NZHistory, New Zealand history online - timeline

First World War timeline

This timeline lists key events in New Zealand's experience of the First World War.

1914

28 June – Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand: The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife in Sarajevo triggers the build-up to the First World War. By 4 August, Europe's major powers are at war. Read more (Te Ara)
4 August – Britain declares war on Germany: New Zealand receives the news of the outbreak of war at 1 p.m. on 5 August (NZ time). It is announced by the Governor, the Earl of Liverpool, on the steps of Parliament to a crowd of 15,000. Read more

29 August – NZ forces capture German Samoa: A 1374-strong 'Advance Party NZEF' captures German Samoa, the second German territory, after Togoland in Africa, to fall to Allied forces during the war. Read more
16 September – Maori Contingent formed: Government announces the formation of a 'Maori Contingent' of 200 men for service with the NZEF. This is expanded to 500 at the suggestion of the British War Office. Read more
16 October – NZEF Main Body departs: The NZEF Main Body, consisting of 8454 soldiers and about 3000 horses, departs Wellington in 10 troopships. They arrive in Egypt on 3 December and establish a camp at Zeitoun, near Cairo. Read more (Te Ara)

29 October – The Ottoman Empire enters the war: The Ottoman Empire enters the war as an ally of the German and Austro-Hungarian empires. The British Empire (including New Zealand) and France declare war on the Ottoman Empire on 5 November. Read more
8 December – ANZAC name introduced: The NZEF combines with Australian Imperial Force units to form the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. 'Anzac' is adopted as the label for Australian or New Zealand soldiers following the Gallipoli landings. Read more

1915

3 February – New Zealand soldiers see first combat: New Zealand soldiers see first combat of the war when they help defend the Suez Canal from an attack by Ottoman troops. Private William Ham, severely wounded during the fighting, becomes the NZEF's first combat fatality two days later. Read more

25 April – Gallipoli landings: The ANZAC land near Ari Burnu at what has become known as Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli peninsula of Turkey. The first New Zealand troops land in the late morning. Read more
5–8 May – Second Battle of Krithia: The New Zealand Brigade deploys south to Cape Helles, Gallipoli and takes part in a series of unsuccessful attacks toward the village of Krithia on the slopes of Achi Baba. They suffer over 800 casualties. Read more
8 August – NZ troops capture Chunuk Bair: The Wellington Battalion captures the Chunuk Bair summit during the Battle of Sari Bair. New Zealand units hold the summit for two days until relieved by British troops on the night of 9-10 August. Chunuk Bair is recaptured by the Turks the next day. Read more

12 August – National coalition government takes office: The Reform and Liberal parties join together to form a National government under the leadership of Prime Minister William Massey and Sir Joseph Ward. The coalition lasts until August 1919. Read more (Te Ara)
15–20 December – Evacuations from Gallipoli: Authorities in London decide to withdraw from the Gallipoli peninsula. New Zealand troops are evacuated from the Anzac area between 15 and 20 December. The campaign has cost New Zealand nearly 7500 casualties, including 2721 dead. Read more

1916

1 March – New Zealand Division formed: The New Zealand Division is formed with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd (Rifle) brigades. Major-General Sir Andrew Russell is given command. The division is sent to the Western Front and arrives in France from Egypt in April 1916. Read more (Te Ara)

25 April – First Anzac Day service: First Anzac Day services are held in New Zealand to mark the anniversary of the Gallipoli landings. The government had announced the establishment of 'Anzac Day' as a half-day holiday on 5 April. Read more
31 May–1 June – HMS New Zealand takes part in the Battle of Jutland: In 1909 New Zealand offered a battleship to Britain to help strengthen their naval fleet. The battle cruiser HMS New Zealand joined the British battle fleet in 1912 and took part in the Battle of Jutland (1916). Read more
1 August – Conscription introduced: Conscription is introduced in New Zealand by the Military Service Act. As a result 32,000 conscripts serve overseas with the NZEF alongside 72,000 volunteers. The first conscription ballot is held on 16 November 1916. Read more
4 August – Battle of Romani: Following Gallipoli, the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade take part in campaigns against Ottoman forces in Sinai and Palestine, 1916-1918. They see their first major action near Romani in the Sinai. Read more

15 September – NZ Division goes into action on the Somme: The New Zealand Division takes part in its first major action near Flers during the Somme offensive (July-November 1916). Over the next 23 days, the division suffers 7000 casualties, including more than 1500 killed. Read more.

1917

9 January – Battle of Rafah: New Zealanders become the first Allied troops to cross into Ottoman Palestine. A charge by the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade results in the capture of Rafah and its Ottoman garrison on the Sinai-Palestine border. Read more.
7 June – Battle of Messines: The New Zealand Division takes all its objectives, including the village of Messines. The New Zealanders suffer 3700 casualties, including 700 killed during the battle. Read more.

25 June – German raider lays mines off NZ: The German armed merchant cruiser Wolf lays mines off the Three Kings Islands and off Farewell Spit two nights later. These mines sink the merchant ships Port Kembla (18 September 1917) and Wimmera (26 June 1918). Read more.
4 October – Third Battle of Ypres: New Zealand's 1st and 4th brigades take part in a successful attack on Gravenstafel Spur, which runs off Passchendaele ridge. The attack costs more than 320 New Zealand lives, including that of former All Black captain Dave Gallaher. Read more.

12 October – New Zealand's blackest day: The 2nd and 3rd (Rifle) brigades suffer over 2700 casualties in a disastrous attack on Bellevue Spur, Passchendaele. About 845 men are left dead or dying. Read more.

1918

26–30 March – Back to the Somme: A massed German attack on 21 March tears a hole in the British front. The New Zealand Division is among several units rushed to fill this gap near the Somme. They fight off several German attacks and hold their line. Read more (Te Ara)
23 September – Last major action in the Middle East: New Zealand mounted troops help capture Es Salt and Amman (25 September) in Jordan. Read more.
29 September–5 October – Breaking through the Hindenburg Line: New Zealand troops help break through the Hindenburg Line - the main German defence system on the Western Front. Read more (Te Ara)
31 October – Ottoman Empire sues for peace: With her armies defeated, and her German ally on the verge of collapse, the Ottoman Empire seeks an armistice with the Allies. This comes into effect on 31 October. Read more.

4 November – Liberation of Le Quesnoy: New Zealand troops liberate the walled town of Le Quesnoy, advancing 10km and capturing nearly 2000 prisoners in the process. This is the last major action of the war for the New Zealand Division. Read more.
11 November – Armistice Day: Fighting on the Western Front stops when an armistice comes into effect at 11 a.m. Read more.
20 December – Occupation duties: The New Zealand Division crosses into Germany. They take part in the occupation of Germany's Rhineland, stationed near Cologne. This is a short-lived assignment and the division is disbanded on 25 March 1919. Read more (Te Ara)

1919

15–16 March – Troops riot at Sling Camp: New Zealand troops at Sling Camp in Wiltshire, England riot over delays in their repatriation home. Transport issues and the influenza pandemic mean that the last group of New Zealand soldiers do not arrive home until May 1920. Read more (Te Ara)
28 June – Treaty of Versailles: The Treaty of Versailles peace agreement is signed between Germany and the Allies. Prime Minister William Massey signs for New Zealand. Read more

See also: a set on Digital NZ that includes newspaper reports of all the events listed in this timeline and a map which locates the key events listed.

RNZAF timeline - Royal New Zealand Air Force

Timeline showing key events related to the history of the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF), 1912-2012.

1912

Lieutenant William Burn, a New Zealand army officer based in the United Kingdom, is selected to undergo pilot training at Upavon in England. He becomes New Zealand’s first qualified military pilot.

1913

The Imperial Air Fleet Committee presents a Blériot XI monoplane – Britannia – to New Zealand as the nucleus of a new flying corps. The plane is flown briefly in New Zealand the following year – the pilot creates a controversy by taking a female passenger on a demonstration flight over Auckland. Placed in storage, the Britannia is shipped back to England to help the war effort.

1915

Elementary pilot training begins in New Zealand at the Walsh brothers’ New Zealand Flying School at Kohimaramara, Auckland.

1917

Henry Wigram’s Canterbury (NZ) Aviation Company begins training pilots at Sockburn, Christchurch. By war’s end 253 pilots have taken their ‘ticket’ at these schools, the majority with Canterbury Aviation Company during 1918.
New Zealander Captain Clive Collett is the first man to jump from a Royal Flying Corps aircraft and land safely by parachute.

1918

Invercargill-born Captain Ronald Bannerman becomes the highest-scoring New Zealand pilot during the First World War. He is credited with destroying 15 enemy aircraft and a balloon.

1919

Colonel Arthur Bettington – an RAF officer serving as aviation adviser to the New Zealand government – proposes the establishment of a permanent air force. No action is taken but a number of surplus military aircraft are sent to New Zealand from the United Kingdom as gifts.

1920

An Air Board is established to administer aviation in New Zealand.

1923

The government establishes the New Zealand Permanent Air Force (NZPAF) with a strength of four officers and seven other ranks; its Territorial attachment – the New Zealand Air Force (NZAF) – has around 100 members.
The Canterbury Aviation Company’s assets are acquired for the NZPAF with the help of a £10,000 donation from Henry Wigram. The aerodrome – named after Wigram – is New Zealand’s first military aviation base.

1928

Construction work begins on a second airbase at Hobsonville, west of Auckland.

1930

The NZPAF takes part in its first military operation – a De Havilland Moth seaplane (carried on HMS Dunedin) assists efforts to round up Mau nationalists in Western Samoa.
The volunteer NZAF is replaced by a Territorial Air Force (TAF) based around four squadrons, each attached to a major city – Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin.

1934

The NZPAF is renamed the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF).

1936

Wing Commander Ralph Cochrane is seconded from the RAF to review New Zealand’s air defence requirements. He recommends that the RNZAF become a separate service and include two medium bomber squadrons for the defence of New Zealand’s territories.

1937

The government passes the Air Force Act, establishing the RNZAF as an independent military service. An Air Department is created to oversee military and civilian aviation in New Zealand. Cochrane is appointed the first Chief of Air Staff.
Construction begins on new air bases at Whenuapai in Auckland and Ōhakea in Manawatu. A year later another station is added at Woodbourne, near Blenheim.

1939

At the outbreak of war on 3 September the RNZAF comprises 91 officers and 665 airmen – with 79 officers and 325 airmen in the TAF. A total of 109 aircraft – mainly second-hand – are available for service in New Zealand.
The government accepts a British proposal to train New Zealand airmen for the RAF. As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS), New Zealand agrees to provide the RAF with 880 fully-trained pilots a year and send another 1992 partially-trained airmen (520 pilots, 546 observers, and 926 air gunners) to Canada to complete their training.
New training schools are established at Whenuapai, New Plymouth, Ōhakea, Harewood (Christchurch), and Taieri (Dunedin). An initial training school is set up at Rongotai (Wellington) and later moves to Levin.

1941

Concerned at the threat posed by German naval raiders and Japanese military expansion, the New Zealand government asks Britain to provide modern aircraft for local defence. The first of 36 Lockheed Hudson bombers begin arriving in New Zealand mid-year. In addition, four Sunderland flying boats are gifted to the RNZAF to help protect Fiji.
When the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, the RNZAF have 641 aircraft available – mostly obsolete training aircraft.
No. 488 Squadron (RAF) and No. 1 Aerodrome Construction Squadron (RNZAF) take part in the Malayan campaign. New Plymouth-born Flight Sergeant B.S. Wipiti is credited with helping shoot down the first Japanese aircraft brought down over Singapore.
The RNZAF becomes the first of the three services to accept women, with the New Zealand Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) formed under Frances ‘Kitty’ Kain.

1942

New Zealand pilots take part in the Burma campaign – most with the RAF’s No. 67 Squadron.
The Forces Available For Anti-Invasion (FAFAI) scheme sees all available aircraft armed and allotted to shadow defence squadrons.
Curtiss P40 Kittyhawk fighter planes begin arriving in New Zealand as part of a Lend-Lease arrangement with the United States. They form the basis of the first New Zealand-based fighter squadrons.
No. 3 Squadron (Hudsons) arrive at Guadalcanal and become the first RNZAF squadron to engage the Japanese in direct combat in the South Pacific.

1943

RNZAF No. 15 Squadron (Kittyhawks) deploys to Guadalcanal. It is relieved by No. 14 Squadron (Kittyhawks) six weeks later. The Commonwealth’s leading ace in the Pacific, Geoff Fisken, scores half his victories with the latter squadron, most while flying Wairarapa Wildcat. By the end of the year, a New Zealand Fighter Wing is established at Ondonga (New Georgia) and a Group HQ at Guadalcanal.
Air Vice-Marshal Leonard Isitt becomes the first New Zealand-born Chief of Air Staff. He oversees a build-up of RNZAF in the Solomon Islands.

1944

RNZAF operations in the South-west Pacific are concentrated on Bougainville, with strikes against Japanese forces on the island and at Rabaul. As US operations move north of the Solomon Islands, the RNZAF remains in the area to harass Japanese ground forces.
The RNZAF reaches a peak strength of 42,000 personnel and 1336 aircraft.

