text:
Rural City of Mildura

The Rural City of Mildura is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the north-western part of the state. It covers an area of 22083 km2 being the largest LGA in the state. In August 2021 the area had a population of 56,972. It includes the city of Mildura and the towns of Merbein, Red Cliffs, Irymple, Ouyen, Werrimull, Murrayville, Walpeup and Hattah. It was formed in 1995 from the amalgamation of the City of Mildura, Shire of Mildura and Shire of Walpeup.

The Rural City is governed and administered by the Mildura Rural City Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Mildura, it also has service centres located in Ouyen and a couple of other locations within Mildura. The Rural City is named after the main urban settlement lying in the north of the LGA, that is Mildura, which is also the LGA's most populous urban centre with a population of 30,647.

The Rural City of Mildura covers most of the Mallee region of Victoria. Before the less infertile soils were fertilised and developed for the production of wheat and barley the whole region was covered in a dense mallee scrub of deep-rooting eucalypts that regenerated after the frequent bushfires in the region. Many of the soils are so sandy that clearing is impractical, and Murray-Sunset National Park covers almost a third of the area of the LGA. Other protected areas include Hattah-Kulkyne National Park and Murray-Kulkyne Park on the Murray River.

The climate of the region is the driest in Victoria, and Neds Corner in the remote northwest has the lowest average annual rainfall in the state at 240 mm. In the south at Ouyen the average is 335 mm. In all the areas of the LGA there can be considerable variation in annual rainfall: the range historically has been from 110 mm in 1967 to 605 mm in 1973. Temperatures in the LGA are the hottest in Victoria and the average summer maximum is 32 °C, but it often exceeds 40 °C. Winter can be very pleasant with a maximum of 16 °C, but frosts are common in the morning and can sometimes be severe.

The southeast of the LGA is used primarily for grain growing; however yields are erratic and often poor due to drought. In the north irrigated fruit growing (primarily oranges and grapes) is highly productive and supports Mildura and nearby towns; however, salinity in the Murray River is a major threat to the long-term sustainability of these activities, as is competition from overseas citrus growers.

In 2006 the Rural City of Mildura had a population of 49,815, most of which was located in Mildura (30,016) and adjacent areas (that is Victorian Sunraysia). Many of the small towns in the region have practically disappeared as more efficient farming methods reduce the quantity of human labour required.

Current composition
The council is composed of nine councillors elected to represent an un-subdivided municipality. Represented in Order of Election. Council Composition as of September 2022:

Administration and governance
The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Mildura Municipal Offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at both its administrative centre on Madden Avenue in Mildura, and its service centres in Ouyen and on Deakin Avenue in Mildura.

Townships and localities
At the 2021 census, the rural city had a population of 56,972 up from 53,878 in the 2016 census

^ - Territory divided with another LGA

Sister cities
Mildura has sister city relations with the following cities:

 * Dali, Yunnan Province of China (established 2006)
 * Kumatori, Japan (established 2001)
 * Upland, California, United States of America (established 1969)

title: Rural City of Mildura


text:
Borough of Queenscliffe

The Borough of Queenscliffe is a local government area in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, located in the southern part of the state. It is the smallest local government area in Victoria, covering an area of 10.83 km2 and, in June 2018, had a population of 2,982. It includes only two settlements, which are Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale. It is situated on the south coast, south-east of Geelong on the Bellarine Peninsula south of Swan Bay and next to the Port Phillip Heads, the entrance to Port Phillip Bay from Bass Strait.

The Borough is governed and administered by the Queenscliffe Borough Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Queenscliff. The Borough is named after the main settlement located in the centre of the LGA, that is Queenscliff, which is also the LGA's most populous urban centre with a population of 1,315.

History
The Borough of Queenscliffe was established on 12 May 1863. Queenscliff was first and foremost built for government purposes, providing postal, customs, health and telegraph services, lighthouse and signal services, military and defence establishments and the sea pilots service.

Survival of the local council restructure
Queenscliffe is the last borough remaining in both Victoria and all of Australia and was the only LGA not to have been subject to changes to its boundaries and/or name in the Victorian local government restructure which took place between 1993 and 1995. Had the same restructuring principles, which had been applied to other municipalities in the state, also been applied to Queenscliffe, the Borough would have been absorbed into the new City of Greater Geelong.

Queenscliffe's exclusion from the restructure was debated in the Victorian Parliament at the time.

Liberal Premier Jeff Kennett, in explaining his reasons, stated: "It was my view initially that Queenscliffe should have been included. When the government had a look at the KPMG report it outlined the way Queenscliffe was administered, which was in such a way that the people of Queenscliffe would not benefit by the amalgamation. In other words, the people of Queenscliffe have been running themselves well, and small or large communities that do well ought to be recognised."

Labor member for Melbourne Neil Cole suggested that his reasons were, in fact, based on internal Liberal Party considerations:

"...the powerful Liberal Party forces in Queenscliffe were able to argue that they are different from Geelong people. The Liberal Party power base there said, If you think you are going to take Queenscliffe away, think again. If you do it to us you will be in trouble--. So someone got on the telephone, and what happened? For no apparent reason other than Liberal political purposes there is the absolute anomaly of Queenscliffe not being included in the amalgamation."

Kennett explicitly denied that this was the case:

"..the honourable member for Melbourne said, that Queenscliffe happens to be more conservative than Labor in its make-up of population. I can assure all members that that was not the reason for the decision."

Labor member George Seitz suggested a more innocent reason:

"The Borough of Queenscliffe has not been included in the proposed amalgamation probably because of the number of elderly retired people in the area. The residents of Portarlington, Drysdale and St Leonards have expressed concern about their rates and  the retention  of the services that have been provided by the local council, such as nursing, podiatry and other services. Those people are used to the availability of face-to-face services and feel comfortable in a rural setting."

Overall, the reasons for Queenscliffe being excluded remain unclear, and the range of opinions may perhaps best be summarised by Peter Loney's quip: "...we are not sure why it was omitted. The Minister for Local Government said it was because Queenscliffe is unique. The Premier said it was because of the council's effectiveness. Some people suggest the uniqueness of Queenscliffe has a lot to do with the number of influential Liberal Party members living at Point Lonsdale who have exerted pressure."

Reduction in number of councillors
At the 2008 elections the number of councillors was reduced from seven to the current five.

Current composition
The council is composed of five councillors elected to represent an unsubdivided municipality. The current council was elected in November 2020 for a four-year term. Councillors are elected on a proportional representation basis.

Mayors

 * Pat Semmens (2006–2008)
 * Bob Merriman (2008–2012; 2018–19)
 * Hélène Cameron (2012–2016)
 * Tony Francis (2016–2017)
 * Susan Salter (2017–2018)
 * Ross Ebbels (2019–pres)

Administration and governance
The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Queenscliffe Municipal Offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at its administrative centre in Queenscliff.

Townships and localities
The 2021 census, the borough had a population of 3,276 up from 2,853 in the 2016 census

^ - Territory divided with another LGA

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Borough of Queenscliffe


text:
Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media

The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (An tAire Turasóireachta, Cultúir, Ealaíon, Gaeltachta, Spóirt agus Meán) is a senior minister in the Government of Ireland and leads the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

The current minister is Catherine Martin, TD.

She is assisted by one Minister of State:
 * Thomas Byrne, TD – Minister of State for Sport and Physical Education; and Minister of State for Gaeltacht

Overview
The Minister for Economic Planning and Development was created by the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 1977. The title and functions of the position have changed several times since then. The current title was adopted in 2020 by the 32nd Government.

Culture
Creating an environment enabling the National Cultural Institutions to flourish through the provision of financial resources and an appropriate policy framework. The National Cultural Institutions include: the National Archives of Ireland, National Concert Hall, National Library of Ireland, National Museum of Ireland, Chester Beatty Library, Irish Museum of Modern Art and National Gallery of Ireland. Formulation, development and evaluation of policy and structures to promote and foster the practice and appreciation of the creative and interpretative arts and to encourage the development of the Irish film industry; enabling the national cultural institutions, as integral elements of the national culture, to preserve, protect and present for the benefit of present and future generations our moveable heritage and cultural assets.

List of office-holders
{| class="wikitable"
 * colspan=6|
 * colspan=6|

Minister for Economic Planning and Development 1977–1980
!Name !colspan="2"|Term of office !colspan="2"|Party !Government(s)
 * Martin O'Donoghue
 * 8 July 1977
 * 11 December 1979
 * 15th
 * Michael O'Kennedy
 * 12 December 1979
 * 21 January 1980
 * 16th
 * colspan=6|
 * 21 January 1980
 * 16th
 * colspan=6|
 * colspan=6|
 * colspan=6|

Minister for Energy 1980–1981
!Name !colspan="2"|Term of office !colspan="2"|Party !Government(s)
 * Michael O'Kennedy
 * 21 January 1980
 * 22 January 1980
 * 16th
 * George Colley
 * 22 January 1980
 * 30 June 1981
 * 16th
 * Michael O'Leary
 * 30 June 1981
 * 21 August 1981
 * 17th
 * colspan=6|
 * Michael O'Leary
 * 30 June 1981
 * 21 August 1981
 * 17th
 * colspan=6|
 * colspan=6|
 * colspan=6|

Minister for Industry and Energy 1981–1983
!Name !colspan="2"|Term of office !colspan="2"|Party !Government(s) (1st time)
 * Michael O'Leary
 * 21 August 1981
 * 9 March 1982
 * 17th
 * Albert Reynolds
 * 17th
 * Albert Reynolds
 * Albert Reynolds
 * 9 March 1982
 * 14 December 1982
 * 18th
 * John Bruton
 * 14 December 1982
 * 13 December 1983
 * 19th
 * Dick Spring
 * 13 December 1983
 * 17 December 1983
 * 19th
 * colspan=6|
 * 13 December 1983
 * 17 December 1983
 * 19th
 * colspan=6|
 * colspan=6|
 * colspan=6|

Minister for Energy 1983–1993
!Name !colspan="2"|Term of office !colspan="2"|Party !Government(s) (2nd time)
 * Dick Spring
 * 17 December 1983
 * 20 January 1987
 * 19th
 * Michael Noonan
 * 20 January 1987
 * 10 March 1987
 * 19th
 * Ray Burke
 * 10 March 1987
 * 24 November 1988
 * 20th
 * Michael Smith
 * 24 November 1988
 * 12 July 1989
 * 20th
 * Bobby Molloy
 * 12 July 1989
 * 4 November 1992
 * 21st • 22nd
 * Albert Reynolds
 * 12 July 1989
 * 20th
 * Bobby Molloy
 * 12 July 1989
 * 4 November 1992
 * 21st • 22nd
 * Albert Reynolds
 * 21st • 22nd
 * Albert Reynolds
 * Albert Reynolds
 * Albert Reynolds
 * 4 November 1992
 * 12 January 1993
 * 22nd
 * Brian Cowen
 * 12 January 1993
 * 20 January 1993
 * 23rd
 * colspan=6|
 * 23rd
 * colspan=6|
 * colspan=6|
 * colspan=6|

