On this Day

1903 The Australian Senate votes and selects Bombala in south-eastern New South Wales as the site for Australias capital.

1933 Australias first traffic lights are installed in Sydney.

1992 The pyramids, the Sphinx and other monuments survive a Cairo earthquake that kills at least 400 and injures more than 4000.

1993 A fanatical fan of tennis player Steffi Graf is convicted of stabbing her arch-rival Monica Seles but receives only a two-year suspended sentence.

TODAYS BIRTHDAYS

IAN THORPE

AUSTRALIAN SWIMMER (1982)

Olympic gold medallist Ian Thorpe became an Australian swimming icon in the early 2000s, and is expected to make a return to the pool after a four-year layoff. Born in Sydney, Thorpe struggled to swim as a child because of an allergy to chlorine. At the age of 15, already standing at more than 1.8 metres, Thorpe caught the worlds attention when he became the youngest world champion in history after winning the 400m freestyle. In the lead-up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics, he broke 10 world records  four of them in four days at the 1999 Pan Pacific titles. In 2004, despite his split with long-time coach Doug Frost, the talented swimmer broke new ground at the Athens Olympics when he became the first Australian to win a total of five Olympic golds. Thorpe announced his retirement in 2006, but has signalled a comeback for the 2012 London Olympics.