1945

On VJ Day (15 August) more than 7000 RNZAF personnel are stationed in the Solomon Islands. The last airmen are repatriated to New Zealand in early 1946.
A Dakota carrying 20 RNZAF personnel (four crew and sixteen others) disappears in heavy cloud enroute to New Zealand from Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu. This accident remains the heaviest single loss in RNZAF history.
By the end of the war, 3635 RNZAF personnel have been killed on active service, 350 in the Pacific and 3285 in Europe – the majority with RAF Bomber Command.

1946

The number of personnel serving in the RNZAF shrinks to 7154.
No. 14 Squadron RNZAF (Corsairs) deploy to Japan with the British Commonwealth Occupation Force.
About 800 RNZAF airmen stage ‘sit-down’ strikes at Whenuapai, Hobsonville and Mechanics Bay in protest against changes in conditions of service and in support of a 40-hour week. After refusing to an ultimatum to return to work, 267 airmen are eventually discharged.

1947

Aircraft and personnel from No. 40 Squadron RNZAF form the basis of a new domestic airline in New Zealand – National Airways Corporation.

1948

Aircrews from No. 41 Squadron RNZAF take part in the Berlin airlift – flying more than 400 sorties (mostly carrying coal) to and from Berlin from north-west Germany in response to the Soviet Union’s land and water blockade of the city. More than 2.3 million tonnes of supplies is airlifted in by British and American aircraft by September 1949.
The RNZAF organise the first experiments in aerial top dressing using a modified Grumman Avenger torpedo bomber.

1949

A detachment of Douglas Dakota transport aircraft from No. 41 Squadron is sent to support British forces in Hong Kong and takes part in supply operations during the Malayan Emergency.

1952

No. 14 Squadron moves from Ōhakea to Cyprus as part of New Zealand’s Cold War military commitment in the Middle East. Equipped with Mark 9 Vampire jet fighters, the New Zealanders train with NATO forces and undertake mobility exercises to Africa and goodwill visits around the Middle East.

1955

The RNZAF establishes bases in Singapore. No. 41 Squadron (Bristol Freighters) moves to Changi, while No. 14 Squadron (De Havilland Venom fighter-bombers) relocates to Tengah. These squadrons, along with No. 75 Squadron in 1958, take part in the RAF’s Malayan Emergency air campaign.

1956

The RNZAF Antarctic Flight is formed to support New Zealand’s contribution to the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

1957

The Territorial Air Force (TAF) is disbanded following a review of New Zealand’s defence preparations.

1962

Air Vice-Marshal Ian Morrison becomes CAS. He oversees a comprehensive re-equipment programme that sees the RNZAF acquire its first post-war American aircraft – P-3 Orions, C-130 Hercules, and Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopters.

1965

New Zealand commits combat forces to the Vietnam War. No. 40 Squadron (C-130 Hercules) airlifts troops into South Vietnam, while No. 41 Squadron (Bristol Freighters) begins regular resupply missions from Singapore.

1967

RNZAF helicopter pilots serve in Vietnam with 9 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force (Iroquois), while other pilots are attached to US squadrons as forward air controllers. In total, 30 New Zealand pilots serve in Vietnam between 1967 and 1971. The RNZAF suffers one fatality when a member of the New Zealand Services Medical Team is killed by a landmine.

1970

The RNZAF is equipped with Douglas A4 Skyhawk attack aircraft.
The distinctive RNZAF roundel with a red kiwi in the centre is introduced.

1972

The ageing Vampire fighters are replaced by BAC Strikemaster jet trainers.

1977

The Women’s Royal New Zealand Air Force (formerly WAAF) is integrated into the RNZAF, with most gender restrictions on employment and career opportunities removed.
Aircraft fleet changes continue with the RNZAF’s elderly Douglas Dakotas and Bristol Freighters replaced by Hawker Siddeley Andovers bought from the RAF.

1981

Two Boeing 727 jet transports are purchased to support the RNZAF’s international transport commitments.

1982

RNZAF personnel are deployed to Egypt as part of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) monitoring the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. The main New Zealand contribution is pilots for a joint Australia–New Zealand helicopter unit. Personnel working in the MFO headquarters include the first New Zealand women to serve in a peacekeeping operation.

1985

New Zealand’s security treaty with Australia and the United States (ANZUS) effectively ends when David Lange’s Labour government adopts a ‘nuclear free’ policy. This leads to the end of RNZAF participation in US and British-sponsored training exercises.

1991

Two Hercules join the Allied coalition forces in the Persian Gulf region prior to the outbreak of the Gulf War.
No. 2 Squadron (Skyhawks) RNZAF moves to Nowra in New South Wales to provide training for the Royal Australian Navy and help convert RNZAF pilots to Skyhawks.

1992

The Air Force Stores Depot at Te Rapa (Hamilton) is closed – the first RNZAF base closure following a government review of defence strategy in 1991.
Commercialisation of non-core activities in the RNZAF – including most of the functions of the Repair Depot at Woodbourne – begins. Personnel numbers fall by 700 to around 3500. Increasing numbers of jobs within the service are ‘civilianised’.

1995

RNZAF bases at Wigram and Shelly Bay (Wellington) close.

2000

The Labour-led government cancels a deal to replace the Skyhawk fleet with General Dynamics F16 Fighting Falcon fighters from the United States.

2001

The government scraps the RNZAF’s combat wing, disbanding both Skyhawk squadrons (Nos 2 and 75) and the Aermacchi jet trainer squadron (No. 14).
RNZAF Hercules transport troops to Afghanistan in support of the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom.

2003

No. 40 Squadron transports New Zealand personnel into and out of Bamyan Province, Afghanistan, where they continue to run a Provincial Reconstruction Team.
No. 5 Squadron provides an Orion and 38 personnel to fly patrols over the Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea and the Strait of Hormuz, notifying coalition naval vessels of any suspicious ships in the region.
The RNZAF’s Boeing 727s are replaced with second-hand Boeing 757s purchased from Dutch airline KLM.

2005

NHIndustries NH-90 helicopters are selected to replace the RNZAF’s fleet of Bell UH-1 Iroquois.

2007

The government announces that RNZAF’s fleet of Bell 47 Sioux training helicopters will be replaced by AgustaWestland A-109s.

2009

Several P-3 Orions are deployed to the Pacific after a tsunami (triggered by an 8.1-magnitude earthquake) causes substantial damage and loss of life in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga. The following day, a C-130 Hercules carries mobile morgues, medical staff and supplies to the area. RNZAF aircraft help evacuate tourists and provide supply drops for several weeks after the disaster, while RNZAF personnel also provide assistance on the ground.

2010

Three RNZAF personnel are killed when an Iroquois helicopter crashes in rugged terrain near Pukerua Bay on the Kapiti Coast. The helicopter was en route to Wellington from Ōhakea airbase to take part in Anzac Day commemorations.
A RNZAF Hercules transports search and rescue teams from Auckland to Christchurch following a 7.1-magnitude earthquake near the city. Two Iroquois helicopters provide aerial reconnaissance and damage assessments.

2011

The RNZAF sends three Hercules, two Boeing 757s, an Orion, three Beechcraft Super King Airs, and three Iroquois helicopters to Christchurch following a devastating earthquake that severely damages the city and kills 185 people. The aircraft help deploy police and medical personnel, with the Hercules ferrying casualties and tourists to the North Island in the largest single movement of personnel and freight in RNZAF history.
The RNZAF’s new A-109 helicopters fly in public for the first time.

2012

The first of the NH-90 helicopters are delivered to the RNZAF.

New Zealand crime timeline

This timeline lists some of the most notable crimes (especially homicides and other violent crimes) involving New Zealanders since 1840. We encourage readers to comment on our selections and suggest additional entries in the community contributions area at the end of the page. For background information on crime in New Zealand, see Te Ara. See also a map showing the location of these crimes.

1842 The hanging of Maketū: On 7 March, at Auckland, Maketū Wharetōtara (also known as Wiremu Kīngi Maketū), the son of a Bay of Island chief, Ruhe, became the first person to be executed by hanging in New Zealand. He had been found guilty of murdering two adults and three children at Motuarohia in November 1841. Read more.
1848 The hanging of Joseph Burns: On 17 June, at Devonport, Auckland, Joseph Burns became the first European to be hanged in New Zealand under British law. He had been convicted of murdering a naval officer, his wife and daughter. Read more and see a newspaper report (PapersPast).
1855 James Mackenzie, sheep stealer: On 4 March James Mackenzie was found – in the area that was later to be named the Mackenzie Country – with 1000 sheep stolen from the Levels Station, South Canterbury. Read more.
1861 Murder at the Rutland Stockade: On 1 November Colour-Sergeant James Collins fatally shot Ensign William Alexander in the Rutland Stockade, Whanganui, after the latter had slighted him. Collins’ hanging was the first in New Zealand not to be held in public (public hangings had been abolished by the Execution of Criminals Act 1858). Read more (1966 Encyclopaedia of NZ).
1864 The Jarvey poisoning: On 26 September ship’s captain William Jarvey poisoned his wife, Catherine Jane, in Dunedin. The crime was reported by his daughter Elizabeth. Scientific expert Dr John Macadam succumbed to ‘excessive debility and general exhaustion’ on board ship on his way to give evidence at Jarvey’s second trial. Jarvey was nevertheless convicted and hanged. Read more (1966 Encyclopaedia of NZ).
1866 The Maungatapu murders: On 13 June Philip Levy, Richard Burgess, Thomas Kelly and Joseph Sullivan robbed and murdered John Kempthorne, James Dudley, Felix Mathieu and James de Pontius on the Nelson goldfields (they had killed James Battle the previous day). Three of the gang were hanged, but Sullivan’s sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after he testified against his accomplices. Read more.
1869 Executed for treason: On 16 November Hamiora Pere was hanged at the Terrace Gaol, Wellington. He is the only New Zealander to have been executed after being convicted of treason. Read more.
1876 The murder of Edwin Packer: On 27 January Edwin Packer was murdered on the farm on which he worked in Epsom, Auckland. His workmate Taurangaka Winiata of Ngāti Mahuta, the prime suspect, escaped to the King Country. Six years later he was captured by Robert Barlow of Ngāti Pikiao, who handed him to the police and picked up a £500 reward. Winiata was executed at Mt Eden jail on 4 August 1882. Read more about the crime; capture and execution (PapersPast).
1880 The murder of Mary Dobie: On 29 December Tuhiata, known as Tuhi, was hanged in Wellington for the murder of the artist Mary Dobie at Te Namu Bay, Ōpunake, on 25 November. Tuhi wrote to the governor days before his execution asking that ‘my bad companions, your children, beer, rum and other spirits die with me’. Read more.
1883 The Whanganui River murder: On 26 February the body of four-year-old Phoebe (‘Flossy’) Veitch was found washed ashore at the mouth of the Whanganui River, which had been in flood. Her mother, Phoebe Veitch, was convicted of Flossy’s murder. Phoebe’s death sentence was commuted when a Jury of Matrons found that she was pregnant. This is the only occasion on which a Jury of Matrons – a medieval innovation for testing women who ‘pleaded their belly’ – was impanelled in New Zealand. Hear podcast and see related newspaper report (PapersPast).
1886 The Hall poisonings: On 19 October Timaru businessman Thomas Hall was convicted of the attempted murder of his wife, Kate, after a suspicious doctor had a sample of the contents of her stomach analysed. Hall, who had poison in his pockets when arrested, was sentenced to life imprisonment. In January 1887 he was also successfully charged with the earlier fatal poisoning of Henry Cain, Kate’s stepfather, and sentenced to death. This murder conviction was overturned on appeal because of an evidential technicality. Read more (DNZB).
1891 Child murder in Christchurch: On 5 January the head of a three-week-old male child was found by children in Christchurch. Anna and Sarah Flanagan, the mother and grandmother of the dead infant, were found guilty of infanticide but their death sentences were commuted. The case was a sensation because of the gruesome circumstances and the hysterical behaviour of the accused in court. Hear podcast and see related newspaper report (PapersPast).
1895 The hanging of Minnie Dean: On 12 August the infamous Winton ‘baby farmer’, Minnie Dean, became the first and only woman to be hanged in New Zealand. Although she had concealed the deaths of several children in her care, it remains unclear whether Dean was actually guilty of murder. Read more.
1905 Lionel Terry’s hate crime: On 24 September Edward Lionel Terry shot Joe Kum Yung, an elderly Chinese man, in Haining Street, central Wellington. Seeking to publicise his campaign to cleanse the empire of alien influences, he soon turned himself in with the murder weapon. Terry was to spend the rest of his life – nearly half a century – in mental hospitals. Read more.
1909 The notorious Amy Bock: On 21 April con artist Amy Bock – in the guise of Percy Redwood – married Agnes Ottaway for her money. At her avidly followed trial, Bock admitted to masquerading as a man, forgery, false pretences and theft. She received a two-year prison sentence. Read more (DNZB).
1912 Violent death during the Waihi Strike: On 12 November, during a bitter industrial dispute in the goldmining town of Waihi, striker Frederick George Evans was savagely beaten by police and strikebreakers. He died the following day. An inquiry found that Constable Gerald Wade had been ‘fully justified in striking deceased down’. To unionists, on the other hand, Evans was an innocent victim of state violence. Read more.
1914 A New Zealand ‘Jack the Ripper’?: On 28 September prostitute Frances Marshall was brutally stabbed in Auckland. This unsolved crime sparked fears that a New Zealand ‘Jack the Ripper’ mimicking London’s Whitechapel murders was on the loose. However, no similar murders or attacks followed. Read more (PapersPast).
1914 The Ruahine axe murderer: On 28 December a young German man, Arthur Rottman, brutally murdered his former employer Joseph McCann, his wife Lucy and their infant son John with an axe. No clear motive emerged before he was hanged on 13 February 1915 at the Terrace Gaol, Wellington. Read more (PapersPast).
1915 The Alice Parkinson case: On 2 March, Napier woman Alice Parkinson killed her boyfriend after he refused to marry her following a painful miscarriage. She then shot herself in the head but survived to stand trial. The jury recommended mercy due to provocation, but the judge sentenced her to life with hard labour. More than 100,000 people signed a petition calling for Parkinson’s release. She was eventually paroled in 1921. Read more (DNZB).
1916 The arrest of Rua Kēnana: On the morning of Sunday 2 April 1916, 57 armed police invaded the remote Tūhoe settlement of Maungapōhatu in the Urewera Ranges. They had come to arrest the prophet and community leader Rua Kēnana. A gunfight broke out and two Māori were killed, including Rua’s son Toko. Read more.
1920 Dennis Gunn’s fingerprints: On 13 March Dennis Gunn murdered Ponsonby postmaster Augustus Edward Braithwaite in order to obtain his set of keys to the post office. This case vindicated the use of fingerprint evidence in New Zealand, as prints left on the gun were matched with some found in the post office. Read more.
1920 Whanganui mayor shoots poet: On 15 May Whanganui mayor Charles Mackay shot and injured the poet Walter D’Arcy Cresswell in the mayoral office. Cresswell alleged that the mayor had made homosexual advances. Mackay was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 15 years’ hard labour. Read more.

