January 1 » The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton is appointed the first Prime Minister.
January 10 » The first great Texas oil gusher is discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas.
August 14 » The first claimed powered flight, by Gustave Whitehead in his Number 21.
September 14 » U.S. President William McKinley dies after being mortally wounded on September 6 by anarchist Leon Czolgosz and is succeeded by Vice President Theodore Roosevelt.
October 29 » In Amherst, Massachusetts, nurse Jane Toppan is arrested for murdering the Davis family of Boston with an overdose of morphine.
November 13 » The 1901 Caister lifeboat disaster.
Day of death May 17, 1985
The temperature on May 17, 1985 was between 10.4 °C and 20.8 °C and averaged 15.6 °C. There was 12.8 hours of sunshine (81%). The almost cloudless was. The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the northeast. Source: KNMI
In The Netherlands , there was from Thursday, November 4, 1982 to Monday, July 14, 1986 the cabinet Lubbers I, with Drs. R.F.M. Lubbers (CDA) as prime minister.
June 15 » Rembrandt's painting Danaë is attacked by a man (later judged insane) who throws sulfuric acid on the canvas and cuts it twice with a knife.
July 19 » The Val di Stava dam collapses killing 268 people in Val di Stava, Italy.
September 1 » A joint American–French expedition locates the wreckage of the RMSTitanic.
September 13 » Super Mario Bros. is released in Japan for the NES, which starts the Super Mario series of platforming games.
December 12 » Arrow Air Flight 1285, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8, crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland, killing all 256 people on board, including 236 members of the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division.
December 16 » Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti are shot dead on the orders of John Gotti, who assumes leadership of New York's Gambino crime family.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: P. Heres, "Family tree Eilander", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-eilander/I1099493816.php : accessed March 4, 2026), "Harmen van Olst (1901-1985)".
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