Fireworks popular in New Zealand since they arrived in the traditions of early British and Chinese immigrants

The traditions of fireworks came to colonial New Zealand with British and Chinese people in the 19th century.

British immigrants brought the custom of Guy Fawkes Night - November 5 - which recalls Fawkes' part in a failed plot to assassinate King James I with a massive explosion in 1605 at the House of Lords in London.

The foiling of the plot before the planned explosion was celebrated with November 5 bonfires and later fireworks and effigies of Fawkes too. Boys used the effigies to raise money for fireworks and burned the figures on a bonfire.

Today, Auckland Council, because of the dangers of fireworks, has called on the Government to ban their sale to the general public and end their private use.

Organised fireworks displays were a regular event at New Year celebrations since colonial times and they have also marked provincial anniversaries and even apparently random occasions.

"A very pretty display of fireworks took place last night on the Wynyard Pier," Auckland's Southern Cross wrote in August 1852. "It is to be regretted that the pleasing spectacle was only known to a few. We hope any further exhibition of the kind will be made more public."

The Chinese invented gunpowder in the 9th century and began making fireworks. Chinese immigrants in New Zealand brought with them their tradition of setting off fireworks at Chinese New Year. Fireworks in colonial newspapers were often described as "Chinese crackers" and rockets.

The Grey River Argus correspondent at Ahaura on the West Coast, in an 1890 report, said: "The Chinese kept up their new year with the usual fireworks, and the villainous smell of powder kept the mosquitoes quiet for the night."

The Lyttelton Times noted at Chinese New Year in 1880 that "crackers, maroons, rockets, and other fireworks" were let off from midnight "almost without intermission until well after daybreak".

Rules were imposed on fireworks in the early years of the colony. In 1850 the maximum fine for unlawfully letting off fireworks in a public place was £5 (worth several hundred dollars today).

In October 1890 a lad, George Nicholson, was fined a much smaller sum, 2 shillings and sixpence, at the Auckland Police Court for letting off a firecracker in Wakefield St.

The Auckland Star said he was a "respectable-looking boy". His mother said she didn't know that his actions broke the law. "The Bench" - the presiding official - "remarked that the practice was very dangerous, as it might cause loss of life and great damage to property".

A Wellington report in November 1882 described "bonfires and a discharge of Guy Fawkes fireworks in all directions … to the great danger of the city".

There were also some reports of injuries.

A boy, E Williams, was badly burned around the eyes and forehead by fireworks going off unexpectedly on Guy Fawkes Day near Thames in 1899.

In Thames itself, a 5-year-old girl was badly burned when her clothes caught fire from bonfire embers the morning after Guy Fawkes Night in 1892.

In 1891, the New Zealand Mail lamented what it considered the decline of Guy Fawkes Day.

"... the interest felt in it [is] growing less and less every year. Yesterday week there were one or two guys of a very second rate description parading the streets" and there were some fireworks and bonfires.

"Beyond this, no notice whatever was taken of the anniversary of an event which occupies such a prominent page in English history."