The Picton-Wellington ferry SS Penguin struck rocks in Cook Strait and sank in heavy seas off a rugged, isolated coast. Only 30 of the 102 people on board survived.

Recommended for a Victoria Cross after rescuing a soldier while under fire in 1864, Heaphy was eventually awarded the VC in 1867 - the only one awarded to a member of New Zealand's colonial forces.

The school milk scheme was begun in 1937 as part of the first Labour government's strategy to improve child health.

Opened by Premier Richard Seddon, this large wooden building has been one of Whanganui's finest entertainment venues for more than 100 years

All three people on board a Dominion Airline Desoutter were killed in a crash near Wairoa. The airline had helped maintain contact between the areas ravaged by the recent Hawke's Bay earthquake and the rest of New Zealand.

More than 40 Maori chiefs, led by Ngapuhi's Hone Heke Pokai, signed the Treaty of Waitangi in the Bay of Islands.

The Royal Navy steam corvette HMS Orpheus was wrecked on the treacherous Manukau Harbour bar. Of the 259 men on board, 189 lost their lives in New Zealand's worst maritime disaster.

Pioneering aviator Vivian Walsh made the first controlled powered flight in New Zealand. He flew the Manurewa more than 350 m at a height of 20 m, watched by a small group of spectators at Glencora Park in Papakura, South Auckland.