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

Yvette Williams

The sports writer Peter Heidenstrom rated Yvette Williams as his 'New Zealand Athlete of the Century'. There is no doubt that she was one of our greatest-ever athletes - and probably the most versatile.

more

Get KotW as RSS

Today in History

23 January

1855 Massive earthquake hits Wellington region

A magnitude 8.2 earthquake lifted the southern end of the Rimutaka Range by 6 m. Land raised from the harbour today forms part of Wellington's CBD. more...

Internal links

New Zealand disasters timeline

External links

'Earthquake at Wellington' (PapersPast)
Wellington earthquake (Chch City Libraries)
Earthquakes (Wgton City Libraries)
The 1855 Wairarapa earthquake (Te Ara)
Wellington Earthquakes (1966 encyclopaedia)

1951 Disastrous centennial yacht race begins

Twenty yachts left Wellington bound for Lyttelton in a 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 more...