Historic NZ events in January
Jan
1859 NZ's first lighthouse, Pencarrow, lit for the first time
The lighthouse on Pencarrow Head was lit for the first time amid great celebration. After years of inadequate solutions, Wellington finally had a permanent lighthouse – a New Zealand first. Read more...
1951 Legislative Council abolished
The Legislative Council was New Zealand's Upper House, to which members were appointed, not elected. It was abolished in 1950 by government legislation. Read more...
Jan
1938 First official airmail flight to San Francisco
The first official New Zealand airmail to the United States was carried from Auckland to San Francisco on Pan American Airways' Samoan Clipper. The Sikorsky S-42B flying boat was piloted by Captain Ed Musick. Read more...
Jan
1840 New Zealand Company surveyors arrive in Port Nicholson
Surveyors arrived in Port Nicholson to lay out the proposed New Zealand Company settlement of Britannia at Pito-one (Petone). This site would prove unsuitable, prompting a move across the harbour to the present-day site of Wellington. Read more...
1930 First NZ-made 'talkie' screened
Coubray-tone News, the work of the inventive Ted Coubray, had its first public screening at Auckland's Plaza Theatre. Read more...
Jan
1958 Hillary leads NZ party to South Pole
Sir Edmund Hillary led the New Zealand component of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition on the first overland trip to the South Pole since Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated journey in 1912. Read more...
1869 Te Kooti defeated at Ngātapa
Pursued by kūpapa and colonial troops to Ngātapa, an old hilltop pā inland from Poverty Bay, Te Kooti narrowly avoided capture after a four-day siege. Most of those with him were captured and many were executed the following day. Read more...
Jan
1977 Occupation of Bastion Point begins
Joe Hawke led an occupation of Takaparawhā (Bastion Point reserve), Auckland, to protest against the Crown's decision to sell land that Ngāti Whātua maintained had been wrongly taken from them. Read more...
Jan
1953 Godfrey Bowen sets world sheep-shearing record
At Ōpiki, Manawatū, Godfrey Bowen set a new world record when he sheared 456 full-wool ewes in nine hours. Bowen helped establish sheep shearing as a legitimate sport and was one of the inaugural inductees into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1990. Read more...
Jan
1931 Completion of first solo trans-Tasman flight
Australian Guy Menzies' flight from Sydney ended when he crash-landed his Avro Avian biplane in a swamp at Harihari on the West Coast. Read more...
Jan
1863 Haast begins West Coast expedition
Julius von Haast's exploration of the West Coast revealed the extent of the Grey River coalfields and found traces of gold in rivers. The Haast Pass and Haast River are named after him. Read more...
Jan
1923 Death of Katherine Mansfield
The internationally acclaimed author revolutionised 20th-century English short-story writing. Her work has been translated into more than 25 languages. She died from tuberculosis at the age of 34. Read more...
Jan
1928 Pioneer aviators vanish over the Tasman
Hood and John Moncrieff made a gallant if poorly organised attempt to be the first to fly the Tasman from Australia to New Zealand. Read more...
1838 Catholic missionaries arrive at Hokianga
French Bishop Jean Baptiste François Pompallier, a priest and brother of the Society of Mary, arrived at Hokianga. His party celebrated their first mass three days later. Read more...
Jan
1846 Ruapekapeka pā occupied by British forces
The battle at Ruapekapeka, the 'bats' nest’, was the last battle of the Northern War. Debate soon raged as to whether the pā had been abandoned by its defenders or captured by the British. Read more...
Jan
1954 Queen Elizabeth II opens NZ Parliament
A crowd of 50,000 greeted Queen Elizabeth II as she arrived at Parliament. This was the first time New Zealand's Parliament had been opened by a reigning monarch. Read more...
Jan
1890 'Torpedo Billy' Murphy wins the world featherweight boxing title
By defeating Ike Weir at San Francisco, Murphy became the first New Zealander to win a world professional boxing title. Read more...
Jan
1891 Bob Fitzsimmons wins world middleweight boxing title
Fitzsimmons knocked out Jack Dempsey in New Orleans to become the second New Zealander to hold a world boxing title. Read more...
Jan
1970 Anti-Vietnam War protesters greet US Vice President
United States Vice-President Spiro Agnew's visit to New Zealand sparked violent confrontations outside his hotel between anti-war demonstrators and police. Read more...
Jan
1941 Women's Auxiliary Air Force founded
New Zealand's first female military personnel were complemented within 18 months by the members of the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps and the Women's Royal Naval Service. Read more...
Jan
1853 NZ Constitution Act comes into force
The New Zealand Constitution Act (UK) of 1852, which established a system of representative government for the colony, was declared operative by Governor Sir George Grey. Read more...
