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Graphic: An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966.

Warning

This information was published in 1966 in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock. It has not been corrected and will not be updated.

Up-to-date information can be found elsewhere in Te Ara.

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Waitangi Day Bus Accident, 1963

Shortly after 1 p.m. on 7 February 1963 a bus descending Pilbrow Hill, in the Brynderwyn Hills, near Whangarei, failed to take the last bend before the bottom, smashed through a fence, and rolled through scrub down an almost vertical slope to the Piroa Stream 100 ft below, killing 15 of the passengers and injuring the remaining 21. Ten of those killed came from Ngati Whatua settlements in the Helensville district. All the passengers were Maoris who had attended the royal visit celebrations at Waitangi. Subsequently, the Transport Department's inquiry found that the accident was caused by the failure of the service brakes.

Co-creator

McLintock, Alexander Hare