January 15, 2025

1200: Domesticated Moa

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

So Minecraft has moas now and they can be tamed? Well, there may be precedent…. “We learn from Mr. Shand that the Moriori of the Chatham Islands kept sea-gulls, tern, and parquets tamed, and that they protected the wingless birds of the island, only allowing them to be taken for food at certain seasons. Is […]

Read more..

July 22, 2021

2005: ACT 2.0

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

Back in 2006 the ACT Party had declined to just two elected frenemies, MPs Rodney Hide and Heather Roy. On the party’s administrative Board were two young men who were crazy about politics and had big ambitions for the future. The board membership aided their securing posts as parliamentary staffers. They are David Seymour (circle […]

Read more..

July 21, 2021

1998: Ngai Tahu Claims Settlement Act

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

Know your history – Kimihia ō kōrero tuku iho. Richard Tankersley hails his tribe as ‘trailblazers’ for their successful Treaty of Waitangi claim culminating in the Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act (1998). Among other things, $170,000,000 cash and exemption from income tax were carried away down the “blazing” trail. But were generation 1998 really the […]

Read more..

July 20, 2021

1948: Polio School Holiday

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

Poliovirus once ravaged New Zealand with periodic epidemics, paralising our children for life if not killing them. The most deaths in one year were in 1925, when 173 people died. We’ve had multiple epidemics, thousands of cases, hundreds of deaths and all before our population reached 2 million. In 1947 an epidemic was so bad […]

Read more..

July 19, 2021

1997: The Death of Mat Rata

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

Today in history, 18 July, 1997,…. Matiu Rata was a Labour 3.0 Minister and one of the many men who helped launder millions of dollars of taxpayer money using the cover story that it was owed to Maori plaintiffs. He wasn’t as good as Doug Graham (National 4.0) or Chris Finlayson (National 5.0) but was […]

Read more..

July 17, 2021

1878: Russian Scare

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

  A Victorian gentleman surveys Auckland Harbor from the top of Mt Victoria in 1878. Devonport, below, already very established. It was the time of our second ‘Russian Scare’. The reason for the photo may be a propagandistic one, a fantasy war- George Grey vs Tsar Alexander of Russia! Our Premier (facing an election the […]

Read more..

July 16, 2021

1966: Kaipara Nuclear Power Station

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

The National 2.0 Government (Dec 1960–Dec 1972) certainly were an energetic gang when it came to Statist projects! They gave us decimal coins, Rotorua Museum, and the aluminium smelter at Tiwai Point. All of these things are living history and have been topical this week; I wrote about them all. Did you know they were […]

Read more..

July 15, 2021

1905: Murchison Madmen

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

Today in history, 14 July, 1905, a frustrated South-Nelson settler ignited his dynamite vest. For Joseph Sewell it was instakill but everyone else gathered around Murchison Courthouse survived. The Sewell family had been going tough on their block since the 1880s. Migrating to New Zealand was no sweet deal and the life ended up killing […]

Read more..

July 14, 2021

1934: Death of Kate Sheppard

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

Today in history, 13 July, 1934, Kate Sheppard died in her Christchurch home aged 86. By this time she was Katherine Lovell-Smith. Kate is remembered for being the poster woman of the successful campaign to give women the ability to vote in New Zealand central government elections. In actual fact, these women were re-gaining an […]

Read more..

July 13, 2021

1860: Kohimarama Conference

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

Today in New Zealand history, 10 July, 1860, the Treaty of Waitangi was ratified at the Kohimarama Conference in Auckland. Chiefs from all over New Zealand came to discuss and debate and reflect. How was this whole Colonisation thing working out anyway, these past 20 years? The conference went on for a month and served […]

Read more..

July 9, 2021

1855: The Mackenzie Country Heist

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

Jock Mackenzie migrated to New Zealand via Australia in 1847 where he became a freelance shepherd. Getting his own block of land wasn’t so hard but the terms required he stock it if he was to keep it. So, the wily Scotsman drew on his heritage: He rustled someone else’s sheep. Mackenzie had a cunning […]

Read more..

July 8, 2021

1959: Keith Trek

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

Keith Trek, 1959, was a successful attempt to start campaigning early for the General Election of 1960. “In the next two months I will trek through every part of New Zealand,” said Keith Holyoake, the once and future Prime Minister. Meanwhile, Labour 2.0 Prime Minister Walter Nash was lying and committing crimes in Nelson (Walter’s […]

Read more..

July 5, 2021