This is a timeline of the history of New Zealand

History of New Zealand

The history of New Zealand dates back at least 700 years to when it was discovered and settled by Polynesians, who developed a distinct Māori culture centred on kinship links and land. The first European explorer to discover New Zealand was Abel Janszoon Tasman on 13 December 1642...

 and only includes events deemed to be of principal importance - for more detailed information click the year heading or refer to List of years in New Zealand.

Prehistory (to 1000 CE)

• 85 mya: Around this time New Zealand splits from the supercontinent Gondwana
  Gondwana
  In paleogeography, Gondwana , originally Gondwanaland, was the southernmost of two supercontinents that later became parts of the Pangaea supercontinent. It existed from approximately 510 to 180 million years ago . Gondwana is believed to have sutured between ca. 570 and 510 Mya,...
  
  
• 5 mya: New Zealand's climate cools as Australia drifts north. Animals that have adapted to warm temperate and subtropical conditions become extinct
• 26,500 BP: the Taupo volcano erupts extremely violently
  Oruanui eruption
  The Oruanui eruption of New Zealand's Taupo Volcano was the world's largest known eruption in the past 70,000 years, with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 8...
  
  , covering much of the country with ignimbrite
  Ignimbrite
  An ignimbrite is the deposit of a pyroclastic density current, or pyroclastic flow, a hot suspension of particles and gases that flows rapidly from a volcano, driven by a greater density than the surrounding atmosphere....
  
   or volcanic ash
  Volcanic ash
  Volcanic ash consists of small tephra, which are bits of pulverized rock and glass created by volcanic eruptions, less than in diameter. There are three mechanisms of volcanic ash formation: gas release under decompression causing magmatic eruptions; thermal contraction from chilling on contact...
  
   and causing the Waikato River
  Waikato River
  The Waikato River is the longest river in New Zealand. In the North Island, it runs for 425 kilometres from the eastern slopes of Mount Ruapehu, joining the Tongariro River system and emptying into Lake Taupo, New Zealand's largest lake. It drains Taupo at the lake's northeastern edge, creates the...
  
   to avulse from the Hauraki Plains
  Hauraki Plains
  The Hauraki Plains are a geographical feature and non-administrative area located in the northern North Island of New Zealand, at the lower end of the Thames Valley...
  
   to its current path through the Waikato to the Tasman Sea
  Tasman Sea
  The Tasman Sea is the large body of water between Australia and New Zealand, approximately across. It extends 2,800 km from north to south. It is a south-western segment of the South Pacific Ocean. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, the first recorded European...
  
  .
• 18,000 BP: New Zealand's North and South islands are connected by a land bridge during the last ice age. Glaciers spread from the Southern Alps carving valleys and making fiords in the South Island.The land bridge is submerged around 9,700 BCE
• 181
  181
  Year 181 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Burrus...
  
   CE: Lake Taupo
  Lake Taupo
  Lake Taupo is a lake situated in the North Island of New Zealand. With a surface area of , it is the largest lake by surface area in New Zealand, and the second largest freshwater lake by surface area in geopolitical Oceania after Lake Murray ....
  
   erupts violently
  Hatepe eruption
  The Hatepe eruption around the year 180 CE was Lake Taupo's most recent major eruption, and New Zealand's largest eruption during the last 20,000 years. It ejected some of material , of which was ejected in the space of a few minutes...
  
  .

1000 to 1600

• c1280: Earliest archaeological sites provide evidence that initial settlement of New Zealand occurred around 1280 CE.
• ~1300: Most likely period of ongoing early settlement of New Zealand by Polynesian people (the Archaic Moa-Hunter Culture).
• 1400~1500 Development of the Classic Maori Material Culture including expansion of Maori settlement from coastal to inland areas, increase horticulture and development of Pa
• ~1500 Most likely extinction of the moa
  Moa
  The moa were eleven species of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. The two largest species, Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezelandiae, reached about in height with neck outstretched, and weighed about ....
  
