Calibrating the country’s clocks

Wellington Standard Time was adopted in Invercargill on February 10, 1868.

By this date the telegraph had made it possible to calibrate clocks throughout the colony.

Oamaru was 14 minutes behind Wellington time and Invercargill was 40 minutes behind, for example.

The newspaper commented: ‘‘This system of unity of time was many years ago adopted with great satisfaction in the Australian colonies, Greenwich time is now the standard for the United Kingdom.

‘‘The Post office and the other Government offices are now being regulated by the telegraph clock and it is desirable that it should be adopted by the people.

‘‘One uniform time being accepted for the colony would prove of great convenience to all parties, and unless one regular standard is acknowledged, there will be endless confusion.

‘‘On and after Monday, the 10th of February current, the time that will be observed at the Government Offices, and especially at the Railway Department, will be Wellington Time.’’

On November 2 that year, New Zealand adopted New Zealand Mean Time which was 11.5 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.

Southland’s first bungy

Southland’s first bungy jumps took place in October 1989, when AJ Hackett set up a bungy from the top of the main arch on the Mataura Bridge.

Jumpers included mayor Ian Tulloch and MP Jeff Grant.

Other Southland bungy jumps have been a 300m helicopter jump over Invercargill in 1993, and jumps from a crane in the Port of Bluff.

Does anyone have any further information? Somewhere in Bluff, near the old quarry and overgrown by gorse and blackberry, is the Mckenzie Memorial, assuming it still exists.

The Mckenzie brothers were George Douglas and Ian Roy.

George’s service number was 8/2819. Ian’s number was 8/2990.

Both their names appear on the family headstone in the old Bluff cemetery, and both died on the same day, September 27, 1916, at the Somme.

This photo of the Bluff West End Cricket Club in 1908, shows the Mckenzie boys and their team-mates. Back row:

A Cockroft, G Ashwell, R McKenzie, W Ashwell, J Cockroft. Front: J Donaldson, ----, G McKenzie, O Cockroft, J Imlay. Absent, Jim Harland.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Silvester.