| 1841 |
NZ proclaimed independent of New South Wales and a Crown Colony. William Hobson assumes office as Governor. Settlement formed at New Plymouth. Settlement at Manukau Harbour. Arrival of first settlers at Wanganui. |
| 1842 |
Governor Hobson dies. Settlement formed at Nelson. Auckland named capital. Bishop Selwyn arrives. Wellington proclaimed first borough in NZ. Maori Church opened at Putiki, Wanganui. First Supreme Court held in Auckland. |
| 1843 |
Clash with european in the Wairau Valley. Severe earthquake in Wanganui. Captain FitzRoy assumes office as Governor. |
| 1844 |
Flagstaff at Kororareka (Russell) cut down by Hone Heke. Land selection for Dunedin settlement. |
| 1845 |
Captain George Grey is Governor. Kororareka looted by Hone Heke's forces, settlers flee to Auckland. Artillery bombardment of Ohaeawai Pa. |
| 1847 |
European hostilities in Hutt Valley; Wellington under martial law. Beginning of Heaphy, Fox and Brunner exploration of West Coast, South Island. Ruapekapeka occupied by British forces, terminating Heke's war. Te Rauparaha captured at Plimmerton. Country divided into two provinces by Royal Proclamation - New Munster and New Ulster. Establishment of constabulary. First steam vessel arrives - HMS DRIVER. |
| 1849 |
Survey of Lyttelton. Crown lands ordinance passed. Protest in Dunedin against proposal to introduce convicts. Bishop Selwyn founds St Stephen's school in Auckland for Maori boys. |
| 1850 |
Christchurch settlement. Bishop Pompallier arrives at Auckland with French and Irish priests and Sisters of Charity. |
| 1851 |
R. H. Wynyard appointed Lieutenant-Governor of New Ulster. GOVERNOR WYNYARD, the first steamship built in NZ, launched at Freemans Bay, Auckland. |
| 1852 |
Tamihana Te Rauparaha visits Queen Victoria. Discovery of Coromandel gold in the Kapanga Stream. Constitution Act divides country into six provinces. Boundaries of the provinces of Canterbury, Wellington, Nelson, Otago and New Plymouth defined. New Plymouth became Taranaki in 1858. |
| 1854 |
Opening of the first General Assembly in Auckland. |
| 1855 |
Severe earthquake on both sides of Cook Strait. Gold discovered at Milton. First Imperial Troops land at New Plymouth. |
| 1856 |
First meetings of Auckland and Wellington Chambers of Commerce. Appointment of the first ministry under responsible government with Sewell as Premier. |
| 1857 |
Te Wherowhero elected Potatau I, the first Maori King. |
| 1858 |
Hawkes Bay province constituted. Royal Decree makes Nelson a bishop's see and a city. |
| 1859 |
Marlborough Province established. Discovery of gold in Buller River. New Zealand Insurance Company established. |
| 1860 |
Taranaki hostilities. First battle fought at Waireka, heralding the land wars. Discovery of Grey River coal. Philippe Viard first Roman Catholic Bishop of Wellington. Governor Gore Browne holds a major meeting of Maori chiefs at Kohimarama, Auckland. |
| 1861 |
Truce arranged with Taranaki Maori. Bank of New Zealand incorporated, Auckland. Southland Province established. Gold discovered at Waipori and Gabriel's Gully, Otago. Sir George Grey Governor for a second term. |
| 1862 |
First electric telegraph line between Christchurch and Lyttelton. Loss of many public records in wreck of SS WHITE SWAN. |
| 1863 |
189 lives lost in wreck of HMS ORPHEUS on the Manukau Bar. Beginning of Waikato war. Colonial government states its intention to assume control of Maori Affairs. Debate over whether Maori are British subjects and, therefore, legal citizens of their own country. |
| 1864 |
Battles of Rangiaohia, Orakau, Gate Pa and Te Ranga. Gold discoveries in Marlborough and on west coast, South Island. Main Trunk Line between Mangatawhiri and Meremere. Sir George Grey confiscates Maori land in Waikato. |
| 1865 |
Wellington becomes seat of government. End of Waikato war. Arrival of military settlers from Australia. Hauhau uprising. Auckland streets first lit by gas. Native Rights Act passed stated that every NZ Maori was in fact a subject of the Queen and therefore British Citizens. Europeans move onto maori land at Pipiriki without permission - fight maori at Pipiriki. |
| 1866 |
Cook Strait telegraph cable completed. Opening of Christchurch to Hokitika road. Cobb and Co coaches run from Canterbury to the West Coast. |
| 1868 |