Jan
1980 'Montego Bay' hits number one
Upper Hutt's Jon Stevens made it back-to-back No. 1 singles when 'Montego Bay' bumped 'Jezebel' from the top of the New Zealand charts. He would later be the lead singer for Australian bands Noiseworks and INXS. Read more...
Jan
1967 19 killed in Strongman Mine explosion at Rūnanga
Nineteen men were killed when an explosion ripped through the Strongman coal mine at Rūnanga. An investigation concluded that safety regulations had not been followed and that a shot hole for a charge had been incorrectly fired. Read more...
1845 Hōne Heke cuts down the British flagstaff - again
Initially supportive of the Treaty of Waitangi, Hōne Heke became increasingly disenchanted with the effects of European colonisation. This was his third attack on the flagstaff at Kororāreka (Russell). Read more...
Jan
1957 Scott Base opened in Antarctica
Scott Base, New Zealand’s permanent Antarctic research station, was originally established to support the privately run Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Read more...
Jan
1944 NZ and Australia sign the Canberra Pact
The Canberra Pact was an undertaking by both countries to co-operate on international matters, especially in the Pacific. Read more...
1859 Ice comes to Nelson
Nowadays it is easy to enjoy a cold drink on a hot afternoon, but it was not always as simple as adding ice from the freezer to water from the refrigerator. Once the ice made a far longer journey. Read more...
Jan
1840 First European settlers arrive in Wellington
The New Zealand Company's first settler ship, the Aurora, arrived at Petone, marking the founding of the settlement that would become Wellington Read more...
Jan
1855 Massive earthquake hits Wellington region
A magnitude 8.2 earthquake lifted the southern end of the Rimutaka Range by 6 m. Land raised from the harbour now forms part of Wellington's CBD. Read more...
1951 Disastrous centennial yacht race begins
Twenty yachts left Wellington bound for Lyttelton in a race to celebrate Canterbury's centenary. Following a severe southerly storm only one yacht officially finished the race. Two others were lost along with their 10 crew members Read more...
Jan
1865 Imperial forces invade south Taranaki
During what turned out to be his final campaign in New Zealand, General Cameron was apparently called 'The Lame Seagull' by a Māori opponent because of his alleged slowness and timidity Read more...
1980 Soviet ambassador expelled
The ambassador of the Soviet Union, Vsevolod Sofinsky, was ordered to leave the country within 72 hours for giving money to the pro-Soviet Socialist Unity Party. Read more...
Jan
1974 First day of competition at the Christchurch Commonwealth Games
On the opening day of what were billed as the 'Friendly Games', Canterbury runner Dick Tayler pulled off a surprise victory for the host nation in the 10,000 m. Read more...
Jan
1984 Floods devastate Southland
A record one-day total of up to 84.8 mm of rain had by 9 p.m. caused extensive surface flooding in the streets of Invercargill, Riverton, Ōtautau, Tūātapere and Bluff. Read more...
1844 Governor FitzRoy arrives to investigate Wairau incident
Faced with demands for revenge after the deaths of 22 settlers in an incident in the Wairau Valley, Governor FitzRoy decided that the Māori had been provoked by the unreasonable actions of the Europeans. Read more...
Jan
1962 Peter Snell breaks world mile record
Widely considered one of the greatest middle-distance runners of all time, Snell broke Herb Elliott's world record on grass at Cooks Gardens, Whanganui, covering the distance in 3 minutes 54.4 seconds. Read more...
Jan
1901 Hardham wins VC in South Africa
Wellington blacksmith William Hardham served in South Africa with the fourth New Zealand contingent. He was the only New Zealander to win the Victoria Cross in the South African War. Read more...
1827 D'Urville sails through French Pass
In a feat of great navigational daring - and after several attempts - the French explorer Dumont d'Urville sailed the Astrolabe through French Pass into Admiralty Bay in the Marlborough Sounds. Read more...
Jan
1842 Auckland's first Anniversary Day Regatta
Anniversary Day commemorates the arrival of Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson in the Bay of Islands in 1840. Today Anniversary Day is best known for the huge annual regatta on Waitematā Harbour Read more...
Jan
1954 Queen farewells New Zealand
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, left Bluff at the end of the first tour of New Zealand by a reigning monarch. Read more...
1911 Bookies banned from NZ racecourses
An amendment to the Gaming Act at the end of 1910 banned bookmakers from New Zealand racecourses. 'Bookies' were officially farewelled at a race meeting at Takapuna. Read more...
Jan
1921 NZ’s first regular airmail service begins
The first flight of the Canterbury Aviation Company’s new airmail service took off from Christchurch for Ashburton and Timaru. Read more...