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Kōrero: Historic volcanic activity

Crater Lake, October 1953

Crater Lake, October 1953

Three years after Mt Ruapehu erupted, Crater Lake had risen to approximately its previous level. This panorama shows the swollen lake in Labour weekend 1953, about two months before the Tangiwai disaster in December 1953.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Private collection

by Peter Otway

This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Eileen McSaveney, Carol Stewart rāua ko Graham Leonard, Historic volcanic activity – Ruapehu and the Tangiwai disaster, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/6865/crater-lake-october-1953 (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Eileen McSaveney, Carol Stewart rāua ko Graham Leonard, i tāngia i te 2 March 2009.

Comments

Alan Dunn
20 January 2014
As a 13 year old growing up in NZ at the time of the Tangiwai disaster it sure had big effect on my life from then to the present. Travelling with family in a car a short time after the disaster I will never forget the scene of absolute carnage with the mud and tangled infrastructure not to mention carriages protruding out of what could only be described as the remints of the river banks. It is events similar to Tangiwai that remain in our minds for a life time and our thoughts for all the victims and their relatives that will be part of all to remind us of the significance of the Tangiwai Train Disaster firmly bound within the history of New Zealand.