24 November 1974

Donald Johanson and Tom Gray discover the 40% complete Australopithecus afarensis skeleton, nicknamed “Lucy” (after The Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”), in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia’s Afar Depression.

The Australopithecus afarensis skeleton nicknamed “Lucy” is one of the most famous and significant fossil finds in the field of paleoanthropology. Lucy was discovered in 1974 by paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson and his team in the Afar region of Ethiopia, at a site called Hadar. The fossil is estimated to be about 3.2 million years old, dating back to the Pliocene epoch.

Here are some key features and information about the Lucy specimen:

Species Identification: Lucy belongs to the species Australopithecus afarensis, which is an extinct hominin species that is considered to be a close relative to the common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees.

Age and Size: Lucy was an adult female, but her exact age at the time of death is not known. She stood about 3.5 feet (1.1 meters) tall and had a small brain, similar in size to that of a modern chimpanzee.

Bipedalism: One of the most important aspects of Lucy’s discovery is that her anatomy provided strong evidence for bipedalism, or walking on two legs. The structure of her knee and pelvis, in particular, suggested adaptations for upright walking, a key characteristic that distinguishes hominins from other primates.

Limbs and Hands: Lucy’s upper limbs had features indicative of both tree-climbing and terrestrial adaptation. Her curved fingers and long arms suggest some retention of climbing abilities, while her lower limbs, particularly the knee and pelvis, were adapted for bipedal locomotion.

Significance: Lucy’s discovery provided crucial insights into the early stages of human evolution. The evidence of bipedalism in a creature with an ape-sized brain challenged previous assumptions that a large brain was a prerequisite for walking upright. Lucy’s skeleton also played a significant role in shaping our understanding of the evolutionary transition from arboreal to terrestrial life in hominins.

The name “Lucy” was inspired by the Beatles’ song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” which was playing at the excavation camp when the discovery was made. The find has since become an iconic symbol in the study of human evolution, and Lucy’s remains continue to contribute to our understanding of the evolutionary history of early hominins.

28 May 1974

Northern Ireland’s power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement collapses following a general strike by loyalists.

The Sunningdale Agreement was a significant political accord signed on December 9, 1973, in Sunningdale, Berkshire, United Kingdom. It aimed to establish a power-sharing government and promote reconciliation in Northern Ireland, a region plagued by sectarian violence and political unrest.

The agreement was a response to the escalating conflict between the predominantly Protestant unionist community, who wished to remain part of the United Kingdom, and the predominantly Catholic nationalist community, who sought a united Ireland. The negotiations leading up to the Sunningdale Agreement involved representatives from the UK government, the government of the Republic of Ireland, and various political parties in Northern Ireland.

The key provisions of the agreement included the creation of a power-sharing executive, known as the Executive Committee, which would include representatives from both unionist and nationalist parties. It also established a Council of Ireland, which would facilitate cooperation between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland on matters of mutual interest while respecting Northern Ireland’s status as part of the United Kingdom.

The Sunningdale Agreement was seen as a significant step towards resolving the conflict in Northern Ireland and was supported by the British and Irish governments. However, it faced strong opposition from hardline unionist and republican groups. The largest unionist party, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), withdrew its support for the agreement, which led to the collapse of the power-sharing executive in May 1974.

The failure of the Sunningdale Agreement marked a setback in the peace process for Northern Ireland, and the region continued to experience violence and political instability for several more decades. Nonetheless, the agreement laid the groundwork for future peace initiatives, such as the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which ultimately led to a more enduring peace in Northern Ireland.

29 March 1974

Terracotta Army was discovered in Shaanxi province, China.

The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE with the purpose of protecting the emperor in his afterlife.

The figures, dating from approximately the late third century BCE, were discovered in 1974 by local farmers in Lintong County, outside Xi’an, Shaanxi, China. The figures vary in height according to their roles, with the tallest being the generals. The figures include warriors, chariots and horses. Estimates from 2007 were that the three pits containing the Terracotta Army held more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which remained buried in the pits near Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum. Other terracotta non-military figures were found in other pits, including officials, acrobats, strongmen, and musicians.

