Today in History
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Historic NZ events in November
Nov
1898 Old-Age Pensions Act passes into law
A world first, the Act gave a small means-tested pension to destitute older people who were 'of good moral character'; Chinese were specifically excluded. It was one of the major achievements of Richard Seddon's Liberal government. more...
Nov
1942 NZ Division helps Allies break through at El Alamein
The 2nd New Zealand Division opened the way for British armour, allowing the Allies to make a decisive breakthrough at El Alamein, Egypt, and send the Axis forces into retreat. more...
Nov
1886 Manawatū rail link opened
Built by the privately owned Wellington & Manawatu Railway Company (WMR), the line would help open the Kapiti Coast, Horowhenua and Manawatū to European settlement in the late 19th century. more...
1886 Birth of iconic Anchor butter brand
Henry Reynolds' new factory at Pukekura, Waikato, produced its first butter. The brand name was allegedly inspired by a tattoo worn by one of Reynolds' workers. more...
1974 'Summer time' reintroduced on trial basis
The trial proved popular with most New Zealanders and daylight saving of one hour (from October to March) was made permanent in 1975. more...
Nov
1930 Phar Lap wins the Melbourne Cup
Ridden by Jimmy Pike, the New Zealand-bred (but Australian-owned) wonder-horse beat Second Wind by two lengths to claim one of his greatest victories. more...
Links
- The Melbourne Cup
- Phar Lap wins the 1930 Melbourne Cup
- Timaru's heroes - roadside stories
- Phar Lap: Australia's wonder horse (Victoria museum)
- Phar Lap's skeleton (Te Papa)
- Phar Lap's heart (Te Papa)
- Melbourne Cup (Australian Government Culture and Recreation Portal)
- Famous NZ thoroughbreds (1966 encyclopaedia)
- Phar Lap (NZ racing legends and memories)
Nov
1881 Attack on pacifist settlement at Parihaka
Parihaka had come to symbolise protest gainst the confiscation of Māori land. Its leaders, Te Whiti and Tohu Kakahi, were arrested and exiled until March 1883. more...
Links
- Prophets and colonists - New Zealand Wars
- Tohu Kakahi
- Pai Mārire
- Te Whiti-o-Rongomai
- John Hall
- Parihaka (Parihaka.com)
- Parihaka: The art of passive resistance (City Gallery)
- Te Whiti o Rongomai biography (DNZB)
- Tohu Kakahi biography (DNZB)
- John Bryce biography (DNZB)
- Taranaki: Resistance (Te Ara)
- 'Comet over Mount Egmont (Taranaki) and Parihaka' (Te Ara)
Nov
1908 Last spike for North Island main trunk line
The last spike was driven home by Prime Minister Ward at Manganuioteao, between National Park and Ōhakune. A regular express service between Auckland and Wellington began in February 1909. more...
Nov
1970 Aoraki/Mt Cook route conquered by hippies
Long-haired Christchurch mountaineers John Glasgow and Peter Gough became the first to successfully scale the 2000-m Caroline Face of Aoraki/Mt Cook, declaring it a ‘triumph for the hippies’ more...
1848 The Acheron arrives to begin survey of NZ waters
Captained by John Lort Stokes, the paddle steamer Acheron spent four years charting the New Zealand coastline. more...
Nov
1939 NZ Centennial Exhibition opens
More than 2.6 million people visited the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition which ran from 8 November 1939 to 4 May 1940 at Rongotai, Wellington. more...
1936 NZers march into a besieged Madrid
Griff Maclaurin and Steve Yates were part of the International Column of anti-fascist volunteers who marched into Madrid, bolstering the city's defences against the assault of General Franco's rebel armies. They were killed in battle within two days of arriving more...
Nov
1769 Captain Cook observes transit of Mercury
Captain Cook's astronomer Charles Green observed the transit of Mercury at Te Whanganui-o-Hei (Mercury Bay) on Coromandel Peninsula. more...
1920 White New Zealand policy introduced
The Immigration Restriction Amendment Act 1920 made it necessary for immigrants to apply for a permanent residence permit before they arrived in New Zealand. more...
Nov
1868 Te Kooti attacks Matawhero
Te Kooti and his supporters attacked Matawhero in Poverty Bay, killing approximately 60 people – roughly equal numbers of Māori and Pākehā. more...
Nov
1918 Armistice Day
The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month marks the moment when hostilities ceased on the Western Front in 1918, following the signing of the Armistice more...
1942 Troop ship Awatea goes down fighting
New Zealand’s finest pre-war passenger liner, the Union Steam Ship Company’s Awatea, was sunk by German and Italian bombers after landing Allied troops on the North African coast.
more...Nov
1912 Striker fatally wounded at Waihī
Striking worker Fred Evans was savagely beaten by police and strike-breakers during the bitter dispute at the goldmining town of Waihī. He died the following day. more...
Nov
1990 David Gray kills 13 at Aramoana
David Gray, an Aramoana resident, began a shooting spree that left 13 people dead.
more...Nov
1973 DPB legislation introduced
The passage of the Social Security Amendment Act introduced the Domestic Purposes Benefit. Paid out from 1 May 1974, the DPB was set at a level that enabled sole parents to stay home to care for their children. more...
1845 George Grey arrives in NZ
Grey served two terms as Governor and later one as Premier. His most notable achievement in his first term as Governor (1845-53) was probably his management of the relationship between the Crown and Māori. more...
