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Story: Historic earthquakes

First record of a Wellington earthquake

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First record of a Wellington earthquake

Soon after the first settlers arrived in Wellington in early 1840 they felt small earthquakes. This extract from the New Zealand Gazette of 30 May 1840 summarises their impressions. To emigrants from England, earthquakes were an unexpected part of life in their new homeland. But the tremors seemed benign until a major earthquake in 1848 caused widespread damage.

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National Library of New Zealand, Papers Past

Reference: New Zealand Gazette, 30 May 1840, p. 2

Permission of the National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Eileen McSaveney, Historic earthquakes – The 1848 Marlborough earthquake, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/document/4379/first-record-of-a-wellington-earthquake (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Eileen McSaveney, published 2 March 2009, updated 1 November 2017.