1868 Killer storm sweeps the country

It was a Sunday afternoon when the storm swept across the country, beginning with little more than a steady drizzle. By the time it had ended the next morning, at least 25 people had been killed.

The greatest loss of life in a single event during this storm was at Waireka Creek, near Oamaru, where nine people were killed as a flash flood swept away their houses. Another 13 fatalities came from the 12 ships wrecked by the wild seas whipped up by the storm. Seven lives were lost when the Fortune was stranded 10 miles south of Hokianga and five when the Star of Tasmania went ashore at Oamaru, including the two Baker children, who drowned in berths where they had been put to keep safe.

There was also widespread loss of property, with entire crops being washed away and livestock lost in the floods. A memorial to the five Totara Station workers who were amongst the dead in the Waireka Creek flood was erected in the Oamaru cemetery. The tragic events of this day later inspired the 2008 play The Great Storm of 1868, written by Michelanne Foster.