Story: Historic earthquakes
The explorer J. C. Crawford travelled up the Whanganui River in 1861 and recorded many landslides. In this sketch he depicts a sandstone slip behind the village at Utapu in Whanganui, noting where the hill has slipped down. There are records of earthquake-caused landslides in 1838, and there may have been further landslides from the widespread shaking of the 1855 Wairarapa earthquake.
About this item
Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: E-041-042
Pencil and ink drawing by James Coutts Crawford
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.