1910: Lauderdale Betrayed by Government
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
Today in history, 28 June, 1910, the SS Lauderdale was evacuated on the Blaketown Beach, Greymouth. It had spent the previous day failing to cross the bar into the Grey River and deciding to call it quits. Remains of the wreck were still there when I visited today at low tide and will be for […]
Read more..June 28, 2022
Matariki, a Government Program est 2001
By NZB3
Had you asked anyone in New Zealand prior to this century what Matariki was they would not be able to tell you. At best, they would recognise it as a place name or the Maori word for the Pleiades cluster. Thanks to about 20 years of propaganda all our school children now know more about […]
Read more..June 24, 2022
1989: The Great Amalgamation
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
The Local Government Comission (LGC) was formed in 1946 with the agenda of breaking up community government and handing it over to the Executive. The LGC had tried and failed six times over the years. Then came Labour 4.0. Local Government Minister Michael Bassett teamed up with Brian Elwood and steamrolled various districts, boroughs, and […]
Read more..June 20, 2022
1986: Adventure Playground
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
This image (left) is of an endangered if not extinct habitat for young New Zealanders that was called an Adventure Playground. This one belongs to the Young Generation X time period at Goodwood School, Cambridge, at a time when it had just 72 pupils. We see rope-swings, old tires, concrete pipes, netting, and the potential […]
Read more..June 13, 2022
1918: Te Paina Marae Raid
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
Today in New Zealand history, 11 June, 1918, New Zealand Policed raided Te Paina marae at Mercer. They were looking for Maoris to conscript for the Great War. Princess Te Puea had created a refuge at Mercer for the Contentious Objectors and refused to co-operate with the police bust. As the men, often the wrong […]
Read more..June 11, 2022
1869: Opepe
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
Today in New Zealand history, 7 June, 1869, Te Kooti wiped out 9 of a 14-man contingent of Armed Constabulary at Opepe by ambush. The site is 18km east of Taupo. I looked for it twice before finding it but, as is the way with these things, it wasn’t really that hard in hindsight. As […]
Read more..June 7, 2022
1912: The Kokatahi Band
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
New Zealand’s Kokatahi Band resembles the 1885 one Marty McFly and Doc Brown discovered in the film Back to the Future III (image, left) and with good reason. Along with the same target time period and same instruments the sound of the movie band and the real life one are quite similar and musically pleasing. […]
Read more..June 3, 2022
1842: The Bishop of New Zealand
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
Today in New Zealand history, 30 May, 1842, a new religious invasion force came to this country led by George Selwyn. With his 22 missionary apostles the Bishop of New Zealand set out with equipment and biotechnolgoy with which to stamp their Anglican authority on the colonies and tribes. Selwyn even took along a Maori […]
Read more..May 30, 2022
1953: Conquest of Everest
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
Today in New Zealand history, 29 May, 1953, Edmund Hillary and his Napalese companion Tenzing Norgay were the first men to reach the top of the world’s tallest mountain: Mt Everest. Hillary came of age in the 1930s as part of a generation re-discovering Physical Culture. The Depression had been hard on the young because […]
Read more..May 28, 2022
1943: Coates Dies in Office
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
On 27 May, 1943, Gordon Coates collapsed and died in Parliament at his desk. Not the first and, hopefully, not the last of our Prime Ministers to die on parliament grounds. Coates had been Prime Minister himself some 20 years previous. But, now, during Labour 1.0 and WW2 days, he remained a powerful force. When […]
Read more..May 27, 2022
1979: Winston Peters Gets In
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
Winston Peters was a protege of Prime Minister Robert Muldoon (National 3.0) and in particular the ‘Barnstorming’ political style Rob had in the mid-1970s. Peters gained the office of an MP in 1979 not by election but by Electoral Court. Malcolm Douglas, brother of another Labour MP, Roger, was booted out in favor of Peters […]
Read more..May 24, 2022
1840: The Proclamations of Sovereignty
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
From today in history, 21 May, 1840, New Zealand became a British Colony with all inhabitants subject to the laws of England. This, our legal founding, was accomplished by the William Hobson Gang by issuing two Proclamations of Sovereignty. One was for the North Island, one was for the South Island and Stewart Island. Things […]
Read more..May 21, 2022
