Early this morning, our clocks went forward an hour, ready for our summer down here in New Zealand. With the reminders to switch our clocks, I wondered when daylight saving started.
Color me surprised to discover a New Zealander had the idea first. George Hudson worked shifts and collected insects in his spare time. (A collection of his bugs is in Te Papa, our national museum in Wellington). In 1895 he wrote his first proposal to shift clocks to increase daylight hours, but it wasn’t until 1927 when we first observed daylight saving time in New Zealand.
According to my internet searches, Thunder Bay in Canada had daylight saving first in 1908. These days at least 40% of the world (over 70 countries) change their clocks to take advantage of the sunlight during the summer.
I love daylight saving and tend to do more walking and exercise after dinner. What about you? What are your thoughts on daylight saving?
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