The construction of the tomb was described by historian Sima Qian in his most noted work Shiji, written a century after the mausoleum’s completion. Work on the mausoleum began in 246 BCE soon after Emperor Qin ascended the throne, and the project eventually involved 700,000 workers. Geographer Li Daoyuan, writing six centuries after the First Emperor’s death, recorded in Shui Jing Zhu that Mount Li was a favoured location due to its auspicious geology, “famed for its jade mines, its northern side was rich in gold, and its southern side rich in beautiful jade; the First Emperor, covetous of its fine reputation, therefore chose to be buried there”. Sima Qian wrote that the First Emperor was buried with palaces, towers, officials, valuable artifacts and wondrous objects. According to this account, 100 flowing rivers were simulated using mercury, and above them the ceiling was decorated with heavenly bodies below which were the features of the land. Some translations of this passage refer to “models” or “imitations”; however, those words were not used in the original text, which makes no mention of the terracotta army. High levels of mercury were found in the soil of the tomb mound, giving credence to Sima Qian’s account. Later historical accounts suggested that the tomb had been looted by Xiang Yu, a contender for the throne after the death of the first emperor. However, there are indications that the tomb may not have been plundered.

The Terracotta Army was discovered on 29 March 1974 by farmers digging a water well approximately 1.5 kilometres east of the Qin Emperor’s tomb mound at Mount Li, a region riddled with underground springs and watercourses. For centuries, occasional reports mentioned pieces of terracotta figures and fragments of the Qin necropolis – roofing tiles, bricks and chunks of masonry. This discovery prompted Chinese archaeologists, including Zhao Kangmin, to investigate, revealing the largest pottery figurine group ever found. A museum complex has since been constructed over the area, the largest pit being enclosed by a roofed structure.

24 December 1974

Cyclone Tracy devastates in Australia.

IT’S CHRISTMAS EVE, 1974. Rain had been falling heavily from about lunchtime and the wind strength had picked up during the day. The residents of Darwin were busy being cheerful.

Radio announcements about an incoming tropical cyclone could be heard, but faded into the background, drowned out by the crinkling sounds of present wrapping and the delicious smell of Christmas food.

It wasn’t until the dark of midnight, on Christmas day, 25 December 1974, that Cyclone Tracy really began to make an impact. In the seven hours it took for the cyclone to pass over Darwin roughly 70 per cent of the small capital city was destroyed.

Up to 71 people were killed in the chaos, 16 of them lost at sea. A bill of $500-600 million dollars was also racked up, as planes, cars, powerlines and structures were whipped across streets destroying buildings and infrastructure.

Cyclone Tracy’s path
Cyclone Tracy was just an unnamed weak tropical low about 700km north-east of Darwin on 10 December when it was first detected. Eleven days later the low developed into a cyclone that wasn’t moving directly towards Darwin.

Today it’s widely suggested that an earlier cyclone, Selma, had also left Darwin with a false sense of security. The Category 2 cyclone had been on course for the city in early in December, but skirted the coastline, only touching Darwin with wind lashings and rain.

The last significant storm event to hit Darwin before Tracy had been a Category 3 or 4 cyclone in March 1937, almost 40 years before.

On December 24, at midnight, Tracy changed direction and moved around Bathurst Island headed straight towards Darwin.

The first cyclone warning was issued at 12.30pm and the storm made landfall at just after midnight that evening. Winds reached their known peak at 3:05am at 217km/h, before the only recording device was destroyed.

The electricity in Darwin failed entirely at around 3.30am. At 4am the eye of the cyclone, measuring 8km in diameter, passed across the city. All essential services including power, communication, water and sewerage went down.

