Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1886-87
Tuwharetoa tribe gifts the mountains of Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro to the government to
establish the world's fourth national park.
1893
NZ becomes the first country in the world to grant the vote to women, following a campaign led by
Kate Sheppard, who petitioned the government for years.
1901
NZ politely declines the invitation to join the new Commonwealth of Australia.
1908
NZ physicist Ernest Rutherford is awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for 'splitting the atom', in-
vestigating the disintegration of elements and the chemistry of radioactive substances.
1914-18
NZ's contribution to WWI is staggering for a country of just over a million people: about 100,000 NZ
men serve overseas. Some 60,000 become casualties, mostly in France.
1931
Napier earthquake kills 131 people.
1935-49
First Labour government in power, under Michael Savage. This government creates NZ's pioneering
version of the welfare state, and also takes some independent initiatives in foreign policy.
1936
NZ aviatrix Jean Batten becomes the first aviator to fly solo from Britain to NZ.
1939-45
NZ troops back Britain and the Allied war effort during WWII; from 1942 around 100,000 Americans
arrive to protect NZ from the Japanese.
1948
Maurice Scheslinger invents the Buzzy Bee, NZ's most famous children's toy.
