New Zealand Events

1863 Feb 7 Sinking of HMS Orpheus
Orpheus left Sydney, Australia, on 31 January 1863. Her approach to Manukau Harbour on 7 February ran near Whatipu beach, through a series of dangerous sand bars. The weather was clear an...
1874 Nov 17 Loss of the Cospatrick
On the night of 17 November 1874, the immigrant ship Cospatrick was in the south Atlantic, several hundred kilometres south-west of Cape Town. The ship had left Gravesend more than two mo...
1881 Apr 29 Wreck of the SS Tararua
The second greatest loss of life in New Zealand waters came in 1881 when 131 people died in the wreck of the Tararua. On a voyage from Port Chalmers to Melbourne, the ship struck a reef o...
1894 Oct 29 Sinking of the SS Wairarapa
The SS Wairarapa was a first class steamer owned by the Union Steam Ship Company that carried both passengers and cargo between Australia and New Zealand. On the 29th October 1894, the...
1917 Sep 24 Bere Ferrers Rail Accident
The men died on 24 September 1917 when they mistakenly got off their train at Bere Ferrers thinking they had arrived at their destination of Exeter. In fact the train had only stopped ...
1931 Feb 3 Hawke's Bay Earthquake
The 7.9 earthquake struck at 10.46 on the morning of February 3, 1931, the first day of the school year, a beautiful summer’s day. It was felt as two distinct movements half a minute apar...
1942 Dec 8 Seacliff Asylum Fire
At about 9.45 pm on Tuesday 8 December, 1942, fire broke out in Ward 5. This ward was a two-storeyed wooden building which had been added onto the original stone building when the hospita...
1947 Nov 18 Ballantyne's Store Disaster
There have, however, been terrible examples of the loss of human life by fire. Chief among these was undoubtedly the holocaust in a Christchurch department store in 1947 which cost 41 liv...
1953 Dec 24 Tangiwai Rail Disaster
At 10.21 p.m. on Christmas Eve 1953 the Wellington–Auckland night express plunged into the flooded Whangaehu River at Tangiwai, 10 kilometres west of Waiouru in the central North Island. ...
1963 Jul 3 New Zealand National Airways Corporation Flight 441 Crashes
New Zealand National Airways Corporation Flight 441 was a scheduled flight of New Zealand's National Airways Corporation from Whenuapai to Tauranga. On July 3, 1963 at approximately 9.09a...
1971 Jun 6
to 1971 Jun 7
 Battle of Long Khanh
The Battle of Long Khanh was fought during the Vietnam War on 6–7 June 1971 between the elements of 1st Australian Task Force and the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army during Operation ...