  .
• 1576: Speculation exists that around this time Spanish explorer Juan Fernández visited New Zealand although this is not generally accepted by most reputable authorities.
• 1300-1600 Rangitoto Island
  Rangitoto Island
  Rangitoto Island is a volcanic island in the Hauraki Gulf near Auckland, New Zealand. The 5.5 km wide island is an iconic and widely visible landmark of Auckland with its distinctive symmetrical shield volcano cone rising 260 metres high over the Hauraki Gulf...
  
  , near Auckland
  Auckland
  The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
  
  , is formed by a series of eruptions. Although it is not expected to erupt again, the broader Auckland volcanic field
  Auckland Volcanic Field
  The Auckland volcanic field is a monogenetic volcanic field in the North Island of New Zealand. Basaltic in nature, it underlies much of the metropolitan area of Auckland....
  
   is.

Seventeenth century

1600

• Expansion and Migration of Maori groups and formation of classic iwi (many still existing today)

1642

• 13 December: Dutch
  Netherlands
  The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
  
   explorer Abel Tasman
  Abel Tasman
  Abel Janszoon Tasman was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the VOC . His was the first known European expedition to reach the islands of Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand and to sight the Fiji islands...
  
   sights the South Island
  South Island
  The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...
  
  . Initially he called it Staten Landt and changed it a year later to Nieuw Zeeland.
• 18 December: Abel Tasman
  Abel Tasman
  Abel Janszoon Tasman was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the VOC . His was the first known European expedition to reach the islands of Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand and to sight the Fiji islands...
  
  's expedition sails around Farewell Spit
  Farewell Spit
  Farewell Spit is a narrow sand spit situated at , at the northern end of the South Island of New Zealand. Known to the Māori as Tuhuroa, it runs eastwards from Cape Farewell, the island's northernmost point...
  
   and into Golden Bay
  Golden Bay
  Golden Bay lies at the edge of the junction between the Tasman Sea and Cook Strait. It stretches for 45 kilometres from the long sand spit of Farewell Spit in the north to Separation Point in Abel Tasman National Park at its southern extremity...
  
  . Dutch sailors sight local Māori.
• 19 December: Four of Tasman's crew and several Māori die in a skirmish and Tasman's ships depart without landing. The Dutch chart the west of the North Island
  North Island
  The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
  
  .

Eighteenth century

1700–1730

• Ngāi Tahu
  Ngāi Tahu
  Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori iwi of the southern region of New Zealand, with the tribal authority, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, being based in Christchurch and Invercargill. The iwi combines three groups, Kāi Tahu itself, and Waitaha and Kāti Mamoe who lived in the South Island prior...
  
   migrate from Wellington
  Wellington
  Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
  
   to the South Island
  South Island
  The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...
  
  , as far south as Banks Peninsula
  Banks Peninsula
  Banks Peninsula is a peninsula of volcanic origin on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It has an area of approximately and encompasses two large harbours and many smaller bays and coves...
  
  .

1769

• 8 October: English explorer James Cook
  James Cook
  Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
  
   makes his first visit to New Zealand on board the Endeavour, and sails into Poverty Bay
  Poverty Bay
  Poverty Bay is the largest of several small bays on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island to the north of Hawkes Bay. It stretches for 10 kilometres from Young Nick's Head in the southwest to Tuaheni Point in the northeast. The city of Gisborne is located on the northern shore of the bay...
  
  
• Cook maps the majority of the New Zealand coastline.
• French trader Jean de Surville
  Jean-François-Marie de Surville
  Jean-François-Marie de Surville was a French trader and navigator.In 1767 de Surville set sail in his ship, the St Jean Baptiste to India to trade between the French settlements in India and China...
  
   explores parts of the New Zealand coast.

1772

• April: Expedition of French explorer Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne
  Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne
  Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne , with the surname sometimes spelt Dufresne, was a French explorer who made important discoveries in the south Indian Ocean, in Tasmania and in New Zealand, where he died...
  
   visits Northland, and anchors at Spirits Bay
  Spirits Bay
  Spirits Bay is located at the northern end of the Aupouri Peninsula at the northern tip of New Zealand's North Island. At the western end of the bay is Cape Reinga, from which, according to Māori legend the spirits of the dead leave for their journey to the afterlife .The bay is 12 kilometres in...
  
