The Victoria Cross for Australia is the highest award in the Australian Honours System, superseding the Victoria Cross for issue to Australians. It was created by letters patent signed by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on 15 January 1991. The first medal was awarded on 16 January 2009 to Trooper Mark Donaldson, for the rescue of a coalition forces interpreter from heavy fire in Oruzgan Province in Afghanistan. Donaldson's award came almost 40 years after Warrant Officer Keith Payne was awarded the (original) Victoria Cross for gallantry on 24 May 1969 during the Vietnam War. The Victoria Cross for Australia is the "decoration for according recognition to persons who in the presence of the enemy, perform acts of the most conspicuous gallantry, or daring or pre-eminent acts of valour or self-sacrifice or display extreme devotion to duty." As the highest Australian award, it is listed first on the Australian Order of Wear with precedence in Australia over all orders, decorations and medals. The decoration may be awarded to members of the Australian Defence Force and to other persons determined by the Australian Minister for Defence. When the medal is awarded, the ceremony is presided over by the Governor-General of Australia on behalf of the Queen of Australia, who presents the medal during an investiture.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1665:

The London Gazette, the oldest surviving English language newspaper, was first published as the Oxford Gazette. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Gazette

1811:

American forces led by Indiana Territory Governor William Henry Harrison defeated the forces of Shawnee leader Tecumseh's growing American Indian confederation at the Battle of Tippecanoe near present-day Battle Ground, Indiana. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tippecanoe

1885:

Construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the first transcontinental railroad across Canada, concluded with financier and politician Sir Donald Smith driving in the "last spike" in Craigellachie, British Columbia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Spike_%28Canadian_Pacific_Railway%29

1917:

Vladimir Lenin led a Bolshevik insurrection against the Provisional Government of Alexander Kerensky, starting the Bolshevik Revolution, the second phase of the overall Russian Revolution. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Revolution

1991:

Professional basketball player Magic Johnson announced his retirement from the game because of his infection with the HIV virus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Johnson

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

monophthongal (adj): 1. Of or pertaining to a vowel that has the same sound throughout its pronunciation. 2. Pronounced as a single vowel sound, especially of vowels normally pronounced as a diphthong http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/monophthongal

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Do not be deceived by the way men of bad faith misuse words and names ...Things are set up as contraries that are not even in the same category. Listen to me: the opposite of radical is superficial, the opposite of liberal is stingy; the opposite of conservative is destructive. Thus I will describe myself as a radical conservative liberal; but certain of the tainted red fish will swear that there can be no such fish as that. Beware of those who use words to mean their opposites. At the same time have pity on them, for usually this trick is their only stock in trade. --R. A. Lafferty http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/R._A._Lafferty