In 1948 a majority (52.3%) of the electors of the Dominion of Newfoundland voted for confederation with Canada. Newfoundland officially became part of Canada on 31 March 1949.
Newfoundlands (the dogs) have webbed feet.
Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. It lies within the constellation of Canis Major, the Greater Dog.
There are references in Dogon culture, in Mali, that they knew that ***Sirius ***was a binary star system centuries before telescopes existed that enabled western astronomers to determine that fact.
*HMS Sirius *was the flagship of the First Fleet, which set out from Portsmouth, England, in 1787 to establish the first European colony in New South Wales. The settlement was established on 26 January 1788 at Sydney Cove.
*HMS Sirius *was later wrecked off the coast of Norfolk Island in 1790.
Early Australians tried to introduce ***Norfolk ***Pines for badly needed timber, but they were not resilient to Australian winds, and just snapped off and blew down. Norfolk Pine is not a true pine., and is ecologically threatened.
Norfolk Island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia; as an external territory it enjoys a large degree of self-governance.
It is one of the few locations outside North America to celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving, due to the influence of American whalers.
Thanksgiving dates back to November 1621, when the newly arrived Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians gathered at Plymouth for an autumn harvest celebration, an event regarded as America’s “first Thanksgiving.”
Australia’s major thoroughbred horse race, the Melbourne Cup, is held every year on the first Tuesday in November at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne.
The first Melbourne Cup was run in 1861. It was originally run over a distance of two miles (approximately 3,218m). The length was shortened to 3,200m when Australia metricised in 1972.
In 2013 the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) ranked Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, as the fourth most expensive city in the world, tying with Oslo, Norway. The EIU has also ranked Melbourne as the most liveable city in the world since 2011, and among the top three since 2002.
Turn of the century opera soprano Dame Nellie Melba, after whom Peach Melba and Melba toast were named, took her stage name from her Australian hometown of Melbourne. She dropped her original name of Mitchell due to tensions with her father, who disapproved of her non-housewifely ambitions. She once described Adelaide as “that city of the three P’s – Parsons, Pubs and Prostitutes.”
Ahem.
'Twas Terry Jones, not John Cleese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkw2DdoskPY
In play:
A fictional version of Dame Nellie Melba appeared in the most recent season of the PBS costume drama Downton Abbey. She was played by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, a New Zealand soprano (Melba was Australian).
***New Zealand ***is named after a province in the far southwest of the Netherlands, which is mostly below sea level. hence “sea-land”…
The provincial governments in New Zealand were abolished in 1876.
The last remaining purpose-built provincial government buildings, those of the Canterbury province in Christchurch, were destroyed in the earthquake on 22 February 2011.
That magnitude 6.3 earthquake killed 185 people. It was nearly six months after the magnitude 7.1 Canterbury earthquake of 4 September 2010, which caused significant damage to Christchurch and the central Canterbury region, but no direct fatalities.
Estimates of the total rebuilding costs for Christchurch vary, but have ballooned to approximately $40 billion.
As there was significant soil liquefaction during the quake, much of the cost relates to land remediation.
In 1893 Elizabeth Yates was elected mayor of Onehunga, New Zealand, making her the first woman in the British Empire to hold the office.
The Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry in the UK and other Commonwealth countries’ honours systems. King George V established in in 1917. It has five classes. In order of seniority they are:
- Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (GBE);
- Knight Commander or Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE or DBE);
- Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE);
- Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE); and
- Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
The United States Marine Corps Band plays at the White House during State Arrival Ceremonies. Following the ceremonies the band plays in Cross Hall. In 2012, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the arrival of US Marines and soldiers in New Zealand during WWII, the Marine Corps Band played public concerts in Wellington, Waiouru, Hamilton, Auckland and Christchurch.
Wellington, Hamilton, Auckland and Christchurch are four of the six dioceses into which New Zealand is divided. The other two are Palmerston North and Dunedin.