Minister for Tourism and Trade 1993–1997
!Name !colspan="2"|Term of office !colspan="2"|Party !Government(s)
 * Brian Cowen
 * 20 January 1993
 * 22 January 1993
 * 23rd
 * Charlie McCreevy
 * 22 January 1993
 * 15 December 1994
 * 23rd
 * Enda Kenny
 * 15 December 1994
 * 26 June 1997
 * 24th
 * Jim McDaid
 * 26 June 1997
 * 12 July 1997
 * 25th
 * colspan=6|
 * 24th
 * Jim McDaid
 * 26 June 1997
 * 12 July 1997
 * 25th
 * colspan=6|
 * 25th
 * colspan=6|
 * colspan=6|

Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation 1997–2002
!Name !colspan="2"|Term of office !colspan="2"|Party !Government(s)
 * Jim McDaid
 * 12 July 1997
 * 6 June 2002
 * 25th
 * John O'Donoghue
 * 6 June 2002
 * 19 June 2002
 * 26th
 * colspan=6|
 * 19 June 2002
 * 26th
 * colspan=6|
 * colspan=6|
 * colspan=6|

Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism 2002–2010
!Name !colspan="2"|Term of office !colspan="2"|Party !Government(s)
 * John O'Donoghue
 * 19 June 2002
 * 14 June 2007
 * 26th
 * Séamus Brennan
 * 14 June 2007
 * 7 May 2008
 * 27th
 * Martin Cullen
 * 7 May 2008
 * 23 March 2010
 * 28th
 * Mary Hanafin
 * 23 March 2010
 * 2 May 2010
 * 28th
 * colspan=6|
 * 28th
 * Mary Hanafin
 * 23 March 2010
 * 2 May 2010
 * 28th
 * colspan=6|
 * 28th
 * colspan=6|
 * colspan=6|

Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport 2010–2011
!Name !colspan="2"|Term of office !colspan="2"|Party !Government(s)
 * Mary Hanafin
 * 2 May 2010
 * 9 March 2011
 * 28th
 * Jimmy Deenihan
 * 9 March 2011
 * 2 June 2011
 * 29th
 * colspan=6|
 * 2 June 2011
 * 29th
 * colspan=6|
 * colspan=6|
 * colspan=6|

Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht 2011–2016
!Name !colspan="2"|Term of office !colspan="2"|Party !Government(s)
 * Jimmy Deenihan
 * 2 June 2011
 * 11 July 2014
 * 29th
 * Heather Humphreys
 * 11 July 2014
 * 12 July 2016
 * 29th
 * colspan=6|
 * 12 July 2016
 * 29th
 * colspan=6|
 * colspan=6|
 * colspan=6|

Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs 2016–2017
!Name !colspan="2"|Term of office !colspan="2"|Party !Government(s)
 * Heather Humphreys
 * 12 July 2016
 * 1 August 2017
 * 30th • 31st
 * colspan=6|
 * 30th • 31st
 * colspan=6|
 * colspan=6|

Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht 2017–2020
!Name !colspan="2"|Term of office !colspan="2"|Party !Government(s)
 * Heather Humphreys
 * 1 August 2017
 * 30 November 2017
 * 31st
 * Josepha Madigan
 * 30 November 2017
 * 27 June 2020
 * 31st
 * Catherine Martin
 * 27 June 2020
 * 30 September 2020
 * 32nd
 * colspan=6|
 * Catherine Martin
 * 27 June 2020
 * 30 September 2020
 * 32nd
 * colspan=6|
 * colspan=6|
 * colspan=6|

Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media 2020–present
!Name !colspan="2"|Term of office !colspan="2"|Party !Government(s)
 * Catherine Martin
 * 30 September 2020
 * Incumbent
 * 32nd • 33rd • 34th
 * }
 * Notes
 * }
 * Notes


text:
Rural City of Swan Hill

The Rural City of Swan Hill is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the north-western part of the state. It covers an area of 6115 km2 and, in August 2021, had a population of 21,403. It includes the towns of Swan Hill, Lake Boga, Manangatang, Nyah, Nyah West, Piangil, Robinvale, Ultima and Woorinen South. It was formed in 1995 from the amalgamation of the City of Swan Hill, Shire of Swan Hill and part of the Shire of Kerang.

The Rural City is governed and administered by the Swan Hill Rural City Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Swan Hill, it also has a service centre located in Robinvale. The Rural City is named after the main urban settlement lying in the south-east of the LGA, that is Swan Hill, which is also the LGA's most populous urban centre with a population of 10,431.

Current composition
The council is composed of four wards and seven councillors, with four councillors elected to represent the Central Ward and one councillor per remaining ward elected to represent each of the other wards.

Administration and governance
The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Swan Hill Municipal Offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at both its administrative centre in Swan Hill, and its service centre in Robinvale.

Townships and localities
The 2021 census, the rural city had a population of 21,403 up from 20,584 in the 2016 census

^ - Territory divided with another LGA * - Not noted in 2016 Census # - Not noted in 2021 Census

Sister cities

 * 🇯🇵 Yamagata, Yamagata, Japan

title: Rural City of Swan Hill


text:
Minister for Transport (Ireland)

The Minister for Transport (An tAire Iompair) is a senior minister in the Government of Ireland and leads the Department of Transport.

The current Minister for Transport is Eamon Ryan, TD. He is also Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications.

Ryan is assisted by James Lawless, TD, Minister of State for International and Road Transport and Logistics.

Overview
The Minister and the department are responsible for implementing an integrated transport policy. "The integrated policy will be designed as far as possible to overcome existing delays, bottlenecks and congestion and to provide the consumer with greater choice by offering alternative modes of transport. Through the integrated approach the Department will develop and implement policies designed to improve regional balance, and reduce rural isolation and social exclusion."

Specific responsibilities which come under the aegis of the Minister for Transport in relation to national roads and to road transport in general include: delivering on the national roads programme as part of the national development plan; implementing the government's road safety strategy and related policies for the regulation of vehicle standards; road haulage licensing; driver licensing; and driver testing.

In respect of aviation policy, the department is responsible for ensuring that aviation practices and procedures comply with the best international standards; promoting the development of a vibrant, competitive and progressively regulated aviation sector and the provision of adequate airport infrastructure and competitive airport services.

In respect of Maritime Transport, the department is responsible for establishing, promoting, regulating and enforcing Maritime Safety and Security Standards, providing emergency response services and safeguarding the Maritime Environment. It is also responsible for ports and shipping policy.

List of office-holders
The Department of Transport and Power was created by the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 1959. On 2 January 1984, the Department of Transport was abolished under the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 1983 and its functions transferred to the Department of Communications.

{| class="wikitable"
 * colspan="7"|
 * colspan="7"|

Minister for Transport and Power 1959–1977
!Name !colspan="2"|Term of office !colspan="2"|Party !Government
 * Erskine H. Childers
 * 27 July 1959
 * 2 July 1969
 * 9th • 10th • 11th • 12th
 * Brian Lenihan
 * 2 July 1969
 * 3 January 1973
 * 13th
 * Michael O'Kennedy
 * 3 January 1973
 * 14 March 1973
 * 13th
 * Peter Barry
 * 14 March 1973
 * 2 December 1976
 * 14th
 * Tom Fitzpatrick
 * 2 December 1976
 * 5 July 1977
 * 14th
 * Pádraig Faulkner
 * 5 July 1977
 * 12 July 1977
 * 15th
 * colspan="7"|
 * Tom Fitzpatrick
 * 2 December 1976
 * 5 July 1977
 * 14th
 * Pádraig Faulkner
 * 5 July 1977
 * 12 July 1977
 * 15th
 * colspan="7"|
 * 15th
 * colspan="7"|
 * colspan="7"|
 * colspan="7"|

Minister for Tourism and Transport 1977–1980
!Name !colspan="2"|Term of office !colspan="2"|Party !Government
 * Pádraig Faulkner
 * 12 July 1977
 * 11 December 1979
 * 15th
 * George Colley
 * 12 December 1979
 * 25 January 1980
 * 16th
 * colspan="7"|
 * 25 January 1980
 * 16th
 * colspan="7"|
 * colspan="7"|
 * colspan="7"|

Minister for Transport 1980–1984
!Name !colspan="2"|Term of office !colspan="2"|Party !Government
 * Albert Reynolds
 * 25 January 1980
 * 30 June 1981
 * 16th
 * Patrick Cooney
 * 30 June 1981
 * 9 March 1982
 * 17th
 * John Wilson (1st time)
 * 9 March 1982
 * 14 December 1982
 * 18th
 * Jim Mitchell
 * 14 December 1982
 * 2 January 1984
 * 19th
 * }
 * 18th
 * Jim Mitchell
 * 14 December 1982
 * 2 January 1984
 * 19th
 * }
 * 19th
 * }

The Department of the Public Service was created by the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 1973. In 1987, the functions of the Department of Public Service were transferred to the Department of Finance, and the statutory shell used for the formation of the Department of Transport. The subsequent changes to the department name and functions are shown in detail at the departmental page. {{legend|#E6E6AA|Denotes acting Minister|border=black}} {| class="wikitable"
 * colspan="7"|
 * colspan="7"|

Minister for the Public Service 1973–1987
!Name !colspan="2"|Term of office !colspan="2"|Party !Government
 * Richie Ryan
 * 1 November 1973
 * 5 July 1977
 * 14th
 * George Colley
 * 5 July 1977
 * 11 December 1979
 * 15th
 * Michael O'Kennedy
 * 12 December 1979
 * 24 March 1980
 * 16th
 * Gene Fitzgerald (1st time)
 * 24 March 1980
 * 30 June 1981
 * 16th
 * Liam Kavanagh
 * 30 June 1981
 * 9 March 1982
 * 17th
 * Gene Fitzgerald (2nd time)
 * 9 March 1982
 * 14 December 1982
 * 18th
 * John Boland
 * 14 December 1982
 * 14 February 1986
 * 19th
 * Ruairi Quinn
 * 14 February 1986
 * 20 January 1987
 * 19th
 * John Bruton
 * 20 January 1987
 * 10 March 1987
 * 19th
 * Ray MacSharry
 * 10 March 1987
 * 20 March 1987
 * 20th
 * colspan="7"|
 * 19th
 * Ruairi Quinn
 * 14 February 1986
 * 20 January 1987
 * 19th
 * John Bruton
 * 20 January 1987
 * 10 March 1987
 * 19th
 * Ray MacSharry
 * 10 March 1987
 * 20 March 1987
 * 20th
 * colspan="7"|
 * Ray MacSharry
 * 10 March 1987
 * 20 March 1987
 * 20th
 * colspan="7"|
 * colspan="7"|
 * colspan="7"|

Minister for Tourism and Transport 1987–1991
!Name !colspan="2"|Term of office !colspan="2"|Party !Government
 * Ray MacSharry
 * 20 March 1987
 * 31 March 1987
 * 20th
 * John Wilson (2nd time)
 * 31 March 1987
 * 12 July 1989
 * 20th
 * Séamus Brennan (1st time)
 * 12 July 1989
 * 7 February 1991
 * 21st
 * colspan="7"|
 * Séamus Brennan (1st time)
 * 12 July 1989
 * 7 February 1991
 * 21st
 * colspan="7"|
 * colspan="7"|
 * colspan="7"|