  .
• 12 June: Marion du Fresne is killed at Tacoury's Cove, Bay of Islands by local Māori .

1773

• April: Cook's second expedition arrives in Queen Charlotte Sound
  Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand
  Queen Charlotte Sound is the easternmost of the main sounds of the Marlborough Sounds, in New Zealand's South Island. It is, like the other sounds, a drowned river valley , and like the majority of its neighbours it runs southwest to northeast before joining Cook Strait.The town of Picton, the...
  
  
• 18 December: A skirmish at Grass Cove in Queen Charlotte Sound results in the deaths of two Māori and nine members of Cook's expedition.

1777

• Cook returns to New Zealand aboard the Resolution, accompanied by the Discovery captained by Charles Clerke
  Charles Clerke
  Captain Charles Clerke RN was an officer in the Royal Navy who sailed on four voyages of exploration.Clerke started studying at the Royal Naval Academy in Portsmouth when he was 13. During the Seven Years' War he served aboard HMS Dorsetshire and HMS Bellona...
  
  .

1788

• New South Wales
  New South Wales
  New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
  
   founded, which according to Governor Phillip
  Arthur Phillip
  Admiral Arthur Phillip RN was a British admiral and colonial administrator. Phillip was appointed Governor of New South Wales, the first European colony on the Australian continent, and was the founder of the settlement which is now the city of Sydney.-Early life and naval career:Arthur Phillip...
  
  's Commission included the islands of New Zealand.

1790

• An epidemic of rewha-rewha (possibly influenza
  Influenza
  Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
  
  ) kills 60% of the Māori population in the southern North Island.

1791

• 29 November: Chatham Islands
  Chatham Islands
  The Chatham Islands are an archipelago and New Zealand territory in the Pacific Ocean consisting of about ten islands within a radius, the largest of which are Chatham Island and Pitt Island. Their name in the indigenous language, Moriori, means Misty Sun...
  
   sighted by HMS Chatham commanded by William Broughton
  William Robert Broughton
  William Robert Broughton was a British naval officer in the late 18th century. As a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, he commanded HMS Chatham as part of the Vancouver Expedition, a voyage of exploration through the Pacific Ocean led by Captain George Vancouver in the early 1790s.-With Vancouver:In...
  
  .

1792

• Group of sealers
  Pinniped
  Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...
  
   from the Britannia landed in Dusky Sound
  Dusky Sound
  Dusky Sound is a fiord on the south west corner of New Zealand, in Fiordland National Park.-Geography:One of the most complex of the many fjords on this coast, it is also one of the largest, 40 kilometres in length and eight kilometres wide at its widest point...
  
  .

1793

• Dusky Sound sealers picked up.
• A Spanish expedition led by Italian explorer Alessandro Malaspina
  Alessandro Malaspina
  Alessandro Malaspina was an Italian nobleman who spent most of his life as a Spanish naval officer and explorer...
  
   charts Doubtful Sound
  Doubtful Sound
  Doubtful Sound is a very large and naturally imposing fjord in Fiordland, in the far south west of New Zealand. It is located in the same region as the smaller but more famous and accessible Milford Sound...
  
  
• La Recherche and L'Espérance, captained by Bruni d'Entrecasteaux
  Bruni d'Entrecasteaux
  Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni d'Entrecasteaux was a French navigator who explored the Australian coast in 1792 while seeking traces of the lost expedition of La Pérouse....
  
   and Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec
  Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec
  Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec was an 18th century French navigator. In September 1791 he was chosen to command the Espérance on the Bruni d'Entrecasteaux expedition to find the lost expedition of Jean-François de La Pérouse. The expedition explored Australia and the South Pacific...
  
   sight New Zealand and the Kermadec Islands
  Kermadec Islands
  The Kermadec Islands are a subtropical island arc in the South Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand's North Island, and a similar distance southwest of Tonga...
  
  .

1800s

1806

• First Pākehā
  Pakeha
  Pākehā is a Māori language word for New Zealanders who are "of European descent". They are mostly descended from British and to a lesser extent Irish settlers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, although some Pākehā have Dutch, Scandinavian, German, Yugoslav or other ancestry...
  
   women arrive in New Zealand.

