Eighty-six years ago today on the 3rd of February 1931 at 10.47 am, New Zealand’s deadliest earthquake struck the Hawkes Bay. Centered 15kms north of Napier, it lasted for two and a half minutes and measured magnitude 7.8. Napier was levelled and at least 258 people were killed.

Showing central Napier in ruins after the 1931 earthquake  Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 248-11

Thirteen-year-old Cecil O’Halloran and her sister Joy lived with their parents, Ivy and Kevin, on the Napier hills, in Brewster Street. Their house was built by Ivy’s builder father, Thomas Bailey, as a wedding present for his daughter.

When the earthquake struck, Ivy was at home. It was fortunate she'd just left the laundry for the kitchen as the only damage to the house was from the chimney crumbling down on to it.
Auckland Libraries Sir George Grey Special Collections has digitised a view of the city taken before and after the earthquake. The house that Thomas built for Ivy and Kevin is in the foreground, second house from the right in the photos below. In the first one you can see it has a chimney, which has gone in the second photo.

Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19310311-49-1

Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19310311-49-2

Meanwhile, Cecil and Joy were at school. At 13, Cecil was a bit too old to be on a see-saw but she was playing that game where you try to bounce the other girl off. To her indignation, Cecil was roughly thrown to the ground, soon realising that it wasn’t her playmate’s doing as the ground undulated beneath her. Her convent school survived pretty much intact but the nuns were sure it was more than an earthquake when they raced to the convent’s graveyard crying, 'Armageddon'! The girls had to camp overnight at school and it wasn’t until the next day, when her parents came to collect her, that Cecil realised that they too were okay.

Cecil eventually died in her eighties from Alzheimer’s but the Napier earthquake was one memory that lasted with her, almost to the end.

Bridget

In the first week of February, Auckland Libraries was delighted to have hosted several events to support New Zealand Cemeteries Heritage Week, which was to celebrate the launch on Ancestry of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists (NZSG) cemetery microfiche.


The cemetery microfiche was the culmination of almost 50 years' worth of work by volunteers from the NZSG - a painstaking process of recording and transcribing cemetery headstones from 1400 public and private cemeteries nationwide, including Māori urupa from 1800 right up until 2007.

The official launch day was held on Monday, 2 February, 2015, at the New Zealand Society of Genealogists head office in Panmure where current NZSG President Gay Williams discussed the history of their Cemetery Collection and explained the work that was behind it.

The launch made the news on TVNZ.


Auckland Libraries hosted events in support for the following three days. Subjects presented were:

• S.S.Tararua  - our worst civilian shipwreck, 29 April 1881 - Gay Williams, President, (NZ Society of Genealogists) 

• The shipwreck of the HMS Orpheus on 7 February 1863 - Michael Wynd, Researcher, (National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy)

• The ‘Great Flu’ pandemic, 1918 - Gay Williams

• Hawkes Bay Earthquake 3 February 1931 - Christine Clement

• The Tangiwai Railway Disaster, 24 December 1953 - Gay Williams

• The Air NZ Erebus disaster, 28 November 1979 - Gay Williams

• Why can't I locate my NZ ancestors place of burial - David Verran, Local Historian and Team Leader, Central Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries

• Locating your ancestors through NZSG burial records and Ancestry online (NZ cemetery records 1800 – 2007), Diane Wilson and Gay Williams 

In the first week of February, Auckland Libraries was delighted to have hosted several events to support New Zealand Cemeteries Heritage Week, which was to celebrate the launch on Ancestry of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists (NZSG) cemetery microfiche.


The cemetery microfiche was the culmination of almost 50 years' worth of work by volunteers from the NZSG - a painstaking process of recording and transcribing cemetery headstones from 1400 public and private cemeteries nationwide, including Māori urupa from 1800 right up until 2007.

The official launch day was held on Monday, 2 February, 2015, at the New Zealand Society of Genealogists head office in Panmure where current NZSG President Gay Williams discussed the history of their Cemetery Collection and explained the work that was behind it.

The launch made the news on TVNZ.


Auckland Libraries hosted events for the following three days:

• S.S.Tararua  - our worst civilian shipwreck, 29 April 1881 - Gay Williams, President, (NZ Society of Genealogists) 

• The shipwreck of the HMS Orpheus on 7 February 1863 - Michael Wynd, Researcher, (National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy)

• The ‘Great Flu’ pandemic, 1918 - Gay Williams

• Hawkes Bay Earthquake 3 February 1931 - Christine Clement

• The Tangiwai Railway Disaster, 24 December 1953 - Gay Williams

• The Air NZ Erebus disaster, 28 November 1979 - Gay Williams

• Why can't I locate my NZ ancestors place of burial - David Verran, Local Historian and Team Leader, Central Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries

• Locating your ancestors through NZSG burial records and Ancestry online (NZ cemetery records 1800 – 2007), Diane Wilson and Gay Williams