Signposts - a blog about Te Ara the Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Blenheim war memorial

War memorials are a familiar sight in New Zealand’s cities and towns. War memorials take many forms, from entire buildings (such as the Auckland War Memorial Museum) to smaller obelisks and windows.

They usually remain unchanged since they were first erected, which is generally not long after the end of the war that they commemorate. But when I visited the West Coast recently, I noticed a number of changes.

• A new memorial was unveiled at Blackball on 22 March 2008, during commemoration of the 1908 Blackball strike. As a socialist stronghold, there was strong anti-war feeling for many years at Blackball, so no war memorial was built after either world war. But at the beginning of the 21st century, feelings have changed.

• Memorial gates were erected at the old Kōtuku School, near Lake Brunner, in 2006. Although the school is no longer used, it is a listed historic building.

• In 2007 the memorial pillars were removed from the site of the old Grey Main School in Greymouth, after the land had passed into new ownership. There was a public outcry, and the pillars are now at the entrance to Dixon Park. It is hoped that they will be re-erected there later this year.

The fate of the Greymouth School memorial is a reminder of how important it is to ensure that all war memorials are recorded and protected as historic sites.

A comprehensive photographic database of New Zealand war memorials is now online on our sister site NZhistory.net.nz, also run by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Many of the photographs were taken as part of a study of memorials by Chris Maclean and Jock Phillips, and published as The sorrow and the pride: New Zealand war memorials (GP Print, 1990).

Do check the database to see if your local war memorial is there, and please contact us if you can add any new information.

1908 Blackball strike

More than 200 people gathered at Blackball over Easter to celebrate the centenary of the 1908 Blackball strike. It was a good-natured celebration, recorded in this online photo album (to view photos and captions, click ‘Detail’ at top left).

Called the ‘crib-time’ strike, it was about the right of local coal miners to take 30 minutes for a lunch break rather than the 15 minutes allowed by the company. In a famous court case, Justice Sim told the miners that their demands were unreasonable, then called for a 90-minute lunch break for himself and the lawyers. It was a propaganda victory for the Blackball miners, and the company finally conceded to their demands. It was also the beginning of an organised union movement that eventually lead on to formation of the Labour Party.

Several of the organisers of the strike went on to hold leading positions in the Labour movement, including Patrick Hickey, Paddy Webb, and Bob Semple, and both Semple and Webb later became cabinet ministers in the 1935 Labour government.

One of the most amazing things that happened during the commemorations was the unveiling of a war memorial by the local RSA. Most of the early unionists were strongly opposed to the First World War, and both Webb and Semple went to prison for their opposition to conscription. But at the beginning of the 21st century feelings have changed, and the Blackball community has decided that it wants to publicly honour those killed in the first and second world wars.

The only thing missing from the celebrations was the brimstone smell of Blackball. Traditionally every house had a coal stove, and Blackball coal was notorious for its high sulfur content. It was hard on the lungs, and galvanised iron roofing was tarred rather than painted to preserve it. But the high-sulfur coal isn’t mined any more, and the atmosphere is greatly improved.

James Hector

New Zealand geologists celebrate the 16th of March as Hector Day, to mark the birthday of explorer, geologist and natural scientist James Hector in 1834.

Hector was a dominating figure in 19th century New Zealand – he was the founder of the Colonial Museum (now Te Papa), the New Zealand Institute (now the Royal Society of New Zealand) and the Geological Survey (now GNS Science). Hector’s dolphin is named after him, as is Mt Hector in the Tararua Range.

James Hector has a special place in Te Ara – he is one of the most frequently mentioned individuals and appears in a variety of entries, including mining, birdwatching, and timekeeping. Try typing ‘hector’ in the search box at the top right of any page, and you will see the range of his contributions.

In 2007 a symposium was held at Te Papa to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Hector’s death. This TV3 news item covered the symposium and gives some background on Hector’s life and achievements. It isn’t widely known in New Zealand that before he settled here he explored the Canadian Rockies and discovered Kicking Horse Pass, which is now on the route of the Canadian Pacific Railway. This video tribute to James Hector was sent to the symposium by Jim Doyle, mayor of the area.

Extent of shaking, 1855 earthquake

Today is the 153rd anniversary of New Zealand’s biggest recorded earthquake.

Shortly after 9 p.m. on 23 January 1855 a magnitude 8.2 earthquake shook central New Zealand. Although before the era of seismographs, it was clearly the largest earthquake to affect New Zealand in the last 200 years.

The earthquake was centred in south Wairarapa and caused a surface rupture for 140 kilometres along the Wairarapa Fault. A horizontal offset of 18.7 metres on an old stream channel was recorded – the largest known anywhere in the world during an earthquake.

The 1855 Wairarapa earthquake had a huge impact on the young city of Wellington, as there was widespread uplift of land. The track along the western side of the harbour had previously been impassable at high tide, but is now the site of the highway and railway line. The edge of the harbour at Lambton Quay was uplifted, and much of Wellington’s downtown area is now built on reclaimed land.

A tsunami accompanied the earthquake, with widespread damage around the southern coast of the North Island.

The only casualty in Wellington was Baron von Alzdorf, who was hit by a brick chimney falling from the hotel he owned. Two people died in a fissure in the Manawatū, and between two and six Māori were killed when their whare collapsed.

If such an event were to hit Wellington today, we would not get off so lightly.

Motukorea, Auckland’s most intact volcano

Our new entry on the Auckland region is now on Te Ara – a big welcome to the City of Volcanoes. To a scientist, Auckland is an exciting place, with cones and lake-filled craters dominating the landscape. There are about 50 vents within 20 kilometres of the city. On average there has been an eruption every 2,500 years for the last 50,000 years.

Rangitoto, in the centre of Auckland Harbour, erupted about 1400 AD. We don’t know how long the eruption lasted – perhaps it was weeks or months. It must have been a spectacular fireworks display, visible all around the Auckland region. There was probably a pall of ash over much of the area now occupied by the city, and an acrid, sulfurous smell. The first Polynesian settlers had only arrived about 100 years earlier. We do know that people saw the eruption because their footprints are preserved in ash on nearby Motutapu Island. Isn’t it incredible that one day we may be able to test these for DNA, and perhaps identify their descendants!

While the chance of an eruption in a human lifetime is quite low, the impact on New Zealand’s largest city would be enormous. Auckland has a contingency plan, and local scientists and planners have formed the ‘It’s our Volcano’ group to consider the likely warning signals and effects of an eruption..

But there is a positive side. Past eruptions are responsible for the fertile soils of South Auckland – one of the best market gardening areas in New Zealand.