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Kiwi of the Week

Wiremu Kingi Te Rangitake

Te Ati Awa leader Wiremu Kingi Te Rangitake's refusal to give up his land at Waitara led to the outbreak of the Taranaki War. In later life joined the pacifist community at Parihaka

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Today in History

7 April

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 eight boys. It became a school that attracted boys from around the country as well as the local Nelson area, and remains one of the few boarding schools left in the country.

Notable old boys have included Nobel Prize winner Ernest Rutherford, Victoria Cross recipient Leonard Trent, former Commonwealth Secretary-General and deputy Prime Minister Don McKinnon, and two former Labour Prime Ministers: Wallace Rowling and Geoffrey Palmer.

A team from Nelson College also took part in the first game of rugby played in New Zealand, when it played the Nelson Rugby Football Club in May 1870.