Cave Creek disaster 1995

Where can I find information about the Cave Creek disaster in 1995?

Junior Secondary (Years 7-10)

Image: Cave Creek, Kotihotiho, West Coast, New Zealand, by Shellie on Flickr.

Contents

General websites Newspapers, magazines and documentaries Books

Entry last updated: 18/09/17

Introduction

Cave Creek is in Paparoa National Park on the West Coast of the South Island. On 28 April 1995, disaster struck when the viewing platform suspended high above Cave Creek collapsed. 13 Tai Poutini Polytechnic students and a Department of Conservation (DOC) worker, who were standing on the platform, were killed. Immediately after the disaster, questions were raised about the safety and construction of the viewing platform.

General websites

There are two websites that have useful facts and information about the Cave Creek disaster.

NZ History

This is a great website for information about the history of New Zealand Aotearoa. If you scroll to the bottom of the page you can see that it belongs to Manatū Taonga - the Ministry for Culture & Heritage.

  • Enter 'Cave Creek' into the search bar.
  • Find the link to the New Zealand disasters timeline.
  • Scroll down to the year 1995 and click Read more. This takes you to the Christchurch City Libraries website and their New Zealand Disasters feature on Cave Creek.
  • There are links to more resources at the bottom of the page.

Department of Conservation (DOC)

This government agency is charged with conserving New Zealand’s natural and historical heritage.

  • A search for 'Cave Creek' will bring up several results, including the Commission of Inquiry Cave Creek Report.
  • Following the publication of this report, major changes were made to safety standards for outdoor recreational facilities throughout New Zealand.
Tips: We like these sites because they are from a government organisation (Ministry or Council). You can tell this by their web address – they have .govt in their address.

Scoop

This is a great website for finding out about events and opinions in New Zealand, including formal statements like press releases from the government and other organisations.

  • A search for 'Cave Creek' will bring up a variety of results.
  • Use the options on the side to limit the results by type or organisation.
Tips: Websites that have .com or .co in the address can have good information, but you need to assess how reliable it is. Check the About us link on the website, if you can find one. That can tell you what the company’s mission and values are.

Newspapers, magazines and documentaries

There are also sites that have newspaper and magazine articles, and a documentary about Cave Creek. Some of these are from the time of the disaster (primary sources) and others have been written or made since.

Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre

This is one of the EPIC resources, a collection of reliable databases covering lots of different topics. You may need a password from your school or local library to access it.

  • This database is a great resource for newspaper and magazine articles from New Zealand and Australia.
  • Search for 'Cave Creek' using the search box.
  • Choose the Full Text option from the side of the search results to see articles you can read online.
Tips: To use the EPIC resources you will need a login and password from your school librarian or you can login to AnyQuestions between 1pm and 6pm Monday to Friday and one of our librarians will help you online.

National Library of New Zealand

The National Library collects and stores all sorts of information about New Zealand.

  • Search using the keywords 'Cave Creek disaster 1995'.
  • This searches across all items in the National Library's collections and returns results for a range of material, including images, books and newspaper articles.
  • You may be able to request copies of these articles through your school or public library.

NZon Screen

This website includes films and documentaries that have appeared on New Zealand television.

Tips: Search words, or keywords, are the most important words in our question. Usually it’s better to leave out small words like ‘the’, ‘a’ and ‘of’ and just choose the main ones, eg Cave Creek. We can always change our keywords or add more if we need to.

Books

There is a book that has been written on the Cave Creek disaster - check out your local school or public library to see if they have it.

SCIS no: 1836094

Topics covered

Cave Creek New Zealand disasters Tai Poutini Polytechnic Department of Conservation national parks Place and Environment Continuity and Change commission of inquiry investigation tragedy
Back to Many Answers
managed by
proudly supported by

Acceptable Use

Acceptable use means acting like a good citizen online. How you behave online should be the same as how you behave offline (in the real world). AnyQuestions is a free service, staffed by real people from libraries right around New Zealand. Please be respectful and polite to our librarians. We like helping people who show good manners :)


We may end a chat session if we think you are being inappropriate or misbehaving, this includes:

  • Using racist/sexist, offensive or obscene language.

    Please don’t use mean or cruel words when talking to or about someone else; whether they are a male or female, or of another race or skin colour. Obscene language means using words that would upset your grandparents!

  • Using the service to transmit messages that harass or threaten the operators.

    Please don’t be mean to our librarians or act like a bully.

  • Visiting an objectionable website while in session with an operator.

    An objectionable website means a website that you really wouldn’t want your grandparents looking over your shoulder at!

  • Deliberately time wasting in a way that denies service to other legitimate users.

    Time wasting means being silly and not working with our librarians. Time wasting means other students are not getting help, and that isn’t nice!

  • Any form of vandalism, including damaging computer systems or networks and knowingly introducing programs such as computer viruses and worms.

    You might be technically savvy and know about web viruses and worms and how they affect computers but please don’t spread these. It takes our attention away from helping you and other students.

  • AnyQuestions reserves the right to disconnect users at the operator’s discretion. AnyQuestions might also block access to the service for repeat offenders.

    If you act like a troll then we’ll end the chat. Remember everything digital or online can be traced and we can track it back to where you came from and/or your school. If you misbehave on AnyQuestions then we will be in touch with your school or we will block you from accessing AnyQuestions.

Okay, Got it