1921 The murder of a police constable: On 27 August Constable James Dorgan was found fatally shot outside a Timaru drapery store that he had been watching, believing a robbery was taking place inside. Despite an energetic search by the police and wide public cooperation with the investigation, the murderer was never found. Read more (1966 Encyclopaedia of NZ).
1923 Baby farming in Newlands: Daniel and Martha Cooper of Newlands, near Wellington, were charged with infanticide and performing abortions. Martha was acquitted – her defence counsel claimed she was weak-minded and pressured to assist her husband – but Daniel was ultimately found guilty and executed. Read more.
1928 The Elsie Walker mystery: On 5 October 17-year-old Elsie Walker was found dead with a head injury in a disused quarry in east Auckland. The cause of her death was not confirmed but locals suspected her cousin, William Bayly, who was to be convicted of murdering the Lakey couple in 1933. Read more (1966 Encyclopaedia of NZ)
1929 The Himatangi tragedy: On 6 September a farmhouse in Himatangi was burned to the ground, with four adults and three children perishing inside. One of the victims, 47-year-old farmer Thomas Wright, had been shot in the head prior to the fire, but there was not enough evidence to convict anyone. Read more (Te Ara) and see contemporary newspaper account (PapersPast).
1933 The Bayly case: On 16 October the body of Christobel Lakey was found at Ruawaro, near Huntly; it was later discovered that the body of her husband Samuel had been incinerated. Their neighbour, William Alfred Bayly, was convicted of the murders and hanged on 20 July 1934. This case marked the beginning of more professional and thorough police practices in the gathering of evidence. Read more (DNZB).
1934 Tragedy in the King Country: Hēnare Hona shot a family of four, the Davenports, on their farm near Te Kuiti on 9 October, then went on the run for 11 days. On the 20th, near Morrinsville, he shot Constable Thomas Heeps, who died the next day. Cornered by other policemen, Hona committed suicide. Read more (Te Ara) and see contemporary newspaper account (PapersPast).
1935 The murder of Joan Rattray: On 2 July six-year-old Joan Rose Rattray was found asphyxiated in the mud of Karamu Creek, Hastings. Police ruled her death no accident but never found the murderer. Read more (1966 Encyclopaedia of NZ)
1939 Faking death at Piha: On 12 February Australian Gordon McKay attempted to fake his own death at Piha, west of Auckland. Helped by James Talbot, he placed a corpse in a bach and set this on fire. Both men were found guilty of arson and – a New Zealand first – improper interference with a dead human body. Read more (PapersPast).
1941 Stan Graham’s shooting spree: On 8 October Eric Stanley Graham killed three police officers and fatally wounded a fourth at his farm near Hokitika. He later killed an agricultural instructor and two Home Guardsmen. A massive manhunt ended on 20 October when Graham was shot on sight by Constable James Quirke. Read more.
1942 The German sabotage hoax: On 29 March confidence trickster Sydney Gordon Ross convinced Robert Semple, the Minister of National Service, that members of a German sabotage cell had tried to enlist him to their cause. Ross was put up in the Rotorua Grand Hotel under the pseudonym of ‘Captain Calder’. The con went on for months until suspicions led to an investigation. In February 1943 the embarrassed Security Intelligence Bureau was taken over by the Commissioner of Police. No charges were laid against Ross or his co-conspirator, Charles Remmers. Read more.
1942 The Wairoa murders: On 21 August the elderly sisters Rosamund and Annie Smyth were found beaten to death in their Wairoa home; the crime had occurred about 13 days earlier. There were a number of suspects but no one was ever convicted. Read more (DNZB).
1943 Rail disaster at Hyde: On 4 June 1943 a train derailed near Hyde in Central Otago, killing 21 passengers in what remains New Zealand’s second-worst rail accident. The driver, John Corcoran, who was alleged to have been drinking, was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. Some have argued that he was a scapegoat for the wartime failings of a hard-pressed Railways Department. Read more.
1947 The mystery of Marie West: After Marie West went missing from her home on 23 April, it was three months before her body was found just 60 m away in bush on Mt Victoria, Wellington. She had apparently committed suicide, but how her body ended up where it was found remains a mystery. Read more (1966 Encyclopaedia of NZ).
1949 The Moa Creek murder: On 28 September 62-year-old William Peter McIntosh was murdered with an axe in his woolshed in Central Otago. The main suspect was a stranger who had stopped to ask McIntosh’s wife for directions. This man was never identified and the murder remained unsolved. Read more (1966 Encyclopaedia of NZ).
1951 The ‘Secret Service’ murder: On 14 June George Cecil Horry was arrested for the murder of his wife, Mary Eileen Jones, who had disappeared from Titirangi the day after their wedding almost 10 years earlier. Suspicions were raised by Horry’s implausible claim to be a secret service agent whose wife had drowned during the Second World War. Despite the absence of a body or a confession, Horry was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Read more (DNZB).
1952 Capital punishment returns: On 13 March William Giovanni Silveo Fiori, who had murdered Jack Gabolinsky, his wife Marie and their infant son at Minginui in the central North Island, became the first person to be hanged in New Zealand after the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1950 by the new National government. Read more (TrueCrimeLibrary) and Jack Gabolinski service page (Cenotaph).
1954 The Parker-Hulme murder: On 22 June Pauline Parker and her close friend Juliet Hulme murdered Pauline’s mother, Honora, on a walking track in the Cashmere Hills, Christchurch. The key question in this infamous and shocking case was not the girls’ guilt, but their state of mind. It was finally decided that the pair were not insane and had murdered in cold blood. Because of their youth they were released after five years in prison, on condition that they never contact each other again. Read more.
1954 Manslaughter at Dunedin Hospital: On 12 December Senga Florence Whittingham shot John William Saunders in a bathroom at Dunedin Public Hospital. The two house surgeons had been engaged to each other until Senga miscarried. She was charged with manslaughter after claiming she had not wanted to kill Saunders but only frighten him. Read more (1966 Encyclopaedia of NZ)
1957 Walter Bolton hanged: On 18 February Walter Bolton, a 68-year-old Whanganui farmer, became the last person to be executed in New Zealand. After a controversial trial he was convicted of murdering his wife, Beatrice, and hanged at Mount Eden prison. Read more.
1961 The disappearance of Wendy Mayes: On 15 September Wendy Mayes disappeared after meeting John Maltby for an interview about becoming a photographer’s model. Maltby was the main suspect, but while under police surveillance he escaped into the bush. His body was washed ashore at Island Bay on 24 September; Wendy Mayes’ body was never found. Read more (1966 Encyclopaedia of NZ).
1962 The Dunedin parcel-bomb murder: On 5 February Dunedin barrister James Patrick Ward was killed by a bomb delivered to his office in a parcel. Although it was established that the bomb was sent from Dunedin, no firm lead was ever found. Read more (1966 Encyclopaedia of NZ).
1962 George Wilder’s prison breaks: 17 May was the first of three occasions on which convicted burglar George Wilder escaped from prison. This first prison break lasted 65 days, his second, 172 days, and his last, only three hours. Read more.
1963 The Waitākere shootings: On 6 January Victor George Wasmuth shot dead a kennel owner and two police officers who attempted to apprehend him. Wasmuth was found not guilty of the murders by reason of insanity. Read more (Stuff).
1963 The Alicetown shootings: On 3 February Bruce Douglas McPhee shot two police officers who had responded to a domestic incident at his house in Alicetown, Lower Hutt. McPhee received life imprisonment for the murders. This shooting, along with the Waitakere shootings that year, led to the formation of the Armed Offenders Squad in 1964. Memorial pages: Bryan Schultz; James Richardson (NZ Police). Read more (Stuff).
1963 The Bassett Road machine-gun murders: On 4 December, in Remuera, Auckland, John Frederick Gillies and Ronald John Jorgensen shot Kevin James Speight and Frederick George Walker with a .45-calibre Reising sub-machine gun. The men were involved in a gangland dispute over illegal liquor dens. Both Gillies and Jorgensen were sentenced to life imprisonment. Read more.
1969 The Jennifer Beard murder: On 31 December Jennifer Beard, a 25-year-old schoolteacher from Tasmania, was murdered while hitchiking in the South Island. It is believed she was strangled in a sexually motivated attack. Despite a massive police investigation the murder remains unsolved. Read more (Crime.co.nz)
1970 The Crewe murders: On 22 June the disappearance of Waikato farming couple Harvey and Jeanette Crewe was discovered when their starving two-year-old daughter, Rochelle, was found in their home by her grandfather. The couple’s bodies were found three months later in the Waikato River. Arthur Allan Thomas, who farmed nearby, was twice convicted of double murder, but doubts remained about police methods and evidence. After a long campaign he was pardoned nine years later and awarded almost $1 million compensation. It is still not known who was responsible for the Crewe murders. Read more (Te Ara)
1974 The Sutch trial: On 26 September a retired senior public servant, Dr W.B. Sutch, was arrested on charges of sharing state information with Russian diplomat Dimitri Aleksandrovick Razgovorov. Sutch was the first person charged with an offence under the 1951 Official Secrets Act. He was ultimately acquitted. Read more.
1975 The disappearance of Mona Blades: On 31 May Mona Blades disappeared while hitchhiking from Hamilton to her family home in Hastings for her nephew’s first birthday party. She was last seen in an orange Datsun on Matea Road, off the Taupō–Napier highway. Read more.
1979 The Queen Street nightclub murder: On 1 July Brian Ronald McDonald shot 17-year-old Margaret Bell in the head. The bullet was intended for the doorkeeper of a Queen Street nightclub, who had refused him entrance. Read more (NZ Listener).
1979 The ‘Mr Asia’ murder: On 14 October the body of Christopher Martin Johnstone, a leader of the ‘Mr Asia’ drug syndicate, was found in a flooded disused quarry in Lancashire, northern England. His corpse had been hastily mutilated to make identification difficult. His associate Terence John Clark was found to have put out a hit against Johnstone and was convicted for his murder on 15 July 1981. Clark was found guilty after a 123-day trial, one of the longest in English history. Read more.
1984 The Wellington Trades Hall bombing: On 27 March Ernie Abbott, the caretaker at Wellington Trades Hall, was killed instantly when he moved a suitcase bomb. No motive was established and the case remains unsolved. Read more.
1985 The Rainbow Warrior bombing: On 10 July the Greenpeace protest ship, docked in Auckland, was torn apart by two bombs planted by French Secret Service (DGSE) agents. A Portuguese crew member, Fernando Pereira, was killed by the second bomb. Having been arrested and charged with murder, agents Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment. Read more.
1987 Teresa Cormack’s murder: On 19 June six-year-old Teresa Cormack’s body was found half-buried under a tree on Whirinaki Beach, Hawke’s Bay, eight days after she had gone missing. It was not until 2002, after new techniques for DNA testing had been developed, that Jules Mikus was arrested for Teresa’s sexual violation and murder. Read more (Crime.co.nz).
1989 The Huka Falls case: In February 1989 the body of cricket umpire Peter Plumley-Walker was found floating below the Huka Falls, with wrists and ankles tied. A teenage dominatrix and her partner were tried three times for murder and finally acquitted. It was alleged that after Plumley-Walker died during a bondage session at their Auckland house, the pair took his body to Taupō and dumped it in the Waikato River. Read more (NZ Herald) and Te Ara.
1990 The Aramoana massacre: On 13 November David Gray killed 13 people, including a police sergeant, following an argument with a neighbour at the tiny Otago beach settlement of Aramoana. This remains New Zealand’s largest mass murder. Gray was shot dead the next day by police officers. Read more.
1991 The Delcelia Witika child abuse case: On 21 March Tania Witika told police that she had arrived home in Māngere to find that her two-year-old daughter, Delcelia, had died. The investigation that followed uncovered one of New Zealand’s most horrendous cases of child abuse. Both Tania and her partner, Eddie Smith, were found guilty of manslaughter and other counts of neglect and ill-treatment and sentenced to 16 years’ imprisonment. Read more (Crime.co.nz)
1992 Child abuse at Christchurch Civic Crèche: On 30 March Peter Ellis was one of five staff members arrested for the sexual abuse of children at the Christchurch Civic Crèche. He was the only one to stand trial. His conviction drew attention to the authorities’ handling of the sexual abuse of young people, particularly the reliance on children’s testimony. Read more (Te Ara).
1992 The Masterton massacre: On 26 June Raymond Wahia Ratima killed seven members of his family, including his three young children, at his home in Judds Road, Masterton. He received life imprisonment. Read more (Te Ara).
1992 The Schlaepfer farm murders: On 20 May South Auckland farmer Brian Schlaepfer killed his wife during an argument. He went on to kill his three sons, a daughter-in-law and a grandson before committing suicide. His nine-year-old granddaughter Linda, who hid in a wardrobe, was the only survivor. Read more (Crime.co.nz).
1992 New Zealand's worst white-collar crime?: On 18 December Allan Hawkins, the executive chairman of Equiticorp, was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for stealing $88 million from investors in his company. Read more (Te Ara).
1994 The Thomas murders: On 16 February father and son financial dealers Eugene and Gene Thomas were shot dead in their Wellington office. John Barlow faced three trials for the murders: after the first two ended with hung juries, he was found guilty in October 1995 and sentenced to a minimum of 14 years’ imprisonment without parole. Read more (Te Ara).
1994 The Bain family murders: On 20 June Stephen, Arawa, Robin, Laniet and Margaret Bain were killed in their South Dunedin home. The only surviving family member, David Bain, was found guilty of the murders in 1995. Following intense public speculation and doubts over police conduct during the investigation, Bain was acquitted after a 2009 retrial. Read more (Wikipedia).
1995 The first convicted serial rapist: On 31 July Joe Thompson became New Zealand’s first convicted serial rapist when he pleaded guilty to 129 charges spanning more than a decade – the largest number of guilty pleas ever in a Commonwealth country. Thompson was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Read more (Crime.co.nz).
1996 Serial rapist Malcolm Rewa: On 13 May serial rapist Malcolm Rewa was arrested at his Māngere home. Found guilty of 24 rapes, he was given a 22-year minimum non-parole sentence. His subsequent conviction for the rape (but not the murder) of Susan Burdett earned him an additional 14 years in prison. Read more (Te Ara).
1997 The Raurimu massacre: On 8 February Stephen Anderson, a 25-year-old with a history of mental illness, killed six people, including his father, at a central North Island ski lodge. Found not guilty by reason of insanity, he was committed indefinitely to psychiatric hospital care (but has since been released). Read more (Crime.co.nz).
1998 The Peter Mwai HIV case: On 24 June Peter Mwai was released from prison after serving two-thirds of a seven-year prison sentence for knowingly infecting others with the HIV virus. The first person to be charged in New Zealand with wilfully spreading the HIV virus, Mwai was convicted on a lesser charge of recklessly causing grievous bodily harm. Read more (Crime.co.nz).
1998 The disappearance of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope: Early on New Year’s Day, Ben Smart and Olivia Hope went missing after boarding a stranger’s yacht in the Marlborough Sounds. Picton resident Scott Watson was found guilty of the pair’s murder in 1999 but their bodies have never been found. Read more (Crime.co.nz).
2000 The Lundy murders: On 29 August Christine Lundy and her daughter, Amber, were beaten to death in their Palmerston North home. Their bodies were discovered the next day. Christine’s husband, Mark Lundy, who had been visiting Wellington on business, was arrested for the murders six months later. In April 2002 he was convicted and sentenced to a minimum of 17 years without parole. In 2013 Lundy’s conviction became the last decision of the New Zealand courts to be appealed before the Privy Council in London. Read more (Crime.co.nz).
2000 The Chubb robbery: On 22 December Peter Tyson, a former Chubb employee, and six accomplices robbed a Chubb security van in central Wellington. This was the largest armed robbery in New Zealand’s history – $940,404 was taken. Tyson was sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment and his accomplices got between 4 and 9½ years. Read more (NZ Herald).
2001 The RSA murders: On 8 December William Bell killed three people and severely beat another employee while robbing the Mt Wellington-Panmure RSA, from which he had been fired three months earlier. Bell was sentenced to 33 years in prison, the longest term imposed by a New Zealand judge. Read more (Te Ara).
2007 Graeme Burton’s shootings: On 6 January, near Wellington, mountain biker Karl Kuchenbecker was killed and three other people were wounded in random shootings by Graeme Burton (who had been convicted of murder in 1992). This crime sparked widespread criticism of the Corrections Department and the Parole Board: Burton had been released on parole in mid-2006 despite behaving violently in prison. Read more (Te Ara).
2008 Sophie Elliott’s murder: On 9 January, in Dunedin, Sophie Elliott was stabbed 216 times by her ex-boyfriend Clayton Weatherston, who was sentenced to at least 18 years without parole. The case attracted feverish media attention. Public outrage at Weatherston’s claim that he had been provoked led to the abolition of provocation as a partial defence against a charge of murder. Read more (Stuff).
2009 Christchurch’s House of Horror: On 3 September, following a confession by murderer-rapist Jason Somerville, the bodies of his wife Rebecca and Tisha Lowry were found under the Somervilles’ Christchurch house – subsequently dubbed ‘The House of Horror’. It was demolished after surviving several arson attempts. Read more (Te Ara).

