Clare Stevenson (1903–1988) was the inaugural director of the Women's
Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF), from May 1941 to March 1946. As
such, she was described in 2001 as "the most significant woman in the
history of the Air Force". Formed as a branch of the Royal Australian
Air Force in March 1941, the WAAAF was the first and largest uniformed
women's service in Australia during World War II. Born and educated in
Victoria, Stevenson was an executive with the Berlei company when she
was appointed Director WAAAF. Initially ranked squadron officer, she
rose to become group officer by April 1942. Stevenson resumed her
civilian career following her discharge from the Air Force in 1946. Long
active in adult education and social welfare, she helped form aid
organisations including the Carers Association of New South Wales (now
Carers NSW) after retiring from Berlei in 1960.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_Stevenson>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1607:
Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, considered the
first fully developed opera, premiered in Mantua.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Orfeo>
1868:
Andrew Johnson became the first U.S. president to be impeached.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Andrew_Johnson>
1875:
The steamship SS Gothenburg hit a section of the Great Barrier
Reef at low tide and sank northwest of Holbourne Island, resulting in
more than 98 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Gothenburg>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
histrionic:
1. Of or relating to actors or acting.
2. (by extension) Excessively dramatic or emotional, especially with the
intention to draw attention.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/histrionic>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I am a white man, I believe. Will anybody undertake to teach me
what are the antipathies and loathings of white men? What mean whites
may or may not like is of small importance. But the generous soul of my
race, which has led the van in the great march of liberty and
civilization, and whose lofty path is marked by the broken chains of
every form of slavery, has an instinctive hatred of injustice, of
exclusive privilege, of arrogance, ignorance, and baseness, and an
instinctive love of honor, magnanimity and justice. The white soul of my
race naturally loves the man, of whatever race or color, who bravely
fights and gloriously dies for equal rights, and instinctively loathes
every man who, saved by the blood of such heroes, deems himself made of
choicer clay.
--George William Curtis
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_William_Curtis>