Timeline: Hannah SHADBOLT [Annie]: Chris Korte's New Zealand Genealogy Project

Chris Korte's New Zealand Genealogy Project

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1881 - 1972 (90 years)

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Timeline

Hannah SHADBOLT (1881 - 1972)

	Date	Event(s)
1	1882	15 Feb 1882: 1st Frozen Meat Export The first frozen meat shipment was exported from New Zealand on 15 February 1882 aboard the Dunedin. The ship had been fitted with a coal-powered Bell Coleman freezing plant, which cooled the entire hold to 22 degrees celsius below the outside temperature. About 5000 carcasses were on board the Dunedin when it sailed from Port Chalmers to London. The new technology ultimately enabled the owner-operated (family) farm to become the standard economic unit in rural New Zealand for the next century.
2	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.
3	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.
4	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.
5	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.
6	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.
7	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.
8	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.
9	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).
10	1929	1929—1939: The Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place mostly during the 1930s, beginning in the United States. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations; in most countries, it started in 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s. It was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century. Personal income, tax revenue, profits and prices dropped, while international trade plunged by more than 50%. New Zealand was especially vulnerable to worldwide depression, as it relied almost entirely on agricultural exports to the United Kingdom for its economy. The drop in exports led to a lack of disposable income from the farmers, who were the mainstay of the local economy. Jobs disappeared and wages plummeted, leaving people desperate and charities unable to cope. Work relief schemes were the only government support available to the unemployed, the rate of which by the early 1930s was officially around 15%, but unofficially nearly twice that level (official figures excluded Maori and women). In 1932, riots occurred among the unemployed in three of the country's main cities (Auckland, Dunedin, and Wellington). Many were arrested or injured through the tough official handling of these riots by police and volunteer "special constables". After 1932, an increase in wool and meat prices led to a gradual recovery.
11	1931	3 Feb 1931: Hawkes Bay Earthquake When the deadly Hawkes Bay Earthquake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, struck at 10.47 a.m., many buildings in central Napier and Hastings collapsed immediately. Fire broke out in Napier’s business district shortly after the earthquake, and once the reservoir emptied, firefighters were powerless. Flames gutted almost 11 blocks of central Napier, killing some people who were still trapped. In terms of loss of life (256), it remains the worst civil disaster to have occurred in New Zealand.
12	1935	27 Nov 1935—12 Dec 1949: First NZ Labour Government New Zealand's first Labour Government was elected in the 1935 election. Undermined by its failure to cope with the distress of the Depression, the Coalition (or 'National') government was routed by the Labour Party led by Michael Joseph Savage. Labour held power for 19 years, implementing far-reaching economic and social reforms that set the political agenda for the next half century.
13	1938	14 Sep 1938: Social Security Act The Social Security Act was passed in 1938, the cornerstone of the first Labour government’s welfare programme. The Act overhauled the New Zealand pension system and extended benefits for families, invalids and the unemployed. The Act combined the introduction of a free-at-the-point-of-use health system with a comprehensive array of welfare benefits. It was financed by a tax surcharge of one shilling in the pound, or 5%. Supporters envisaged a scheme that would protect New Zealanders 'from the cradle to the grave'.
14	1939	1 Sep 1939—15 Aug 1945: World War Two World War Two (often abbreviated to WWII or WW2), also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from more than 30 countries. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 70 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war. New Zealand and Australia contributed to the Allies war effort. 575,799 Australians served overseas. About 140,000 New Zealand men and women served, 104,000 in 2nd NZEF, the rest in the British or New Zealand naval or air forces. Fatal casualties during the conflict numbered 39,429 for Australia and 11,928 for NZ.