Photography timeline

For centuries the camera obscura was used to form images on walls of darkened rooms. The first photograph as we know it was made in 1826 by recording on a sheet of light-sensitive paper an image formed using a portable camera obscura. The earliest possible use of photography in New Zealand was in 1841, a year after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, when the total European population was just a few thousand.

Overseas events/developments are in italics.

Timeline

1841

Captain Lucas, of the French barque Justine, makes daguerrotypes in Sydney. He may also have taken photographs in the Bay of Islands, but none have yet been located.

1848

In the first recorded instance of a daguerreotype being made in New Zealand, Lieutenant-Governor Edward Eyre photographs Eliza Grey, the wife of Governor George Grey, on the verandah of Government House in Wellington. The picture fails.
J. Polack and J. Newman set up studios in Auckland.
H.B. Sealy sets up a studio in Wellington.

1851

Frederick Archer, an English professional photographer, develops the collodion wet plate process, which while complex has many advantages over daguerreotypes and calotypes.

1853

New Plymouth photographer Lawson Insley makes a portrait of Caroline and Sarah Barrett, the daughters of a local publican. This is the earliest known photographic portrait of Māori.

1854

Parisian photographer Adolph Disderi popularises the carte-de-visite (visiting card), a small photographic portrait print stuck onto card which becomes a popular collectors' item.

1868

Alfred and Walter Burton start Burton Brothers’ photographic business in Dunedin. While Walter runs the successful studio portrait side of the business, Alfred travels the country making topographical images and photographing Māori. It is Alfred’s photographs which ensured the brothers’ legacy.

1871

Richard Maddox, an English amateur photographer, invents the first workable silver bromide gelatin emulsion, which eliminates the need for wet-plate photography and leads directly to modern photographic films.

1873

The first printed photograph to appear in a daily newspaper, the New York Graphic, is made using a photoengraving technique.

1875

Daniel Mundy, perhaps the first New Zealand photographer to concentrate exclusively on the landscape, publishes Rotomahana: the boiling spring of New Zealand, with a foreword by the geologist Ferdinand von Hochstetter. This is one of the first books to use the autotype process, which allows photographs to be reproduced in a printing press with all their half-tones (shades of grey) intact.

1876

Wellington photographer James Bragge publishes 50 of his topographical works in Wellington to Wairarapa, among the rarest volumes of photographs produced in this country. Two years later he ventures north of Masterton and takes the newly completed road through the Manawatū Gorge. Bragge runs a successful studio in Wellington that attracts many prominent clients.

1879

George Eastman starts the Eastman Dry Plate Company. In the 1930s this is renamed Kodak Eastman.

1880

In 1880 the Graphic publishes ‘the first reproduction of a photograph with a full tonal range in a newspaper’ with a crude half-tone screen. The process uses black dots of varying size to simulate monochromatic tones. Parisian magazine L’Illustration prints the first photomechanical colour illustrations in 1881.

1882

William Travers, Arthur Bothamly and others set up the Wellington Photographic Society, the first in the country. It appears not to have lasted very long.

1883

The Auckland Photographic Society is formed. Within a few years it is failing, but it is rejuvenated in 1889 by George Valentine, among others. This too lapses, but an Auckland Camera Club is formed in 1895 and later renames itself the Auckland Photographic Society.

1886

Mt Tarawera erupts, burying the Pink and White Terraces. Many photographers visit the Terraces before the eruption and a number, including George Valentine and the Burton Brothers, revisit the area to document the destruction.

1888

Celluloid is first used as a base for photographic emulsion in place of glass, leading to the development of flexible photographic film.

1890

The Dunedin Photographic Society is formed. This is now the longest continuously running photographic society in New Zealand.

1892

Sharland, suppliers of photographic equipment, start publishing New Zealand’s first photography serial, Sharland’s New Zealand Photographer, edited by Auckland photographer Josiah Martin. The last issue is published in 1911.
The Wellington Camera Club is formed. It soon becomes the Wellington Amateur Photographic Society, and later the Wellington Photographic Society.

1898

Thomas Muir and George Moodie, photographers on the staff of Burton Brothers, buy the company from Alfred Burton (Walter Burton having died in 1880) and build on its extensive back catalogue. Renaming the company Muir & Moodie, they dominate the scenic view trade until the company is dissolved in 1915.

1900

The Kodak Brownie is introduced, making photography much more accessible to the general public.

1901

The Otago Witness is the first New Zealand newspaper to publish photographs.
The Department of Tourist and Health Resorts is set up, the first government tourist department in the world. It employs Thomas Pringle to produce pictorial images to promote tourism.

1906

Panchromatic black and white film becomes available, allowing the recording of a wider tonal range and giving a more realistic rendition than earlier films.

1907

Brothers Auguste and Louis Lumiére start manufacturing Autochrome plates, the first practical system of colour photography.

1909

Bohemian immigrant Joseph Divis starts working in, and photographing, West Coast mines, notably Waiuta, to which he moves in 1912. After creating an extensive archive of life at Waiuta, Divis apparently stops taking photographs in the mid- to late-1930s.

1917

Captain Henry Armytage Sanders is appointed as New Zealand’s first official war photographer and cameraman. His task is to document the activities of the New Zealand Division on the Western Front (France and Belgium).
A few weeks after Sanders’ appointment, Thomas Frederick Scales is appointed to the New Zealand Army Service Corps as ‘Cinema Expert for New Zealand Units in England’. Scales is responsible for recording everyday life at the New Zealand training camps and the experience of convalescing at the New Zealand hospitals in England.

1919

George Bourne, chief photographer with the Auckland Weekly News, takes the first aerial photograph in New Zealand. By 1926 aerial photography is being used in surveys; the first topographical maps based on aerial photographs are produced in 1939.

1923

The Government Publicity Office is formed as a branch of the Department of Internal Affairs, employing one movie cameraman (who occasionally does still photography) and two still photographers (who occasionally do movie work). When the National Film Unit and National Publicity Studio are formed in 1941 they continue to produce tourist publicity material.

1925

Leitz starts marketing the Leica I Model A rangefinder camera, which uses sprocketed 35-mm movie film and has interchangeable lenses.
The New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition in Dunedin features a photography section of more than 1000 international images curated by Dunedin dentist and photographer George Chance.

1928

Rollei introduces the Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex (TLR) camera.

1931

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harold (Doc) Edgerton develops and improves photographic strobe lights (flashes).

1934

The Fuji Photo Film Company is founded as part of a Japanese government plan to establish a domestic photographic film manufacturing industry.

