1648 The Boston Shoemakers create the first trade union in North America. Why is no sporting team in Boston call the Shoemakers? Huh? Answer me that!
1851 Herman Melville published ‘Moby Dick.’ For reasons now lost, I read it both in high school and college. The student edition I had was abridged to delete much of the whaling and sailing detail.
1909 New South Wales surrendered 2,400 square kilometres of land for the Australian Capital Territory. In the field pictured below the planned city of Canberra arose. Been there many a time and hope to go ago in December to see an exhibition from the British Museum.
1929 English Privy Council ruled that women are persons in the law. The Premier of Alberta had named Emily Murphy, a municipal court judge for a decade, to a Senate vacancy. She had been the first woman magistrate in the British Empire. The Federal Government rejected the nomination and the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the authority of the Government of the Day to do so. Murphy and four associates, all member of the Alberta Legislature, pressed the case to the Privy Council in London, which in time ruled that women were persons and so qualified for the Senate. After 1949 such an appeal was no longer possible. Sometimes it is nice to have a higher authority on the job.
1954 Texas Instruments marketed the first transistor radio. I listened to many a ball game on a transistor radio (sometimes under the covers). It was another step in the miniaturisation of communication.