15	1947	Jul 1947—1975: Assisted Immigration The Immigration Assistance Scheme, introduced in July 1947, was designed to bring skilled workers into New Zealand. Unlike earlier schemes, the focus was on attracting single people with practical skills. There was an initial preference for 20 to 35-year-olds, but the upper age limit was extended to 45 in 1950. While assistance went primarily to white British citizens, the country also sought other European groups who could easily assimilate into post-war New Zealand. The most favoured were the Dutch – over 6000 arrived in the 1950s as part of an assisted passage scheme from the Netherlands. Most assisted immigrants travelled by ship and docked at Wellington, but in later years many arrived by plane at Auckland's Whenuapai Airport.
16	1950	25 Jun 1950—27 Jul 1953: Korean War The Korean War was a war between North Korea (with the support of China and the Soviet Union) and South Korea (with the support of the United Nations, principally from the United States). The Korean War was among the most destructive conflicts of the modern era, with approximately 3 million war fatalities and a larger proportional civilian death toll than World War II or the Vietnam War. It incurred the destruction of virtually all of Korea's major cities and thousands of massacres by both sides. About 6,000 New Zealand men served during the Korea War, with 45 deaths. 17,000 The Korean War had a dramatic indirect economic impact in New Zealand. The sense of crisis precipitated by the outbreak in 1950 encouraged the United States to seek to buy large quantities of wool to complete its strategic stockpiles. This demand led to the greatest wool boom in New Zealand's history, with prices tripling overnight.
17	1959	30 May 1959: Auckland Harbour Bridge Auckland Harbour Bridge opened after four years of construction in 1959. The bridge is 1017 m long, and used 5670 tonnes of steel, 17,160 cubic m of concrete and 6800 litres of paint. Originally, the bridge had only four lanes, but this quickly proved inadequate. In September 1969 the ‘Nippon clip-ons’ – two lanes on each side, pre-fabricated in Japan – were added. At the time, this was pioneering technology, but 15 years later fatigue was discovered in the splice joints and several thousand had to be replaced. Tolls were charged on the bridge until 1984.
18	1960	1 Jun 1960: First NZ TV Broadcasts First NZ TV Broadcasts. Full-time black and white television broadcasting was first introduced in New Zealand in 1960. Initially, programming was done on a regional basis, with different services broadcasting from the main cities, AKTV2 in Auckland, being the first on 1 June 1960, followed in 1961 by CHTV3 in Christchurch on 1 June and WNTV1 in Wellington on 1 July, and then DNTV2 in Dunedin on 31 July 1962.
19	1964	1 Jun 1964—30 Apr 1975: Vietnam War The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. It was officially fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union, China, and other communist allies; South Vietnam was supported by the United States, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and other anti-communist allies. New Zealand's involvement in the Vietnam War was from 1964 until 1975 was modest, involving approximately 3,800 military personnel, with 37 killed and approximately 187 injured.
20	1967	1967: Citizenship for all Aboriginal people At the time of Federation, Aborigines were excluded from the rights of Australian citizenship, including the right to vote, the right to be counted in a census and the right to be counted as part of an electorate. In addition, they were not subject to Commonwealth laws and benefits in relation to wages and social security benefits such as maternity allowances and old age pensions. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people matters were in the hands of State governments. The Australian Constitution was amended in 1967 to give the Commonwealth power to make laws for Aboriginal people and to make it possible to include Aboriginal people in the census, which in effect, made them count as Australian citizens for the first time. 10 Jul 1967: Decimal Currency Decimal Currency, dollars and cents, replaced Pounds, shillings and pence in 1967. The banks were closed from Wednesday 5 July to give staff time to convert their records by 10 July. The new coins were in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents. The new $1, $2, $5, $10, $20 and $100 banknotes each had different native birds and plants on the reverse, and were distinguishable by colour. Their design featured complicated geometric patterns, including Maori iconography. A $50 note was introduced in 1981, and in 1990 the $1 and $2 notes were replaced by coins.
21	1971	25 Oct 1971: End of Steam Railways The last steam powered locomotive on New Zealand Railways (NZR) network was the Christchurch–Dunedin overnight express, headed by a JA-class locomotive, on 25 October 1971. This brought to an end 108 years of regular steam rail operations by NZR. New Zealand’s rail system was predominantly steam-powered from 1863, when the first public railway opened in Christchurch, until the 1950s, when the transition to diesel power gathered momentum. The dieselisation of North Island railways was complete by the late 1960s.