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Events on this Day – 23 February

1904

Nearly 1 million ha of far western Southland and Otago was set aside as a national reserve.

1940

The Battle of the River Plate in December 1939 was the Allies’ first naval victory of the Second World War. The involvement of the cruiser HMS Achilles, more than half of whose crew were New Zealanders, was greeted with jubilation in New Zealand.