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>
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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>
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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>
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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>
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