Today in History - August 2: No-one noticed when most expensive painting in Australia was stolen
The most expensive painting in Australia was stolen without anyone noticing on August 2, 1986.
Pablo Picasso's The Weeping Woman had been bought for $1.6 million by the National Gallery of Victoria.
But despite the record price, thieves managed to unscrew the painting from its wall mounting and escape the gallery undetected.
The thieves left behind a card saying the painting had been removed for "routine maintenance".
It was not until Monday that anyone realised it had been stolen.
Then on the Tuesday of that week, a ransom letter was published in The Age.
"We have stolen the Picasso from the National Gallery as a protest against the niggardly funding of the fine arts in this hick State and against the clumsy, unimaginative stupidity of the administration and distribution of that funding," the letter wrote.
The thieves demanded a ten per cent rise in arts funding as well as a $25,000 art prize called the "Picasso Ransom" prize.
"At the end of seven days if our demands have not been met the painting will be destroyed," the note read.
But the Victorian government refused to pay the ransom and instead offered a $50,000 reward to find the perpetrators.
On August 19, an anonymous call tipped off the police to the painting's location.
It was found wrapped in brown paper in a locker at Spencer Street Station.
The case remains unsolved.
In 2016, the painting was valued at more than $100 million.
On August 2, 1943 a United States Navy patrol boat commanded by a young Lieutenant John F. Kennedy was rammed by a Japanese destroyer near the Solomon Islands during World War II.
The small American vessel was cut in two and the damage was so severe US commanders thought all the crew had perished.
But 11, including Kennedy, had avoided death and were left floundering in the water.
After clinging to wreckage, the survivors managed to paddle to a small island.
Kennedy, at great personal risk, braved shark infested waters and the risk of being detected by Japanese ships, by swimming out to sea to try and flag down passing American vessels.
Eventually after help from local native people and an Australian intelligence officer, they were rescued by a US Navy ship.
The future US president, shown standing on the far right, was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his brave actions.
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