Today in History
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Historic NZ events in October
Oct
1
1986 Goods and Service Tax Act comes into force
Initially adding 10% to the cost of most goods and services, GST was a key part of the economic reforms of the fourth Labour Government, better known as 'Rogernomics' after Minister of Finance Roger Douglas. more...
Oct
2
1986 'Slice of Heaven' hits No. 1
Written for the movie Footrot Flats, based on the iconic New Zealand cartoon, Dave Dobbyn's hit single featured reggae band Herbs singing a cappella. It topped the charts for eight weeks. more...
Oct
3
1888 NZ Natives team plays first game in UK
Privately organised and mainly Maori, this was the first national rugby team to wear the silver fern. During their tour of New Zealand, Australia and Britain, they play 107 rugby matches, eight of Aussie rules, and two soccer games. more...
Oct
4
1957 Morris Yock trademarks the jandal
Inspired by Asian footwear he had seen while travelling, Yock and his son began manufacturing this simple rubber footwear from his garage. The name 'jandal' combined Japanese and sandal. more...
Oct
5
1866 Maungatapu murderers hanged in Nelson
Burgess, Kelly and Levy were hanged. Joseph Sullivan, the fourth member of the 'Burgess gang', received a life sentence because he had turned Queen's evidence and helped convict his co-accused. more...
Oct
6
1769 Young Nick sights land
Ship's boy Nicholas Young received a gallon of rum and had Young Nick's Head named in his honour for being the first aboard the Endeavour to spot land. more...
Oct
7
1917 German 'Sea Devil' imprisoned in NZ
Von Luckner's raider Seeadler had sunk 14 allied ships in the first half of 1917 before he was captured in Fiji. His subsequent escape from Motuihe Island in the Hauraki Gulf gave him legendary status. more...
Oct
8
1941 Stan Graham runs amok on West Coast
Graham shot dead three policemen and fatally wounded two other men before escaping into the bush. One of New Zealand's largest manhunts followed, ending with Graham's death on 20 October. more...
Oct
9
1967 The end of the 'six o'clock swill'
Six p.m. closing for pubs was introduced as a 'temporary' wartime measure in 1917. The resulting 'six-o'clock swill' encouraged binge drinking as patrons aimed to get their fill before closing time. more...
Oct
10
1975 Treaty of Waitangi Act passed
The act established the Waitangi Tribunal, which was to provide 'for the observance and confirmation of the principles' of the Treaty. It initially investigated claims dating from the passage of the Act, but in 1985 this was extended back to 1840. more...
Links
- Treaty events since 1950 - Treaty timeline
- Waitangi Day 1970s
- The Treaty in brief
- The Treaty debated - the Treaty in practice
- Political and constitutional timeline
- Waitangi Tribunal (Waitangi Tribunal)
- Matiu Rata's enduring legacy (Beehive)
- Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975 (Statutes of NZ)
- The origins of nationhood (Te Ara)
- The Ngai Tahu settlement (Te Ara)
Oct
11
1861 First Cobb and Co coach service runs to Otago goldfields
In its first venture from Dunedin to Gabriel's Gully in Central Otago, Cobb & Co. reduced the time for the trip from two days to nine hours. more...
Oct
12
1918 Niagara's arrival blamed for flu pandemic
Many people blamed the liner Niagara for bringing a deadly new influenza virus to New Zealand. But six people had died of the flu in Auckland in the three days before it arrived, and the great upsurge in cases in the city came weeks later. more...
1917 NZ's ‘blackest day’ at Passchendaele
In terms of lives lost on a single day, this was the greatest disaster in New Zealand history. The failed assault on Passchendaele in Belgium left more than 2700 New Zealanders dead, wounded or missing. more...
Oct
13
1975 Whina Cooper leads land march to Parliament
About 5000 marchers arrived at Parliament and presented a petition signed by 60,000 people to Prime Minister Bill Rowling. The primary aim of the march was to call for a halt to the alienation of Maori land.
more...Links
- Treaty events since 1950 - Treaty timeline
- The Treaty debated - the Treaty in practice
- Dame Whina Cooper
- Treaty of Waitangi: Issues from the 1970s (Radio NZ)
- Whina Cooper (Monumental Stories)
- 1975 land march (Te Ara)
- Maori urbanisation and renaissance (Te Ara)
- Whina Cooper and Duncan MacIntyre (Te Ara)
- Whina Cooper biography (DNZB)
Oct
14
1979 'Mr Asia' murder victim found
The mutilated body of Marty Johnstone, leader of the 'Mr Asia' drug syndicate, was found in Eccleston Delft, a flooded disused quarry in Lancashire, by a pair of local divers. His execution had been ordered by Terry Clark. more...
Oct
15
2007 'Anti-terror' raids in Urewera
Citing the Terrorism Suppression Act, police arrested 18 people in nationwide raids linked to alleged weapons training camps in the Urewera mountain ranges, near the township of Ruatoki in eastern Bay of Plenty. more...
1877 Former Governor Grey becomes Premier
Grey played a central role in 19th century New Zealand politics, serving two terms as Governor before entering Parliament to fight Vogel's plans to abolish the provinces. He was the first person to have held both positions.
more...Oct
16
1936 Jean Batten conquers UK-NZ route
Jean Batten set a number of flying firsts for both sexes before conquering the UK-NZ route in 11 days and 45 minutes. A crowd of 6000 greeted her at Mangere. more...