1935

Kodak starts producing Kodachrome, the first multi-layered colour transparency (slide) film.

1936

German camera manufacturers Ihagee release the Kine-Exakta, a pioneering 35-mm single-lens reflex (SLR) that features many characteristics now commonly associated with 35-mm SLRs.

1938

Patricia Miller (later Ramai Hayward) opens a studio in Devonport, Auckland. She is possibly the first Māori professional photographer.
Feilding photographer Bert Hobday founds the North Island Photographers Association (NIPA). Shortly after the Second World War an Institute of New Zealand Photographers is formed and incorporated. This institute and the NIPA amalgamate in 1947 to form a New Zealand Professional Photographers’ Association to represent the business interests of professional photographers throughout New Zealand. In the early 1990s the NZPPA rebrands itself as the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photographers (NZIPP).

1939

Levin-born George Silk becomes a photographer for Australia’s Department of Information. He follows Australian troops into battle in Greece, Egypt and Papua New Guinea. In 1943 he is employed as a photojournalist for Life magazine, for which he works until the magazine folds in 1972. Silk becomes famous for shooting the first pictures of Nagasaki after an atomic bomb is dropped on the Japanese city in August 1945.

1941

New Zealand Army appoints its first official photographers. George Kaye and Harold Paton are the main photographers, but others working during the Second World War include George Bull, Mervyn Elias and Cyril Hayden. In 1942 Leo White joins the Royal New Zealand Air Force as a photographer, and John Pascoe is appointed official war photographer to document experiences on the ‘Home Front’.

1948

A year after their first public demonstration, Polaroid starts selling the Model 95 camera and Type 40 film, the first instant black and white film.

1952

The New Zealand Professional Photographers’ Association starts publishing the quarterly magazine The New Zealand Studio. The last issue is published in 1975.

1953

The inauguration of the Photographic Society of New Zealand brings together more than 30 camera clubs. Today more than 60 clubs with more than 800 members are affiliated to the PSNZ. In 1954 it launches New Zealand Camera magazine.

1957

New Zealand-born, London-based photographer Brian Brake is granted full membership of the photographic cooperative Magnum Photos, which he holds until 1967. He is the only New Zealander to have been a member of the prestigious agency.

1963

Polaroid produces its five-millionth camera and starts selling the first colour instant film.
The Kodak Instamatic camera is introduced. Its easy-to-use cartridge-loading film lifts amateur photography to new heights of popularity.
Brian Brake and Maurice Shadbolt publish New Zealand: gift of the sea. The book is a best-seller and sets a new benchmark for the photographic representation of this country. Brake’s informal documentary approach is a substantial break from the status quo.

1964

The publication of Ans Westra’s Washday at the pa by the Department of Education causes controversy. The Minister of Education orders the destruction of all copies of the book after the Māori Women’s Welfare League complains that it depicts a ‘non-average’ (i.e., poor) Māori family. Christchurch’s Caxton Press republishes it a year later.

1965

Tom Hutchins becomes New Zealand’s first full-time lecturer in photography and film. He remains at the University of Auckland until 1980, joined by Max Oettli (technical instructor, 1970) and John B. Turner (lecturer, 1971).

1967

The unseen city: 123 photographs of Auckland by Gary Baigent is published. Full of rough, grainy, contrasting, black and white images, the book is seen as an antidote to ‘beautiful New Zealand’ picture books. It is said to be ‘perhaps more significant for its timing and intention than its actual content’.

1970

The first issue of Photographic Art & History is published. After four issues the journal is renamed New Zealand Photography, 13 issues of which appear before it becomes PhotoForum in 1974.

1971

Hardwicke Knight publishes Photography in New Zealand: a social and technical history. This overview of New Zealand photography concentrates on individual photographers rather than being a comprehensive history.

1972

Moko: Maori tattooing in the 20th century, a collaboration between photographer Marti Friedlander and historian Michael King, is published by Alister Taylor. The book has been republished a number of times, most recently in 2008.

1973

Barry Hesson’s Victoria Market Gallery, New Zealand’s first specialist photography gallery, opens in Wellington. It lasts only nine months.
PhotoForum is founded in Auckland by a small group of photographers to promote photography in New Zealand, especially through PhotoForum magazine. The first issue is published in 1974.

1975

Kodak builds the first working CCD-based (charge-coupled device) digital still camera. The prototype is the size of a toaster and captures black and white images at a resolution of 10,000 pixels (0.01 megapixels).
Glenn Busch, with the assistance of Tom Elliot and Alan Leatherby, opens Snaps – A Photographer’s Gallery in Airedale St, Auckland. It closes in 1981.
Luit Bieringa, the director of the Manawatu Art Gallery, and PhotoForum organise The active eye, a national survey of contemporary photography. In 2000 a new survey show, up:date//the active eye, is launched at the Sarjeant Gallery in Whanganui.
Wellington Polytechnic starts a course for photographic technicians, the first tertiary-level photography course in New Zealand. Run by William Main, its first graduates include press photographer Ross Giblin and artist Peter Black.

1976

PhotoForum (Wellington Inc.), a sister organisation of PhotoForum, is founded for photographers south of Taupō. PhotoForum Gallery opens in 1977 with Leslie Haines and Sharyn Black as volunteer directors. The society continues for some years after the gallery closes in 1981.

1977

Konica releases the first production autofocus camera.
William Main opens Exposures Gallery in Wellington. It closes in the late 1980s.

1978

The Advertising and Illustrative Photographers Association is founded in Auckland by a small group of advertising and editorial photographers.
Diane Arbus: retrospective, a show of 118 photographs by the internationally renowned American photographer, tours seven New Zealand galleries and museums under the auspices of the Arts Council of New Zealand, influencing a new generation of local photographers.

1979

Ian McDonald and Peter Webb found the Real Pictures photographic laboratory in His Majesty’s Theatre and Arcade in central Auckland, and then open Real Pictures Gallery. Doug Owens later buys out McDonald and the gallery is relocated to Grey Lynn before closing in 1990.

1981

Alister Taylor publishes Robin Morrison’s The South Island of New Zealand from the road. The influence of Morrison’s approach to the photographic representation of New Zealand is apparent in a vast number of pictorial books published since.

1982

The National Art Gallery exhibits its first solo show by a New Zealand photographer, Peter Black’s Fifty photographs. PhotoForum, which has previously published the portfolio in its magazine, republishes the work as a separate catalogue.

1984

Glenn Busch publishes Working men in association with the National Art Gallery. Combining photography and sociology, its strong portraits are accompanied by text culled from extensive interviews with the men shown.
David Cook starts a project documenting Waikato’s Rotowaro township and coalmine. The project culminates with the 2006 publication of Lake of coal: the disappearance of a mining town.

1985

Minolta introduces the world’s first truly practical autofocus SLR system. This features other technological advances common in modern cameras.
The New Zealand Centre for Photography is established by Brain Brake, Matheson Beaumont and Brian Enting. Its mission is to promote photography within New Zealand, to help raise the standard of local work, and to be an umbrella organisation for camera users. In 1987 the NZCP starts publishing a newsletter, which is renamed the New Zealand Journal of Photography (NZJP) in 1992.

1990

The graphics editing programme Adobe Photoshop is released.
Communicate New Zealand (formerly the National Publicity Studio) and the National Film Unit are sold to private companies.

1991

The Kodak Professional Digital Camera System (DCS) is introduced. The DCS-100 – the first digital SLR – is a Nikon F3 camera equipped by Kodak with a 1.3-megapixel sensor.

1992

Australian-born, Auckland-based photographer Anne Geddes published her first calendar of stylised depictions of babies and children. In 1996 she published her first book, Down in the Garden, going on to create an instantly recognisable style alongside a hugely successful global publishing empire producing books, calendars, cards, and stationary, later diversifying into other merchandise. After building her international reputation from a small studio in Auckland, Geddes moved back to Australia in the mid-2000s.

1995

A retrospective of work by the American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe shows at City Gallery Wellington. The sexual content of some images causes controversy, but the show is a blockbuster.

Peter Peryer exhibits a survey show, Second nature, at Frankfurter Kunstverein in Germany with funding from the New Zealand government. The New Zealand Meat Board complains to the Minister of Agriculture – who in turn protests to the Ministry of Cultural Affairs – about the use of the photo ‘Dead Steer (Waikato)’ on promotional material, arguing that this will have a detrimental effect on sales of New Zealand meat. The show is accompanied by an extensive catalogue and later tours New Zealand.

1998

Wellington’s FotoFest, a city-wide celebration of photography, includes exhibitions, workshops and seminars featuring local, national and international photographers.
Photospace Gallery opens in Wellington. Run by James Gilberd, this is now the longest running photographic gallery in New Zealand. Its first exhibition is Kerry-Ann Boyle’s The mortal dress.

2000

In Japan, Sharp releases the first cellular phone with a built-in camera (0.1 megapixels).

2002

McNamara Gallery Photography opens in Whanganui. Its first exhibition is a reshowing of Peter Black’s 1995 series Moving pictures, originally published in Sport 15.

2003

Image hosting website Photobucket is founded. By 2011 it had 100 million users and more than eight billion uploads, making it the world’s largest such website. Flickr, a similar online service, is launched in 2004 and by 2010 is hosting over 5 billion images.

2004

The first Auckland Festival of Photography is held. The annual event has continued to grow in stature and status.

2007

Edith Amituanai is named as the inaugural winner of the Marti Friedlander Photography Award. The award is made biennially; John Miller and Mark Adams share it in 2009.

2008

The New Zealand Centre for Photography ceases activity without having fully achieved its initial aims. The Centre has also failed to find a permanent home, a partnership with the New Zealand Portrait Gallery having fallen through because of the NZCP’s financial problems. The NZJP is renamed Photomedia, but only one issue appears before the Centre folds.

2010

Te Papa shows a Brian Brake retrospective and publishes Brian Brake: lens on the world, 22 years after Brake’s death and 10 years after being gifted Brake’s archive and starting the process of digitising more than 100,000 of his photographs.

The information in this timeline is as accurate as we have been able to make it. If you have corrections or feel that an important event has been overlooked, please contact us at [email protected]">[email protected]

Māori rugby timeline

This timeline covers some of the key events and major players in the history of Māori rugby. It was compiled to mark the centenary of the first official New Zealand Māori team.

1870

The first football match in New Zealand under rules that originated at the English public school, Rugby, is played in Nelson on 14 May.

1872

Wirihana, the first Māori player whose name is known, takes the field in the first rugby match played in Whanganui.

1877

Joseph Warbrick

Joe Warbrick, a 15-year-old pupil at St Stephen’s Native School, becomes New Zealand’s youngest ever first-class player when he turns out for Auckland against Otago on 16 August.

1880s

Several all-Māori club teams are formed in areas with mainly Māori populations. Many other Māori play alongside Pākehā.

1883

Te Aute College’s first XV wins the Hawke’s Bay club championship for the first time. It will compete in the senior grade for the next half-century.

1884

Warbrick and Jack Taiaroa tour New South Wales with the first New Zealand representative team.

1888

Natives' Rugby Tour ‘Play up’ card

The New Zealand Natives – selected and captained by Warbrick – become the first representative rugby team to tour Britain. Twenty-one of the 26 players are Māori. The team wins 78 of its 107 rugby games.

1892

The New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU) is formed to control the game throughout the colony.

1893

Thomas Ellison

Lawyer Tom Ellison captains the first official New Zealand representative team on a tour of Australia. Two other members of the 1888/89 Natives – David (‘Pony’) Gage and William (‘Tabby’) Wynyard – and Hawke’s Bay forward Hoeroa Tiopira are also in this team.

1896

David Gage

Gage becomes the third official New Zealand captain. His team beats Queensland 9–nil at Wellington’s Athletic Park on 15 August.

1902

Ellison’s innovative coaching manual, The art of rugby football, is published.
Dynamic winger Albert (‘Opai’) Asher represents North Island and is a member of the unbeaten Auckland team that is the first to be awarded the Ranfurly Shield. Next year he plays for New Zealand.

1904

A Māori XV beats the touring British 8–6 in an unofficial match at Rotorua on 22 August.
Te Aute College’s first XV tours New South Wales.

1905

Southland halfback Billy Stead is selected for four of the five tests played by the All Blacks (the ‘Originals’) in Britain and France.

1908

The Anglo-Welsh touring team defeat an Arawa XV 24–3 at Rotorua on 21 July.
A Māori team led by Asher tours New South Wales, converting to rugby league on arrival in Sydney.

1910

The first Māori team selected with NZRFU permission plays its first match against a Rotorua team, winning 25–5. Managed by Wiremu (‘Ned’) Parata, Māori rugby’s first leading administrator, it tours Australia and New Zealand, winning 12 and drawing 3 of 19 matches. Team member R. Nuku of South Auckland achieves a unique double – he also played for the first New Zealand Universities team, in Australia in 1908.

