Robert Garran was an Australian lawyer and public servant, an early leading expert in Australian constitutional law, the first employee of the Government of Australia and the first Solicitor-General of Australia. Garran spent thirty-one years as permanent head of the Attorney-General's Department, providing advice to ten different Prime Ministers (from Barton to Lyons). He played a significant behind-the-scenes role in the Australian federation movement, as adviser to Edmund Barton and chair of the Drafting Committee at the 1897–1898 Constitutional Convention. In addition to his professional work, Garran was also an important figure in the development of the city of Canberra during its early years. He founded several important cultural associations, organised the creation of the Canberra University College, and later contributed to the establishment of the Australian National University. Garran published at least eight books and many journal articles throughout his lifetime, covering such topics as constitutional law, the history of federalism in Australia, and German language poetry.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Garran

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1745: King George's War: British colonial forces led by William Pepperrell captured the French stronghold at Fortress Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island after a six-week siege. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortress_Louisbourg)

1846: Pius IX was elected pope, beginning the longest reign of all popes (not counting the Apostle St. Peter). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_IX)

1963: Aboard Vostok 6, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentina_Tereshkova)

1976: Apartheid in South Africa: Police in Soweto opened fire on schoolchildren protesting against the imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in township schools, triggering a series of nationwide demonstrations, strikes, riots and violence. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soweto)

1999: Thabo Mbeki was inaugurated President of South Africa. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thabo_Mbeki)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

It's no use, says he. Force, hatred, history, all that. That's not life for men and women, insult and hatred. And everybody knows that it's the very opposite of that that is really life. -- James Joyce in Ulysses (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Joyce)