Oct
17
1877 Chief Justice declares Treaty 'worthless' and a 'simple nullity'
Sir James Prendergast's statements, made when delivering a reserved judgment in the case of Wi Parata v. The Bishop of Wellington, would influence government decision-making on Treaty of Waitangi issues for decades. more...
Oct
18
1924 First trans-global radio transmission to London
From the family sheep farm in Shag Valley, Central Otago, amateur radio operator Frank Bell sent a ground-breaking Morse code transmission. It was received and replied to by London-based amateur operator Cecil Goyder. more...
1954 NZ Opera Group's first opening night
Soon to be renamed the New Zealand Opera Company, the Group performed The Telephone in Wellington. The performance was also broadcast live on radio. more...
Oct
19
1966 New Zealand’s day with LBJ
President Lyndon Johnson's 24-hour visit was aimed at shoring up support for the war in Vietnam. Anti-Vietnam War protesters were drowned out by the cheering of enthusiastic crowds. more...
Oct
20
1941 Fugitive Stan Graham shot by police
Graham died of his wounds the following day. He had been on the run since 8 October and was responsible for the deaths of seven people. more...
Oct
21
1964 Peter Snell wins second gold in Tokyo
Snell had defended his 800-m title earlier at the Tokyo Olympics before completing the coveted middle-distance double with gold in the 1500 m. Fellow Kiwi John Davies won bronze. more...
Oct
22
1972 Death of poet James K. Baxter
Acknowledged as New Zealand’s most accomplished poet, Baxter had devoted the last years of his life to social work among alcoholics and drug addicts. He died in Auckland, aged 46. more...
Oct
23
1948 Mt Ruapehu air crash kills 13
The Lockheed Electra airliner ZK-AGK Kaka went missing in poor weather while on the flight from Palmerston North to Hamilton. Searchers did not reach the wreckage until 30 October. more...
Oct
24
1913 Violence flares on Wellington wharves
Events in Wellington on and around 24 October marked the beginning of the Great Strike of 1913 – a bitter two-and-a-half-month struggle that would ultimately involve up to 16,000 unionists across the country. more...
Links
- 'Black Tuesday' - the 1912 Waihi strike
- The 1951 waterfront dispute
- Tom Barker (Unite)
- Skeletons in the closet (Ackld City)
- The Waterfront Strike 1913 (1966 encyclopaedia)
- 'Red' Federation of Labour (1966 encyclopaedia)
- John Cullen biography (DNZB)
- Tom Young biography (DNZB)
- William Massey biography (DNZB)
1919 Death of South Island explorer Donald Sutherland
In 1880 the renowned 'backwoodsman' Sutherland had 'discovered' the waterfall that bears his name on what is now the Milford Track – New Zealand’s best-known walking track. more...
Oct
25
1971 End of the line for steam railways
The Christchurch-Dunedin overnight express, headed by a JA-class locomotive, ran the last scheduled steam-hauled service on New Zealand Railways, bringing to an end 108 years of regular steam rail operations in this country. more...
1921 First flight from Invercargill to Auckland completed
Bad weather forced a stop in Timaru the day before, but the flight was completed the next day, landing in Auckland's Cornwall Park. The total flight time was under nine hours. more...
Oct
26
1942 Women Jurors Act allows women to sit on juries
The Act provided for women between the ages of 25 and 60 to have their names placed on the jury list on the same basis as men – if they so desired. The first female juror, Miss E.R. Kingsman, served at the Auckland Supreme Court in 1943. more...
Oct
27
1943 NZ troops make first opposed landing since Gallipoli
New Zealanders from 8 Brigade, New Zealand 3rd Division, helped their American allies seize control of Mono in the Solomon Islands. Forty New Zealanders lost their lives in weeks of fierce fighting against the island's Japanese defenders. more...
Oct
28
1890 First Labour Day celebrations
The first Labour Day celebrated the struggle for an eight-hour working day and was marked with parades in the main centres attended by several thousand trade union members and supporters. more...
Oct
29
1894 SS Wairarapa wrecked on Great Barrier Is
Only weeks before the glamorous steamer had set a record for crossing the Tasman from Sydney to Auckland. A court of inquiry blamed the captain for the disaster, which cost 121 lives. more...
1995 Forgotten Silver film hoax screened
Peter Jackson and Costa Botes' documentary about Colin McKenzie, a forgotten hero of early New Zealand movie-making, was later revealed as the biggest Kiwi film hoax of the century.
more...Oct
30
1865 Native Land Court created
The Native Land Court was one of the key outcomes of the 1865 Native Lands Act. It changed traditional communal land-holding into individual title, making it easier to purchase Maori land. more...
1918 Massive prohibition petition presented to Parliament
A petition with more than 240,000 signatures was presented to Parliament, demanding an end to the manufacture and sale of alcohol in New Zealand. more...
Oct
31
1985 Keri Hulme’s Bone people wins Booker Prize
By 1985 Keri Hulme had already won several New Zealand awards for her writing. But the decision to award her first novel, The bone people, the Booker Prize was a surprise to literary critics, bookies and Hulme alike. more...
