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At 9:11pm, on 23 January 1855, the southern part of the North Island was struck by a magnitude 8.2 earthquake, the most powerful ever recorded in New Zealand. Four people were killed and the landscape of the Wellington region was changed significantly. The earthquake was one of the main reasons why houses in Wellington were mostly rebuilt in timber rather than brick.
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On 7 February the Royal Navy, carrying British troops, foundered at the entrance to Auckland’s Manukau Harbour. There were 259 men on board, 189 died in the worst maritime disaster in New Zealand waters.
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On 11 May the sailing ship Fiery Star caught fire and sank south of Cuvier Island, off the Coromandel Peninsula, with the loss of 79 lives.
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On 14 May the sailing ship General Grant was wrecked in the Auckland Islands, south of New Zealand, with the loss of (ultimately) 73 lives. Ten survivors were finally rescued 18 months later.
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On the night of 17/18 November the emigrant ship Cospatrick, sailing from England to Auckland, was destroyed by fire off the Cape of Good Hope. Of the 473 people on board, only three survived.
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On 29 April the steamer Tararua was wrecked off Waipapa Point, Southland. Of the 151 passengers and crew on board, 131 were lost in the worst civilian shipwreck in New Zealand waters.
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On 10 June the volcanic Mt Tarawera, south-east of Rotorua, erupted spectacularly, killing perhaps 120 people and burying the famed Pink and White Terraces on Lake Rotomahana.
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On 29 October, in a heavy fog, the liner Wairarapa steamed into cliffs on Great Barrier Island, with the loss of 121 of its 251 passengers and crew.
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On 12 February the Cook Strait ferry Penguin struck rocks off Cape Terawhiti and sank with the loss of 72 lives.
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On 6 July the North Island main trunk express slammed into a huge landslide at Ongarue, north of Taumarunui. With 17 deaths, this was the first major loss of life on New Zealand’s railways.
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On 3 December an explosion at the Dobson coal mine on the West Coast killed nine miners.
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On 17 June an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale struck the north of the South Island, killing 17 people. The shock was felt throughout New Zealand but centred on the Murchison area, where it caused massive landslides.
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On 17 June 1929, at 10:17am, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake rocked the northern South Island. It was felt in cities and towns all over New Zealand, but it was half a day before authorities realised that the worst hit region was Murchison. 17 people died and many were made homeless. The Buller Gorge road was damaged and was closed for 18 months between Westport and Reefton.
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On 3 February New Zealand’s deadliest earthquake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, devastated much of Napier and Hastings. The death toll was 256.
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On 19 February a flash flood swept away a Public Works railway construction camp at Kōpuawhara on the East Coast, killing 21 workers.
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On 24 September 11 men were asphyxiated by carbon monoxide at the Glen Afton coal mine, Huntly.
1943 Hyde railway accident
On 4 June the Cromwell–Dunedin express derailed near Hyde, Central Otago, with the loss of 21 lives. -
On 2 August a US Liberator transport aircraft carrying enemy internees to Australia crashed into a mangrove swamp adjacent to Whenuapai airfield, killing 15 of the 30 people on board: nine Japanese (three women, two men and four children), three Thai students, and three members of the crew.
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On 18 November 41 people were killed in New Zealand’s deadliest fire, in the Ballantyne’s Department Store in Christchurch.
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On 23 October a Lockheed Electra airliner crashed near Mt Ruapehu, with the loss of all 13 passengers and crew.
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On 18 March a Lockheed Lodestar airliner crashed near Waikanae on the Kāpiti Coast. All 15 passengers and crew were killed.
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On 28 December the passenger launch Ranui, returning from a holiday trip to Mayor Island, was wrecked on North Rock, Mt Maunganui. Of the 23 people on board, only one survived.