1807 or 1808

• Ngapuhi fight Ngāti Whātua, Te-Uri-o-Hau and Te Roroa iwi
  Iwi
  In New Zealand society, iwi form the largest everyday social units in Māori culture. The word iwi means "'peoples' or 'nations'. In "the work of European writers which treat iwi and hapū as parts of a hierarchical structure", it has been used to mean "tribe" , or confederation of tribes,...
  
   at the battle of Moremonui
  Moremonui
  Moremonui or Moremunui is a location in the Northland Region of New Zealand, 12 miles south of Maunganui Bluff. It is known principally as the site of a Māori battle fought in either 1807 or 1808 between the Kaipara branches of the Ngāti Whātua, Te-Uri-o-Hau and Te Roroa iwi on one side and the...
  
   on the west coast of Northland, the first battle in which Maori used muskets.

1809

• Ngati Uru attack and burn the ship Boyd
  Boyd massacre
  The Boyd Massacre took place in 1809 when Māori residents of Whangaroa Harbour in northern New Zealand killed and ate between 66 and 70 people as revenge for the whipping of a young Māori chief by the crew of the sailing ship Boyd...
  
  , killing all but four of its crew and passengers. Whalers
  Whaling
  Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
  
   wrongly blame Te Puna
  Purerua Peninsula
  Purerua Peninsula is a peninsula on the northwest side of the Bay of Islands in Northland, New Zealand. Te Puna Inlet lies to the south of the peninsula. Communities on the peninsula are Purerua, Te Tii and Taronui Bay...
  
   chief Te Pahi and in a revenge attack kill 60 of his followers.

1810s

1814

• 22 December: British missionary
  Missionary
  A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
  
   Samuel Marsden
  Samuel Marsden
  Samuel Marsden was an English born Anglican cleric and a prominent member of the Church Missionary Society, believed to have introduced Christianity to New Zealand...
  
  , of the (Anglican) Church Missionary Society, arrives at Rangihoua at Oihi Bay in the Bay of Islands
  Bay of Islands
  The Bay of Islands is an area in the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located 60 km north-west of Whangarei, it is close to the northern tip of the country....
  
   to establish the country's first mission station. Sheep, cattle, horses and poultry are introduced.
• Christmas Day: Rev Marsden preached the first Christian
  Christian
  A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
  
   service in the country, at Rangihoua.

1815

• February: Thomas Holloway King is the first Pākehā
  Pakeha
  Pākehā is a Māori language word for New Zealanders who are "of European descent". They are mostly descended from British and to a lesser extent Irish settlers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, although some Pākehā have Dutch, Scandinavian, German, Yugoslav or other ancestry...
  
   child born in New Zealand, at Rangihoua.

1819

• Raids on Taranaki and Te Whanganui-a-tara
  Te Whanganui-a-Tara
  Te Whanganui a Tara is a Māori name for Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. Originally it described the actual harbour , but the term has come to be accepted as the name of the city as well...
  
   regions by Ngapuhi
  Ngapuhi
  Ngāpuhi is a Māori iwi located in the Northland region of New Zealand, and centred in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands and Whāngārei.Ngāpuhi has the largest affiliation of any New Zealand iwi, with 122,214 people registered , and formed from 150 hapu, with 55 marae.-Foundations:The founding...
  
   and Ngati Toa
  Ngati Toa
  Ngāti Toa , an iwi , traces its descent from the eponymous ancestor Toarangatira. The Ngāti Toa region extends from Miria-te-kakara at Rangitikei to Wellington, and across Cook Strait to Wairau and Nelson....
  
   people led by chiefs Patuone, Nene
  Nene
  Nene may refer to:*River Nene, a river in England*Rolls-Royce Nene, a jet engine*Nene , also called Nēnē and Hawaiian Goose, Branta sandvicensis, a rare goose*Nene , a Seminole Indian word meaning "street"...
  
  , Moetara, Tuwhare, and Te Rauparaha
  Te Rauparaha
  Te Rauparaha was a Māori rangatira and war leader of the Ngāti Toa tribe who took a leading part in the Musket Wars. He was influential in the original sale of conquered Rangitane land to the New Zealand Company and was a participant in the Wairau Incident in Marlborough...
  
