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1960, New Zealand's first official TV broadcast
Jun
1
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1 Aug 1987
Te reo Māori recognised as official language
1 Aug 1992
Lorraine Moller wins Olympic bronze
2 Aug 1983
Protest as USS
Texas
visits Auckland
2 Aug 1992
Barbara Kendall wins gold at Barcelona
3 Aug 1872
Anthony Trollope begins New Zealand tour
3 Aug 1941
Finnish sailing ship seized as war prize
4 Aug 1923
Rail tunnel pierces the Southern Alps
4 Aug 1965
Cook Islands achieves self-government
5 Aug 1914
New Zealand enters the First World War
5 Aug 1988
Cartwright Report condemns cancer treatment
6 Aug 1936
Lovelock wins 1500-m gold at Berlin
6 Aug 2012
Valerie Adams wins second Olympic gold
7 Aug 1908
First train runs length of main trunk line
7 Aug 1991
Death of Billy T. James
7 Aug 1997
Beatrice Faumuina wins athletics world championship gold
8 Aug 1915
Wellington Battalion captures Chunuk Bair
8 Aug 1995
Shakti begins in New Zealand
9 Aug 1908
US 'Great White Fleet' arrives in Auckland
9 Aug 1930
George Nepia plays last All Blacks test
10 Aug 1840
British proclaim sovereignty as French head for Akaroa
10 Aug 1995
News Corporation's rights to professional rugby bolstered
11 Aug 1962
Picton ferry
Aramoana
enters service
12 Aug 1816
New Zealand’s first mission school opens
12 Aug 1895
Winton baby-farmer Minnie Dean hanged
12 Aug 1975
John Walker breaks world mile record
13 Aug 1914
First fatal NZ casualty of the First World War
13 Aug 2005
Death of David Lange
14 Aug 1891
Women's suffrage petitions presented to Parliament
14 Aug 2011
Polar blast sweeps the country
15 Aug 1881
First woman Master of Arts in British Empire graduates
15 Aug 1945
The war is over! VJ Day
15 Aug 1951
Troopship
Wahine
wrecked en route to Korea
16 Aug 1923
New Zealand makes claim to Ross Dependency
16 Aug 1944
CORSO formed
16 Aug 2008
Evers-Swindell twins defend Olympic rowing title at Beijing
17 Aug 1839
New Zealand Company ship
Tory
arrives
17 Aug 1942
Attack on the
Nino Bixio
18 Aug 1892
First women's cycling club in Australasia formed
18 Aug 1910
Champion rower Dick Arnst wins world title race on Zambezi River
18 Aug 1955
20-year-old hanged for murder
18 Aug 1971
Deadline for Vietnam pull-out announced
19 Aug 1853
E.G. Wakefield elected to Parliament
19 Aug 1944
Kiwi pilot's sacrifice saves French village
19 Aug 2012
Three New Zealand soldiers killed in Afghanistan
20 Aug 1904
First use of kiwi as unofficial national symbol?
20 Aug 1940
Turakina
sunk by German raider in Tasman
21 Aug 1915
New Zealanders attack Hill 60
21 Aug 1958
Auckland pedestrians begin 'Barnes Dance'
22 Aug 1969
First Young Farmer of the Year chosen
23 Aug 1920
New Zealand's first female Olympian
23 Aug 1939
Writer Robin Hyde dies in London
23 Aug 1947
Assisted immigration resumes after war
24 Aug 1878
Wellington steam-tram service opened
25 Aug 1916
New Zealand soldier executed
25 Aug 1920
First flight across Cook Strait
25 Aug 1948
Killer twister hits Frankton
26 Aug 1866
Telegraph line laid across Cook Strait
26 Aug 1894
Death of second Māori King
26 Aug 1911
New Zealand Coat of Arms warranted
27 Aug 1904
Foundation stone for Victoria University’s first building laid
27 Aug 1911
Pawelka's last prison break
28 Aug 1954
'Heavenly creatures' found guilty of murder
28 Aug 1992
Canterbury's 'Big Snow'
29 Aug 1914
New Zealand force captures German Samoa
30 Aug 1903
Four killed by Rotorua geyser
30 Aug 1926
Kawarau Falls dam becomes operational
31 Aug 1841
Wreck of the
Sophia Pate
31 Aug 1894
Arbitration Act becomes law
31 Aug 1974
Death of Norman Kirk
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