Minister for Tourism, Transport and Communications 1991–1993
!Name !colspan="2"|Term of office !colspan="2"|Party !Government
 * Séamus Brennan
 * 7 February 1991
 * 11 February 1992
 * 21st
 * Máire Geoghegan-Quinn
 * 11 February 1992
 * 12 January 1993
 * 22nd
 * Charlie McCreevy
 * 12 January 1993
 * 22 January 1993
 * 23rd
 * colspan="7"|
 * Charlie McCreevy
 * 12 January 1993
 * 22 January 1993
 * 23rd
 * colspan="7"|
 * colspan="7"|
 * colspan="7"|

Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications 1993–1997
!Name !colspan="2"|Term of office !colspan="2"|Party !Government
 * Brian Cowen
 * 22 January 1993
 * 15 December 1994
 * 23rd
 * Michael Lowry
 * 15 December 1994
 * 30 November 1996
 * 24th
 * - bgcolor=#E6E6AA
 * John Bruton (acting)
 * 30 November 1996
 * 3 December 1996
 * 24th
 * Alan Dukes
 * 3 December 1996
 * 26 June 1997
 * 24th
 * Mary O'Rourke
 * 26 June 1997
 * 12 July 1997
 * 25th
 * colspan="7"|
 * 24th
 * Mary O'Rourke
 * 26 June 1997
 * 12 July 1997
 * 25th
 * colspan="7"|
 * 25th
 * colspan="7"|
 * colspan="7"|
 * colspan="7"|

Minister for Public Enterprise 1997–2002
!Name !colspan="2"|Term of office !colspan="2"|Party !Government
 * Mary O'Rourke
 * 12 July 1997
 * 6 June 2002
 * 25th
 * Séamus Brennan (2nd time)
 * 6 June 2002
 * 19 June 2002
 * 26th
 * colspan="7"|
 * 19 June 2002
 * 26th
 * colspan="7"|
 * colspan="7"|
 * colspan="7"|

Minister for Transport 2002–2011
!Name !colspan="2"|Term of office !colspan="2"|Party !Government
 * Séamus Brennan
 * 19 June 2002
 * 29 September 2004
 * 26th
 * Martin Cullen
 * 29 September 2004
 * 14 June 2007
 * 26th
 * Noel Dempsey
 * 14 June 2007
 * 19 January 2011
 * 27th • 28th
 * Pat Carey
 * 20 January 2011
 * 8 March 2011
 * 28th
 * Leo Varadkar
 * 9 March 2011
 * 2 April 2011
 * 29th
 * colspan="7"|
 * 8 March 2011
 * 28th
 * Leo Varadkar
 * 9 March 2011
 * 2 April 2011
 * 29th
 * colspan="7"|
 * 29th
 * colspan="7"|
 * colspan="7"|
 * colspan="7"|

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport 2011–2020
!Name !colspan="2"|Term of office !colspan="2"|Party !Government
 * Leo Varadkar
 * 2 April 2011
 * 11 July 2014
 * 29th
 * Paschal Donohoe
 * 11 July 2014
 * 6 May 2016
 * 29th
 * Shane Ross
 * 6 May 2016
 * 27 June 2020
 * 30th • 31st
 * Eamon Ryan
 * 27 June 2020
 * 17 September 2020
 * 32nd
 * colspan="7"|
 * 30th • 31st
 * Eamon Ryan
 * 27 June 2020
 * 17 September 2020
 * 32nd
 * colspan="7"|
 * 32nd
 * colspan="7"|
 * colspan="7"|

Minister for Transport 2020–present
!Name !colspan="2"|Term of office !colspan="2"|Party !Government
 * Eamon Ryan
 * 17 September 2020
 * Incumbent
 * 32nd • 33rd • 34th
 * }
 * 32nd • 33rd • 34th
 * }

title: Minister for Transport (Ireland)


text:
Rural City of Wangaratta

The Rural City of Wangaratta is a local government area in the Hume region of Victoria, Australia, located in the north-east part of the state. It covers an area of 3645 km2 and, in August 2021, had a population of 29,808. It includes the towns of Cheshunt, Eldorado, Everton, Glenrowan, Greta, Greta West, Milawa, Moyhu, Oxley, Tarrawingee, Wangaratta and Whitfield. It was formed in 1994 from the amalgamation of the City of Wangaratta, Shire of Wangaratta, Shire of Oxley, and parts of the United Shire of Beechworth, Shire of Benalla and Shire of Yarrawonga. When formed the municipality was originally called the Shire of Milawa, but a few months later, was renamed to its current name.

The Rural City is governed and administered by the Wangaratta Rural City Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Wangaratta. The Rural City is named after the main urban settlement located in the north of the LGA, that is Wangaratta, which is also the LGA's most populous urban centre with a population of around 18,500.

Current composition
The council is composed of three wards and seven councillors, with four councillors elected to the City Ward and one councillor per remaining ward elected to represent each of the other wards. As of July 2021, the seven councillors are:

History
The election of Councillors in 2016 followed a three year period where the Council was governed by Administrators. Administrators had been appointed by an Act of Parliament, following the dismissal of the Councillors elected at the 2012 general election. A panel of three administrators, by an Act of Parliament, was appointed to oversee the council until the 2016 municipal elections.

Administration and governance
The councillors meet in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Wangaratta Government Centre, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at its administrative centre in Wangaratta.

Townships and localities
The 2021 census, the rural city had a population of 29,808 up from 28,310 in the 2016 census

^ - Territory divided with another LGA

title: Rural City of Wangaratta


text:
Mass media in Sweden

The mass media in Sweden has a long tradition going back to the 1766 law enacting freedom of the press.

The press is subsidized by the government and is owned by many actors, the dominant owner being Bonnier AB. Swedish television and radio were until the mid-1980s a government monopoly, which slowly has been eroded despite resistance, with a call for prohibition of private ownership of satellite dish receivers.

Until 2019, public service media was financed by a special fee levied on owners of television or radio receivers. Reporting ownership was voluntary, but television sellers were obliged to report purchase to the government, and the government also had a special service of agents, with equipment capable of detecting emissions from television receivers, patrolling residential areas in order to catch unreported receivers. In 2018, the Riksdag voted to instead make paying for public service mandatory for all people having an income. The change was supported by all parliamentary parties except the Sweden Democrats.

Swedish media has mechanisms for self-regulation, such as the Press Council.

Press
The Swedish press is subsidized by the government through press support. Originally this was directly distributed through the political parties to their supporting newspapers, but nowadays subsidies are more direct in form, and are tied to certain requirements, e.g. a minimum of 2000 subscribers. Support also exists in indirect form in the shape of partial tax-exceptions.

The Swedish Press is self-regulated through the Public Press Ombudsman, or Allmänhetens Pressombudsman and the Swedish Press Council, or Pressens Opinionsnämnd. One example of this is that Swedish media follow a principle of not disclosing the identities of suspected criminals. There was some controversy when Dagens Nyheter on 27 September 2003 published the name and picture of Mijailo Mijailović, who was the suspected assassin of Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh.

Freedom of the press in Sweden dates back to 1766 when it was enshrined in a law enacted by the Riksdag of the Estates (see Freedom of the press). It is today a part of the Constitution of Sweden.

The Swedish newspaper with the widest circulation is the evening newspaper Aftonbladet, controlled by the Norwegian media conglomerate Schibsted (majority holder) and the Swedish Trade Union Confederation. Its competitor, Expressen, is controlled by Bonnier AB and has sister editions in Gothenburg (GT) and Malmö (Kvällsposten). Bonnier AB also controls the major national morning newspaper, Dagens Nyheter. Its Stockholm competitor Svenska Dagbladet is owned by Schibsted. Göteborgs-Posten is the major regional newspaper in Gothenburg and the west of Sweden, while another Bonnier-owned newspaper, Sydsvenska Dagbladet, dominates in Malmö and the south. Bonnier AB also owns Sweden's major business newspaper, Dagens Industri. The Local is one of the few English language general news websites in the country which has been the subject of attacks by groups such as Anonymous and has seen an upsurge of people complaining of censorship and bias. In recent years, Swedish state broadcaster, Sverigesradio, has been offering a wider selection of news through its website in English.

Through its subsidiary Bonnier Tidskrifter AB, Bonnier AB also controls many of Sweden's most popular magazines, such as Amelia, Allt om Mat, Teknikens Värld and the business magazine Veckans Affärer. Other major magazine publishers in Sweden are Allers förlag, the Danish-controlled Egmont and the French Hachette Filipacchi Médias.

Sweden also has many large organizations which almost all produce membership magazines with a wide readership. The biggest ones, with readership figures above 300 000, include Vår bostad (published by the Union of Tenants and HSB, a cooperative building society), PRO-pensionären (published by the Pensioners’ National Organization) and the magazines of the largest trade unions: Kommunalarbetaren (published by the Municipal Workers' Union), Siftidningen (published by the Union of Clerical and Technical Employees in Industry) and Dagens Arbete (published jointly by the Metalworkers' Union, the Industrial Union, the Graphic Workers' Union, the Paper Workers' Union and the Forest and Wood Workers' Union).

With the rise of the internet, many magazines have ceased publication, see Category:Defunct magazines published in Sweden. Newspaper weeklies have also declined, but one example of a nation-wide weekly is sv:Kvällsstunden.

Television
Television trials from the Royal Institute of Technology started in 1954. Broadcasts officially started in 1956. The broadcasts were made by the public broadcaster Sveriges Radio. When a second channel, TV2, started in 1969 it was broadcast by the same company, but the two channels were supposed to compete against each other. Since SR was split into four different companies in the late 70s, the television broadcasting has been the responsibility of Sveriges Television (SVT).

SVT and its two channels dominated television for a long time. In 1987 the first commercial channel, TV3 was started, broadcasting from London via satellite. In connection with the loosening up of the State media monopoly there was a debate regarding how to preserve the media monopoly, with Social Democratic parliamentarian Maj Britt Theorin proposing that private ownership of satellite dishes be prohibited in Sweden.

In the early 1990s, TV4 became the first commercial channel to be allowed to join the national terrestrial broadcasting network, run by Teracom. Sveriges Television is funded by a fee—fixed by Parliament and collected by the Kiruna-based Receiving Licence Agency, Radiotjänst i Kiruna AB—and is regulated, together with TV4, by the Swedish Broadcasting Commission.

Sweden was an early adopter of digital terrestrial television, officially launching it in April 1999. The analogue shutdown of the SVT and TV4 signals started in September 2005 and was completed in late 2007.

Four companies and five channels dominate the Swedish television viewing:
 * SVT with SVT1 and SVT2
 * TV4 AB with TV4 (owned by Telia)
 * Viasat with TV3 (owned by Modern Times Group)
 * SBS Broadcasting Group with Kanal 5 (owned by Warner Bros. Discovery)

The prospect of the digital shutdown has caused SVT and TV4 to start several new channels. SVT have SVT24, SVTB and Kunskapskanalen. TV4 have started lots of channels, including TV4 Plus, TV4 Film, TV400 and TV4 Fakta. Channels owned by Viasat include TV6 and TV8. Other channels such as Eurosport, Discovery Channel, MTV Sweden and Disney Channel Scandinavia also have a relatively strong position in Sweden.

Two dominating networks of premium content exists: TV1000 and Viasat Sport, owned by Viasat, and C More Entertainment owned by TV4 Gruppen (using the Canal+ brand).

