Today in History
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Historic NZ events in April
Apr
1965 TEAL becomes Air New Zealand
On 1 April 1965 Tasman Empire Airways Limited (TEAL), New Zealand's international air operator, was renamed Air New Zealand Limited.
more...
1987 State-Owned Enterprises are born
The State-Owned Enterprises Act heralded a major overhaul of the public sector and was a key part of the strategy of economic liberalisation known as 'Rogernomics'.
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1974 Accident Compensation Corporation comes into operation
The creation of ACC followed the Accident Compensation Act 1972, which stipulated that the state should provide 24-hour, no-fault insurance for all personal injury. more...
1981 New Zealand Film Archive launched
The New Zealand Film Archive has grown considerably since it began operation in the Wellington premises it shared with the New Zealand Federation of Film Societies. more...
Links
Apr
1916 Arrest of Rua Kenana
On the morning of Sunday 2 April 1916, 57 armed police invaded the remote Tuhoe settlement of Maungapohatu in the Urewera Ranges. They had come to arrest the prophet Rua Kenana.
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1915 Anzac soldiers riot in Cairo's Wazzir brothel district
During the afternoon and evening of 2 April (Good Friday), an estimated 2500 New Zealand and Australian troops rioted in the Haret Al Wassir red-light district of Cairo's Ezbekieh Quarter. more...
Apr
1943 'Battle of Manners Street'
The most famous of several wartime skirmishes between New Zealanders and American servicemen, the Battle of Manners Street saw hundreds of soldiers and civilians slugging it out in downtown Wellington.
more...Apr
2001 Silvia Cartwright becomes Governor General
The swearing in of Dame Silvia Cartwright as governor-general meant that five of the country's most powerful political and legal positions were held by women.
more...Apr
1932 Death of Phar Lap
Two weeks after winning one of North America's richest races, the Agua Caliente Handicap, the Australasian champ died of a mystery illness in California. more...
1871 NZ's first overseas diplomatic post created
New Zealand’s first overseas diplomatic posting was to the United Kingdom with Isaac Featherston’s appointment as agent-general in London. more...
Apr
1864 Pai Mārire ambush in Taranaki
A British patrol was ambushed by Pai Marire warriors near Oakura. Those killed were decapitated and their heads paraded by Pai Marire disciples to enlist recruits.
more...Apr
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 just eight boys.
more...Apr
1873 Julius Vogel becomes Premier
Vogel was the dominant political figure of the 1870s, serving as Colonial Treasurer and premier on several occasions, and borrowing heavily to invest in a massive public works and immigration programme.
more...Apr
1932 Unemployed disturbances in Dunedin
During the 'angry autumn' of 1932, in the depths of the Great Depression, unemployed workers in Dunedin reacted angrily to the refusal of the Hospital Board to offer them assistance.
more...Apr
1968 Sinking of the Wahine
The ferry Wahine, en route from Lyttelton and carrying 734 passengers and crew, struck Barrett Reef at the entrance to Wellington Harbour during a ferocious storm. Fifty-two lives were lost.
more...Links
- New Zealand disasters timeline
- The Wahine disaster
- Rough crossings - Cook Strait ferries
- End of the line - Lyttelton-Wellington ferries
- 1968 - key events
- Cook Strait's dangerous waters - roadside stories
- Wahine disaster 45 years on
- The sinking of the Wahine (Wtgn city libraries)
- Wahine (NZ Maritime Museum)
- 20th century shipwrecks (Te Ara)
1973 Labour government postpones Springbok rugby tour
Following police warnings of civil strife, Prime Minister Norman Kirk informed the New Zealand Rugby Football Union that the government saw ‘no alternative’ to a postponement of the planned tour by the South African Springboks. more...
Apr
1919 Soldiers' votes derail prohibition campaign
A referendum held the day before gave prohibition a 13,000 majority, but the result was overturned by the votes of 32,000 troops still overseas or in camp.
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1869 New Zealand's first Royal visit
The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Alfred, arrived in Wellington as captain of HMS Galatea. His was the first visit by a member of the Royal Family to New Zealand.
more...Apr
1913 HMS New Zealand begins tour of NZ
During its 10-week New Zealand tour, more than half a million people visited the battleship, which this country had gifted to the Royal Navy.
