After four terrible years the First World War finally came to a close with the signing of the Armistice on 11 November 1918. Parades were held throughout the country, though the spread of the influenza pandemic and a general war weariness dampened celebrations at home and abroad
The lethal influenza pandemic that struck New Zealand between October and December 1918 killed more than 8600 people in two months. No other event has claimed so many New Zealand lives in such a short time.
Many people believed that the second wave of the 1918 influenza
pandemic arrived in New Zealand in the form of ‘a deadly new virus’ on
board the RMS Niagara.
Over a
single week, prominent businessman and community figure O. F. Nelson
had lost his mother, one of his two sisters, his only brother, and
daughter-in-law. S. H. Meredith lost seven close relatives
Margaret Cruickshank was the first woman to be registered as a doctor in New Zealand. She worked tirelessly during the 1918 influenza pandemic but eventually caught the disease herself and died on 28 November 1918.