The main pay television distributors are: Com Hem (cable), Boxer (terrestrial), Viasat (satellite) and Canal Digital (satellite). There are also several smaller cable networks, most notably Tele2Vision and Telia Digital-tv. As of 2006, it is estimated that 50 percent of the households receive their television signals from a cable network, 30 percent from a regular aerial and 20 percent using a satellite dish.

Radio
National radio is dominated by public service company Sveriges Radio (SR), which is funded through the same fee that is collected for television sets. The sale of commercial radio licenses began in the early 1990s, though commercial radio existed before this through local stations in the larger cities (närradio).

SR have four national channels: P1, P2, P3 and P4. P4 is a regional network where 25 stations broadcast locally for much of the day.

Two systems exist for private radio: community radio (närradio) and local commercial radio (PLR, privat lokalradio).

When the PLR licenses were auctioned in the early 1990s several different local stations appeared. The licensees would consolidate over the years and in 2006 almost all licenses were owned by Modern Times Group or SBS Broadcasting Group, since SBS bought Fria Media in February 2006.

Most stations are part of a network, the two largest being Rix FM (36 stations, MTG) and Mix Megapol (24 stations, SBS), both using AC-formats. Three other networks exist: The Soft AC network Lugna Favoriter (12 stations, MTG) and two CHR networks, only present in the three major cities: The Voice (SBS) and NRJ (MTG).

Journalistic bias
The Department of Journalism and Mass Communication (JMG) at Gothenburg University has conducted yearly surveys regarding their political party sympathies among the members of the Swedish Union of Journalists (Journalistförbundet), the largest trade union organizing journalists in Sweden. A survey, conducted between late 2011 and early 2012, has shown a significantly higher percentage of support for the leftwing political parties (mainly the Left Party and the Green Party) compared to these parties' support amongst the general Swedish population.

After the elections 2010, the researcher Kent Asp studied more than 1000 articles from Sweden's major newspapers and found a strong bias towards the political right. 43% of all articles written about the Red-Greens were negative, compared to only 27% written about the centre-right Alliance. When describing the political leaders of the two political blocks, a majority of all articles, 53% were negative in describing the Red-Green candidate Mona Sahlin, whereas only 30% of the articles about the Alliance candidate Fredrik Reinfeldt.

As regards to foreign policy issues, Swedish media has often been reporting biased towards the United States and the George W. Bush administration, and towards Israel in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. A debate was sparked in 2004 when the Sveriges Radio correspondent in the United States, Cecilia Uddén, who was reporting from the 2004 presidential election, said during a live radio debate:

"I don't think either that Swedish media have any requirement whatsoever regarding fairness when it comes to the U.S. election. We have no reason to be fair and present both sides views as we would have done in a Swedish election. ('Jag tycker heller inte att svenska medier har något som helst krav på sig på opartiskhet när det gäller valet i USA. Vi har ju ingen anledning att vara opartiska och redovisa båda ståndpunkter på samma sätt som vi skulle göra i ett svenskt val.')"

After this statement Uddén was put into quarantine by the management of Sveriges Radio for the rest of the U.S. election. Uddén is currently the correspondent for Sveriges Radio in the Middle East. Regarding the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Uddén has stated in an interview that "in order to be able to describe the conflict honestly you have to side with the weaker part [i.e. the Palestinians]" ("För att kunna beskriva konflikten ärligt måste man ta part med den svagare sidan.")

Crime reporting
The mainstream Swedish media has been accused of not sufficiently covering the Bombings in Sweden in its daily news.

Ideological and political bias in reporting
The reporting in Swedish media has sometimes, by journalists, been accused of bias and cover-ups, in particular as regards Swedish immigration policy and the societal and financial costs associated with it. Criticism has focused on accusations that those in the media who shape public opinion often do this based on ideological constructs and exhibit a lack of awareness of current societal problems, often pointing to the fact that journalists and editors predominantly reside in segregated low-risk upper middle-class areas. Well-known Swedish journalists have echoed criticism regarding cover-ups, with Janne Josefsson calling it "one of the worst betrayals we journalists have made ourselves guilty of"("ett av de värsta sveken vi journalister gjort oss skyldiga till"). He also notes that critics were unjustifiably silenced through racism allegations. A former high-profile News-presenter of the Swedish State Television resigned her position and made a public statement that she did so due to the bias in State TV news-reporting and the belittling and racism accusations launched at critics.

In April 2005, Andreas Carlgren from the Center Party published a report saying that the State Media are politically biased through direct political control, predominantly by the Social Democratic party. He accused the Social Democrats of having a long-term party policy to fill strategically important positions in the public-service media with persons loyal to the party. This has resulted in media-reporting being susceptible to being directed by political considerations.

In December 2010, the ruling Centre-Right Alliance was heavily criticized when they implemented a law that required that all new public service products needed to be pre-approved by the government before they could be approved. Mats Svegfors, the CEO of the Swedish public service radio channels called this "unconstitutional".

Female genital mutilation reports
In June 2014, Norrköpings Tidningar published a story on genital mutilation, which was picked up by the foreign press, including The Independent and The Daily News. It was claimed that every single girl in one school class had been victims of genital mutilation. None of the newspapers said where and when the genital mutilation took place. It was later published by Sweden's national public radio that none of the girls had been subjected to the procedure, or had any procedure performed on them abroad, while living in Sweden.

Lists

 * List of Swedish newspapers
 * List of Swedish magazines
 * List of Swedish television channels
 * List of Swedish radio stations
 * List of Swedish language writers
 * List of Swedish companies

title: Mass media in Sweden


text:
City of Warrnambool

The City of Warrnambool is a local government area in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, located in the south-western part of the state. It covers an area of 121 km2 and in June 2018 had a population of 34,862. It is entirely surrounded by the Shire of Moyne and the Southern Ocean. It is one of only a few regional councils in Victoria to remain serving just one urban district after the amalgamation process of 1994, although through that process it did gain some portions of the former Shire of Warrnambool.

The City is governed and administered by the Warrnambool City Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in the central district of Warrnambool. The City is named after the main urban settlement located in the centre of the LGA, that is Warrnambool, which is also the LGA's most populous urban centre with a population of 28,413.

History
Warrnambool was first incorporated as a municipality on 7 December 1855. It became a borough on 1 October 1863, and a town on 2 February 1883. It was proclaimed as a city on 8 April 1918. On 25 October 1955 and 1 October 1978, it annexed part of the south riding of the Shire of Warrnambool, expanding its area progressively to 34.43 km2 by the time of Victoria's local government amalgamations.

In 1993, the new Kennett Liberal government announced a program of local government reform, in which many of Victoria's 210 councils were to be amalgamated. The southwest region containing 23 councils was the first to be reviewed, and the City of Warrnambool sought to be part of the process early on. Warrnambool's strength in tertiary education and manufacturing was taken into account. By June, it was clear that Warrnambool would be the only municipality in the region to be spared, and that it would gain Allansford and some other rural areas from the Shire of Warrnambool. On 23 September 1994, the council was dismissed and replaced with a Government-appointed commissioner. It first held elections for a new council in March 1996.

Current composition
The council is composed of seven councillors elected to represent an unsubdivided municipality.

The most recent council election was declared on 10 November 2020, with the Councillors sworn into office on 23 November 2020. At their first meeting, Councillors resolved to elect both a Mayor and Deputy Mayor, each for a term of 12 months.

Former wards
Prior to the statewide amalgamations of the 1990s, the council had four wards and twelve councillors, with three councillors per ward elected to represent each ward; the former wards were Albert, Hopkins, Merri and Victoria. The new council then had, until 2004, seven wards and seven councillors, with one councillor per ward elected to represent each ward. However post-2004, following an electoral representation review, the decision was made to keep the seven councillors, but abolish the wards, as the review concluded that the geography and natural features of Warrnambool didn't support the retention of equal wards, and that the City of Warrnambool as a whole was a single community of interest.

Former wards from 1996 to 2004:
 * Botanic Ward
 * Cassady Ward
 * Levy Ward
 * Pertobe Ward
 * Proudfoot Ward
 * Sherwood Ward
 * Wollaston Ward

Administration and governance
The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Warrnambool Civic Centre, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at its administrative centre in Warrnambool.

Geography
The City of Warrnambool is dominated by the Warrnambool urban area, which represents 35.0 km2, or 29.0%, of the City's area and at the 2006 census had a population of 28,150.

Townships and localities
The 2021 census, the city had a population of 35,406 up from 33,655 in the 2016 census

^ - Territory divided with another LGA

title: City of Warrnambool


text:
Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/February 3

Images
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Eligible

 * 1266 – Mudéjar revolt: King James I of Aragon entered the formerly Muslim-held city of Murcia (depicted), following its surrender three days earlier.
 * 1852 – The Argentine Confederation was defeated in the Platine War by an alliance consisting of Brazil, Uruguay and the Argentine provinces of Entre Ríos and Corrientes.
 * 1870 – The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, granting voting rights to citizens regardless of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude".
 * 1933 – Adolf Hitler announced that the conquest of Lebensraum in Eastern Europe, and its "ruthless Germanisation", were the geopolitical objectives of Reich foreign policy.
 * 1959 – American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson died in a plane crash (wreckage pictured) shortly after takeoff from Mason City Municipal Airport in Iowa.
 * 1972 – The deadliest blizzard in history began in Iran and continued for a week leaving more than 4,000 people dead.
 * 1986 – Steve Jobs purchased Pixar from Lucasfilm and launched it as an independent computer-animation studio.
 * 1998 – Despite a large international movement advocating the commutation of her sentence to life imprisonment, Karla Faye Tucker became the first woman to be executed in the United States since 1984.
 * 2010 – An edition of L'Homme qui marche I, a bronze sculpture by Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti, was sold for £65 million, setting the record for the most expensive sculpture sold at auction.
 * 2014 – Russia's first school shooting took place when a student opened fire at School No. 263 in Moscow, resulting in the deaths of a teacher and a police officer.
 * Born/died this day: | Scipione Rebiba |b|1504| Caroline von Wolzogen |b|1763| Horace Greeley |b|1811| George Crabbe |d|1832| Giuseppe Moretti |b|1857| Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard |b|1873| Isaac Baker Brown |d|1873| Dolly Rudeman |b|1902 | Tatyana Velikanova |b|1932| Gengoroh Tagame |b|1964| C. N. Annadurai |d|1969

February 3: Feast day of Saint Laurence of Canterbury (Western Christianity); Four Chaplains' Day in the United States (1943)

 * 1813 – Argentine War of Independence: José de San Martín and the Mounted Grenadiers Regiment defeated Spanish royalist forces in the Battle of San Lorenzo.

 * 1941 – Second World War: Free French and British forces (aircraft pictured) began the Battle of Keren to capture the strategic town of Keren in Italian East Africa.
 * 1953 – Hundreds of native creoles known as Forros were massacred on São Tomé Island by the colonial administration and Portuguese landowners.
 * 2023 – A freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, releasing hazardous materials into the surrounding area.


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City of Wodonga

The City of Wodonga is a local government area in the Hume region of Victoria, Australia, located in the north-east part of the state. It covers an area of 433 km2 and in August 2021, had a population of 43,253.

It is primarily urban with the vast majority of its population living in the Greater Wodonga urban area, while other significant settlements within the LGA include Bandiana and Bonegilla. Its floral and fauna emblems are pink heath and the Leadbeater's possum respectively—the same as those of the state of Victoria. It is one of only a few regional councils in Victoria to remain serving just one urban district after the amalgamation process of 1994, although through that process it did gained some portions of the former shires of Chiltern and Yackandandah.

