New Zealand first played Australia in 1987 and the win last night was the Ice Blacks' first over their transtasman rival.
The team was ecstatic when the final hooter sounded.
The players threw down their sticks on to the ice and rushed into a huddle to hug each other.
The 1600 spectators stood and cheered.
The attendance was even bigger on Saturday night when a record New Zealand ice hockey audience of 2500 packed into the stadium.
Australia convincingly won the first test 8-2 on Saturday night and seemed to have the series sewn up.
But the Ice Blacks came out firing to win the second test, then clinched the series by winning the shoot-off 2-0.
"We wanted the win tonight. It was monumental for us," coach Jeff Bonazzo told the Otago Daily Times.
"The series win was just icing on the cake."
Australia led 2-1 after the first period before New Zealand came out strongly to score the only goals in the second period to lead 3-2.
The final period of 20 minutes was full of tension, with Australia drawing level after 7min 30sec and New Zealand capturing back the lead three minutes later.
Australia drew level at 4-4 with just 7min 39sec left and new boy Paris Heyd scored the winning goal with 4min 30sec left.
"I was very proud of the boys the way they dug deep and held them out when they kept coming back at us," Bonazzo said.
The series win has given the Ice Blacks confidence before next April's division 2 world championships in Estonia.
Much credit must be given to the coach for turning the team around after Australia's win on Saturday night.
"We didn't change anything," Bonazzo said.
"We just played the same way we did in the first period on Saturday night, but did it for the whole game."
New Zealand played with aggression forced the Australians into mistakes.
Goal tender Zak Nothling, of Auckland, had an outstanding game, making 44 saves.
Ice Blacks to enhance their reputations in the two-match series were Heyd, who scored a goal in his first test on Saturday night and kept the puck as a memento, Soffer, Chris Eaden, Brett Speirs, Braden Lee and Simon Glass.
"Zak was outstanding and the saves he made in the first period kept us in the game," Bonazzo said.
The first-test result was not unexpected, as Australia had the experience of playing in the division 1 world championships and has played 25 internationals this year.
It has been demoted to division 2 for next year.
New Zealand was promoted to division 2 when it won the division 3 world championships in Dunedin.
Australia is ranked 33rd in the world and the Ice Blacks are 39th.
"It was definitely a step up for us. We knew they were going to be a polished team," Bonazzo said.
"The test on Saturday night gave our players the confidence to know they can play at this level.
"We need to play Australia more than twice a year. It would have been great to have the series go to seven games."
The first test highlighted Australia's strength and New Zealand's deficiencies.
The Australians handled the puck better and their speed on the ice gave them the edge over the Ice Blacks.
They also attacked from the edge of the blue line and had players in position to put the rebound into the net.
The second period belonged to Australia when it scored five goals to take a decisive 7-2 lead.
Goal tenders Matt Ezzy and Gabriel Robledo made 35 saves, compared with 22 by New Zealand's Rick Parry, who played the first test.
The other player to stand out for Australia was defender John Halverson, who scored four of his team's eight goals.
Australia netted eight of its 30 shots at goal, compared with New Zealand's two from 35.
First test: Australia 8 (John Halverson 4, Adrian Saul 2, Vladimir Rubes, Vladan Stransky), New Zealand 2 (Paris Heyd, Brett Speirs).
Period 1: Australia 2, New Zealand 2; Period 2: Australia 5-0; Period 3: Australia 1-0.
Second test: New Zealand 5 (Stacey Rout, Adam Soffer, Braden Lee, Chris Eaden, Paris Heyd), Australia 4 (Rob Starke, Eric La Freniere, Ray Sheffield, Casey Minson).
Period 1: Australia 2- 1; period 2: New Zealand 2-0; period 3: New Zealand 2, Australia 2.
