Australian's reject Howard's Idea of a Republic - 6 November 1999

6 November 1999 is remembered as the day, Australians rejected the Republic Referendum and chose to remain a constitutional monarchy instead. However, the truth is that the idea of a republic per se held - and still holds - a majority in the population. Just the actual referendum question presented at the time boiled down to a choice of Queen Elisabeth as head of state, represented by the Governor-General, or a Canberra appointed President, rather than one elected directly by the people.

As an outside observer I couldn't - and honestly still can't - quite grasp how Prime Minister John Howard managed to get away with a referendum choice that did not reflect the full intention of the republican movement - it's like saying: "I don't care if you want wine. You can only choose between juice and water!"

This day saw Abraham Lincoln (1860) elected US president, while Franklin D. Roosevelt (1940) and Bill Clinton (1996) were re-elected for a second term - a feat Barack Obama would like to copy today.

Elsewhere in the world, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, a shipwrecked Spaniard, became the first known European to set foot on Texan soil (1528), Jefferson Davies was elected President of the Confederated States of America (1861), the UN General Assembly condemned South Africa's Apartheid Policy and called its member states to observe a military and economical boycott of the country (1962) and Joe Cocker topped the UK charts "With a little help from my friends" (1967).

The inventor of the saxophone, Antoine-Joseph "Adolphe" Sax, was born on this day (Dinant/Belgium, 1814), as were George Redburn Young, co-writer of the Aussie rock classic "Friday On My Mind", member of The Easybeats and Flash and the Pan, elder brother of Malcolm and Angus Young of AC/DC fame (Glasgow/UK, 1946) and Eagles singer Glenn Frey (Detroit/Michigan, 1948). Keeping with the musical theme, the most famous death of the day would be Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, composer of "Swan Lake", who died of cholera in St. Petersburg/Russia (1893). 'Captain Socceroo', Johnny Warren, famous Australian football player, promoter and commentator lost his battle with cancer on this day as well (Sydney, 2004)