What happened that day?

Search event by date

See historic events for any day of the year by entering the date below. Why not try your birthday?

Visit the full Calendar

Kiwi of the Week

Rene Shadbolt

René Shadbolt led the only New Zealand contingent to the Spanish Civil War. She and fellow nurse, Isobel Dodds, cared for wounded soldiers, particularly those from the International Brigades, from July 1937 to November 1938.

more

Get KotW as RSS

Today in History

7 April

1856 First state secondary school opens in Nelson

The first state secondary school in New Zealand, Nelson College opened in temporary premises in Trafalgar Street with a roll of eight boys. It became a school that attracted boys from around the country as well as the local Nelson area, and remains one of the few boarding schools left in the country.

Notable old boys have included Nobel Prize winner Ernest Rutherford, Victoria Cross recipient Leonard Trent, former Commonwealth Secretary-General and deputy Prime Minister Don McKinnon, and two former Labour Prime Ministers: Wallace Rowling and Geoffrey Palmer.

A team from Nelson College also took part in the first game of rugby played in New Zealand, when it played the Nelson Rugby Football Club in May 1870.