News coverage of the Wahine disaster

When television broadcasting in New Zealand began in the 1960s, the presentation of news was limited by technology. Restrictions which prevented instant coverage of distant news included the lack of a network across the country and the absence of television satellite communication. This clip shows the challenges posed to news broadcasters by the sinking of the ferry Wahine in Wellington Harbour on 10 April 1968. Some ingenious techniques were used to get the images of the sinking to viewers in Canterbury. This clip is from Here is the news in 1992; the reporter interviewed is Fred Cockram.

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Comments

Lynda Woodburn
14 January 2018

I believe the enormous contribution of my father, Lewis Woodburn (then transmission engineer for the NZBC), should be added to this story. Without him the technology which sent the story out from Wellington to the rest of the country would never have been achieved. He worked 24 hours that day (incidentally missing his oldest child's birthday) leaving his Taita home in the early hours of the morning and travelling between Mount Kaukau and Rimutaka (much of it on foot due to blown down trees blocking the roads) and over a radio transmitter talked a farmer in Taranaki through setting up a vital part of the necessary links to provide New Zealand with it's first nationwide broadcast. Thanks for your time

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