Theoretical calculations based on based on the central pressure of the cyclone suggested the wind would have peaked at 280km/h. These winds tore the small town apart. Adding to the impact, Tracy only crept along at 10km/h, hovering over the city for several hours.

In a 1999 story by the ABC’s ‘7:30 Report’, Mike Hayes, a former ABC journalist, described the sound as like “the whole world screeching; a giant’s fingers on every blackboard in the world, as all this rubbish just slowly took off and scraped along the surface of the road.”

Tracy would eventually be classed as a Category 4 cyclone, in a range from 1 to 5. It’s still considered Australia’s most damaging cyclone to date.

After its catastrophic passage, roughly 30,000 people were left homeless and only 6 per cent of the houses were considered more-or-less intact (apart from their windows).

Between 26 and 31 December, a total of 35,362 people were evacuated from Darwin by civilian and military aircraft, while others drove away with their own vehicles.

Roughly 10,500 stayed to help clean up the city. The Aussies pulled together and less than 24 hours after the catastrophic event, the tiny population of the second-largest city in the Northern Territory, Alice Springs, raised over $100,000 worth roughly $700,000 today to assist the victims of Darwin.

In February 1975, then-prime minister Gough Whitlam announced the creation of the Darwin Reconstruction Commission.

It rebuilt key infrastructure and many homes between 1974 and 1978, and city grew with the arrival of construction workers and their families. By 1975 the population had already recovered to roughly 30,000.

The reconstruction of Darwin officially wound up in mid-1978, by which time it could again house its pre-Tracy population numbers. However, it was a city that looked very different.

“A lot of the old buildings in Darwin in 1974 were constructed in what we would call Queenslander style, where the main body of the house is elevated and underneath you would put the car or the rumpus room in or something like that,” says Kevin Walsh, an associate professor at the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Melbourne.

“The problem with those houses is that they don’t hold particularly well during tropical cyclones. The types of buildings that were built after that were much lower set.”

30 October 1974

The “Rumble in the Jungle” boxing match between Muhammad Ali and GeorgeForeman takes place in Zaire.

he match was scheduled for September. Both men had spent much of the summer of 1974 training in Zaire and getting their bodies acclimated to the warm, tropical climate. Ali was known for his speed and technical skill, while Foreman’s asset was his sheer size and raw power. The younger Foreman was the overwhelming favourite against 32-year-old Ali. But Foreman was injured during training, nursing a cut near his eye, so the fight was pushed to 30 October.

The match took place in Kinshasa’s Mai 20 Stadium. Round one saw Ali attack Foreman with a “”right-hand lead,”” a cheeky shot thrown to surprise the heavyweight champion and give Ali a psychological advantage. Ali caught Foreman nine times in the first round using this technique, but failed to knock him out. In round two, Ali employed a new technique: He began to lean on the rope and cover up, allowing Foreman to punch him on the arms and body. This sapped Foreman’s energy without seriously hurting Ali. He dubbed the strategy rope-a-dope. Ali also delivered straight punches to Foreman’s face and leaned on the heavyweight champ to make him support his weight. He also used psychological tactics, like taunting Foreman to enrage and tire him. Near the end of the fight, Foreman hammered Ali with a huge body blow, and according to Foreman, Ali whispered to him, “”Is that all you got, George?”” to which Foreman thought, “”Yep… that’s about it.”” After several rounds of this, Ali had exhausted Foreman. By the eighth round, Foreman’s wild punches and weak defense became increasingly ineffective. Ali delivered several right hooks to the heavyweight champ, followed by a five-punch combination, and finished with a left hook and hard right that caused Foreman to stumble to the canvas. He was counted out by the referee.

Rumble in the Jungle became one of the most famous fights of all times. Against all odds, Ali regained his title against Foreman, a younger, stronger fighter. It also displayed Ali’s tactical techniques to full effect: He was able to take strong blows and he alternated his fighting style—from surprise jabs to rope-a-dope, to taunting and tiring Foreman—to great effect.