Today in NZ history- 11/12/1907 - Parliamentary library escapes fire The country narrowly avoided a great library bonfire in 1907, when fire swept through Parliament Buildings in Wellington.
- 11/12/1931 - Statute of Westminster passed The British Parliament passed the Statute of Westminster, confirming the complete autonomy of its six Dominions. Australia and New Zealand held back from adopting this status, but in 1947 New Zealand became the last of the Dominions to do so.
- 12/12/1961 - First Golden Kiwi drawTickets went on sale for New Zealand’s new national Golden Kiwi lottery. All 250,000 tickets sold with 24 hours, with the £12,000 top prize (equivalent to around $500,000 today) four times that offered in previous lotteries.
- 13/12/1642 - First recorded European sighting of New ZealandTowards noon the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted 'a large land, uplifted high', possibly the peaks of the Paparoa Range behind Punakaiki.
- 11/12/1907 - Parliamentary library escapes fire
Category Archives: Wairarapa
Woolcrafts at The Wool Shed
A couple of years ago I offered voluntary services to the The Wool Shed museum in Masterton, to help tidy up their printed display panels and captions. Originally, when the museum was set up in 2005, I did the panels, … Continue reading
Masterton A&P Show
A lovely Wairarapa day: calm, blue sky, 25C forecast – why not go to the Masterton A&P* Show? *Agricultural and Pastoral A&P shows were once a big deal in towns all over New Zealand. They celebrated and showcased farming endeavour … Continue reading
Martinborough Country Fair, 2010
The first Saturday in February has come around again, and with it the annual Martinborough Country Fair. There’s always a follow-up on the first Saturday of March too. This year’s fair was again huge and well attended. It’s essentially a … Continue reading
Posted in country fair, Martinborough, Martinborough Fair, Wairarapa
Tagged Martinborough, Martinborough Country Fair, Wairarapa
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Weird skies in Northern Wairarapa
Liz and I drove from Martinborough to Palmerston North today and enjoyed an unusual cloud formation that covered a large part of the sky in northern Wairarapa. These photos were taken just at the beginning of the Pahiatua Track, an … Continue reading
Posted in Clouds, Wairarapa
Tagged Clouds, Pahiatua Track, Undulatus Asperatus clouds, Wairarapa
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Spring has sprung
During spring our property in Martinborough is an exciting place to return to each weekend. Everything, including daffodils, is busting out all over. It’s quite a contrast to our place in Ngaio, Wellington, where most of the vegetation is New … Continue reading
Posted in Gardening, Martinborough, Spring flowers, Wairarapa
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Rimutaka realignment ready to roll: Huzzah!
This image, from today’s Dominion-Post, shows the coming realignment of the worst of the Rimutaka hill road – all on the Wellington side of the summit. Work starts later this month and completion can’t come soon enough for those of … Continue reading
Posted in Rimutaka, Wairarapa
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Dabbling in Druidism
Last weekend we booked ourselves into the annual winter solstice celebrations at Stonehenge Aoteoroa, near Carterton. It was, or claimed to be, an ancient Celtic/Druidic ceremony called Alban Arthan – which can be translated as “Light of Arthur.” The ceremony … Continue reading
Posted in Celtic, Druids, Stonehenge, Stonehenge Aoteoroa, Wairarapa, Winter Solstice
Tagged Stonehenge Aoteoroa
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