transport

Parliament's people

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  Today there are usually between 120 and 123 MPs in New Zealand's Parliament, which is a far cry from the 37 who met for the first time in Auckland in 1854.

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• Page 4 – Pay and travel

  One of the early issues parliamentarians discussed was pay for MPs, and one of the biggest difficulties MPs faced in the early years was travelling to Parliament.

The North Island main trunk line

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  All aboard! The North Island main trunk railway was 100 years old in 2008. Take a trip back in time to explore the epic story of its construction, the heyday of the steam passenger train and the place of the iconic railway refreshment room in New Zealand life.

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• Page 3 – Rise and fall

  A history of the North Island railway main trunk line since the first through train left Wellington on 7 August 1908

• Page 4 – Travelling by train

  For most second-class travellers, travelling the main trunk meant a long, sleepless journey on hard-backed seats, struggling to find 'elusive comfort with the NZR pillow'.

• Page 5 – Refreshments

  Refreshments are an essential and often talked about part of any train journey.

New Zealand disasters timeline

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  The disasters timeline and map give an overview of New Zealand's worst natural disasters, transport accidents, fires, mining accidents and other tragedies that have caused major loss of life.

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• Page 1 - New Zealand disasters timelineThe disasters timeline and map give an overview of New Zealand's worst natural disasters, transport accidents, fires, mining accidents and other tragedies that have caused major

Railway stations

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  Before most people had cars or telephones, let alone television and the Internet, the railway provided many communities with their main connection to the outside world.

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• Page 1 - Railway stationsBefore most people had cars or telephones, let alone television and the Internet, the railway provided many communities with their main connection to the outside

Cook Strait rail ferries

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  On a fine, calm day ‘Cruising on the Interislander’ can be like a luxury Mediterranean cruise. But on a bad day Cook Strait can be one of the world's roughest stretches of water: seasickness, dodgy food and wildcat strikes have all been part of the colourful Cook Strait ferry story.

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• Page 2 – 'The floating bridge'

  Before 1962 rail struggled to compete with ships for inter-island business, but the road/rail ferries changed that.

• Page 3 – 'An array of awful pies'

  In the 1960s, the ferries' food and services fell short of the glossy ads, but now they are more upmarket.

• Page 4 – Rough crossings

  Crossing Cook Strait is often idyllic, but it can be one of the world’s roughest stretches of water as it's part of the westerly wind belt known as the Roaring Forties

• Page 5 – Branding the Cook Strait ferries

  From 'puke' green to funnells sprouting ferns, the ferries' branding and appearance have had many changes.

• Page 6 – Strikes and strandings

  Cook Strait ferries were vital to the flow of freight and passengers between the North and South islands, and  interruptions because of bad weather, mechanical problems

• Page 7 – Fast ferries on Cook Strait

  The old fable about the tortoise and the hare was replayed on Cook Strait as fast ferries offered travellers a quick dash across the ditch.

Tangiwai disaster

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  New Zealand's worst railway disaster occurred 60 years ago on Christmas Eve 1953, when the Wellington–Auckland night express plunged into the swollen Whangaehu River near Tangiwai. Of the 285 people on board, 151 were killed. The tragedy stunned the world and left a nation in mourning.

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• Page 1 - Tangiwai railway disasterNew Zealand's worst railway disaster occurred 60 years ago on Christmas Eve 1953, when the Wellington–Auckland night express plunged into the swollen Whangaehu River near

Central Powers

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  Key statistics and facts about the forces of Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany and the Ottoman Empire during the First World War

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• Page 1 - Central PowersKey statistics and facts about the forces of Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany and the Ottoman Empire during the First World

NZ's First World War horses

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  Between 1914 and 1916 the New Zealand government acquired more than 10,000 horses to equip the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. They served in German Samoa, Gallipoli, the Middle East and on the Western Front. Of those that survived the war, only four returned home.

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• Page 3 – Transporting horses from NZ

  Nearly all of the 10,000 horses the government acquired for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force between 1914 and 1916 went overseas.

• Page 5 – Egypt and Gallipoli

  Some draught horses accompanied the divisional artillery and transport and supply units to Gallipoli in April 1915 to assist with their work. But the conditions proved

The Merchant Navy

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  3 September is Merchant Navy Day, which was first officially commemorated in New Zealand in 2010. The date marks the sinking of the first Allied merchant ship in 1939, just hours after the Second World War began. This is the story of the 'fourth service' at war.

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• Page 2 - The longest lifelineAn island nation half a world away from its main trading partner, New Zealand in the mid-20th century was overwhelmingly dependent on sea transport for its prosperity and

Life in the 20th century

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  Exploration of everyday life in New Zealand from 1900 to the mid-1980s

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• Page 4 - Bridging the gapThe transformation of space through new communication and transport systems was a preoccupation in nineteenth-century New Zealand; twentieth-century society was no less intent on

Assisted immigration, 1947-75

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  New Zealand is a country of immigrants. Wave after wave of peoples have settled here: Polynesian, British, European, Asian.

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• Page 4 - The voyage outThe Captain Cook, along with the Captain Hobson, brought assisted immigrants to New Zealand via the Panama Canal from

The Vogel era

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  In 1870, Colonial Treasurer Julius Vogel launched the most ambitious development programme in New Zealand’s history. The ‘Vogel era’ was a decisive moment in New Zealand’s 19th-century transformation from a Māori world to a Pākehā one.

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• Page 2 - New Zealand in 1870Three decades after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s two main islands were like two different

Lyttelton-Wellington ferries

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  For more than 80 years the overnight Lyttelton ferry was a vital link in the country's transport network.

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• Page 4 - Politicians and ferriesPoliticians used the ferries to travel between their electorates and Wellington, so they scrutinised the Union Steam Ship Company's management of the

Notes for My Successor

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  Until the late 1960s New Zealand's governors-general were British, mainly minor aristocrats, or admirals or generals.

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• Page 7 - The governor-general on the moveHow the governors-general moved about the

Rail tourism

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  From the late 19th century the expanding rail network opened up exciting leisure and tourism opportunities for ordinary New Zealand families. New Zealand Railways promoted rail holidays through bright, attractive posters and its own popular monthly magazine.

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• Page 6 - Post-war changesAfter the peak years of the 1920s and late 1930s, tourist travel all but ceased during the Second World War.