Today in NZ history- 20/08/1904 - First use of kiwi as unofficial national symbol? The New Zealand Free Lance printed a J.C. Blomfield cartoon in which a plucky kiwi morphed into a moa as the All Blacks defeated Great Britain 9–3 in the first rugby test between Motherland and colony. This may have been the first use of a kiwi to symbolise the nation in a cartoon.
- 20/08/1940 - Turakina sunk by German raider in TasmanIt was the first naval battle in the Tasman Sea. The New Zealand Shipping Company freighter Turakina was intercepted and sunk by the Orion nearly 500 km off the Taranaki coast with the loss of 36 lives. Twenty survivors were taken prisoner.
- 21/08/1915 - New Zealanders attack Hill 60Hill 60 was the last offensive action fought by the New Zealanders during the Gallipoli campaign. The ‘abominable little hill’, as it was dubbed by Brigadier-General Andrew Russell, saw bitter fighting between New Zealand mounted riflemen and Ottoman troops in late August 1915.
- 21/08/1958 - Auckland pedestrians begin 'Barnes Dance'Auckland became the first New Zealand city to introduce the ‘Barnes Dance’ system, which stopped all traffic at intersections, allowing pedestrians to cross in any direction at the same time.
- 20/08/1904 - First use of kiwi as unofficial national symbol?
Monthly Archives: July 2014
Maori monarchy under fire
In March I had a go at the Maori ‘king’, Tuheitia Paki, in Waikato truck driver gets uppity. I called him a self-important, unelected, anachronistic twerp. Recently his son Korotangi, presumably a ‘prince’, made an even bigger ass of the … Continue reading
Over-zealous Google fuzz artists
Liz and I head to Europe for a month early in August. We’re spending a week in Venice and I’ve beeen making good use of Google Maps to familiarise myself with the city. This afternoon I visited Caffè Florian in St … Continue reading
Chromecast update gives me all I can eat
Google sent me a Chromecast app update last night and I had great fun as a result. I was able to send anything I could see on my Nexus 7 tablet to our TV screen. Previously this ability to ‘cast’ … Continue reading
Her, him and their
From stuff.co.nz this morning: The official who let the Malaysian Government believe New Zealand was comfortable with a diplomat accused of attempted rape going home, should consider their career options, the prime minister says. I get pissed off when people … Continue reading
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