1921

1921 Springbok Tour programme

NZ Māori lose 8–9 to South Africa in Napier amidst controversy. A reporter travelling with the Springboks is outraged that the spectators support ‘coloured men’ against ‘members of their own race’. His cable is leaked to the press.

1922

A Māori Advisory Board with representation on the NZRFU’s management committee is established, bringing Māori rugby formally under NZRFU auspices.
NZ Māori play the All Blacks for the first time, losing 14–21 at Athletic Park.

1923

Lui Paewai is believed to be 17 years old when he takes the field for New Zealand against New South Wales in Wellington, becoming the youngest ever All Black.

1924

George Nēpia

Nineteen-year-old George Nēpia from Wairoa is the only fullback selected for the All Black tour of Britain and France. Including warm-up fixtures, he plays in 38 consecutive matches for the ‘Invincibles’. Having played a Māori trial match at the age of 16, Nēpia will become New Zealand’s oldest first-class player when he turns out for Olympians in 1950, aged 45. His son George plays opposite him at fullback for Poverty Bay.

1925

Te Aute College wins the Moascar Cup, the symbol of secondary school rugby supremacy since 1920.

1926

The first official NZ Māori team to tour the northern hemisphere wins 30 matches and draws two on a 40-game tour organised after Māori are declared to be ineligible for the All Blacks’ 1928 tour of South Africa. All but one of 15 matches in France are won. The Māori’s 12–3 victory over the national team in Paris on Boxing Day encourages the French to adopt a more open style of play.

1928

Tai Tokerau becomes the first winner of the Prince of Wales Cup, which is also contested by Tai Rāwhiti, Tai Hauāuru and Te Waipounamu. In 1963 this tournament is replaced by a match between Northern (from Bay of Plenty and Waikato north) and Southern Māori.

1937

The Springboks do not play NZ Māori during their 17-match tour of New Zealand.

1938

NZ Māori tour Fiji for the first time, beginning an ongoing relationship with rugby in the Pacific.

1942

Leading Aircraftsman John (Hoani) MacDonald becomes the first Maori known to have represented another leading rugby nation when he plays for England against Wales while serving with the RNZAF in Britain. A member of the 1926 NZ Māori touring team, MacDonald also rowed for New Zealand at the 1930 Empire Games and the 1932 Olympics.

1943

The Freyberg Cup

28 (Māori) Battalion wins the Divisional Commander’s (Freyberg) Cup contested in Egypt between units of 2NZEF. It also defeats a South African army team.

1946

NZ Māori beats Australia 20–nil at Hamilton.

1949

Despite protests, Māori players are not considered for the tour of South Africa. The All Blacks are whitewashed in the test series.
The first Tom French Cup for the outstanding Māori player of the year is awarded to the North Auckland midfield back Johnny Smith.
Smith and Ben Couch are selected for a third-string All Black team that loses two tests against Australia. NZ Māori does manage to beat Australia, drawing a three-match series.

1951

Manawatū’s Hiwi Tauroa makes his debut for NZ Māori. He will coach Counties to victory in the 1979 National Provincial Championship and become New Zealand’s Race Relations Conciliator the following year.

1954

Aucklander Peter Tapsell tours Fiji with NZ Māori. In 1993 he will become the first Māori Speaker of New Zealand’s House of Representatives.

1956

NZ Māori loses a much-anticipated rematch with South Africa 37–0 at Eden Park. Māori Affairs Minister Ernest Corbett has asked the team to ‘take it easy’ on the Springboks. Three key players are carrying injuries, and keeping the match tight in the forwards doesn’t help their chances.

All Black - Maori poster

1958

NZ Māori draws another series with Australia.

1960

NZ Māori plays in Tonga and Samoa for the first time.
Many New Zealanders protest at the exclusion of Māori players from the All Black squad which tours South Africa.

1961

France vs NZ Māori programme

Six old boys of Kaitaia College play for NZ Māori in the 5–3 win over France at Napier: Pat Walsh (captain), Ted Thompson, Muru Walters, Bill Wordley, Rod Yates and Victor Yates.

1963

North Auckland’s Muru Walters plays his last game for NZ Māori. His 211 points for the team remains a record. Walters later becomes Anglican Bishop of Te Upoko o Te Ika.

1966

Flanker Waka Nathan – the ‘Black Panther’ – scores two tries in the third test against the touring British Lions. In 14 tests he never plays in a losing All Black side. Nathan coaches NZ Māori from 1971 to 1977.
The NZRU announces that it will not send a whites-only team to South Africa in 1967, and the scheduled tour by the All Blacks does not go ahead.

1967

No NZ Māori team is assembled in the NZRFU’s 75th jubilee year.

1970

Three Māori players (and Samoan Bryan Williams) tour South Africa with the All Blacks. They are treated as ‘honorary whites’ by their hosts.

1971

Sid Going, the most gifted of three North Auckland brothers to play together in the backs for NZ Māori, becomes the first-choice halfback for the All Blacks. His penetrative running sees him win the Tom French Cup six years in a row.

1973

Norman Kirk Springbok tour cartoon

The Labour government postpones a scheduled Springbok tour until the South African team is selected on merit.

1976

The All Blacks make what turns out to be their last tour of white-ruled South Africa. The squad includes five Māori (and Williams).

1977

A proposed tour of South Africa by NZ Māori is cancelled.
Hooker Tane Norton, aged 35, becomes the oldest ever All Blacks’ captain and leads the team to a series victory over the British Lions.

1979

Te Aute College wins the Moascar Cup from fellow Māori boarding school St Stephen’s.

1981

A Springbok squad which includes one ‘coloured’ player is officially welcomed to New Zealand at Gisborne’s Te Poho o Rawiri marae on 19 July. Couch, now Minister of Māori Affairs and Police, is a vocal supporter of a tour which divides the nation, sometimes violently.
South Africa plays NZ Māori at Napier. The match ends 12-all after a last-minute Springbok attempt at a dropped goal is ruled to have gone over. Twenty-five years later, the kicker admits that it did not.

1982

NZ Māori tours Wales and then trounces Spain in Barcelona.

1986

Cavaliers rugby tour

Twenty-eight of the 30 players selected for the 1985 All Black tour of South Africa that was cancelled as a result of last-minute legal action take part in the unofficial ‘Cavaliers’ tour of the republic. This squad includes eight Māori.

1988

NZ Māori tours Italy, France, Spain and Argentina. Captained by Wayne (‘Buck’) Shelford, it loses only one of its 10 matches.

1992

NZ Māori’s role in the NZRU’s centenary year is to play what is effectively a Bay of Plenty side.

1994

NZ Māori takes part in a pre-season tournament in South Africa, reaching the semi-finals of the M-Net Nite Series.
The first post-apartheid Springbok team to tour New Zealand includes just one ‘coloured’ player. It does not play NZ Māori.

1995

Hard-nosed former soldier Matt Te Pou begins an 11-year stint as coach of NZ Māori, during which the team wins 35 of its 40 matches.

1998

In a unique double-header, NZ Māori Colts beats Japan A 53–21 before NZ Māori thrashes a depleted England 62–14.
NZ Māori beats Scotland 24–8 in Edinburgh.
All Blacks (and NZ Māori representatives) Eric Rush and Dallas Seymour play key roles in the victory of the New Zealand sevens team in the Commonwealth Games at Kuala Lumpur. Four years later, Rush wins gold again at Manchester, aged 37.

2001

NZ Māori plays Argentina for the first time, winning 43–24 in Rotorua.
Ngāti Porou East Coast reaches the final of the National Provincial Championships Second Division, losing narrowly to Hawke’s Bay

2003

NZ Māori wins both its matches against the Canadian national team.

2004

NZ Māori wins the Churchill Cup in Canada at its first attempt, defeating the USA and England A. They win the Churchill Cup again in 2006.

2005

NZ Māori beat the British and Irish Lions for the first time, 19–13 in Hamilton.

2006

Dr Farah Palmer retires after playing 35 tests for the New Zealand women’s team, 30 as captain. Under the Manawatū hooker’s leadership, the Black Ferns have won three World Cups, two Canada Cups and a Churchill Cup.

2007

The Aotearoa Maori Women’s sevens team wins the Hong Kong tournament for the sixth successive year.

2008

NZ Māori wins the Pacific Nations Cup, beating Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Japan and then Australia A 21–18 in the final.

Maori rugby team video

2010

South Africa’s Sports Minister and the South African Rugby Union apologise for the exclusion of Māori players from tours of South Africa in 1928, 1949 and 1960. So does the New Zealand Rugby Union, against the advice of its Māori Rugby Board.
NZ Māori plays three matches in June to mark the official centenary of Māori rugby. They play Ireland for the first time, winning 31–28, and beat England 35–28.

Kiwi music shows on TV - Timeline

New Zealanders can now view music videos over the internet or on music channels C4 and Juice TV. But after TV was introduced in 1960 several generations of New Zealanders kept up with the music scene through dedicated music shows on mainstream TV. Popular shows included C’mon in the 60s, Happen Inn in the 70s, Ready to roll, Radio with pictures and Shazam in the 80s, and RTR in the 90s.

There were many more short-lived shows. Far fewer people will remember Norman, hosted by Paul Holmes, A dropa kulcha, named in response to a comment by Prime Minister Robert Muldoon, or TV3’s first popular music show, Shakedown.

1960s

In February 1962 AKTV2 started screening New Zealand’s first TV music show, In the groove (1962–64).

TV had only been officially launched in the country in 1960, and a national network wasn’t established until the following decade. So In the groove screened on other regional channels later in the year.

Kevan Moore produced the first series of the show. It featured a ‘panel of young people’ giving their views on ‘current pop records’. Compere Stewart McPherson introduced guest artists. Moore was also responsible for the short- lived Let’s go (1964) and On the beat site (1965), and the more popular C’mon (1966–69) featuring the groovy Sandy Edmonds. All were hosted by the radio and television personality Peter Sinclair.

According to Moore, C’mon was axed by mutual consent after he accepted that the public wouldn’t put up with the increasing numbers of records that were ‘glorifying drugs and weirdo sex’. He felt ‘uneasy’ that they were ‘ignoring a lot of songs or changing the lyrics’.

1970s

Moore’s mild-mannered replacement for C’mon, Happen inn, screened from 1970 until 1973. Its cancellation ended his decade-long partnership with Sinclair.

Famous hosts

A number of TV icons got their start on music shows. Chief among them were Karyn Hay, who hosted Radio with pictures from 1981 to 1985, and Philip Schofield, who hosted Shazam! during the same period. Less well known is Paul Holmes’ brief role as a music show host on Norman and The grunt machine.

Moore followed up Happen inn with the country’s first colour music show, Free ride (1974), hosted by pop star Ray Columbus. By this time the national network had been completed and this series appeared on network TV.

In the mid-1970s the break-up of the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation led to the establishment of separate TV networks. Two of the next decade’s staples debuted on the competing channels: Ready to roll (1975–87/94) with host Roger Gascoigne on TV1 and Radio with pictures (1976–88) with host Barry 'Dr Rock' Jenkin on SPTV (TV2).

A number of other music shows screened during the 1970s. They included Pop Co (1972–73), The grunt machine (1975–76), Norman and The good time show (1975).

1980s

The first half of the 1980s was a period of relative stability for music show lovers. After the two networks amalgamated under TVNZ in 1980, TV1 and TV2 no longer needed to compete. For almost half a decade Ready to Roll, Radio with pictures, and then Shazam! (1982–87), screened year in and year out, shifting between the two channels.

True colours

Following the cancellation of the existing shows in 1986 TVNZ introduced True Colours, hosted jointly by Shazam’s Phillipa Dann and Radio with pictures’ Dick Driver. The show featured local bands recorded live in Wellington and Auckland. Only seven of the ten planned episodes went ahead.

In 1986 TVNZ took all music shows off the air following a dispute with record companies, who were demanding payment for video clips that were becoming increasingly expensive to produce. TVNZ refused to pay to screen them on the grounds that this was ‘a form of sales promotion’.

The dispute was resolved by the end of the year and the shows returned to air. But stability never returned. Heading into the next decade they were shaken once again by the arrival of competition. All of TVNZ’s music shows had by now moved to TV2, so it would be them versus TV3.

A number of other music shows screened during the 1980s. These included two offshoots of Ready to roll, RTR video releases (1982–86) and RTR mega-mix (1988–90), and the short-lived A dropa kulcha (1981–82), Heartbeat city(1987–88) and CV (1989).

1990s

Several significant changes took place during the 1990s, among them the launch shows on of weekend mornings. TV3 made the first move with Shakedown (1989–91). TV2 responded by putting RTR Sounz (1989–92) up against it.

The RTR brand dominated the scene at the beginning of the decade. No fewer than four offshoots – RTR countdown, RTR mega-mix, RTR new releases (1990) and RTR Sounz – coexisted in 1990. Later that year Pepsi was granted naming rights to the programmes. TV3 followed this lead with various offshoots of Coca Cola TVFM (1991–93). NZ On Air began funding New Zealand music videos in 1991 but it supported shows devoted to local music; chart-driven programmes such as these continued to be commercially sponsored. The RTR brand itself had disappeared by the mid-1990s, but its successors continued well into following decade.

