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
1840: Sovereignty over Stewart Island
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
Today in history, 5 June, 1840, British Sovereignty over Stewart Island was proclaimed. The usual legal rituals were performed by the expedition of the HMS Herald. These involved landing marines and ship’s officers, raising the Union Jack, and firing some guns. They also buried a bottle with the necessary paperwork and, perhaps, some coins (since […]
Read more..June 6, 2024
1960: Colorado River Campaign
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
Today in history, July 4, 1960, Jon Hamilton led a team of jetboaters up the Colorado River in the Grand Canon. It was the first time anyone had ever taken a boat up-stream and apparently it still is even now. Jon’s father, Bill Hamilton, a Cantabrian, had invented the jetboat and this was a test. […]
Read more..June 4, 2024
Kea Calculus
By NZB3
New Zealand’s alpine parrot the kea (Nestor notabilis) was once hunted as a pest at the behest of The State. The government bounty was at “$120 a head at one stage. More than 150,000 were shot before the bounty was removed, and they were protected in 1986.” Ref. North & South (2020,) Wayback Machine These […]
Read more..June 3, 2024
1869: University of Otago
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
Today in history, 3 June, 1869, our first university was founded. The University of Otago. This was almost exactly 8 years after Gabriel Read set off the Otago Gold Rush that made the province powerful and wealthy. The next was the University of Canterbury (est. 1873) which was about 9 years after the West Canterbury […]
Read more..June 3, 2024
1883: Auckland University College
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
Today in history, 21 May, 1883, the opening ceremony of Auckland University College. This took place in Old Choral Hall. Symonds Street. Being antique times they just called it Choral Hall back then. Today we call the institution the University of Auckland. Governor William Jervois officiated, at least nominally. His speech emphasised that tertiary education […]
Read more..May 21, 2024
1907: Standing in the Sunshine
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
What do women want? Well, after Suffragette Margaret Sievwright died they wanted a memorial for her in the middle of Gisborne. It was unveiled on Dominion Day, 26 September, 1907, the day the Colony of New Zealand was rebranded as the Dominion of New Zealand. According to the photo of the event (left) and the […]
Read more..May 21, 2024
Tall Poppy Syndrome
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
New Zealand’s Tall Poppy Syndrome takes its name from a passage in Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita (The History of Rome) written in the final years before Year Zero. According to Fischer (2012) the final King of Rome, Tarquin, had a problem to solve in the form of chiefly men who stood out from the rest […]
Read more..May 19, 2024
1977: Fair Go
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
The Government show Fair Go (1977-2024) was one of several long-standing television features on TVNZ. Current affairs show Sunday was out too as was the Midday News. The plug was also pulled on the Newshub platform on TV3 with some vestiges apparently to be outsourced to Stuff (probably bought it for $1.00) in July that […]
Read more..May 14, 2024
1985: Robin of Sherwood
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
Robin of Sherwood (1984-86) was a British action-adventure TV series that fit right in to New Zealand’s KZ7 Honour Culture of the same time period. The show first aired on our screens on 12 May, 1985. Created by Richard Carpenter who was also the man responsible for popular show The Adventures of Black Beauty (1972-4.) […]
Read more..May 12, 2024
1937: House-Broken Labour
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
On 12 May, 1937, the Coronation of Geoge VI occurred. Then, as now, New Zealand’s Labour Government Prime Minister attended. PM Michael J. Savage wore the full court dress, including kneebreeches. According to Labour biographer, Hobbes, this choice marked a turning point for Labour. The first-term government had still been in ‘soapbox’ mode: unpredictable and […]
Read more..May 11, 2024