The city is governed and administered by the Wodonga City Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Wodonga. The city is named after the main urban settlement located in the north-east of the LGA, that is Wodonga, which is also the LGA's most populous urban centre with a population of 16,487. It provides governance for the Victorian part of the Albury-Wodonga urban area.

History
Wodonga was first surveyed in 1852 and proclaimed the town of Belvoir in the same year. In 1876 the Victorian colonial government granted a request from the people of the area for their district to be severed from the Shire of Yackandandah to form a new municipality, and on 10 March 1876, the Shire of Wodonga was incorporated. On 12 April 1911 it annexed a further part of Yackandandah, and on 30 March 1973, Wodonga was proclaimed a Rural City by the Governor of Victoria, Sir Rohan Delacombe.

The municipality survived widespread local government amalgamations in 1994, gaining the Baranduda and Barnawartha North districts from neighbouring shires. However, the councillors were dismissed on 18 November 1994, and replaced by commissioners Mel Read, a long-serving executive of the Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation, Des Kelly, a Shire of Tallangatta councillor from 1968 until 1994, and Mike Hansen, a retired army officer with management and logistics experience. The commissioners decided in 1995 that, to give the city a fresh image, the term "rural" be dropped from use except when legally required. It has since been officially renamed to the City of Wodonga. The elected council was reinstituted in 1997.

Current composition
The current council is composed of seven councillors elected to represent an unsubdivided municipality. The current councillors were elected on 23 October 2020, and were announced 6 November 2020. On 23 November 2020, the councillors elected Kevin Poulton as Mayor for a one-year term, with a unanimous decision to have no Deputy Mayor. In March 2022, Kat Bennett announced that she would be resigning from council, the vacancy was filled by a countback from the 2020 election, and Danny Lowe was elected to fill the position. In October 2022, John Watson tendered his resignation after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. A countback from the 2020 election was once again conducted, and Danny Chamberlain was elected. In December 2022, mayoral elections took place and the council elected new mayor, Ron Mildren.

Former Wards and Structure
Prior to 1994, Wodonga was composed of four wards and twelve councillors, with three councillors per ward elected to represent each of the following wards:
 * Baranduda Ward
 * Belvoir Ward
 * Bonegilla Ward
 * Greenhill Ward

The council was replaced with three commissioners on 18 November 1994, and at the 1997 inaugural elections of the new council, five councillors were elected to an unsubdivided municipality. Following the enactment of the Local Government (Democratic Reform) Act 2003 (Vic.), which amended the Local Government Act 1989, an independent review of Wodonga's internal structure was commissioned and advertised on 13 May 2004 by the Victorian Government. The final report by the Victorian Electoral Commission, issued on 27 September 2004, recommended that the council be increased in size to seven elected members, noting that at the time of the report, Wodonga was the only city council with fewer than seven, and that the task of representing the diversity and issues of a growing regional city was complex. It recommended leaving the City unsubdivided as it had a single, dominant centre and a small area.

The council was restructured accordingly and elections held on 26 November 2005 returned seven councillors with Rodney Wangman as mayor and Brian Wicks as deputy mayor. Elections in late November 2008 resulted in four of the sitting seven councillors losing their seats, and saw the City of Wodonga gain a new Mayor and Deputy-Mayor, Crs Mark Byatt and Angela Collins respectively.

Administration and governance
The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Wodonga Municipal Offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at its administrative centre in Wodonga.

Townships and localities
The 2021 census, the city had a population of 43,253 up from 39,351 in the 2016 census

^ - Territory divided with another LGA

Population
* Estimate in 1958 Victorian Year Book.

title: City of Wodonga


text:
Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/February 4

Images
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Eligible

 * 960 – Emperor Taizu (pictured) came to power, initiating the Song dynasty of China that eventually lasted for more than three centuries.
 * 1797 – The Riobamba earthquake, the most powerful in Ecuador's history, devastated Riobamba and many other cities, causing at least 6,000 casualties.
 * 1801 – John Marshall, whose court opinions helped lay the basis for U.S. constitutional law and made the Supreme Court a coequal branch of government, took office as chief justice.
 * 1820 – Chilean War of Independence: Chilean forces captured the city of Valdivia.
 * 1899 – The Philippine–American War began when an American soldier, under orders to keep insurgents away from his unit's encampment, fired on a Filipino soldier in Manila.
 * 1945 – World War II: U.S. forces liberated the Santo Tomas Internment Camp in Manila, the largest Japanese internment camp in the Philippines.
 * 1974 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army bombed a motor coach carrying off-duty British Armed Forces personnel and their family members, killing twelve people.
 * 1998 – An earthquake registering 5.9 MW struck northern Afghanistan, triggering landslides that killed over 2,300 people and destroyed around 15,000 homes.
 * 1999 – The Panamanian-flagged freighter New Carissa ran aground near Coos Bay, Oregon, causing one of the worst oil spills in the state's history.
 * 2008 – The London low emission zone, governing what types of vehicles may enter Greater London, came into operation.
 * 2015 – Shortly after takeoff from Taipei Songshan Airport, the crew of TransAsia Airways Flight 235 shut down the wrong engine in response to a flameout, leading to a crash that resulted in 43 deaths.
 * Born/died this day: | Septimius Severus |d|211| Rabanus Maurus |d|856| Ceolnoth |d|870| Carl Michael Bellman |b|1740| Alexis Soyer |b|1810|  Oliver Ames |b|1831| Étienne Desmarteau |b|1873|  Betty Friedan |b|1921| Ken Thompson |b|1943| Jenny Shipley |b|1952| Karen Carpenter |d|1983| Daniel arap Moi |d|2020| Hy Cohen |d|2021

February 4: Lichun begins in East Asia (2024)

 * 1169 – A strong earthquake struck the eastern coast of Sicily, causing at least 15,000 deaths.

 * 1969 – Yasser Arafat (pictured) was elected chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
 * 1974 – American newspaper heiress and socialite Patty Hearst was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army, which she later joined, in one of the most well-known cases of Stockholm syndrome.
 * 1999 – Amadou Diallo, a 23-year-old immigrant from Guinea, was shot and killed by four New York City Police Department plain-clothed officers, prompting outrage both within and outside the city.


text:
Emblemata

Usually known simply as the Emblemata, the first emblem book appeared in Augsburg (Germany) in 1531 under the title ''Viri Clarissimi D. Andreae Alciati Iurisconsultiss. Mediol. Ad D. Chonradum Peutingerum Augustanum, Iurisconsultum Emblematum Liber''. Produced by the publisher Heinrich Steyner, the unauthorized first print edition was compiled from a manuscript of Latin poems which the Italian jurist Andrea Alciato had dedicated to his friend Conrad Peutinger and circulated to his acquaintances. The 1531 edition was soon followed by a 1534 edition authorized by Alciato: published in Paris by Christian Wechel, this appeared under the title Andreae Alciati Emblematum Libellus ("Andrea Alciato's Little Book of Emblems"). The word "emblemata" is simply the plural of the Greek word "emblema", meaning a piece of inlay or mosaic, or an ornament: in his preface to Peutinger, Alciato describes his emblems as a learned recreation, a pastime for humanists steeped in classical culture.

The Emblemata grew to include over 200 individual emblems and appeared in hundreds of editions, of which probably the best known is that published in Padua by Tozzi in 1621, the Emblemata Cum Commentariis Amplissimis. The "very full commentaries" to which the title refers were written by the French scholar Claude Mignault. Alciato's work spawned thousands of imitations in all the European vernacular languages: secular, religious, or amorous in nature, emblem books were an integral part of European culture for two centuries.

The preface reads in part (translated):

''While boys are entertained by nuts and youths by dice, so playing-cards fill up the time of lazy men. In the festive season we hammer out these emblems, made by the distinguished hand of craftsmen. Just as one affixes trimmings to clothes and badges to hats, so it behooves every one of us to write in silent marks. Though the supreme emperor may give to you, for you to own, precious coins and finest objects of the ancients, I myself shall give, one poet to another, paper gifts: take these, Konrad, the token of my love.''

title: Emblemata


text:
Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/February 5

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 * AD 62 – Pompeii was severely damaged by a strong earthquake, which may have been a precursor to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that destroyed the town 17 years later.
 * 1783 – The first of five strong earthquakes hit the region of Calabria on the Italian Peninsula, killing more than 32,000 people over a period of nearly two months.
 * 1818 – Charles XIV John (pictured) succeeded to the thrones of Sweden and Norway as the first monarch of the House of Bernadotte.
 * 1861 – In a speech before the U.S. Congress, Representative John Edward Bouligny refused to join his fellow Louisiana congressmen in heeding the state's secession convention and resigning.
 * 1869 – Prospectors in Moliagul, Australia, discovered the largest alluvial gold nugget ever found, known as the Welcome Stranger.
 * 1917 – The U.S. Congress overrode President Woodrow Wilson's veto to pass the Immigration Act of 1917, establishing new restrictions on immigrants, including the wholesale ban of people from much of Asia.
 * 1923 – Australian cricketer Bill Ponsford made 429 runs to break the world record for the highest first-class score.
 * 2000 – Second Chechen War: As the Battle of Grozny came to a close, Russian forces summarily executed at least 60 civilians in Grozny's Novye Aldi suburb.
 * 2004 – The National Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Haiti captured the city of Gonaïves, starting a coup d'état against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's government.
 * 2008 – Eighty-seven tornadoes occurred over the course of the Super Tuesday tornado outbreak across multiple U.S. states, causing 56 deaths and over $1 billion in damage.
 * 2004 – At least 21 cockle-gatherers were drowned by an incoming tide in Morecambe Bay, England, prompting the establishment of the British government's Gangmasters Licensing Authority.
 * 2009 – The United States Navy guided missile cruiser Port Royal ran aground (pictured) on a coral reef off the island of Oahu.
 * Born/died: | Philipp Spener |d|1705| William Cullen |d|1790| Johan Ludvig Runeberg |b|1804| Francisco Varallo |b|1910| Colin Robert Chase |b|1935|  Gheorghe Hagi |b|1965| Neymar |b|1992


text:
Bass Coast Shire

The Bass Coast Shire is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the southeastern part of the state. It covers an area of 866 km2 and in June 2018 had a population of 35,327. It includes the towns of Bass, Cape Paterson, Cape Woolamai, Corinella, Coronet Bay, Cowes, Inverloch, Kilcunda, Lang Lang, Newhaven, Rhyll, San Remo, Summerlands and Wonthaggi as well as the historic locality of Krowera. It also includes the popular tourist destination Phillip Island. It was formed in 1994 from the amalgamation of the Shire of Bass, Shire of Phillip Island, Borough of Wonthaggi, parts of the Shire of Woorayl, Shire of Korumburra and City of Cranbourne.

The Shire is governed and administered by the Bass Coast Shire Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is the council headquarters in Wonthaggi, with other service centres located in Cowes, Grantville and Inverloch. The Shire is named after its most precious asset, the coasts of Bass Strait and Western Port.

Current composition
The council is composed of three wards and nine councillors, with three councillors elected to represent each ward.

