Many people blamed the liner Niagara for bringing a deadly new influenza virus to New Zealand. But six people had died of the flu in Auckland in the three days before it arrived, and the upsurge in cases in the city came two weeks later.
Disease
Events In History
Articles
The 1918 influenza pandemic
The lethal influenza pandemic that struck New Zealand between October and December 1918 killed about 9000 people in two months. No other event has claimed so many New Zealand lives in such a short time. Read the full article
Page 1 - The 1918 flu pandemic
The lethal influenza pandemic that struck New Zealand between October and December 1918 killed about 9000 people in two months. No other event has claimed so many New Zealand
Page 2 - The pandemic begins abroad
The 1918 influenza pandemic was commonly referred to as ‘the Spanish flu’, but it did not originate in
Page 3 - The pandemic hits New Zealand
Many people believed that the second wave of the 1918 influenza pandemic arrived in New Zealand as ‘a deadly new virus’ on board the RMS
Page 4 - Uneven rates of death
No other event has killed so many New Zealanders in so short a space of time. While the First World War claimed the lives of more than 18,000 New Zealand soldiers over four years,
Page 5 - Response to the influenza pandemic
There was a degree of consistency in New Zealand's response to the influenza pandemic, thanks to a telegram the Health Minister, George Russell, issued to all borough councils and
Passchendaele: fighting for Belgium
Ever since 1917 Passchendaele has been a byword for the horror of the First World War. The assault on this tiny Belgian village cost the lives of thousands of New Zealand soldiers. But its impact reached far beyond the battlefield, leaving deep scars on many New Zealand communities and families. Read the full article
Page 6 - Helping the wounded
More than 14,000 New Zealanders were wounded between June and December 1917 in Belgium, and medical staff, orderlies, chaplains and stretcher-bearers worked round the clock to
Armistice Day
After four terrible years, fighting in the First World War finally ended with the signing of an armistice between Germany and the Allies on 11 November 1918. New Zealanders celebrated enthusiastically, despite having recently celebrated the surrenders of the three other Central Powers and the premature news of an armistice with Germany. Read the full article
Page 5 - Armistice Day and the flu
The influenza pandemic dampened some armistice celebrations, particularly in
The Ottoman Empire
Few Kiwis today know much about one of our main First World War enemies, the Ottoman Empire - a sophisticated but often forgotten empire whose soldiers fought against New Zealand troops for four years in the Gallipoli, Sinai and Palestine campaigns. Read the full article
Page 6 - The Armenians' suffering
Turkey has always denied accusations that the Ottoman authorities committed genocide against their Armenian
Page 12 - The Turkish soldier's experience
Mehmetçik – ‘Little Mehmet’ – was an affectionate Turkish nickname for Ottoman (Turkish)
Pacific Islanders in the NZEF
Cook Islanders, Niueans, Fijians and Gilbert Islanders all took their place in the ranks of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force during the First World War. As well as the dangers of war, Pacific soldiers faced language difficulties, an unfamiliar army diet and European diseases. Read the full article
Page 2 - Niueans and Cook Islanders
Information about Niuean and Cook Island soldiers who were part of the 3rd Maori Contingent in
Page 5 - Difficulties faced by Pacific Islanders
Information on the difficulties faced by Pacific Islanders when they left their island homes for the first time and entered the
The Salonika campaign
23 October is the anniversary of the 1915 sinking of the Marquette with the loss of 32 New Zealanders, including 10 nurses. They were en route from Egypt to the Greek port of Salonika as New Zealand’s contribution to the little-known Allied campaign in the Balkans Read the full article
Page 4 - Campaign summary
The failure of the Anglo-French advance into Serbia in November 1915 forced the Allied forces to dig in on the outskirts of Salonika in case the Bulgarians attacked Greece.
Page 5 - NZEF involvement
The New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) provided no combat units for the campaign in Salonika. The official contribution of New Zealanders was brief but marked by tragedy.
NZ's First World War horses
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. Read the full article
Page 4 - German Samoa
A total of 141 New Zealand horses were transported to Samoa during the First World War. Of these, 25 were despatched with the Samoa Advance Party of the New Zealand Expeditionary
Hospital ships
The Maheno and Marama were the poster ships of New Zealand's First World War effort. Until 1915 these steamers had carried passengers on the Tasman route. But as casualties mounted at Gallipoli, the government - helped by a massive public fundraising campaign - converted them into state-of-the-art floating hospitals. Read the full article
Page 4 - Civilians at Gallipoli
The Maheno arrived in the Mediterranean in time for the Allies’ bloody late August 1915 offensives to find that not much had improved since the April
Life in the trenches
The daily tasks of life went on despite the hellish conditions of the Western Front trenches. Read the full article
Page 1 - Life in the trenches
The daily tasks of life went on despite the hellish conditions of the Western Front
