Articles in ‘History’

NZ VJ Day – August 15th · After the collapse of Germany and its surrender in May 1945 and what became to be known as VE day, the war continued to rage in the Pacific with the Japanese the Allies delivered Japan an ultimatum to surrender on 28 July 1945. Known as the Potsdam Declaration. It called on Japan to surrender its armed forces unconditionally or risk “prompt and utter destruction.” · When this was ignored, the US dropped two atomic…

26 July 1865: Parliament sits in Wellington for the first time After the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, Governor Hobson set his mind to finding a more permanent capital for the new colony. Okiato, Bay of Islands, was initially regarded as the capital but in 1841 Hobson sent a party further south to survey the Whangarei, Mahurangi and Waitematā Harbours for a more central location. Two early choices, what are now Hobsonville and the Panmure…

10 June - The Eruption of Mt Tarawera · Just to the south-east of Rotorua, Mount Tarawera could be described as an unusual looking mountain, with several large domes and a broad, flat top. It was shaped by volcanic activity hundreds of years ago. The Māori inhabitants of the area, and the Europeans who arrived in the 19th century, did not know that Tarawera was an active volcano until 1886, when it came to life in the deadliest known eruption…

May 5, 1893 - US Stock Market Tumble Triggers Panic By the end of the year, 600 banks closed and several big railroads were in receivership. Another 15,000 businesses went bankrupt amid 20 percent unemployment. It was the worst economic crisis in U.S. history up to that time. Like most major financial downturns, the depression of the 1890s was preceded by a series of shocks that undermined public confidence and weakened the economy. The Panic…

Nz’s First Poppy Day · One Hundred Years Ago, on April 24th 1922, New Zealand held its first Poppy Day. It followed an international effort led by French woman, Madame Guérin who was a well-known touring lecturer and fundraiser, who split her time between living in the USA and France during the First World War. She was a director of the “American and French Children’s League”, which was the US branch of the French charity “La Ligue des enfants…

The Spanish Flu The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most severe pandemic in recent history. It was caused by an H1N1 virus with genes of avian origin. Although there is not universal consensus regarding where the virus originated, it spread worldwide during 1918-1919. In the United States, it was first identified in military personnel in spring 1918. · It is estimated that about 500 million people or one-third of the world’s population became…

The Napier Earthquake – Feb 3, 1931 · On the morning of 3 February 1931, the air in Napier ‘had grown still and oppressive’ and the sea was ‘so calm and still’ and a ‘most peculiar colour’, (Wright, 2001). At about 10:47am an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale struck central Napier and Hastings causing widespread damage and resulting in the deaths of 256. For two and a half minutes the earth shook with a violent force, with those…

The Commonwealth of Australia was founded on January 1st as six former British colonies became six states with Edmund Barton as the first prime minister. The commemoration was declared at a ceremony held in Centennial Park in Sydney, after a process of deliberation, consultation and debate involving majority votes across all of Australia. Not everyone was allowed to vote, however with Western Australia and Queensland excluding indigenous people…

The first international war crimes tribunal in history revealed the true extent of German atrocities and held some of the most prominent Nazis accountable for their crimes. On October 18, 1945, the opening session of the first international war crimes trial in history took place in Berlin, Germany. Unable to find a suitable venue in the destroyed Nazi capital, the court soon moved to the city of Nuremberg (Nürnberg) in Bavaria, where the…

A longstanding historic landmark built over 170 years ago with the hands of over 1000 men with a unique interior of both Maori and European design but also a sad history stands the Rangiatea Church in Otaki on the Kapiti Coast. Formally one of New Zealand’s oldest Maori Anglican churches, Rangiatea church was originally built in 1851 under the leadership of Chief Te Rauparaha and the Anglican missionary Octavius Hadfield (one of the first…