New Zealand history scavenger hunt

Scavenger hunt 2

NZHistory and Te Ara The Encyclopedia of New Zealand might help you in your hunt, but feel free to use other sources to find the answers.

1. Who am I?

NZHistory/Alexander Turnbull Library, MNZ-2330-1/2-F

I was a ‘southpaw’ who won New Zealand’s first Olympic gold medal in 1928. Who am I?

Te Ara The Encyclopedia of New Zealand/Yale University Library, 11813

I am a New Zealand astronomer and cosmologist who made remarkable discoveries about the evolution of galaxies. I was raised in New Plymouth, and later studied at Canterbury University College. In 1978 I became the first woman to be appointed as Professor of Astronomy at prestigious Yale University in the United States. Who am I?

 

Described as a ‘Tahitian high priest and navigator’ I played a key role in mediating between Māori communities and the crew of the Endeavour during James Cook’s first visit to New Zealand in 1769. Who am I?

2. Where in New Zealand?

• In March 1851 while anchored in Milford Sound, Captain John Lort Stokes, of HMS Acheron, named the prominent peak in the sound Mitre Peak. Māori already had a name for this iconic landmark. What was it?
• In 1866, the 'Burgess gang' murdered five men in a crime that shocked the colony. These killings resembled something from the American 'wild west'. Where did these murders take place?
• The grounding of the container ship Rena in 2011 was described by Environment Minister Nick Smith as New Zealand’s ‘worst maritime environmental disaster’. Where did the Rena run aground?

3. True or false?

• The majority of New Zealanders who died during the First World War died at Gallipoli
• Between 1937 and 1967 New Zealand schoolchildren received a free half-pint (284 ml) of milk each day to boost their health
• In 1973 Prime Minister Norman Kirk announced that from 1974 Waitangi Day would be a national holiday, known as New Zealand Day.

4. History of Kiwi music

• Which 1984 number 1 hit, written by Māori linguist Ngoi Pēwhairangi, with music by Dalvanius Prime, also made it back into the music charts in 2010?
• OMC’s 1995 smash hit, How Bizarre, was named one of the ‘greatest New Zealand songs of all time by the Australasian Performing Right Association’ (APRA). What do the initials ‘OMC’ stand for?
• What debate did Hinewehi Mohi spark with her singing of the national anthem before the All Blacks versus England match at the 1999 Rugby World Cup in England?

5. Kiwi wildlife

• Which cat-sized marsupial was introduced to New Zealand in 1837 to establish a fur trade?
• The first whaling ship that came to New Zealand waters arrived from America in which year?
• I am a delicacy that in the United States and Australia is known as abalone. What name did Māori give me? 

6. Who said this?

• ‘Let us all remember that the Treaty was signed so that we could all live as one nation in Aotearoa’ (at the opening of the 14th Commonwealth Games in Auckland in January 1990). 
• ‘Waikato has its own King and has no need to fight for the British King'.
• ‘Both with gratitude for the past and confidence in the future, we range ourselves without fear beside Britain. Where she goes, we go. Where she stands, we stand.

7. Events from NZ history

• When was the first general election held under the new mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) voting system?
• Walter Bolton was the last person executed in New Zealand, after being convicted of poisoning his wife Beatrice. In which year was he executed?
• Which celebrated New Zealand aviator made the first ever direct flight from England to New Zealand in October 1936?