Historic NZ events in February
Feb
1842 First NZ Company settlers arrive in Nelson
The Fifeshire arrived in Nelson with immigrants for the New Zealand Company's latest venture, which followed the settlement of Wellington, Whanganui and New Plymouth. Read more...
1981 Trevor Chappell bowls underarm
Trans-Tasman sporting relations reached their lowest point at the Melbourne Cricket Ground when Australian captain Greg Chappell ordered his brother Trevor to bowl the final delivery of a limited-overs cricket international against New Zealand underarm Read more...
Feb
1939 Welfare plan gets baptism of fire
A massive fire destroyed the nearly completed three-storey Social Security building. Just seven weeks later a replacement building was opened by prime minister Michael Joseph Savage Read more...
1974 'The greatest middle distance race of all time'
In an amazing Commonwealth Games 1500-m final, New Zealand’s John Walker broke the world record yet finished second. Tanzanian Filbert Bayi won in a new world record time of 3 minutes 32.16 seconds. Read more...
Feb
1868 Killer storm sweeps the country
A cyclone swept south across the country from Saturday 1st. By the time it moved away on Tuesday 4th, more than 40 people had been killed. Read more...
1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake strikes
New Zealand's deadliest earthquake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, destroyed much of central Napier and Hastings and killed more than 250 people. Read more...
Feb
1975 First woman to swim Cook Strait
American Lynne Cox became the first woman to swim across Cook Strait, battling heavy seas and strong winds during her 12-hour crossing. Read more...
1985 USS Buchanan refused entry to NZ
New Zealand's Labour government refused the USS Buchanan entry because the United States would neither confirm nor deny that the warship had nuclear capability. Read more...
Feb
1867 Opening of railway from Invercargill to Bluff
The 27-km line between Invercargill and Bluff was the third public railway in New Zealand. Southland's railway ambitions helped drive the province into bankruptcy. Read more...
Feb
1840 The Treaty of Waitangi is signed
More than 40 Māori chiefs, led by Ngāpuhi's Hōne Heke Pokai, signed the Treaty of Waitangi in the Bay of Islands. Read more...
1947 Liner Wanganella refloated after 18 days on Barrett Reef
The liner, carrying 400 passengers, struck Barrett Reef in Wellington Harbour on 19 January. Only an unusually long spell of fine weather - dubbed 'Wanganella weather' by locals - saved it from becoming a total wreck. Read more...
Feb
1863 Sinking of HMS Orpheus - NZ's worst shipwreck
The Royal Navy steam corvette HMS Orpheus was wrecked on the treacherous Manukau Harbour bar. Of the 259 men on board, 189 lost their lives in New Zealand's worst maritime disaster. Read more...
Feb
1915 Ambush in Turkey leads to death of New Zealand seaman
Able Seaman William Edward Knowles became one of the first New Zealanders to be killed as a result of enemy action during the First World War. Read more...
1931 First fatalities on a scheduled air service in NZ
All three people on board a Dominion Airlines Desoutter were killed in a crash near Wairoa. The airline had helped maintain contact between the areas ravaged by the recent Hawke's Bay earthquake and the rest of New Zealand. Read more...
Feb
1770 Cook completes circumnavigation of North Island
The Endeavour's arrival at Cape Turnagain confirmed that the North Island was indeed an island, and not part of a fabled great southern continent. Read more...
1900 Wanganui Opera House opened
Opened by Premier Richard Seddon, this large wooden building has been one of Whanganui's finest entertainment venues for more than a century Read more...
1911 First controlled powered flight in New Zealand
Pioneering aviator Vivian Walsh made the first controlled powered flight in New Zealand. He flew the Manurewa more than 350 m at a height of 20 m, watched by a small group of spectators at Glencora Park in Papakura, South Auckland. Read more...
Feb
1967 End of free school milk
The school milk scheme was begun in 1937 as part of the first Labour government's strategy to improve child health. Read more...
Feb
1864 Charles Heaphy earns VC
Recommended for a Victoria Cross after he rescued a soldier under fire in 1864, Heaphy was eventually given the decoration in 1867 - the only one awarded to a member of New Zealand's colonial forces. Read more...
Feb
1909 SS Penguin wrecked in Cook Strait
The Picton-Wellington ferry SS Penguin struck rocks in Cook Strait and sank in heavy seas off a rugged, isolated coast. Only 30 of the 102 people on board survived. Read more...
Feb
1869 Killings at Pukearuhe
A Ngāti Maniapoto war party sacked the redoubt at Pukearuhe (White Cliffs), northern Taranaki, killing military settlers and family members. Later that day, the missionary John Whiteley also fell victim. Read more...
Feb
1872 Te Kooti's last clash with government forces
Government forces led by Captain George Preece tackled Te Kooti for the last time above the Mangaone stream, just south of Lake Waikaremoana. A few months later Te Kooti withdrew to Te Rohe Pōtae (the King Country). Read more...