Administration and governance
The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Wonthaggi Municipal Offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at both its administrative centre in Wonthaggi, and its service centre in Cowes.

Townships and localities
At the 2021 census, the shire had a population of 40,789, as compared to 32,804 in the 2016 census.

^ - Territory divided with another LGA * - Not noted in 2016 Census # - Not noted in 2021 Census

Facilities

 * Local markets

Cape Paterson

 * Swimming Rockpool – Safety Beach, Browns Bay, Surf Beach Road
 * Bunurong Marine Park

Wonthaggi

 * Lower Powlett Road – Williamsons Beach, Powlett River, Wonthaggi Wind Farm and Victorian Desalination Plant (tours and walking/cycling/horse riding)
 * Bass Coast Rail Trail – walk/cycle/horse trot
 * Historic mine whistle – sounds 12 noon every day in the centre of Wonthaggi, mine shaft tower, Apex Park, Murray Street
 * Wonthaggi Museum – open Saturday mornings, Murray Street
 * State Coal Mine – museum and tours, Garden Street
 * Coal mine ruins – Number 5 Brace & the McBride tunnel entry, off West Area Road Wonthaggi and scattered around the region
 * Wonthaggi Golf Course – 18 hole, par 72, ACR 70, easy walk, McKenzie Street
 * Large chain stores
 * Wonthaggi Hospital – Smoking ban, Graham Street

Phillip Island

 * Phillip Island Penguin Parade
 * Australian motorcycle Grand Prix
 * Pyramid Rock Festival on New Year's Eve
 * Nobbies Centre at Seal Rocks

Krowera

 * Garlic Farm, Olive Farm, Wayside Lookout, Dairy Farms

Kilcunda

 * Kilcunda Trestle Bridge

Inverloch

 * Inverloch Shell Museum and Dinosaur Exhibition

Protected areas
Collecting empty seashells, driftwood, twigs, sea glass and other non-living materials or interesting rubbish of small size and in small quantities is legal from most beaches along the Bass Coast, with the exception of Wilsons Promontory, the Bunurong Marine National Park and most of Phillip Island.

On Phillip Island most beaches are off-limits for shell collecting and are run by Phillip Island Nature Parks, with the exceptions of Ventnor, Cowes, Rhyll and Newhaven.

The Bunurong Marine National Park is a middle outstretching section of Bunurong Marine Park along the coastline of Harmers Haven, Cape Paterson and Inverloch. The restricted zone (Bunurong Marine National Park inside Bunurong Marine Park) is an area south-west past Cape Paterson's Safety Beach and Undertow Bay; namely The Oaks, Twin Reefs, Shack Bay and Eagles Nest.

title: Bass Coast Shire


text:
Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/February 6

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Eligible

 * 1778 – France and the United States signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance, respectively establishing commercial and military ties between the two nations.
 * 1806 – Napoleonic Wars: A British naval squadron captured or destroyed five French ships of the line at the Battle of San Domingo in the Caribbean Sea.

 * 1820 – The first ship of the American Colonization Society departed from New York for West Africa with 86 African-American emigrants aboard to found the colony of Liberia.
 * 1840 – British representatives and Māori chiefs first signed the Treaty of Waitangi, widely regarded to be the founding document of New Zealand.
 * 1862 – Union forces earned one of their first important victories in the American Civil War at the Battle of Fort Henry in western Tennessee.
 * 1951 – A train derailed while crossing a temporary wooden trestle in Woodbridge, New Jersey, causing 85 deaths.
 * 1976 – Lockheed Corporation president Carl Kotchian admitted that the company had paid out approximately US$3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese prime minister Kakuei Tanaka.
 * 2018 – The SpaceX launch vehicle Falcon Heavy made its first flight (launch pictured).
 * Born/died: | Donnchad Midi |d|797| Thurstan |d|1140| Aldus Manutius |d|1515| Bernard of Corleone |b|1605| Pierre André Latreille |d|1833| Isabella Beeton |d|1865| Victor Negus |b|1887  Eva Braun |b|1912| Zsa Zsa Gabor |b|1917| Gerard K. O'Neill |b|1927| Maria Mies |b|1931| Mary Beth Edelson |b|1933| Axl Rose |b|1962|


text:
List of Corvus species

The following is a list of all currently recognized species within the passerine bird genus Corvus (the crows and ravens).

Living species
Listed alphabetically.
 * Corvus albicollis Latham, 1790 – white-necked raven or Cape raven (southern, central, and eastern Africa)
 * Corvus albus Müller, PLS, 1776 – pied crow (Central African coasts to southern Africa)
 * Corvus bennetti North, 1901 – little crow (Australia)
 * Corvus brachyrhynchos Brehm, CL, 1822 – American crow (the United States, southern Canada and northern Mexico)
 * Corvus capensis Lichtenstein, MHC, 1823 – Cape crow or Cape rook (east and southern Africa)
 * Corvus caurinus – northwestern crow (the Olympic Peninsula to southwestern Alaska)
 * Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 – common raven or northern raven (the Holarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere)
 * Corvus cornix Linnaeus, 1758 – hooded crow (northern and eastern Europe and northern Africa)
 * Corvus corone Linnaeus, 1758 – carrion crow (Eurasia)
 * Corvus coronoides Vigors & Horsfield, 1827 – Australian raven (eastern and southern Australia)
 * Corvus crassirostris Rüppell, 1836 – thick-billed raven (Ethiopia)
 * Corvus cryptoleucus Couch, 1854 – Chihuahuan raven (southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico)
 * Corvus culminatus Sykes, 1832 – Indian jungle crow (India and Sri Lanka)
 * Corvus edithae Lort Phillips, 1895 – Somali crow (eastern Africa)
 * Corvus enca (Horsfield, 1821) – slender-billed crow (Malaysia, the Philippines, Borneo, Indonesia)
 * Corvus florensis Büttikofer, 1894 – Flores crow (Flores, Indonesia)
 * Corvus frugilegus Linnaeus, 1758 – rook (Eurasia, introduced to New Zealand)
 * Corvus fuscicapillus Gray, GR, 1859 – brown-headed crow (New Guinea)
 * Corvus hawaiiensis Peale, 1849 (formerly C. tropicus) – Hawaiian crow (Hawaii)
 * Corvus imparatus Peters, JL, 1929 – Tamaulipas crow (Gulf of Mexico coast of Texas and northeastern Mexico)
 * Corvus insularis Heinroth, 1903 – Bismarck crow (Bismark Archipelago, Papua New Guinea)
 * Corvus jamaicensis Gmelin, JF, 1788 – Jamaican crow (Jamaica)
 * Corvus kubaryi Reichenow, 1885 – Mariana crow or aga (Guam and Rota, Northern Mariana Islands)
 * Corvus leucognaphalus Daudin, 1800 – white-necked crow (Hispaniola)
 * Corvus levaillantii Lesson, RP, 1831 – eastern jungle crow (Indian subcontinent to the northern Malay Peninsula)
 * Corvus macrorhynchos Wagler, 1827 – large-billed crow (Himalayas, East Asia, the Malay Peninsula, Sunda Islands, and the Philippines)
 * Corvus meeki Rothschild, 1904 – Bougainville crow or Solomon Islands crow (Bougainville Island and Shortland Islands, Solomon Islands)
 * Corvus mellori Mathews, 1912 – little raven (southeastern Australia)
 * Corvus minutus Gundlach, 1852 – Cuban palm crow (Cuba) (formerly conspecific with the Hispaniolan palm crow)
 * Corvus moneduloides Lesson, RP, 1831 – New Caledonian crow (New Caledonia)
 * Corvus nasicus Temminck, 1826 – Cuban crow (Cuba, Isla de la Juventud, Turks and Caicos Islands)
 * Corvus orru Bonaparte, 1850 – Torresian crow or Australian crow (Australia, New Guinea, Lesser Sunda Islands)
 * Corvus ossifragus Wilson, A, 1812 – fish crow (eastern United States coast)
 * Corvus palmarum Württemberg, 1835 – Hispaniolan palm crow (Hispaniola) (formerly conspecific with Cuban palm crow)
 * Corvus pusillus Tweeddale, 1878 – Palawan crow (Palawan, Philippines)
 * Corvus rhipidurus Hartert, EJO, 1918 – fan-tailed raven (eastern Africa, Middle East)
 * Corvus ruficollis Lesson, RP, 1831 – brown-necked raven (north Africa, Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Central Asia, Pakistan)
 * Corvus samarensis Steere, 1890 – small crow (Samar and Mindanao, Philippines)
 * Corvus sinaloae Davis, LI, 1958 –– Sinaloa crow (Pacific Coast of Mexico)
 * Corvus splendens Vieillot, 1817 – house crow or Indian house crow (Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Middle East, eastern Africa)
 * Corvus tasmanicus Mathews, 1912 – forest raven or Tasmanian raven (Tasmania and adjacent southern coast of Australia)
 * Corvus torquatus Lesson, RP, 1831 – collared crow (eastern China south into Vietnam)
 * Corvus tristis Lesson, RP & Garnot, 1827 – grey crow or bare-faced crow (New Guinea and nearby islands)
 * Corvus typicus (Bonaparte, 1853) – piping crow or Celebes pied crow (Sulawesi and Muna, Indonesia)
 * Corvus unicolor (Rothschild & Hartert, EJO, 1900) – Banggai crow (Banggai Island, Indonesia)
 * Corvus validus Bonaparte, 1850 – long-billed crow (northern Moluccas, Indonesia)
 * Corvus violaceus Bonaparte, 1850 – violet crow (Seram, Indonesia)
 * Corvus woodfordi (Ogilvie-Grant, 1887) – white-billed crow or Solomon Islands crow (southern Solomon Islands)

Fossil forms

 * Corvus galushai – (fossil: Big Sandy Late Miocene of Wickieup, United States)
 * Corvus praecorax – (fossil: Early Pliocene of Perpignan, France; possibly a subspecies of C. corone/cornix)
 * Corvus simionescui – (fossil: Early Pliocene of Maluşteni-Bereşti, Romania; possibly a subspecies of C. corone/cornix)
 * Corvus hungaricus – (fossil: Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene of Southern Europe; tentatively placed here)
 * Corvus moravicus – (fossil: Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene of Central to Eastern Europe; possibly a subspecies of C. monedula)
 * Corvus pliocaenus – (fossil: Late Pliocene –? Early/Middle Pleistocene of Europe; possibly a subspecies of C. corone/cornix)
 * Corvus antecorax – (fossil: Late Pliocene – Late Pleistocene of Europe; may be C. janossyi, possibly a subspecies of C. corax)
 * Corvus bragai – (fossil: Pliocene/Pleistocene transition of South Africa)
 * Corvus betfianus – (fossil: Early Pleistocene of Betfi, Romania; possibly a subspecies of C. corone/cornix)
 * Corvus fossilis – (fossil: Late Pleistocene Seveckenberg, Germany; probably a subspecies of C. corax)
 * Corvus neomexicanus – (fossil: Late Pleistocene of Dry Cave, United States)
 * Corvus antipodum – New Zealand raven (prehistoric: New Zealand)
 * Corvus impluviatus – high-billed crow (prehistoric: Hawaii)
 * Corvus moriorum – Chatham raven (prehistoric: the Chatham Islands, the southwestern Pacific)
 * Corvus pumilis – Puerto Rican crow (prehistoric: Puerto Rico; possibly a subspecies of C. nasicus/palmarum)
 * Corvus viriosus – robust crow (prehistoric: Hawaii)
 * Corvus sp. – New Ireland crow (prehistoric: New Ireland, Melanesia)

The taxonomy of the ''C. antecorax/C. fossilis complex as well as the C. pliocaenus/C. betfianus/C. praecorax/C. simionescui'', in particular the temporal succession and relationship to the living relatives, is not yet fully resolved. At least some of these "species" seem to have been direct ancestors of the living forms as listed above.

