sharpeville near Johannesburg, South Africa. South African police opened fire on a crowd of native South Africans protesting the pass laws, which required all blacks to carry pass books at all times. This action cultivated a great deal of anti-apartheid support throughout the world, and led to the November 6 resolution by the United Nations.