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1902 Train accident in South Africa kills 16 NZ soldiers
Sixteen members of the Eighth New Zealand Contingent were killed when their train collided with a goods train at Machavie (Machavierug) near Potchefstroom. more...
Apr
1896 NCW formed in Christchurch
The National Council of Women of New Zealand was established in Christchurch by women who had been active in the suffrage campaign. Their aim was to secure reforms to improve the status and condition of women.
more...Apr
1932 Unemployed riots rock Queen Street
Hundreds of unemployed people rioted in Auckland's Queen Street for more than two hours. Trouble began after several hundred public servants marched to the Town Hall to protest against proposed wage cuts. more...
Apr
1885 First sod dug for North Island main trunk
Politicians and Maori leaders ceremonially turned the ‘first sod’ of the central section of the main trunk line – a project that would take 23 years to complete.
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1868 First three Maori MPs elected to Parliament
Four Maori seats were established in 1867 and elections for Maori members were held the following year. Meant to be a temporary arrangement lasting five years, the seats became permanent in 1876.
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2008 Mangatepopo canyoning disaster
Six students and one teacher from Elim College died in a flash flood while canyoning in the Mangatepopo Stream, Tongariro National Park.
more...Apr
1892 NZ Rugby Union founded
As the popularity of rugby grew, it became necessary to standardise the running of the game in this country. Despite some opposition, a New Zealand Rugby Football Union was created at a meeting held in Wellington.
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1912 News of Titanic loss reaches NZ
Although no New Zealanders were aboard the world’s largest ship when it sank in the chilly North Atlantic with appalling loss of life due to a lack of lifeboats, they followed the news closely. more...
1973 Arthur Allan Thomas convicted of Crewe murders for a second time
In the retrial the defence case centred on the vital discovery of a shellcase which had been a key in Thomas’s original conviction. Despite these questions he was convicted for a second time. more...
Apr
1880 First inter-city brass band contest
An audience of 2500 people was on hand for the first inter-city brass band competition, which was held in the Christchurch Drill Hall. The inaugural winners were the Invercargill Garrison Band.
more...Apr
1847 Gilfillan killings near Whanganui
A Māori raid on the Gilfillan farm at Matarawa, near Whanganui, left four family members dead. The artist John Gilfillan and one of his daughters were severely wounded. more...
Apr
1884 Royal honour awarded to NZ woman for first time
The Royal Red Cross was awarded to Miss Alice Crisp, matron of Auckland Hospital, in a ceremony at Government House, Auckland. more...
1893 Liberals 'burst up' Cheviot Estate
In the 1890s the Liberal government was determined to break up big estates for closer settlement by small farmers. The first major purchase under this policy was the Cheviot Estate in north Canterbury.
more...Apr
1958 Mormon temple opens in Hamilton
This was the first temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the southern hemisphere. more...
1981 Allison Roe wins Boston marathon
Allison Roe won the prestigious Boston race, taking nearly 8 minutes off the previous course record. She followed this performance six months later with victory in the New York marathon. more...
Apr
1961 First Golden Shears competition
First held at the Masterton War Memorial Stadium in 1961, the Golden Shears competition has become an icon of the shearing and wool-handling industry in New Zealand.
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1967 Dave McKenzie wins the Boston Marathon
The 24-year-old McKenzie won the prestigious race in a course record time of 2:15:45 ahead of American Tom Laris and Yutaka Aoki of Japan. He was the first New Zealander to win the Boston Marathon. more...
Apr
1936 Ratana and Labour seal alliance
The alliance between the Ratana Church and the Labour Party was cemented at an historic meeting between T.W. Ratana and Prime Minister M.J. Savage on 22 April 1936.
more...Apr
1979 Blair Peach killed in London
New Zealander Blair Peach was killed during a clash between police and protesters at an anti-fascism rally in Southall, London.
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1983 Prince William meets 'buzzy bee'
The Prince and Princess of Wales played with their infant son Prince William and New Zealand's iconic children’s toy, the buzzy bee, on the lawn at
Government House, Auckland.
Apr
1922 New Zealand's first poppy day
A total of 245,059 small poppies and 15,157 larger versions were sold, earning £13,166. Of that amount, £3,695 was sent to help war-ravaged areas of northern France; the remainder assisted unemployed returned soldiers and their families. more...
1951 First NZer killed in battle in Korean War
Kay Force suffered its first fatal battle casualty with the death of Second Lieutenant Dennis Fielden. more...