Former species
Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species as species within the genus Corvus:
 * Western jackdaw (as Corvus monedula)
 * Daurian jackdaw (as Corvus dauuricus)
 * Eurasian jay (as Corvus glandarius)

title: List of Corvus species


text:
Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/February 7

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 * 457 – Leo I (pictured), who ruled for nearly 20 years, was crowned Byzantine emperor.
 * 1783 – American Revolutionary War: After three years and seven months, Spain and France abandoned their attempt to capture Gibraltar from the British.
 * 1795 – The Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting the ability of U.S. citizens and foreign nationals to sue U.S. states in federal courts, was ratified.
 * 1813 – Napoleonic Wars: Two evenly matched French and British frigates fought for four hours at the Îles de Los off the Guinean coast, resulting in a stalemate.
 * 1900 – A Chinese immigrant in San Francisco fell ill with the bubonic plague in the first epidemic of the disease in the continental United States.
 * 1940 – Walt Disney's Pinocchio, the first animated feature to win a competitive Academy Award, debuted at the Center Theatre in New York City.
 * 1941 – Soviet border guards opened fire on civilians attempting to cross the border from the Soviet Union to Romania near Lunca, killing several hundred people.
 * 1943 – World War II: Japan successfully withdrew its troops from Guadalcanal.
 * 1948 – Neil Harvey became the youngest Australian to score a century in Test cricket.
 * 1986 – President of Haiti Jean-Claude Duvalier fled the country after a popular uprising, ending 28 years of one-family rule in the nation.
 * 1991 – The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army shelled 10 Downing Street with mortars in a failed attempt to assassinate British prime minister John Major.
 * 1992 – The Maastricht Treaty, which led to the formation of the European Union, was signed by the member states of the European Communities.
 * 1994 – Having retired four months earlier, American basketball player Michael Jordan signed a contract with the Chicago White Sox to play baseball.
 * 1995 – Ramzi Yousef, one of the main perpetrators of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the bombing of Philippine Airlines Flight 434, was arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan.
 * 1997 – Steve Jobs returned to Apple Inc. as a consultant after the company's acquisition of his technology startup NeXT.
 * 1999 – Abdullah II became the reigning King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan following the death of his father King Hussein.
 * 2014 – Researchers announced the discovery of the Happisburgh footprints (pictured) in Norfolk, England, the oldest known hominid footprints outside Africa at more than 800,000 years old.
 * Born/died this day: | Alfonsina Orsini |d|1520| Azar Bigdeli |b|1722| Margaret Fownes-Luttrell |b|1726| Henry Fuseli |b|1741| Louisa Jane Hall |b|1802|  Alfred Worden|b|1932| Herman Vandenburg Ames |d|1935|  Eddie Izzard |b|1962| Juwan Howard  |b|1973| Anne Morrow Lindbergh |d|2001


text:
Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/February 8

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 * 1250 – Seventh Crusade: Louis IX of France was defeated at the Battle of Fariskur and captured by the Ayyubid Sultanate of Egypt.
 * 1601 – Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, led a failed rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I of England.
 * 1837 – Richard Mentor Johnson became the only person ever to be elected Vice President of the United States by the Senate.
 * 1910 – William D. Boyce (pictured) established the Boy Scouts of America, expanding the Scout Movement into the United States.
 * 1960 – The official groundbreaking of the Walk of Fame took place in Hollywood, California.
 * 1965 – After taking evasive action to avoid a mid-air collision just after taking off from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 84 people on board.
 * 2010 – A freak storm triggered a series of avalanches that buried more than 3.5 km (2.2 mi) of road near the Salang Tunnel in Afghanistan, killing 175 people and trapping more than 2,500 travellers.
 * Born/died: | Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid |b|882| Helen of Anjou |d|1314| Gerolamo Emiliani |d|1537| Guercino |b|1591| Jules Verne |b|1828| Kate Chopin |b|1850| Franz Marc |b|1880|  Peter Kropotkin |d|1921| Valerie Thomas |b|1943|  Ernest Titterton |d|1990|  A. Chandranehru |d|2005

February 8

 * 1587 – Mary, Queen of Scots (pictured), was executed at Fotheringhay Castle for her involvement in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Elizabeth I of England.
 * 1879 – Angered by a controversial umpiring decision, cricket spectators rioted and attacked the England team during a match in Sydney, Australia.
 * 1924 – Gee Jon became the first person in the United States to be executed by lethal gas.
 * 1948 – The closing ceremony of the first Olympics held after World War II was held in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
 * 1968 – Local police in Orangeburg, South Carolina, fired into a crowd of people who were protesting segregation, killing three and injuring twenty-seven others.
 * 1983 – The Irish-bred race horse Shergar was stolen by gunmen, who demanded a £2 million ransom.


text:
Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/February 9

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 * 1234 – Caizhou, the capital of the Jin dynasty, was captured by the Mongol Empire and their Song allies, bringing an end to Jurchen rule.
 * 1825 – After no candidate received a majority of electoral votes in the previous year's presidential election, the United States House of Representatives chose John Quincy Adams (pictured) as president in a contingent election.
 * 1855 – A series of hoof-like marks in the snow continuing through the countryside for some 40 to 100 miles (60 to 160 km) were discovered in Devon, England.
 * 1913 – A meteor procession was observed along a great circle arc from Canada to Brazil, leading astronomers to conclude that its source was a small, short-lived natural satellite of the Earth.
 * 1920 – The Svalbard Treaty was signed in Paris, recognizing Norwegian sovereignty over the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard.
 * 1923 – Stanley Bruce became prime minister of Australia as leader of the country's first Coalition government.
 * 1942 – The Imperial Japanese Army began the Battle of Kranji as part of their campaign to capture Singapore.
 * 1943 – World War II: Allied forces declared Guadalcanal secure, ending the Guadalcanal campaign as a significant strategic victory for Allied forces fighting Japan in the Pacific War.
 * 1945 – World War II: Allied aircraft unsuccessfully attacked a German destroyer in Førde Fjord, Norway.
 * 1950 – U.S. senator Joseph McCarthy accused 205 employees of the State Department of being communists, sparking a period of strong anti-communist sentiment known as McCarthyism.
 * 1964 – As Beatlemania swept the United States, the Beatles (pictured) made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show before a record-breaking audience, beginning a musical phenomenon known as the British Invasion.
 * 1971 – An earthquake registering 6.6 Mw struck the northern San Fernando Valley near the Los Angeles district of Sylmar, killing 65 people.
 * 1996 – Breaking a seventeen-month ceasefire, the Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated a powerful truck bomb in the London Docklands, killing two people and injuring more than a hundred others.
 * 1996 – Researchers at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, Germany, first created the chemical element copernicium.
 * 2001 – The American submarine USS Greeneville collided with the Ehime Maru, a Japanese training vessel operated by a high school, sinking the latter ship and killing nine people on board.
 * 2020 – Japanese figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu won the Four Continents Championships to become the only man to complete a Super Slam.
 * Born/died: | Minamoto no Yoritomo |d|1199| Agnès Sorel |d|1450| John Frederick, Duke of Pomerania |d|1600|George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney |b|1666| Thomas Paine |b|1737| Adele Spitzeder |b|1832| Alberto Vargas |b|1896| Gerhard Richter |b|1932|  Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon |d|2002|  Margareta Hallin |d|2020


text:
Shire of Baw Baw

The Shire of Baw Baw is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, in the eastern part of the state. It covers an area of 4028 km2 and in June 2018 had a population of 52,015.

It includes the towns of Drouin, Longwarry, Neerim South, Trafalgar, Warragul and Yarragon. It was formed in 1994 from the amalgamation of the Shire of Buln Buln, Shire of Narracan, Rural City of Warragul, and some parts of the Shire of Upper Yarra.

The shire is governed and administered by the Baw Baw Shire Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Drouin, and it has a service centre located in Warragul. The shire is named after the major geographical feature in the region, the Baw Baw Plateau with Mount Baw Baw being the second highest peak in the region. An unincorporated area, the Mount Baw Baw Alpine Resort, is enclaved within the shire.

Location and geography
The more densely populated southern half of the shire consists of low rolling hills given over primarily to dairy farming and other agriculture. The northern half lies in the Great Dividing Range and its foothills, where forestry remains an important industry. Tourism is also important in the region, aided by its proximity to and easy access from Melbourne. The shire is known for its rural scenery and natural environment, as well as gourmet foods and wines. The historic gold-mining town of Walhalla is located in the northeast of the shire is a major tourist drawcard. The major electricity-producing region of the Latrobe Valley lies immediately to the shire's east and south.

Many of the shire's larger towns are located along the Princes Highway and Gippsland railway line, which cross the southern part of the shire. From west to east these include: Longwarry, Drouin, Warragul, Darnum, Yarragon, and Trafalgar. North of Warragul are Buln Buln, Neerim South, and Noojee, while south of Trafalgar in the Strzelecki Ranges lies the town of Thorpdale. The towns of Rawson, Erica, and Parkers Corner are located near Walhalla amongst the foothills of the Baw Baw Plateau. Aberfeldy is located in the far north east of the shire above the Thomson Dam, which supplies 50% of Melbourne's water.

Composition up to November 2016
The council was composed of four wards and nine councillors, with three councillors elected to represent the Warragul Ward and two councillors per remaining ward elected to represent each of the other wards.

Composition November 2016 to November 2020
The council was changed to a three-ward structure with three councillors per ward, with the new council sworn in on 2 November 2016. The new wards are West [660sq km] (primarily Drouin with some rural areas north/south), Central [66sq km] (Warragul town) and East [3,302sq km] making up the balance of the shire.

Current composition
The council's three-ward structure continued with three councillors per ward, with the new council sworn in on 18 November 2020. The wards are West [660sq km] (primarily Drouin with some rural areas north/south), Central [66sq km] (based on Warragul) and East [3,302sq km] making up the balance of the shire.

Administration and governance
The council meets monthly in the Fountain Room of the West Gippsland Arts Centre. The council's administrative activities are centred in Drouin in the former offices of the Buln Buln Shire. It also provides customer services at both Warragul and the council offices in Drouin. Service centres in Trafalgar and on Smith Street in Warragul were closed in 2015.

Townships and localities
In the 2021 census, the shire's population was 57,626, up from 48,479 in the 2016 census.