Completion of Lyttelton-Christchurch tunnel. Thames goldfield opened. Act passed by which four Maori members admitted to the House of Representatives and NZ giving its native males the right to vote. Post Office Savings Bank commences operations at Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Hokitika. Te Kooti leads prison escape from the Rekohu (Chatham Islands) aboard seized schooner RIFLEMAN. |
| 1869 |
University of Otago founded. The New Zealand Cross instituted by Order in Council. Government Life Insurance Office established. |
| 1870 |
Final departure of Imperial Forces. Further fighting with Te Kooti. Vogel announces a Public Works Policy, requiring an overseas loan of £10 million ($30 million). Possession taken of Bounty Island. Beginning of Auckland to San Francisco mail service. |
| 1872 |
Creation of Public Trust Office. Telegraph communication links Auckland, Wellington and southern provinces. |
| 1873 |
New Zealand Shipping Company established. Founding of Canterbury University. Westland Province separates from Canterbury. |
| 1874 |
First New Zealand steam engine built at Invercargill. Arrival of the first Chinese on the West Coast goldfields. Opening of the railway line from Wellington to Lower Hutt. |
| 1875 |
Union Steam Ship Company established. |
| 1876 |
NZ and Australia connected by cable, providing communication with UK. Country divided into counties and boroughs, rather than provinces. |
| 1877 |
Free compulsory and secular education. Land Act in force, replacing 66 statutes, and allows Crown lands to be dealt with in a uniform manner. |
| 1878 |
Opening of Christchurch to Dunedin railway line. |
| 1879 |
Adult male suffrage introduced. 34 lives lost in Kaitangata coal-mine explosion. Auckland-Hamilton railway line completed. |
| 1880 |
First steam tram service in Christchurch between Cathedral Square and the railway station. Te Aroha proclaimed a gold field. School of Agriculture opens at Lincoln. |
| 1881 |
Wreck of SS TARARUA at Waipapa Point - loss of 131 lives. First cable tramway service in Dunedin. Auckland and Christchurch telephone exchanges open. Te Whiti, Tohu and many others arrested, Parihaka Pa attacked by government forces. |
| 1883 |
New Zealand Shipping Company introduces communication between NZ and England. Te Kooti and Maori prisoners pardoned under Amnesty Act. Opening of Auckland University College. |
| 1884 |
First overseas tour by a rugby team to New South Wales. Unemployed demonstrate in Auckland. |
| 1885 |
Introduction of mail service between NZ and Pacific Islands. |
| 1886 |
Mt Tarawera eruption destroys Pink and White Terraces, taking more than 100 lives in the Te Wairoa village. Oil discovered in Taranaki. |
| 1887 |
Kermadec Islands annexed. Reefton becomes first town to have electricity. Francis Redwood created Archbishop. Mountain tops of Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu presented to the nation as a National Park in a deed signed by Te Heuheu Tukino IV, Paramount Chief of Tuwharetoa. First inland parcel post service. |
| 1888 |
Cook Islands proclaimed a British Protectorate. Visit of General William Booth of the Salvation Army. Nelson brothers open the country's first freezing works in Gisborne. Auckland and Wellington streets lit with electricity. |
| 1889 |
First NZ-built locomotive completed at Addington. |
| 1890 |
Great Maritime strike. First election under one-man one-vote system. |
| 1891 |
Land and Income Tax Act passed. |
| 1892 |
Polynesian Society's first meeting in Wellington. |
| 1893 |
Death of Te Kooti. Franchise extended to european women. Introduction of Licensing Poll. |
| 1894 |
Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act passed, making NZ the first country to introduce compulsory arbitration. Mahuta Tawhiao Potatau Te Wherowhero elected Maori King. |
| 1895 |
Soup kitchen for unemployed opens in Dunedin. |
| 1896 |
67 deaths in Brunner mine explosion. General census puts population at 703 360. |
| 1897 |
Founding of Victoria University, Wellington. |
| 1898 |
Richard Seddon's government passes Old Age Pensions Act, the first of its kind in the world - for european males only. |
| 1899 |
First celebrations of Labour Day commemorating the eight-hour day. First of ten NZ Contingents sent to South African War (Boer War). |
| 1900 |
Public Health Act passed.
Moriori numbers reduced from 2000 in 1790's, to less than 100 by 1900. Maori numbers reduced from 240,000 pre-european times to 40,000. The last Moriori, Tommy Solomon, dies in 1933, the last full-blood Maori during the 1990's.
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