Nov
1861 First issue of Otago Daily Times published
Dunedin became the first New Zealand centre to get a daily newspaper when William Cutten and future Premier Julius Vogel published the first issue of the Otago Daily Times. more...
1769 British flag flies for first time in NZ
By raising the British Colours on Coromandel Peninsula, Cook claimed the area in the name of King George III. more...
Nov
1840 NZ officially becomes British colony
New Zealand became a separate colony of Britain. The North, South and Stewart islands were to be known respectively as the provinces of ‘New Ulster’, ‘New Munster’ and ‘New Leinster’ more...
Links
Nov
1925 NZ and South Seas International Exhibition opens
By the time it closed in May 1926 the exhibition had attracted over 3.2 million visitors, more than double New Zealand's total population at the time. more...
Nov
1874 Cospatrick fire kills 470
En route to Auckland laden with immigrants, the Cospatrick caught fire off the Cape of Good Hope. The tragedy has been described as New Zealand's worst civil disaster. more...
Nov
1992 Fred Hollows Foundation launched in NZ
The foundation was established in Australia by the Kiwi-born ophthalmologist (eye doctor) to treat eye problems in poorer countries. Within six years 200,000 people had their sight restored via cataract surgery. more...
Nov
1937 Parachuting Santa crashes in Auckland Domain
George Sellars narrowly escaped serious injury when he was able to sway his parachute just in time to avoid crashing through the glass roof of the Winter Gardens during the Farmers' Christmas parade. more...
1841 Mass murder in the Bay of Islands
Maketū Wharetōtara, the 17-year-old son of the Ngāpuhi chief Ruhe, killed five people at Motuarohia in the Bay of Islands. In March 1842 he became the first person to be legally executed in this country. more...
Nov
1863 Māori surrender at Rangiriri
More British were killed at 'Bloody Rangiriri' than in any other battle of the New Zealand Wars. But the British victory opened the Waikato basin to the Imperial forces. more...
Nov
1939 Freyberg takes command of NZ expeditionary force
The First World War hero was British-born but New Zealand raised. He proved to be a charismatic and popular military leader and would later serve a term as Governor-General. more...
Nov
1947 Civic funeral for 41 Ballantynes fire victims
On 18 November 1947 Ballantynes, a Christchurch department store that was a local institution, was razed by one of the worst fires in New Zealand's history. The bodies of the 41 victims were buried at Ruru Lawn Cemetery, Bromley, after a civic funeral. more...
Nov
1959 Fifteen die in mysterious shipwreck
All hands were lost when the modern coastal freighter Holmglen foundered off the South Canterbury coast. The cause of the tragedy was never established more...
Nov
1903 Fitzsimmons wins third world boxing title
By winning the world light-heavyweight championship, Timaru boxer Bob Fitzsimmons became the first man ever to be world champion in three different weight divisions. more...
Nov
1960 'Kiwi Keith' begins 12-year reign as PM
The National Party, led by Keith Holyoake, swept into power, defeating Walter Nash's Labour Party, which had held office for the previous three years more...
Nov
1940 Liner sunk by German raiders off East Cape
The 16,712-ton New Zealand Shipping Company liner Rangitane was intercepted and sunk 550 km off East Cape, with the loss of 15 lives. more...
1849 Death of Te Rauparaha
The formidable Ngāti Toa leader had ruled the lower end of the North Island from his base at Kapiti Island for the best part of 20 years. more...
Nov
1979 257 killed in Mt Erebus disaster
Flight TE901, an Air New Zealand sightseeing flight over Antarctica, crashed into the lower slopes of Mt Erebus, near Scott Base, killing all 257 passengers and crew on board. more...
Links
- Erebus disaster
- New Zealand disasters timeline
- The end of the 'big mountain days' - Ed Hillary
- Antarctica and New Zealand
- Koru capsule on Mt Erebus
- The Erebus story (NZALPA)
- Erebus aircraft accident (Chch City Libraries)
- Erebus flight TE901 (Archives NZ - ChCh)
- CVR transcript Air New Zealand Flight 901 (Aviation Safety Network)
- The 1979 Erebus crash (Te Ara)
1893 Women vote in first general election
New Zealand women went to the polls for the first time, just 10 weeks after the Governor signed the Electoral Act 1893, making this country the first in the world to enfranchise all adult women. more...
2008 Air New Zealand A320 crashes in France
An Air NZ Airbus A320 crashed off the coast of France. All seven people on board, including five New Zealanders, were killed. It was 29 years to the day since Air NZ Flight TE901 crashed in Antarctica, killing all 257 on board more...
Links
- Air NZ momentum sculpture
- Interim report (BEA)
- Report finds first clues in Air NZ crash (TVNZ)
- Too low, too slow Air NZ crash transcripts (NZ Herald)
- XL Airways Germany A320 Flight 888T (Wikipedia)
- Crash: Air NZ A320 near Perpignan (The Aviation Herald)
- Tragic coincidence on Mt Erebus anniversary (NZ Herald)
- Erebus and Perpignan Anniversaries (Scoop)
Nov
1893 First woman mayor in British Empire elected
In winning the Onehunga mayoralty, Elizabeth Yates struck another blow for the rights of women the day after the first general election in which women could vote. more...
Nov
1949 Election of first National government
After 14 years of Labour government, voters were tired of continuing shortages and regulations. The National Party would be in power for 29 of the next 35 years. more...
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