On September 26, USGS registered a 4.8 magnitude earthquake near Macquarie Island, south-west of New Zealand, about 4.20pm. 

About 10 minutes later, Robert Jennings of Jellat was in his kitchen with his wife and put a bowl and knife together down on the bench, when they started to rattle. 

“It continued to go on for about 15 seconds,” he said. 

“It got lower then went away. 

“We both looked at each other and thought ‘what the hell was that?’

“You couldn’t say it was the house shaking, but the plates were definitely rattling.” 

He and his wife then searched for information on recent earthquakes.

They found the “minor tremor” they experienced occurred about the same time as the earthquake registered off Macquarie Island, although they were not sure if the two incidents were connected. 

The earthquake occurred 41km south-south-west off the island at a depth of 10km. 

Macquarie Island is approximately 2200km from Jellat Jellat.