April 16, 2024

2007: Holocaust Centre of New Zealand

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

Today in history, 15 April, 2017, the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand was opened in Wellington. Various VIPs were there to listen and talk. The Governor General Anand Satyanand himself was there and in costume as politicians will be whenever appearing with an elect audience (image, left.) The HCNZ was established in 2007 and continues […]

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April 15, 2024

1932: Tai Tapu Library

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

Tai Tapu Library, South Canterbury. Without government who would build the libraries? This one was opened on 12 August 1932 and paid for with the proceeds of prize-winning daffodils grown on the property¹. And, the subscriptions of those desiring to be members. The public library itself is even older than this building. However, it was […]

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April 11, 2024

1975: New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation Extinguished

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

Today in New Zealand history, 1 April, 1975, Labour 3.0 abolished the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation. When a new Government takes power its primary job is to capture or destroy all the State institutions controlled by the prior Government. Television no exception. The NZBC was split into Radio NZ, TV1 and TV2 with TV1 broadcasting […]

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April 2, 2024

1971: Foxton Courthouse Closure

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

Foxton Courthouse was shut down on January 28, 1971. It was part of a wider trend to cull the country courthouse that was just warming up. National 3.0’s Minister of Justice, Dan Riddiford, was the figurehead behind this one but at the end of the decade that government dropped the axe on 24 of New […]

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March 31, 2024

1848: The Canterbury Association

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

Today in history, 28 March, 1848 The Canterbury Association met for the first time. This was at 41 Charing Cross, London, and the local time was 27 March which is how most sources record the time but AHNZ prefers to record dates using New Zealand’s calendar. To us, especially Cantabrians, names like Cavendish, Charterius, Coleridge, […]

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March 28, 2024

1936: Single Source of Truth

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

Today in history, 25 March, 1936, Labour 1.0 started radio broadcast transmissions from the Debating Chamber. Michael Savage’s new Government scared some New Zealanders. Had we elected a bunch of open Communists to run our country? Yes. Would they run it that way? Kind of, yes! One thing Labour had to do was circumventing the […]

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March 25, 2024

1921: Christchurch Electric Car Fleet

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

By 1921 Christchurch had a fleet of 48 private and council electric vehicles. Every one of them paraded for this photo that year. A good city for electric cars because Canterbury is flat and had a good power supply. The local MED offered discount rates for charging batteries overnight and this encouraged more users. This […]

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March 24, 2024

1848: New Edinburgh

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

Today in New Zealand history, 23 March, 1848, the first colony ship for the Otago Association landed and for this it has been Otago Anniversary ever since¹. This was a sub-project of the New Zealand Company facilitated by the Wakefield family and designed to be a Scottish intentional community. The New Edinburgh project had been […]

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March 23, 2024

1861: The Invasion of Otago

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

Gabriel Read was done with gold in March 1861 but it wasn’t to be for the first or last time. Now aged 36, Reed made his way in March to Cust in North Canterbury for the farm hospitality of his 21yo cousin, Terry Murphy. The family connection between these Australian men was that Read’s sister […]

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March 21, 2024

1988: Cyclone Bola

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

Sometimes at this time of year things dry up or catch fire. Other times cyclones strike and we catch flooding the likes of which we had forgotten because of our short memories. Today in history, 7 March, 1988, Cyclone Bola came to New Zealand and hit the North Island. Taranaki and Gisborne in particular. The […]

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March 6, 2024

1842: The Raupo Houses Act

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

Today in history, 3 March, 1842, self-declared Governor of New Zealand, William Hobson, passed the Raupo Houses Act. This placed a huge £20 tax on anyone with a ‘Maori House’ within the boundaries of what The State defined as a town. The Maori fiber house technology had been adopted and improved by the new colonists […]

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March 3, 2024

1976: Final Lyttelton Wellington Ferry

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

Once was a Lyttelton–Wellington ferry service. Run by the Union Steam Ship Company (1895-17 September, 1976) with the final dwindling 2 years bankrolled by The State. Somehow, the Labour 3.0 Ministry thought it was a good idea to pump $4,000,000 a year into a service that had become uneconomical. National 3.0 put an end to […]

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February 20, 2024