Memorable Australasian Christmases

First Christmases:

In Australia:
The first official Christmas down under was celebrated in 1788 at Sydney Cove with a service led by the Reverend Johnson. After the service, the Australian Governor, Arthur Phillips, and his officers ate well, raising their glasses to the King of England and his family. For the convict population, a majority of the first white inhabitants, there was no change to their regular rations of bread only. The only noted gesture of goodwill to a convict was to a man named Michael Dennison who had stolen a pound of flour from a Martha Pugh. He was sentenced to 200 lashes by the whip, but as it was Christmas, only 150 were delivered. Lucky Michael!

In New Zealand:
Samuel Marsden, the first missionary in New Zealand, arrived in the Bay of Islands on 23 Dec 1814 on board the ship Active. They anchored near Rangihoua on the North side of the bay. On Christmas Day Marsden held the first official Christian service in New Zealand, using the text 'Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All Men'. There is a beautiful New Zealand Christmas Carol, Te Harinui, which was written by Willow Macky to commemorate this event. 'Te Harinui' translates into English as 'Great Joy'.

Sad Christmases:

Australia's worst Christmas was in 1974, when Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin in the Northern Territory. More than 60 people were killed.

A sadly memorable year for New Zealand was the year of the Tangiwai rail disaster. On Christmas Eve 1953 lahar from Mt Ruapehu's crater lake found outlet under Whangaehu glacier into Whangaehu River. A rail bridge was swept away at a small place called Tangiwai just moments before the Wellington-Auckland train had to travel that part of the track, and despite heroic efforts to try and warn the train 151 lives were lost, making this the worst NZ volcanic disaster of the 20th century. The Tangiwai disaster was mentioned in the Queen's Christmas speech that year.

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