KIWI FIRSTS

Do you know these New Zealand history makers?

Who was the first to conquer Mount Everest?
                

Sir Edmond Hillary:  Sir Edmund made international headlines in 1953 when he became the first man to scale Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak, along with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.  Sir Edmund devoted much of his life to helping the Sherpas of Nepal’s Khumbu region. He was made an honorary Nepalese citizen in 2003.

Do you know how high Mt. Everest stands?  Where is it located?

Votes for Women

In 1893 New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world to give women the right to vote. It was to be nearly 25 years later, just after World War I, before the UK and USA followed suit.

For car, kitchen and hairstyle enthusiasts…curious aren’t you!?

Ernest Godward: a prolific inventor and best known for the following:

The ‘economizer’: (an early form of carburetor that allowed vehicles to run on kerosene, gasoline oil, fuel oil).  By the 1930s he was recognized as the world’s leading authority on the internal combustion engine.

How many models did Ernest Godward invent?

He also invented the eggbeater, 

 a burglar-proof window, and the world’s first circular hair pin.

 Can you guess which of these brought him international success and allowed him to become a full-time inventor?

SPEED, SPEED, AND MORE SPEED...CHECK THESE OUT!!
      

Hamilton Jet-boat:

As a small boy, Sir William Hamilton had dreamed of a boat that would carry him up New Zealand’s shallow and swift flowing rivers. He invented the world’s first propellerless boat. Since then, the Hamilton Jet has been the means to explore and access waterways all over the world.

What year did he invent the jet boat?

Sir William Hamilton went on to invent the hay lift, an advanced air compressor, a machine to smooth ice on skating ponds, and the water sprinkler amongst other things.

Bungy Jumping:   Don't try this at home!!

Here we go...!


Here we go...













Long way down... 

 Yes, you do come back up out of the water!!

 Certainly the most hair-raising Kiwi invention! And, probably the most famous Kiwi invention of the modern world! 
Daredevil AJ Hackett pioneered the Bungy Jump, opening the world's first commercial site in 1988, (off of 129 foot Dawarau Bridge outside of Queenstown). The year before, he illegally leapt from the Eiffel Tower in Paris.  

What inspired A.J. hackett to invent Bungy Jumping...do you know? 

Splitting the atom

 

Kiwi scientist Baron Ernest Rutherford was the first in the world to split the atom. He was awarded a Nobel Prize for his work with radioactivity.  What year did he accomplish this incredible feat?