1915 Māori soldiers sail to war
Imperial policy was initially against 'native peoples' fighting in a war between European powers. In February 1915, though, a 500-strong Native Contingent left Wellington for Egypt. Read more...
Feb
1882 First shipment of frozen meat leaves NZ
The Dunedin sailed from Port Chalmers with New Zealand's first refrigerated cargo destined for Britain, pioneering the frozen meat and dairy trade that would become the cornerstone of the economy. Read more...
1978 New Zealand beats England in a cricket test for the first time
Chasing 137 for victory in the first test at the Basin Reserve in Wellington, England was bowled out for 64, with Richard Hadlee taking 6 for 26. Read more...
Feb
1770 James Cook sights Banks 'Island'
Cook sighted Banks Peninsula from the Endeavour. The following day he decided it was an island, which he named for the expedition's botanist, Joseph Banks. Read more...
Feb
1873 'The Russians are coming!'
The editor of the Daily Southern Cross, David Luckie, published a hoax report of a Russian invasion of Auckland by the cruiser Kaskowiski (cask of whisky). Read more...
Feb
1982 'Queen of Crime' Ngaio Marsh dies
Marsh, one of 'Queens of Crime' in the 1920s and 1930s, died just weeks after submitting her 32nd detective novel, Light thickens, to publishers. She was also an artist, playwright, actor and director. Read more...
1957 New Zealand's last hanging
Whanganui farmer Walter Bolton, aged 68, was hanged at Auckland's Mt Eden Prison after being controversially convicted for the murder of his wife, Beatrice. The death penalty was abolished in 1961. Read more...
Feb
1883 Release of Parihaka leaders Te Whiti and Tohu
Parihaka had become the symbol of opposition to the government policy of land confiscation in the aftermath of the New Zealand Wars. Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi were imprisoned without trial after the military occupation of the south Taranaki community in November 1881. Read more...
1938 21 drown in Kopuawhara flash flood
A sudden cloudburst sent a 5-m wall of water surging through a railway construction camp in the Kopuawhara Valley, near Māhia, drowning 21 people. Read more...
Feb
1954 Yvette Williams sets world long jump record
Eighteen months after winning the long jump gold medal at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, Williams set a new world record of 20 feet 7 1/2 inches (6.29 m) at an athletics meeting in Gisborne. Read more...
Feb
1879 Kaitangata mining disaster
An underground explosion at Kaitangata, South Otago, killed 34 coal miners. The accident led to stricter controls on mining. Read more...
Feb
2011 Christchurch earthquake kills 185
On Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12.51 p.m. Christchurch was badly damaged by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake, which killed 185 people and injured several thousand. Read more...
1902 Kelburn cable car opens
Wellington's iconic cable car was built to provide residents of the developing hill suburb of Kelburn with quick access to downtown Lambton Quay. Read more...
Feb
1904 First step in creation of Fiordland National Park
940,000 ha in western Southland was permanently reserved for a national park. The 1952 National Parks Act formally created what has become New Zealand's largest national park and one of the largest in the world. Read more...
1940 100,000 welcome home HMS Achilles crew
The cruiser HMS Achilles had taken part in the Battle of the River Plate, the Allies' first naval victory of the Second World War. Read more...
Feb
1902 End of the battle of Langverwacht Hill
Twenty-four New Zealanders were killed in this battle during the South African (Boer) War. A total of 230 New Zealanders died while serving in New Zealand's first overseas war. Read more...
1870 Last imperial troops leave New Zealand
The final detachment of the 18th (Royal Irish) Regiment left New Zealand, leaving the Armed Constabulary (formed in 1867) responsible for the colony's internal defence. Read more...
Feb
1943 49 killed in Featherston POW incident
Forty-eight Japanese POWs and one guard were shot dead. The incident was hushed up until 1945 for fear of retribution against Allied prisoners in Japanese camps. Read more...
Feb
1844 'Pistols at dawn': deadly duel in Wellington
Wellington lawyers William Brewer and H. Ross drew pistols over a legal dispute. Brewer fired into the air but was shot in the groin and died a week later. Read more...
Feb
1951 Troops deployed in waterfront dispute
The government ordered the armed forces to begin handling cargo at the ports of Auckland and Wellington as the waterfront dispute escalated. Read more...
Feb
1945 Kiwi soldier faces firing squad
After more than a year on the run in northern Italy, New Zealand prisoner of war David Russell was recaptured and executed. His courage in the face of death earned him the first George Cross awarded to a member of New Zealand's military forces. Read more...
Feb
1924 Intelligence tests arrive in New Zealand schools
Following a US study tour by Frank Milner, the rector of Waitaki Boys’ High School, the Education Department began applying the Terman Group Test of Mental Ability to all first-year post-primary school students Read more...
1964 Opening of first road to Maungapōhatu
A milling road provided the first vehicle access to the tiny Urewera settlement of Maungapōhatu – famous as the former home of the prophet Rua Kēnana Read more...
