2014 Sydney hostage crisis
The 2014 Sydney hostage crisis, also known as the Sydney siege and Lindt Cafe siege, occurred on 15–16 December 2014 when a lone gunman, Man Haron Monis, held hostage ten customers and eight employees of a Lindt chocolate café located at Martin Place in Sydney, Australia. Police treated the event as a terrorist attack at the time, but Monis' motives were subsequently debated. However, the findings of the Coroner in 2017 deemed the event to be a terrorist attack.
Australia and the American Civil War
The news of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on 14 April 1865 caused demonstrations of sorrow in Sydney. An editorial in Melbourne's "The Age" newspaper on June 27, 1865 reported that in Sydney the assassination of Lincoln had caused great indignation. There were many Australian sympathisers that wanted to put an end to slavery, a central issue with Lincoln and his Emancipation Proclamation. A memorial service was held in Sydney's Prince of Wales Opera House on Sunday afternoon July 9, 1865. There were strong feelings of anger at public meetings against the killer of Lincoln, a person so dedicated to his country. They figured he was a genius who rose "from a log cabin to the White House."