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NZBC Classics - Wahine Disaster
Television (Full Length) – 1968
On 10 April 1968 the Lyttelton–Wellington ferry Wahine ran aground and sank at the entrance to Wellington Harbour. Fifty-three people died as a result of the accident, 51 on the day. These news features include aerial footage of the ship after the storm, and NZBC reporters conducting dramatic interviews with survivors, police and the head of the Union Steam Ship Company. Coverage was only seen by mainlanders after a cameraman rushed to Kaikoura and filmed a TV set that could receive a signal from Wellington, then returned to Christchurch so the footage could be broadcast.
[The NZBC team] worked under extreme conditions to shoot the film, in torrential rain and gale force winds, losing 1000 feet of film through water entering their cameras. Water marks here and there on the film show the sort of situation in which it was shot....– Listener article on the NZ Broadcasting Corporation's win at the World Newsfilm Awards, 6 December 1968
Key Cast & Crew
See all 14 credits
Produced by
NZ Broadcasting Corporation
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Frontline - The Wahine Disaster 25 Years on
A 25th anniversary report on the Wahine disaster
I Was There - Wahine Disaster
A 2013 look back at the Wahine disaster
Smash Palace
Wahine reporter Keith Aberdein acted in this feature film
Back From the Dead - The Saga of the Rose-Noëlle
Documentary about capsized trimaran the Rose-Noëlle
Inside Story: The Wahine Disaster
2008 documentary about the Wahine
The Wahine Disaster
Documentary chronicling events on the day
A Very Nice Honeymoon
Another famous NZ shipwreck
Here is the News
1992 documentary on the history of news reporting in NZ
Shipwreck - The Tragedy of the Boyd
Series on NZ shipwrecks
Wahine Day
Remembering the Wahine five years later
Destination Disaster: The Sinking of the Mikhail Lermontov
Documentary on the sinking of the Mikhail Lermontov
Special Investigators - Episode Eight
Documentary series about accident investigators
Spot On - First Episode
The subject is famous shipwreck deterrent: the lighthouse
Wahine - The Untold Story
Brian Edwards presented this 1993 Wahine documentary
Here Is The News - Wahine excerpt
Reporters remember covering the Wahine disaster
Spring Flames
Another NZ tragedy
Flight 901 - The Erebus Disaster
Another tragic NZ civil disaster
Shipwreck - The Wreck of the Orpheus
Another NZ maritime disaster
Wicked Weather - The Wind
The Wahine features in this wind documentary
Nationwide Skits - Fred Dagg and Company
Keith Aberdein features in the 5th skit (on bureaucrats)
Tales from Te Papa - Albatross
Taking Back Our Beach
Footage from another infamous shipwreck, the MV Rena
Wahine Requiem
A requiem to the Wahine disaster
Making New Zealand - Shipping
Documentary on New Zealand's shipping history
Making New Zealand - Broadcasting
Documentary on the history of broadcasting in NZ