The 1990s also saw the arrival of the first music channels, Cry TV and Max TV (1993–97). Both were forced out by TVNZ’s failed experiment with New Zealand’s own MTV (1997). Juice TV also started in the 1990s, as an offshoot of Sky TV’s Orange Channel.

Evening music shows continued to screen during the 1990s. In addition to RTR countdown, Radio with pictures reappeared briefly in 1990, followed by Frenzy (1993–97), Music nation (1995–97), Ground zero (1999) and Squeeze (1998–2004).

2000s

The early 2000s was a time of rapid change. TVNZ revived early-evening RTR (2000–04) and launched late-night Space (2000–03), all-night M2 (2001–03) and even a local version of Top of the pops (2004–05).

Alt TV

From 2006 to 2009 the privately owned and operated 24-hour music channel Alt TV provided an irreverent and at times controversial alternative to the more popular music options available.

TV3 and TV4 screened the phone-in request show Most wanted (2000–03) and the Pepsi chart (2001–02). Even Prime TV got in on the act with the week-night music show Cue (2000–01).

Despite all this activity, the early 2000s was really the beginning of the end of music shows on the main channels. In 2003 TV4 was transformed into a music channel, C4.

The number of music shows on the main channels has decreased steadily since then, and none screen regularly on these channels in 2010. Viewers are now getting their music fix from Juice TV, C4 and the internet.

Further information

Biography of Peter Blake on NZOnScreen (producer Ready to roll, Radio with pictures, Heartbeat city)
Biography of Brent Hansen on NZOnScreen (producer/ director, Radio with pictures)
Biography of Tony Holden on NZOnScreen (producer Ready to roll, Radio with pictures)

Elections on TV - Timeline

It took a while for television to make its mark on New Zealand elections, but since the 1980s the small screen has been the decisive campaign battleground. Politicians and parties seek to sway voters through slick TV advertisements and try to outsmart their rivals in live leaders’ debates. At the same time, campaign and election-night news coverage has become more extensive and lavish, especially since TV3 emerged as a rival to Television New Zealand (TVNZ) in 1989. Here we explore a few of the highlights – and lowlights – of New Zealand elections in the TV age.

1963

Interview with Keith Holyoake, 1963

Televised election advertisements appear for the first time but have little impact on a dull campaign. The three main parties – National, Labour and Social Credit – share two hours of pre-recorded speeches, broadcast on each of the four regional TV stations. According to one critic, the leaders look like ‘semi-animated waxworks’ in front of the camera.
There is no special news coverage on election night. The regional stations announce results during breaks in their scheduled programming.

1966

The parties’ TV allocations remain limited, and most politicians still appear stiff and uncomfortable on air.
The New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) produces two election specials during the campaign. From 8 to 9.45 p.m. on election night results are broadcast as they come in.

1969

Labour Party TV commercial, 1969

In 1969 the style of televised election advertisements begins to change. The airtime allocated to parties increases and the minimum time slots become smaller. The old style of ‘talking heads’ explaining detailed policies is replaced by short, snappy advertisements that are simpler and more emotional. Labour’s ‘Make Things Happen’ advert (which also screens, in full colour, in cinemas) uses split-screen imagery and a poppy theme song to appeal to younger viewers.
On election night the NZBC’s Ian Johnstone presents a nationwide special with expert commentary from Professor Robert Chapman. While the expert panels have got bigger and the studio gadgetry more sophisticated, the basic format of election-night coverage has remained largely the same ever since.

1975

Dancing Cossacks political TV ad

The 1975 election is the first held after the introduction of colour TV and a second channel. National causes a stir with colourful cartoon adverts devised by the advertising agency Colenso and animated by the legendary American studio Hanna–Barbera. A string of Russian Cossacks, intended to link Labour policies with Soviet-style communism, dance across the screen and into New Zealand political folklore.
Labour also runs a controversial advert featuring an image of a piglet – a cheeky reference to National leader Robert Muldoon, who is often called ‘Piggy’ by his enemies.

1984

One of the key moments in the 1984 campaign is the televised leaders’ debate a week before Election Day. Robert Muldoon, the first New Zealand prime minister to master the medium of TV, finally meets his match in Labour’s David Lange. National’s campaign slogan is ‘New Zealand, you’re winning’ – unfortunately for Muldoon, he loses the debate and the election.

1987

Fronted by the charismatic Lange, Labour’s adverts feature American TV stars like Ed Asner (Lou Grant) praising the government’s nuclear-free policy, while ‘Pokarekare Ana’ plays in the background. National’s adverts are dark and dramatic, highlighting broken promises and economic turmoil.

1993

The election campaign is overshadowed by the referendum on changing the voting system from First-Past-the-Post to the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system. A well-funded anti-MMP group, the Campaign for Better Government, spends $500,000 on TV adverts in the last week of the campaign; pro-MMP campaigners even accuse them of inserting subliminal messages. But MMP is endorsed by 54% to 46%.

1996

The Alliance party produces the campaign’s funniest TV advert, which stars an orang-utan ridiculing other parties’ policies.
The TVNZ leaders’ debate introduces the infamous ‘worm’ – a squiggly line that reflects the instant responses of 100 ‘undecided’ voters in the studio audience. Most politicians hate the gimmicky device, and it is dropped for the 1999 campaign.

2002

The ‘worm’ returns to TVNZ, and United Future’s Peter Dunne charms it, boosting his party’s vote and bringing another seven MPs into Parliament with him. Meanwhile, Winston Peters’ New Zealand First Party borrows Bob the Builder’s slogan (‘Can we fix it? Yes we can!’) and wins 13 seats.

2005

National’s animated ‘Tax-athon’ advert, which borrows the memorable Telethon theme tune, recalls the dancing Cossacks of 1975. Its TV spots are backed by a clever billboard campaign, but it isn’t enough to defeat the Labour-led government.
After TV3 initially excludes them from its live leaders’ debate, Peter Dunne and the Progressive Party’s Jim Anderton take the channel to court to ensure they appear alongside other leaders. Meanwhile, TV3 picks up the ‘worm’ (ditched by TVNZ) and gives it a new name – the ‘Reactor’.

2008

Following recent elections the long-running Maori current affairs show Marae has brought successful Maori candidates together in its studio. This election special from 2008 features the five Maori Party and two Labour Party MPs.

Timeline - Pencarrow Lighthouse

Key dates

A tour around Pencarrow Lighthouse

July 1857: Tender accepted for the casting of the lighthouse from Messrs Cochrane and Company of Woodside Iron Works, Dudley, UK.
21 June 1858: The lighthouse arrives on board the barque Ambrosine in 480 packages.
September 1858: The brigantine Caroline transfers the packages to Pencarrow Head, where they are hauled up to the lighthouse site.
1 January 1859: New Zealand’s first lighthouse is lit for the first time.
1 September 1859: The eclipsing light mechanism is replaced with a fixed light.
1863: Control of the lighthouse is transferred from provincial government to the Marine Board.
1865: The lighthouse is sold to the general government.
1871: New residences for lighthouse keepers erected.
1873: The government purchases land from Maori living at Petone and pays rent for period already occupied.
11 July 1898: New Zealand’s first fog signal erected beside the lighthouse.
1906: A new lighthouse is erected at the bottom of the Pencarrow cliffs.
1927: The existing fog signal replaced with a compressed-air diaphone signal.
17 June 1935: The lighthouse ceases to operate after a new automated lighthouse at Baring Head becomes operational. Pencarrow is maintained as a navigational aid, and a keeper continues to maintain the fog signal.
1941: The lighthouse’s light mechanism is removed.
1953-62: The Hutt Valley Drainage Board constructs a road which improves access to the lighthouse.
1 January 1959: The lighthouse celebrates its centenary.
20 February 1959: A plaque is unveiled to mark the centenary of New Zealand’s first lighthouse. The plaque was provided by the recently formed National Historic Places Trust which had recognised the lighthouse as a historic place under the Historic Places Act 1954.
1959: The fog horn is automated, removing the need to have staff permanently stationed at Pencarrow.
1960: The land is transferred from the Marine Department to the Department of Lands and Survey. The last keeper is transferred from the station.
1963: The station buildings, including keepers' cottages, are demolished.
November-December 1966: The lighthouse is transferred from the Marine Department to the then renamed New Zealand Historic Places Trust (NZHPT).

Maintenance work in 1980

1974-80: A significant restoration project is undertaken by the Ministry of Works and Development at the request of NZHPT.
1979: The lighthouse is included in an historic reserve of 2044 square metres. NZHPT is appointed to control and manage the reserve.
1 January 2009: The lighthouse celebrates its sesquicentenary.

A moustache timeline

1800–1880s – beards maketh the man

A style sometimes known as 'friendly mutton chops'

Facial hair was big in the 19th century. Look at paintings or photographs from this time, and chances are the men will have beards, moustaches or sideburns – and sometimes elaborate combinations of all three.

For much of the century, the emphasis was on beards and ’burns. Big hairy beards were all the rage in the middle decades. The bushier the beard, the more virile the man, some people believed. In an age as obsessed with health issues as our own, some people claimed that good beards meant good health.

Moko and facial hair

Cultural or religious practices meant some men grew, or did not grow, facial hair. As the art of moko (or facial tattooing) declined in Maori society from the middle of the century, more Maori men grew moustaches or beards. Christian missionaries had argued that moko were heathen, so some Maori men let their facial hair grow to cover their tattoos.

1880s–1910s – from bushman to man about town

A more clean-shaven look was in fashion from about the 1880s. Moustaches came into their own. The shaggy ‘walrus’ style had the hair droop luxuriously over the lip, but other styles demanded a lot of care. The ‘Imperial’ – modelled by European royalty at the end of the century – required men (and their barbers) to shave and brush the hair up the cheek.

Moustache styles, 1900

Even more dedicated care was needed to carry off the ‘handlebar’ moustache with any panache. This style took its name from the handlebars of push-bikes, and to get that same look, men would trim and wax the moustache into shape.

Advances in technology nudged fashion towards the clean-cut look – from the 1880s men could use safety razors instead of strops and blades — but styles for facial hair also tell a story of changing ideas about men and masculinity. Being without a beard gradually became seen as a sign of a civilised, modern man. Whiskers were fine in the bush where men could not be expected to shave every day. As New Zealand became more urban, though, and society demanded that men be more respectable, the beard, like the rugged frontier, was left behind.

1910s–1960s – smooth upper lip

Joseph Ward

It was only a matter of time before the moustache went the same way as beards and sideburns. An entirely smooth face was becoming the norm by the 1910s. The First World War hastened the hairless look. Men who spent weeks in the mud and grime of trenches relished the chance to wash and shave in clean water, and after the war, the shaving trend continued.

The 1920s brought an emphasis on personal hygiene. A sleek hairless face was the ideal look for men. And hairlessness became fashionable for women, too; this is the time when clothing styles showed more of women’s bodies, and shaving underarms and legs began in earnest.

Shaving with safety razors

Another world war and the discipline of military life kept upper lips smooth. There were exceptions: sailors could get permission to stop shaving and grow a ‘set’, and the moustached pilot was common in the air force. The groomed Hollywood star look, so beloved of Kiwi men in the 1950s, was clean-shaven with short back and sides. This took some effort. Women may have gone to the hairdressers every week or so to get their hair done, but men were just as fussy; they shaved daily and had a weekly hair trim from the barber, Mum, their wife or a mate.

1960s–1980s – protest becomes culture

Protester, 1970

Being without a moustache and beard may have set off a strong masculine jawline – in theory if not in reality – but by the later 1960s a generation of men had had enough. The clean-shaven look stood for conservatism and old-fashioned values; a younger generation wanted the freedom that the world seemed to offer. Moustaches returned as men wore their rebellion as a fashion and lifestyle statement.

Soccer World Cup team, 1981

The 1970s and early 1980s were another heyday for the moustache. No longer was a hairy moustache an outward sign of disaffected youth. Every second man seemed to have a moustache. From the sports field to the state service, the trend was towards big and bushy as moustaches seemed to symbolise a rugged manliness. Was it just a coincidence that this happened at the same time as the women's rights movement got under way?

New styles also came in, heavily influenced by American fashion. The droopy, sinister ‘Fu Manchu’ and pencil-thin Italian ‘tash’ both owed some of their popularity to kung fu, gangster and Mafia movies of the time.

1980s onwards – fashion and identity

Policeman with moustache

The moustache craze did not last much beyond the early 1980s, but pockets of people with moustaches hung on – often in uniformed services, such as the Police, the Fire Service or the armed forces.

For some in the gay community coming out in the 1980s, moustaches were an iconic symbol of identity. Inspired by singer Freddy Mercury or bearded ‘Bears’, gay men wore their facial hair with pride.

Men continued to experiment with their facial hair as a fashion statement, but beards and sideburns largely won out over the moustache. The All Blacks of the 1990s and 2000s – conscious modellers of style compared to their forebears – sported all manner of head and facial hairstyles, but moustaches on their own were largely a thing of the past.

