Australian Bicentenary A new musical "Manning Clark's History of Australia", directed by John Bell, that was loosely based on the life of historian Manning Clark opened in January at Princess Theatre (Melbourne) to coincide with the Bicentenary, but facing poor reviews and concomitant lack of attendance, closed before the end of February. Significant improvements to Australian roads were made through the "Australian Bicentennial Road Development Program". The event triggered debate on Australian national identity, Aboriginal rights, historical interpretation and multiculturalism. The event was widely viewed as controversial. Planning for the event raised issues of national identity and historical interpretation. Some wanted to
Geological Society of London Phillips, and William Phillips. It received its Royal Charter on 23 April 1825 from George IV. Since 1874, the Society has been based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London. This building houses the Society's library, which contains more than 300,000 volumes of books and journals. It is a member of the UK Science Council. In 1991, it merged with the Institution of Geologists, which had been formed in 1977 to represent the geological profession. The Society celebrated its bicentenary in 2007. It ran programmes in the geosciences in Britain and abroad, under the auspices of the science writer and palaeontologist Professor