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Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1893 | - 19 Sep 1893: NZ Universal Female Suffrage
Universal Female Suffrage in New Zealand was achieved when a new Electoral Act was signed into law in 1893. New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world in which women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections. The passage of the Act was the culmination of years of agitation by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and other organisations. As part of this campaign, a series of massive petitions were presented to Parliament; those gathered in 1893 were together signed by almost a quarter of the adult female population of New Zealand.
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| 2 | 1899 | - 11 Oct 1899—31 May 1902: Second Anglo-Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought between the British Empire and two Boer states, the South African Republic (Republic of Transvaal) and the Orange Free State, over the Empire's influence in South Africa. Initial Boer attacks were successful, and although British reinforcements later reversed these, the war continued for years with Boer guerrilla warfare, until harsh British counter-measures brought the Boers to terms.
New Zealand sent more than 6,500 personnel and 8,000 horses to South Africa for the war, with 71 killed in action or dying of wounds, with another 159 dying in accidents or from disease.
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| 3 | 1901 | - 1 Jan 1901: Commonwealth of Australia
Australia became a nation on 1 January 1901 when six British colonies — New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania — united to form the Commonwealth of Australia. This process is known as Federation.
- 15 May 1901: 1st Automobile Offence
Speeding Offense: Nicholas Oates appeared in the Christchurch Magistrate’s Court charged with driving 'a motor car within the city at a speed greater than four miles an hour' (6.5 km/hr) on Lincoln Road, Christchurch. The excessive speed had frightened the horses of George Gould, whose carriage was standing in the road near the hospital. Oates and his business partner Alexander Lowry owned Zealandia Cycle Works, the largest bicycle factory in New Zealand or Australia in the late 1890s. In 1898 he had become the first person to import a car into the South Island. At the time of his conviction for speeding there were only seven motor vehicles in Canterbury.
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| 4 | 1904 | - 27 Apr 1904: First Australian Labour Government
When Chris Watson and his ministers were sworn in on 27 April 1904, they were forming not just Australia’s first national Labor government. It was the first national labour government in the world.
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| 5 | 1908 | - 6 Nov 1908: Auckland to Wellington Railway Completed
The Auckland to Wellington Railway was ceremonially opened by Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward, at Manganuioteao, between National Park and Ohakune in 1908. Construction of the central section between Te Awamutu and Marton had taken 23 years. Regular services between Auckland and Wellington began soon after the opening ceremony, and an express service introduced in February 1909 made the journey in 18 hours. From 1924, a new 'Night Limited' service cut the trip to 14 hours.
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| 6 | 1914 | - 28 Jul 1914—11 Nov 1918: World War One
World War One (often abbreviated as WWI or WW1), also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe. Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history. It is also one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting genocides and the resulting 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide.
Commonwealth countries, including New Zealand and Australia sent troops to the war in support of Great Britian. 8% of Australia's population served overseas in the war (330,000) and total deaths were 60,284. 9% of New Zealand's population served overseas in the war (98,950) and total deaths were 18,058.
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| 7 | 1918 | - Oct 1918: Influenza Pandemic
The second and more deadly wave of a new strain of Influenza arrived in New Zealand in October 1918. By the end of the year around 9,000 people across the country had died. Half as many New Zealanders lost their lives in little more than two months than during the entire First World War, and worldwide the pandemic was responsible for at least 50 million deaths. Maori were particularly affected by the flu, with a death rate eight times that of Pakeha.
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| 8 | 1922 | - 4 Oct 1922: Radio in New Zealand
Radio in New Zealand. The first radio station, Radio Dunedin, began broadcasting on 4 October 1922, but it was only in 1925 that the Radio Broadcasting Company (RBC) began broadcasts throughout New Zealand. In 1932, RBC's assets were acquired by the government, which established the New Zealand Broadcasting Board (NZBB).
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Chris Korte's New Zealand Genealogy Project
1890 - 1925 (35 years)
