Making you think
The past is not a dull and boring thing. History is full of strange and unexpected and sometimes funny moments.
Did you know that:
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New Zealand was once part of a continent half as big as Australia that split away from the mega-continent Gondwana 140 to 120 million years ago
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early Maori used human bones to carve moko on their faces
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there are over 7000 pa sites in New Zealand, and most are in the north of the North Island
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more Maori were killed in the Musket Wars at the beginning of the 19th Century than all the New Zealanders killed during World War 1 in 1914 to 1918
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the meeting at which the first Maori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi was unplanned, which was why Governor Hobson turned up wearing plain clothes with his plumed hat - he didn't have time to change before he left his ship to join them
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there was a time when more people lived in the South Island than in the North Island
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when the Marae at Te Tii in the Bay of Islands opened in 1875, it immediately became an annual meeting place for tribes to discuss the ways in which the Treaty had been disregarded by Pakeha
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one of our most famous Prime Ministers refused to be made a knight but was happy to be called a king
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in 1893, at least 25% of New Zealand women signed a petition asking to be allowed to vote
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during the 1913 strikes, pistol shots were fired between police and strikers in central Wellington
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at least six sets of brothers were killed in a single day, 12 October 1917, in the muddy, bloody trenches at Passchendaele
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in 1919, New Zealand came very close to voting in a complete ban on the sale of alcohol
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before the 1920s, men as well as women had to keep their chests covered when swimming
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in the 1920s, the 'Californian bungalow' brought the lavatory in from a shed in the backyard to a room off the back porch - attached at last to the main house, but not yet quite inside it!
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New Zealand was peacefully "invaded" by 80,000 American troops in World War 2
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more New Zealanders married in 1946 than in any other year; and more than 1.1 million babies were born in the 20 years from 1946 to 1965
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the first of the hugely popular dance endurance contests took place in Wellington's Roseland Cabaret in April 1957 - after 23 hours, the remaining couples were trucked, still gyrating, to the Town Hall where they danced for another three hours
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the country's first multi-storey car park was built by Farmers Trading Company in Auckland in 1955 - it was six levels high and took 500 cars
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Vietnam was the first time New Zealand went to war without Britain
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smoking marijuana was almost unheard of in New Zealand before 1967
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the national Census asked households how many chickens they owned until 1971
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before World War 2 (1939-1945), 75% of Maori lived in the country; 20 years later 75% lived in towns and cities
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at the end of the 1970s, in order to save petrol, New Zealanders were only allowed to drive their cars on certain days of the week
