Ask to use material, get more information or tell us about an item
This Spectrum documentary looks at the eruption of Mount Tarawera at 2am on Thursday, 10 June 1886. The material was drawn from the Alexander Turnbull Library and the Radio New Zealand Sound Archives. Narrated by David Delaney.
An excerpt is read from a letter by Captain Gilbert Mair to the Māori people, urging them to support victims of the disaster from the village of Te Wairoa, Te Ariki, and other settlements.
There is a description of tourism in the area at the time of the eruption. Then, an account of the appearance of a 'ghost canoe' on Lake Tarawera just before the disaster, taken from a letter by Mrs Size. Guide Sophia's later recollection of seeing the ghost canoe is read.
Several written eye witness accounts of the eruption are read.
An archival recording of an eye witness account by telegraphist Roger Dansey of Ohinemutu, Rotorua, is played [Dansey's words are read by a broadcaster - possibly Bill Beavis].
An archival recording of William Bennett, who was a twelve-year-old working for Jack Falloon, the storekeeper. He recalls how he set out to walk from Te Wairoa to safety in Ohinemutu, but broke down crying and returned towards Guide Sophia's whare when lava and scoria started falling.
More written eye witness accounts by people who survived the falling ash and rocks on Te Wairoa.
An archival recording of an account of the subsequent landslips and flooding which followed the eruption, all over the Bay of Plenty. Eventually the land, which had a light covering of ash, recovered and was very fertile. Horses suffered from battered ears, destroyed by the falling pumice and rock. Te Wairoa was never rebuilt.