^ - Territory divided with another LGA * - Not noted in 2016 Census # - Not noted in 2021 Census

title: Shire of Baw Baw


text:
Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/February 10

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 * 1220 – Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire: the city of Bukhara was captured and looted by the Mongol army of Genghis Khan.
 * 1258 – The last Abbasid caliph surrendered Baghdad to the besieging Mongol army of Hulegu Khan, who later sacked the city, killing hundreds of thousands of people.
 * 1712 – The Huilliche in Chile's Chiloé Archipelago rose up against Spanish encomenderos in revenge for perceived injustices.
 * 1763 – To end the Seven Years' War, Britain, France and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris, which significantly reduced the size of the French colonial empire and marked the beginning of an extensive period of British dominance outside of Europe.
 * 1814 – War of the Sixth Coalition: A French army led by Napoleon effectively destroyed a small Russian corps commanded by Zakhar Dmitrievich Olsufiev.
 * 1840 – Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Queen Victoria married at the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace, London, with Albert being granted the title prince consort.
 * 1861 – Jefferson Davis was notified that he had been selected as the provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
 * 1862 – American Civil War: A Union naval flotilla destroyed the bulk of the Confederate Mosquito Fleet in the Battle of Elizabeth City on the Pasquotank River in North Carolina.
 * 1906 – The Royal Navy battleship HMS Dreadnought (1906) was launched, representing such a marked advance in naval technology that her name came to be associated with an entire generation of battleships.
 * 1930 – The Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng launched the failed Yên Bái mutiny in the hope of ending French colonial rule in Vietnam.
 * 1936 – Second Italo-Abyssinian War: The Battle of Amba Aradam began, ending nine days later in a decisive tactical victory for Italy and the neutralisation of almost the entire Ethiopian army as a fighting force.
 * 1940 – Puss Gets the Boot, the first Tom and Jerry cartoon, was released to theaters.
 * 1962 – Rudolf Abel, a Soviet spy arrested by the FBI, was exchanged for Francis Gary Powers, the pilot of the CIA spy plane that had been shot down over Soviet airspace two years earlier.
 * 1962 – The first solo exhibition by Roy Lichtenstein (pictured) opened, including the painting Look Mickey, which featured his first use of Ben Day dots, speech balloons, and comic imagery sourcing.
 * 2008 – The Namdaemun gate in Seoul, the first of South Korea's National Treasures, was severely damaged by arson.
 * 2016 – In response to the launch of Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4 by North Korea, the South Korean government closed the Kaesong Industrial Region, a collaborative economic development run jointly by both countries.
 * Born/died this day: | Ary Scheffer |b|1795| Robert Garran |b|1867| Árpád Göncz |b|1922| Lilly King |b|1997| Trevor Bailey |d|2011

February 10: Feast day of Saint Scholastica (Christianity); Chinese New Year (2024); National Memorial Day of the Exiles and Foibe in Italy

 * 1355 – A tavern dispute between University of Oxford students and townspeople became a riot that left about 90 people dead.
 * 1919 – The Inter-Allied Women's Conference opened as a counterpart to the Paris Peace Conference, marking the first time that women were allowed formal participation in an international treaty negotiation.
 * 1939 – Spanish Civil War: The Nationalists concluded their conquest of Catalonia and sealed the border with France.
 * 2009 – The first accidental hypervelocity collision between two intact satellites in low Earth orbit took place when Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 destroyed each other.


text:
Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/February 11

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 * 1584 – Spanish explorer Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa founded the town of Nombre de Jesús, the first of two short-lived colonies at the Strait of Magellan.
 * 1823 – Around 110 boys were killed in a human crush at the Convent of the Minori Osservanti in Valletta on the last day of the Maltese Carnival.
 * 1840 – La fille du régiment (audio featured), an opéra comique by Gaetano Donizetti, premiered in Paris to highly negative reviews but later became a success.
 * 1919 – Friedrich Ebert was elected the provisional president of Germany by the Weimar National Assembly.
 * 1938 – The BBC aired an adaptation of a section of Czech writer Karel Čapek's play R.U.R. in the first broadcast of science fiction on television.
 * 1990 – Anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela, having been a political prisoner for 27 years, was released from Victor Verster Prison near Paarl, South Africa.
 * 1991 – The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization was established in The Hague to represent the interests of indigenous peoples, minorities, occupied nations, and other areas lacking international recognition.
 * 2008 – Rebel East Timorese soldiers invaded the homes of President José Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão, seriously wounding the former.
 * 2015 – Turkish student Özgecan Aslan was murdered during a rape attempt, sparking mass demonstrations across the country after her body was discovered two days later.
 * Born/died this day: | Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah |d|1358| René Descartes |d|1650| William Shenstone |d|1763| Bernard A. Maguire |b|1818| Melville Fuller |b|1833 Adolfo Farsari|b|1841| Ellen Day Hale |bd|1855; 1940| Elizabeth Siddal |d|1862| Louis Bouveault |b|1864| Ellen Broe |b|1900|  L. D. Reynolds |b|1930|  Sylvia Plath |d|1963|  Kelly Rowland |b|1981 | Whitney Houston |d|2012

February 11: National Foundation Day (Japan) (660 BC)

 * 1826 – London University, later University College London (pictured), was founded as the first secular university in England.
 * 1851 – As part of celebrations marking the separation of Victoria from New South Wales, the inaugural first-class cricket match in Australia began at the Launceston Racecourse in Tasmania.
 * 1976 – The Frente de Liberación Homosexual made their final public appearance, shortly before the group's dissolution due to political repression after the 1976 Argentine coup d'état.
 * 2001 – The computer worm Anna Kournikova, which would affect millions of users worldwide, was released by a 20-year-old Dutch student.


text:
Shire of Buloke

The Shire of Buloke is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of 8000 km2 and, in August 2021, had a population of 6,201. It includes the towns of Birchip, Charlton, Donald, Sea Lake and Wycheproof. It was formed in 1995 from the amalgamation of the Shire of Wycheproof, Shire of Birchip, Shire of Charlton, Shire of Donald, and parts of the Shire of Kara Kara.

The Shire is governed and administered by the Buloke Shire Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the Council headquarters in Wycheproof, it also has service centres located in Birchip, Charlton, Donald and Sea Lake. The Shire is named after a major geographical feature in the region, Lake Buloke, which is located in the south of the LGA; the name also comes from the "buloke" or "bulloak" tree Allocasuarina luehmannii, which is common in the region.

Within the Shire, agriculture, particularly grain production, is the predominant source of income and employment.

Current composition
The Council is composed of three wards and seven Councillors, with three Councillors elected to represent the Mount Jeffcott Ward and two Councillors per remaining ward elected to represent each of the other wards.

Administration and governance
The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Wycheproof Municipal Offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at its administrative centre in Wycheproof.

Townships and localities
In the 2021 census, the shire's population was 6,178, down from 6,201 in the 2016 census.

^ - Territory divided with another LGA * - Not noted in 2016 Census # - Not noted in 2021 Census

Traditional owners
The traditional owners of this area are the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia and Jupagalk and Dja Dja Wurrung.

title: Shire of Buloke


text:
Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/February 12

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 * 1502 – Queen Isabella I issued an edict outlawing Islam in the Crown of Castile, forcing virtually all her Muslim subjects to convert to Christianity.
 * 1855 – The precursor of Michigan State University in East Lansing was founded as the United States' first agricultural college.
 * 1909 – The ferry SS Penguin struck a rock in Wellington Harbour and sank, killing 75 people in New Zealand's worst maritime disaster of the 20th century.
 * 1935 – The USS Macon (ZRS-5), one of the largest helium-filled airships ever created, crashed into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California and sank<--!(contemporary artist's rendering of the crash).-->
 * 1942 – The Imperial Japanese Army initiated the Battle of Pasir Panjang in Kent Ridge Park in Singapore.
 * 1945 – A devistating tornado outbreak across Mississippi and Alabama kills 45 people and injures 427 others.
 * 1946 – African-American U.S. Army veteran Isaac Woodard was severely beaten by a South Carolina police officer and lost sight in both eyes, an incident that galvanized the civil rights movement.
 * 1947 – The French fashion company Dior unveiled its New Look collection (suit pictured), which revolutionized women's dress and re-established Paris as the centre of the fashion world after World War II.
 * 1968 – Following the deaths of two employees on the job, black sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, began a strike that lasted more than two months.
 * 1988 – While claiming the right of innocent passage through Soviet territorial waters in the Black Sea, the American cruiser USS Yorktown and destroyer USS Caron were bumped by Soviet warships.
 * 1993 – Two-year-old James Bulger was led away from New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle, England, and murdered by two 10-year-old boys, who became the youngest convicted murderers in modern English history.
 * 2001 – The NASA space probe NEAR Shoemaker touched down on Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
 * 2009 – Just before it was scheduled to land at Buffalo Niagara International Airport, Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed into a house in Clarence Center, New York, killing the house's occupant and all 49 people on board the aircraft.
 * 2016 – In the first meeting between the leaders of the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church, Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow signed the Havana Declaration at José Martí International Airport in Cuba.
 * Born/died this day: | Wulfhelm |d|941| Lord Guildford Dudley |d|1554| Jan Ladislav Dussek |b|1760| Norbert Provencher |b|1787| Bobby Peel |b|1857| Eugène Atget |b|1857| Will P. Brady |b|1876| Alice Roosevelt Longworth |b|1884| Judy Blume |b|1938| Jean Eyeghé Ndong |b|1946| Eubie Blake |d|1983|  Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat |d|2015

February 12: Red Hand Day; Shrove Monday (Western Christianity, 2024)

 * 1691 – A papal conclave convened to select a new pope after the death of Pope Alexander VIII.
 * 1924 – George Gershwin's composition Rhapsody in Blue premiered at Aeolian Hall in New York.
 * 1994 – Edvard Munch's painting The Scream (pictured) was stolen from the National Gallery of Norway.
 * 2003 – Protesters in La Paz and the Bolivian government brokered a deal to end two days of rioting against a proposed salary tax.


text:
Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/February 13

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 * 1660 – The four-year-old Charles XI became King of Sweden upon his father's death.
 * 1692 – Members of Clan MacDonald of Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands were massacred, allegedly for failing to pledge allegiance to the new monarchs, William III and Mary II.
 * 1867 – Work began on the covering of the Senne (pictured), burying the polluted main river of Brussels to allow for urban renewal in the centre of the city.
 * 1945 – World War II: The Allies began a strategic bombing of Dresden, Germany, creating a lethal firestorm that killed tens of thousands of civilians.
 * 1960 – African-American college students staged the first of the Nashville sit-ins at three lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee, as part of a nonviolent direct-action campaign to end racial segregation in the U.S.
 * 1970 – The English rock band Black Sabbath released their debut album, which is generally accepted as the first heavy metal album.
 * 1981 – Explosions caused by the ignition of hexane vapors destroyed more than 13 mi of sewer lines in Louisville, Kentucky.
 * 1991 – Gulf War: The United States Air Force dropped two laser-guided "smart bombs" on an air-raid shelter in Baghdad, Iraq, which was believed to be a military command site, killing at least 408 civilians.
 * 2010 – A terrorist bombing at a bakery popular among foreigners in Pune, India, killed 17 people and injured 60 others.
 * 2012 – The first Vega rocket was launched by the European Space Agency from the Guiana Space Centre.
 * Born/died: | Béla II of Hungary |d|1141| Luis de Carvajal y de la Cueva |d|1591| Rufus Wilmot Griswold |b|1815| George Rogers Clark |d|1818|  Sarojini Naidu |b|1879| Provo Wallis |d|1892| Faiz Ahmad Faiz |b|1911|  Mami Kawada|b|1980| Waylon Jennings |d|2002| Antonin Scalia |d|2016