Historical Timeline of Marlborough

By: Christopher Cookson

Last Modified: 18-3-2023 17:53

A historical timeline of a selection of significant events in the history of Marlborough.

• ~14,000 years ago, end of last ice age and formation of Marlborough Sounds
• ~1300AD First Polynesian settlers arrive in New Zealand at Wairau Bar.
• 1642 December Abel Tasman spends a week in Cook Strait.
• 1770 Captain James Cook makes his first visit to the Marlborough Sounds and Ship's Cove.
• 1774 Cook's second visit to the Marlborough Sounds
• 1777 Cook's third and final voyage to the Marlborough Sounds.
• 1826 Captain John Guard establishes the first land based whaling station in the South Island at Cloudy Bay.
• 1828 Te Rauparaha captures pa at Kaikōura
• 1828 Te Āti Awa migrants from Taranaki establish settlement at Waitohi (later to become Picton).
• 1829 August. Colonel Edward Gibbon Wakefield of the New Zealand Company arrives at Meretoto/Ship Cove to begin a survey for subsequent colonisation.
• 1838 Eurpoean discovery and exploration of Pelorus Sound (Te Hoiere) by Lieutenant Chetwode aboard HMS Pelorus.
• 1840 Reverend Samuel Ironside establishes mission station at Ngakuta Bay
• 1840 17 June.  British sovereignty proclaimed over the South Island at Horahora Kakahu Island, by Major Bunbury.
• 1842 Whaling station established at Kaikoura by Robert Fyfe.
• 1842 5th August  Opening of first permanent church by Reverend Ironside.
• 1843 17 June  "The Wairau Incident" at Tuamarina as a result of conflict over land.
• 1846 first mob of sheep driven into Marlborough over Tophouse by Nathaniel Morse and Dr John Cooper
• 1848 Earthquake estimated at magnitude 7.5 centred in the Awatere Valley
• 1850 Blenheim founded. (Originally known as 'the Beaver')
• 1850 Land at Waitohi purchased from Te Āti Awa to establish town of Picton.
• 1855 Following a magnitude 8.2 earthquake in the Wairarapa, the Wairau Lagoons subside sufficiently to enable navigation of the lower Wairau and Ōpaoa rivers by small ships.
• 1858 Surveying to establish town of Havelock.
• 1859 1 November. Marlborough established as a province after separating from Nelson province.
• 1860 Marlborough elects first Provincial Council.
• 1864 Gold discovered at Wakamarina.
• 1864 April - Taupae-o-Uneuku, Marlborough's highest peak climbed for the first time.
• 1865 Blenheim becomes provincial capital
• 1866 The first telegraph cable accross Cook Strait to Whites Bay.
• 1866 First Roman Catholic church built in Blenheim.
• 1866 Marlborough Express begins publication.
• 1866 Molesworth cob cottage built by John (Cornelius) Murphy.
• 1870 First lighthouse built at Cape Campbell.
• 1875 Picton railway opened.
• 1887 Wairau Hospital established on current site.
• 1888 Gold discovered in Cullen's Gully near Linkwater.
• 1900 Marlborough High School opens.
• 1900 Freezing works opens in Picton.
• 1905 Flaxbourne Station acquired and subdivided by the government establishing the town of Ward.
• 1916 Pollard Park (formerly Waterlea Park) established.
• 1917 Opawa River Bridge completed.
• 1918 Blenheim Amateur Operatic Society (Now Blenheim Musical Theatre) formed.
• 1927 Waihopai hydro-electric power station began generation.
• 1928 First flight from New Zealand to Australia by Charles Kingsford Smith in 'Southern Cross' departs from Woodbourne.
• 1929 Marlborough Aero Club begins flying operations.
• 1945 Main trunk line linking Picton to Christchurch by rail opens.
• 1949 Production of salt begins at Lake Grassmere.
• 1954 January 16th, Queen Elizabeth II visits Blenheim.
• 1957 July, French Pass road opened
• 1961 NAC begins Fokker Friendship flights to Woodbourne.
• 1962 First roll-on roll-of interisland rail ferry, the Aramoana begins operation across Cook Strait.
• 1962 Private road to Tennyson Inlet opened.
• 1962 November 20. First successful swim across Cook Strait by Barrie Devenport.
• 1965 Taylor Dam flood protection completed (Largest earth flood protection in NZ).
• 1967 Tru-Jen sets a new New Zealand water speed record of 126.74 mph on 18 March.
• 1968 Brayshaw Park established.
• 1973 First commecial vineyard plantings by Montana.
• 1973 Marlborough wins the Ranfurly Shield
• 1979 10th January Farmers fire
• 1979 Queen Charlotte Track developed.
• 1983 Branch River hydro-electric generation begins operation.
• 1983 July. Tuamarina flood results in evacuations from Tuamarina, Spring Creek, and Renwick.
• 1985 Inaugural Marlborough Wine and Food Festival
• 1986 Mikhail Lermontov Soviet cruise ship sinks in Port Gore on February 16 after hitting rocks in the Marlborough Sounds.
• 1986 Sounds Air begins passenger operations.
• 1989 Formation of Marlborough District Council as a result of local government reforms.
• 1990 Safe Air ceases flying operations after 40 years.
• 1990 Blenheim Riverside Railway officially opens.
• 1992 Strait Shipping begins freight service across Cook Strait.
• 1996 Sounds Air Cessna Caravan crashes into Mount Robertson in heavy cloud, killing 5 passengers
• 1998 January 1. Ben Smart & Olivia Hope disappear in the Marlborough Sounds.
• 2000 Boxing Day fire on Wither Hills
• 2001 Inaugural Classic Fighters airshow at Omaka.
• 2006 December 9. Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre opens.
• 2007 Marlborough Convention Centre and combined Clubs of Marlborough opens on former RSA club site.
• 2010 Crown settlement with Te Tau Ihu tribes.
• 2012 Joseph Sullivan from Picton wins gold in men's double sculls at 2012 Olympics in London
• 2013 Magnitude 6.6 earthquake centred at Lake Grassmere on August 16.
• 2014 April, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Catherine visit Blenheim.
• 2016 Magnitude 7.8 earthquake on November 14, with epicentre near Culverdon in north Canterbury, ruptured multiple faults up Kaikōura coast.
• 2016 ASB Theatre opens beside Clubs of Marlborough beside Taylor River
• 2022 Clubs of Marlborough goes into receivership and closes

Sources:

AA Historic Places of New Zealand 1990 Hodder and Stoughton.

A Pictorial History of New Zealand Shirley Maddock 1988 Heinemann Reed

Old Marlborough T. Lindsay Buick 1900 - reprint 1976 Capper Press

The First Hundred A. Beverley 1969 Blenheim Borough Council

Cite this page

Cookson, C. (2023). Historical Timeline of Marlborough. Retrieved December, 2, 2023, from https://www.marlboroughonline.co.nz/marlborough/information/history/historical-timeline