Kōrero: Historic earthquakes

Elsie Harris talks about the 1855 earthquake. Her grandparents owned a farm near the Pāuatahanui Inlet, which was affected by the quake. The image shows a watercolour of nearby Porirua Harbour, painted about 1842.

Transcript

The first house they built was by the river. Small place, had those stairs, they used the ladder to go to bed upstairs for the children. And the big earthquake in 1855. It shook for three days and three nights and never stopped and they couldn't get upstairs to bed, they had to stay downstairs. And then the harbour the land around the harbour rose eight feet and made it quite a different looking place. When they first came here, they said it was the most beautiful place they'd ever seen, it was forest to the water's edge, and the sea came right up in the path in every village.

Interviewer: I believe it was used for bringing supplies wasn't it? They had quite big ships in there in those days.

Yes, it spoilt the harbour for ships but you get much more land of course and all the rushes around the harbour were unseen.