Barbers put the changes down to lifestyle. ‘Coffee and lattes don’t mix — all that froth gets stuck in the moustache so something had to go,’ one Wellington barber said to the Dominion Post newspaper late in 2006. The moustache barely rated in the appearance stakes for the style-savvy metrosexual of the early 21st century, though they have made a come-back since 2010, perhaps influenced by the growing popularity of ‘Movember’.

New Zealand disasters timeline

This timeline lists New Zealand’s worst post-1840 natural disasters, transport accidents, fires, mining accidents and other tragedies that have caused major loss of life. Follow the links for more information on NZHistory.net.nz, Te Ara and other sites. See also: map showing location of these disasters

Note: this list does not include loss of life due to enemy action in wartime, such as the First World War battle of Passchendaele, where, on 12 October 1917, 845 New Zealanders were killed on a single day, or the sinking of the liner Wimmera, which hit a German mine off Cape Maria Van Diemen on 26 June 1918. Nor does it include major disease outbreaks, such as the 1918 influenza pandemic, which claimed more than 8600 lives over several months.

1846 Taupō landslide: On 7 May a massive landslide on the shores of Lake Taupō overwhelmed the kāinga (Māori village) of Te Rapa, killing around 60 people, including Ngāti Tūwharetoa leader Mananui Te Heuheu Tūkino II. Find out more.
1855 Wairarapa earthquake: On 23 January a magnitude 8.2 earthquake struck the lower North Island. It killed between five and nine people in Wellington, Manawatū and Wairarapa and radically altered the landscape of the Wellington region. Find out more on Te Ara.
1863 HMS Orpheus shipwreck: On 7 February the Royal Navy steam corvette HMS Orpheus, carrying British troops, foundered at the entrance to Auckland’s Manukau Harbour. Of the 259 men on board, 189 died in the worst maritime disaster in New Zealand waters. Find out more about the Orpheus disaster
1865 Fiery Star shipwreck: On 11 May the sailing ship Fiery Star caught fire and sank south of Cuvier Island, off the Coromandel Peninsula, with the loss of 79 lives. Find out more on Te Ara.
1865 City of Dunedin shipwreck: Leaving Wellington on 20 May, the paddle steamer City of Dunedin and its 39 passengers and crew disappeared without trace. The ship is presumed to have foundered in Cook Strait. Find out more
1866 General Grant shipwreck: On 14 May the sailing ship General Grant was wrecked in the Auckland Islands, south of New Zealand, with the loss of (ultimately) 73 lives. Ten survivors were finally rescued 18 months later. Find out more on Te Ara.
1868 Great storm: On 3/4 February a violent storm swept across much of the country, wrecking 12 ships – including the Star of Tasmania and Water Nymph at Oamaru – and causing flash floods. More than 40 lives were lost. Read contemporary newspaper account.
1874 Cospatrick shipwreck: On the night of 17/18 November the emigrant ship Cospatrick, sailing from England to Auckland, was destroyed by fire off the Cape of Good Hope. Of the 473 people on board, only three survived. Although this tragedy occurred far from New Zealand and involved migrants who had yet to live in this country, the burning of the Cospatrick could be considered our worst civilian disaster. Find out more.
1879 Kaitangata mine accident: On 21 February, 34 miners were killed in an explosion at the Kaitangata coal mine in Otago. Find out more.
1881 Tararua shipwreck: On 29 April the steamer Tararua was wrecked off Waipapa Point, Southland. Of the 151 passengers and crew on board, 131 were lost in the worst civilian shipwreck in New Zealand waters. Find out more
1882 Timaru harbour tragedy: On 14 May a sudden storm wrecked two large sailing ships, the City of Perth and Ben Venue, in Timaru’s exposed roadstead. Nine lives were lost. Among the dead were the port’s harbourmaster and five local watermen, who had tried to rescue the ships’ crews. See memorial for this event and more information on Te Ara
1886 Taiaroa shipwreck: On 11 April the steamer Taiaroa struck rocks near the mouth of the Clarence River, north of Kaikōura, and sank with the loss of 34 lives. Read a contemporary newspaper account.
1886 Tarawera eruption: On 10 June the volcanic Mt Tarawera, south-east of Rotorua, erupted spectacularly, killing perhaps 120 people and burying the famed Pink and White Terraces on Lake Rotomahana. Find out more on this site and Te Ara
1894 Wairarapa shipwreck: On 29 October, in a heavy fog, the liner Wairarapa steamed into cliffs on Great Barrier Island, with the loss of 121 of its 251 passengers and crew. Read contemporary newspaper account.
1896 Brunner mine accident: On 26 March an explosion at Brunner, West Coast, killed 65 coal miners in New Zealand’s worst mining disaster. Find out about this and other mining accidents on Te Ara.
1902 Loch Long shipwreck: In late May the three-masted sailing ship Loch Long was wrecked off the Chatham Islands, with the loss of 24 lives. Find out more
1902 Elingamite shipwreck: On 9 November the steamer Elingamite was wrecked on the Three Kings Islands, north of Cape Rēinga, with the loss of 45 lives. Find out more on Te Ara.
1909 Penguin shipwreck: On 12 February the Cook Strait ferry Penguin struck rocks off Cape Terawhiti and sank with the loss of 72 lives. Find out more.
1914 Landslide on White Island: On 10 September ten sulfur miners were killed on White Island when part of the crater wall collapsed, causing a landslide. Find out more
1914 Huntly mine accident: On 12 September 43 coal miners were killed in an explosion at Ralph’s Mine, Waikato. Find out more
1923 Ongarue railway accident: On 6 July the North Island main trunk express slammed into a huge landslide at Ongarue, north of Taumarunui. With 17 deaths, this was the first major loss of life on New Zealand’s railways. Find out more.
1926 Dobson mine accident: On 3 December an explosion at the Dobson coal mine on the West Coast killed nine miners. Read contemporary newspaper report
1929 Murchison earthquake: On 17 June an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale struck the north of the South Island, killing 17 people. The shock was felt throughout New Zealand but centred on the Murchison area, where it caused massive landslides. Find out more on Te Ara.
1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake: On 3 February New Zealand’s deadliest earthquake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, devastated much of Napier and Hastings. The official death toll was 256, but 258 is likely to be a more accurate figure. Find out more on Te Ara. See also: images of the Hawke's Bay earthquake
1938 Kōpuawhara flood: On 19 February a flash flood swept away a Public Works railway construction camp at Kōpuawhara on the East Coast, killing 21 workers. Find out more.
1939 Huntly mine accident: On 24 September 11 men were asphyxiated by carbon monoxide at the Glen Afton coal mine, Huntly. Read more
1942 Seacliff Mental Hospital fire: On 9 December a fire at Seacliff Mental Hospital, north of Dunedin, killed 37 of the 39 female patients in Ward 5. Find out more
1943 Hyde railway accident: On 4 June the Cromwell–Dunedin express derailed near Hyde, Central Otago, with the loss of 21 lives. Find out more
1943 Paekākāriki maritime accident: On 19 June a LCVP (landing craft, vehicle and personnel) from the troop transport USS American Legion was swamped during an amphibious landing exercise at Paekākāriki, north of Wellington. Ten US Navy sailors drowned. Find out more
1943 US Liberator crash: On 2 August a US Liberator aircraft carrying internees to Australia crashed into a mangrove swamp adjacent to Whenuapai airfield, killing eight Japanese, three Thai nationals, and three members of the crew. Find out more
1947 Ballantyne’s fire: On 18 November 41 people were killed in New Zealand’s deadliest fire, in the Ballantyne’s Department Store in Christchurch. Find out more.
1948 Mt Ruapehu air crash: On 23 October a Lockheed Electra airliner crashed near Mt Ruapehu, with the loss of all 13 passengers and crew. Find out more.
1949 Waikanae air crash: On 18 March a Lockheed Lodestar airliner crashed near Waikanae on the Kapiti Coast. All 15 passengers and crew were killed. Find out more from Te Ara.
1950 Ranui shipwreck: On 28 December the passenger launch Ranui, returning from a holiday trip to Mayor Island, was wrecked on North Rock, Mt Maunganui. Of the 23 people on board, only one survived. Read more
1951 Wellington to Lyttelton yacht race: On 23 January, 20 yachts left Wellington bound for Lyttelton in an ocean yacht race to celebrate Canterbury’s centenary. Following a severe southerly storm only one yacht officially finished the race. Two others were lost along with their 10 crew members. Find out more.
1953 Tangiwai railway accident: On 24 December a North Island main trunk express plunged off the Tangiwai bridge into the Whangaehu River. The bridge had been fatally weakened by a lahar from Mt Ruapehu’s crater lake. Of the 285 people on board, 151 were killed. This is New Zealand’s worst rail disaster. See Tangiwai disaster for more information.
1959 Holmglen shipwreck: On 24 November the coaster Holmglen foundered north of Oamaru. All 15 crew were lost. Find out more.
1963 Northland bus crash: Fifteen people were killed in New Zealand’s worst bus accident. A party was returning from Waitangi Day celebrations when shortly after lunchtime on 7 February the bus failed to take a bend as it descended Pilbrow Hill, in the Brynderwyn Hills, south of Whāngārei. Find out more.
1963 Kaimai air crash: On 3 July a DC-3 airliner crashed in the Kaimai Range, Bay of Plenty. All 23 passengers and crew were killed in what remains the worst air crash within New Zealand. Find out more.
1966 Kaitawa shipwreck: On 23 May near Cape Rēinga the collier Kaitawa was lost with all 29 hands. Read more
1967 Strongman mine accident: On 19 January an explosion at the Strongman coal mine, near Greymouth, killed 19 miners. Find out more.
1968 Wahine shipwreck: On 10 April the Lyttelton–Wellington ferry Wahine struck Barrett Reef at the entrance to Wellington Harbour in atrocious conditions caused by tropical cyclone Giselle. Of the 734 passengers and crew on board, 51 died (a 52nd victim died several weeks later, and a 53rd of related causes in 1990). See Wahine disaster for more information.
1968 Inangahua earthquake: On 24 May an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale struck the Inangahua area on the West Coast. Three people were killed. Find out more on Te Ara.
1979 Mt Erebus air crash: On 28 November an Air New Zealand DC-10 airliner, on a sightseeing flight to Antarctica, crashed into Mt Erebus. All 257 passengers and crew were killed in New Zealand’s worst air disaster. See Mt Erebus disaster and the related entry on Te Ara for more information.
1988 Whanganui air crash: On 12 May 10 people died when a charter plane crashed in Ahu Ahu Valley, near Whanganui. Read more
1989 Milford Sound air crash: On 8 August 1989 10 people died when a scenic flight from Wanaka to Milford Sound crashed into the side of a mountain in the Upper Dart Valley. Read more
1993 Franz Josef Glacier air crash: On 25 October nine people died when a sightseeing plane crashed into Franz Josef Glacier on the West Coast. Read more
1995 Cave Creek disaster: On 28 April a Department of Conservation viewing platform built over a cliff at Cave Creek in the West Coast’s Paparoa National Park collapsed, killing 14 people. Read more
2000 Lindis Pass air crash: On 24 April a Cessna aircraft whose passengers had been attending the Warbirds Over Wanaka airshow crashed into the side of a hill in Central Otago. The pilot and five passengers were killed. Read more
2008 Tongariro tragedy: On 15 April six students and their teacher from Auckland’s Elim Christian College drowned in a canyoning accident while participating in an outdoor education programme near the Tongariro National Park. Read more
2010 Fox Glacier air crash: On 4 September nine people died when a skydiving plane crashed after taking off from Fox Glacier airfield on the West Coast. Read more.
2010 Canterbury (Darfield) earthquake: Although there were no deaths, this 4 September earthquake was – at the time – the largest to affect a major urban area since the 1931 Hawke’s Bay quake. Read more on Te Ara
2010 Pike River mine accident: Two explosions on 19 and 24 November resulted in the deaths of 29 coalminers at the Pike River mine on the West Coast. It was this country's worst mining disaster since 1914. Read more
2011 Christchurch earthquake: At 12.51 p.m. on 22 February a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck 10 km south-east of central Christchurch at a depth of only 5 km. The death toll was 185*, making it New Zealand’s worst natural disaster in terms of loss of life since 1931. Read more
2012 Carterton balloon tragedy: At approximately 7.30 a.m. on 7 January 11 people - five couples and the pilot - were killed in a balloon accident near Carterton. A fire ignited on board causing the hot air balloon to crash in farmland. It is New Zealand's worst ballooning accident. Read more on NZHerald website
2012 Foveaux Strait fishing tragedy: Around midnight on 14 March The Easy Rider, a fishing boat, capsized off the northern tip of Stewart Island. Eight of those on board drowned. There was one survivor who described how the boat was swamped by a rogue wave. This was New Zealand's worst maritime disaster since the Wahine tragedy of 1968. Read more on NZHerald website

* The official toll was initially given as 181 but four further victims were confirmed by the coroner in February 2012.