1941 Sinking of the Hellas
Disaster struck during the evacuation of Allied forces from Greece when a large number of civilians and Commonwealth troops, including New Zealanders, were killed boarding the Greek yacht Hellas at the port of Piraeus, near Athens.
more...Apr
1915 NZ troops land at Gallipoli
New Zealand troops were part of the Allied invasion force that landed at what became known as Anzac Cove. Nearly 60% of the 8500 New Zealanders who served at Gallipoli would be killed, die from illness or be wounded.
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1963 NZ medics start work in South Vietnam
On Anzac Day 1963, a six-strong New Zealand civilian surgical team arrived in Qui Nhon, South Vietnam as part of the Colombo Plan assistance programme. Their deployment marked the beginning of New Zealand’s involvement in the Vietnam War. more...
Apr
1943 NZ ship torpedoed in Tasman
The Union Steam Ship Company freighter Limerick was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine off the New South Wales coast. Two of its crew were lost. more...
2005 Civil unions come into effect
Couples − heterosexual or homosexual − were now able to register their relationship as a civil union. All couples in New Zealand, whether married, in a civil union, or in a de facto partnership now had equal rights and obligations.
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1945 Death of John Mulgan
At the time of his suicide in Cairo many New Zealanders knew little of the Christchurch-born author of Man alone.
more...Apr
1806 Moehanga becomes first Māori to visit England
On 27 April Moehanga (Ngāpuhi) became the first recorded Māori visitor to England when the Ferret berthed in London.
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1893 Death of Premier John Ballance
Ballance was the first Liberal Premier. He laid the foundation for a government that supposedly made New Zealand ‘the social laboratory of the world’.
more...Apr
1888 First British rugby team to play in NZ
The first British rugby team to tour New Zealand played (and won) its first match, against Otago at the Caledonian Ground in South Dunedin. more...
1941 Jack Hinton wins the Victoria Cross
Southlander Jack Hinton was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC) for his actions on the night of 28 April 1941 at Kalamata during the evacuation from Greece. more...
Apr
1864 Assault on Gate Pā
With substantial artillery and 1700 men available, the British assaulted the Ngāi Te Rangi stronghold of Pukehinahina (Gate Pā), which was defended by just 230 warriors.
more...Links
- Taranaki and Waikato wars - New Zealand Wars
- Armstrong 9-pounder gun
- Tauranga 43rd Regiment NZ Wars memorial
- Tauranga Maori NZ Wars memorial
- Gate Pa - war in Tauranga
- Gate Pa and Te Ranga (NZETC)
- These things we must not forget (Te Ao Hou)
- Rawiri Puhirake biography (DNZB)
- Duncan Cameron biography (DNZB)
- Gate Pa (1966 encyclopaedia)
1952 ANZUS comes into force
Signed by Australia, New Zealand and the US, the ANZUS treaty recognised that an armed attack in the Pacific area on one member endangered the peace and safety of the others.
more...Links
- Political and constitutional timeline
- Nuclear-free New Zealand
- Overview - NZ and the Cold War
- Treaties and alliances - NZ and the Cold War
- Sidney Holland
- 1952 - key events
- Overview: 1946-2012 - Royal New Zealand Air Force
- RNZAF timeline - Royal New Zealand Air Force
- Full text of ANZUS (Australianpolitics)
- ANZUS (Wikipedia)
- ANZUS (BBC)
- Image of ANZUS meeting (Australian War Memorial)
- New Zealand in the world (Te Ara)
- Frederick Doidge biography (DNZB)
1881 131 perish in worst civilian shipwreck in NZ waters
The steamer Tararua, en route from Port Chalmers to Melbourne, struck a reef at Waipapa Point, Southland. Of the 151 passengers and crew on board, 131 were lost including 12 women and 14 children.
more...Apr
1865 Ex-Governor FitzRoy commits suicide
Robert FitzRoy, the second Governor of New Zealand (1843-45), took his own life at his home in Surrey. Opinion on his governorship has always been divided. more...
1864 Pai Mārire defeated at Sentry Hill, Taranaki
In one of their first military efforts, up to 300 Pai Marire warriors attacked a British redoubt at Te Morere (Sentry Hill) in Taranaki. Scores were killed or wounded.
more...This Week in History
