One of the country's most important historical documents has been moved due to quake damage.
The Women's Suffrage Petition of 1893 is housed in Archives New Zealand's Wellington premises.
The petition contains the names and addresses of about 24,000 women. The signatures filled more than 500 individual sheets, which were glued together to form a single roll that stretched more than 270 m.
The first sheet of the suffrage petition that was submitted to Parliament on July 28 1893 (Archives New Zealand)
Cracks have opened up on the second floor of the archives building and there are fears about how it will cope with on-going aftershocks.
The extremely fragile document has been moved to the secure Constitution Room on level one of the building which has been deemed structurally sound.
Archives New Zealand is the country's official record keeper with founding documents, films, paintings and photos housed in the Wellington premises.
Newshub.
