1940: Wartime Conscription
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
On 22 July, 1940, conscription was introduced by the Labour 1.0 Government. All males ages between 18 and 46 eligible for call up to service via the ballot. It was a decision supported by the majority that a New Zealander’s life belonged not to himself but to The State. This means that almost nobody who […]
Read more..July 19, 2024
1953: Auckland’s Southern Motorway
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
Today in history, 16 July 1953, Auckland’s first motorway, the Southern Motorway, officially opened. This 3.2-kilometre Penrose to Mt Wellington section was only the beginning. Created by Minister of Works Stan Goosman (National 1.0) and he keept building it further and further south opening up southern Auckland. In 1955 it reached Wiri, then Takanini in […]
Read more..July 16, 2024
1885: Government Tram of Death
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
Government trying be venture capitalists tends to be stupid and a failure. Worse, it’s someone else who must pay for their mistakes and not the twits involved. How many times does New Zealand need to re-learn that government should not and cannot “pick winners?” You might like to think that the occasion upon which Christchurch […]
Read more..July 12, 2024
2011: Flixbox
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
Flixbox started up in New Zealand in 2011 with DVD Vending machines which must have worked well because they were prolific in Auckland for about 10 years. Very useful for watching new release movies. What coincided with their quietly vanishing was not that people stopped wanting them or even that streaming platforms took over. It […]
Read more..July 8, 2024
1916: Birth of the Labour Party
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
The Labour Party was formed on 7 July, 1916, in Wellington. It formed its first Ministry (Labour 1.0) in 1935. Interesting to consider what took them so long. The Labour Party in the UK was founded in 1900. It first formed a government in 1924. In Australia, Labour (ALP) was formed in 1901 and formed […]
Read more..July 7, 2024
1875: Premier Daniel Pollen
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
Today in history, 6 July, 1875, Daniel Pollen became the 9th Premier of New Zealand. Pollen had been in New Zealand a long time having arrived in the country slightly ahead of the Hobson Gang and so be one of the settlers to welcome them and observe the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in […]
Read more..July 5, 2024
1856: The Christchurch Club
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
The Christchurch Club (est. 15 March 1856) was an institution of the ‘Squattocracy’ during the era when this class of men were the power in New Zealand. Their 1860s building (left) is still on the corner of Worcester Street and Latimer Square in Christchurch today. In his Dune saga, science fiction author Frank Herbert moved […]
Read more..June 27, 2024
2000: The Waikato Connection
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
Today in history, 26 June, 2000: The Waikato Connection. Tranz Rail started this passenger service between Hamilton and Auckland on a 6 month trial basis. There were stops at Huntly, Pukekohe, Papakura, Middlemore and Newmarket. The service was halted as uneconomic on 7 October 2001. During these 15 months this ‘InterCity Rail’ part of the […]
Read more..June 26, 2024
1890s: The Villa
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
Kiwis have a love/hate relationship with a form of domestic architecture called the Bay Villa or just Villa (for short.) Many of the homes in the New Zealand’s housing stock still date from this Victorian/Edwardian period between about 1890 and 1918. In the South Island, particularly Christchurch, straight-shooting real estate dealers called these a T […]
Read more..June 25, 2024
2018: The Provincial Growth Fund
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
The Provincial Growth Fund (2018) was initially a slush fund awarded to the New Zealand First political party to induce them to join the Labour 6.0 coalition. Having lost the 2017 election, Labour was determined to out-bid Bill English’s National 4.0 Ministry so for the ‘King Maker’ NZ First it was a seller’s market. Their […]
Read more..June 17, 2024
1914: Takanini
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
Ihaka Takanini (1800 – 1864) was one of the titleholders of extensive land in what is now South Auckland. In 1856 Ihaka was one of 12 Maori chiefs to have his photo taken by John Crombie and sent to the London Illustrated News. Ref. Daily Southern Cross (1856,) Papers Past This picture (left) is from […]
Read more..June 14, 2024
1863: Darwin Among the Machines
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
Today in New Zealand history, 13 June, 1863, Samuel Butler’s warnings about Artificial Intelligence were published in Christchurch’s Press newspaper. Butler was 27 years old, the newspaper 2 years old, and the colony itself just 12 years. Butler himself was a disenchanted Cambridge classics scholar who recoiled from the tracks laid down for him to […]
Read more..June 13, 2024