  .
• 17 August: the country's second mission station is established, at Kerikeri
  Kerikeri
  Kerikeri, the largest town in the Northland Region of New Zealand, is a popular tourist destination about three hours drive north of Auckland, and 80 km north of Whangarei...
  
  , when Rev Marsden, John Butler, Francis Hall and William Hall mark out the site which was previously visited by Marsden in 1815.
• 25 September: Rev Marsden plants 100 vines, the first grapes grown in New Zealand.
• 4 November: Chiefs Hongi Hika
  Hongi Hika
  Hongi Hika was a New Zealand Māori rangatira and war leader of the Ngāpuhi iwi . Hongi Hika used European weapons to overrun much of northern New Zealand in the first of the Musket Wars...
  
   and Rewa sell 13,000 acres (5260 hectares) at Kerikeri to the Church Missionary Society for 48 felling axes.

1820s

1820

• Hongi Hika
  Hongi Hika
  Hongi Hika was a New Zealand Māori rangatira and war leader of the Ngāpuhi iwi . Hongi Hika used European weapons to overrun much of northern New Zealand in the first of the Musket Wars...
  
  , Ngapuhi
  Ngapuhi
  Ngāpuhi is a Māori iwi located in the Northland region of New Zealand, and centred in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands and Whāngārei.Ngāpuhi has the largest affiliation of any New Zealand iwi, with 122,214 people registered , and formed from 150 hapu, with 55 marae.-Foundations:The founding...
  
   chief, visits England, meets King George IV
  George IV of the United Kingdom
  George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...
  
   and secures supply of musket
  Musket
  A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....
  
  s.

1821

• Musket Wars
  Musket Wars
  The Musket Wars were a series of five hundred or more battles mainly fought between various hapū , sometimes alliances of pan-hapū groups and less often larger iwi of Māori between 1807 and 1842, in New Zealand.Northern tribes such as the rivals Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Whātua were the first to obtain...
  
   begin with raids by Hongi Hika and Te Morenga on southern iwi and continue throughout the decade.

1822

• Ngati Toa
  Ngati Toa
  Ngāti Toa , an iwi , traces its descent from the eponymous ancestor Toarangatira. The Ngāti Toa region extends from Miria-te-kakara at Rangitikei to Wellington, and across Cook Strait to Wairau and Nelson....
  
   begin migration south to Cook Strait
  Cook Strait
  Cook Strait is the strait between the North and South Islands of New Zealand. It connects the Tasman Sea on the west with the South Pacific Ocean on the east....
  
   region, led by Te Rauparaha.

1823

• Jurisdiction of New South Wales
  New South Wales
  New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
  
   courts is extended to British citizens in New Zealand.
• First Wesleyan Missionary Society
  Wesleyanism
  Wesleyanism or Wesleyan theology refers, respectively, to either the eponymous movement of Protestant Christians who have historically sought to follow the methods or theology of the eighteenth-century evangelical reformers, John Wesley and his brother Charles Wesley, or to the likewise eponymous...
  
   mission established, at Whangaroa
  Whangaroa
  Whangaroa is a locality on the harbour of the same name in Northland, New Zealand.Whangaroa is 8km north-west from Kaeo and 45km north from Okaihau. The harbour is almost landlocked and is popular both as a fishing spot in its own right and as a base for deep-sea fishing.The harbour was the scene...
  
  .
• First Church of England
  Church of England
  The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
  
   marriage between Philip Tapsell and Māori girl, Maria Ringa.

1824

• Te Heke Niho-puta migration of Taranaki iwi to the Kapiti Coast
  Kapiti Coast
  The Kapiti Coast is the name of the section of the coast of the south-western North Island of New Zealand that is north of Wellington and opposite Kapiti Island. It falls under the jurisdiction of the Wellington Regional Council...
  
  .

1827

• Te Rauparaha
  Te Rauparaha
  Te Rauparaha was a Māori rangatira and war leader of the Ngāti Toa tribe who took a leading part in the Musket Wars. He was influential in the original sale of conquered Rangitane land to the New Zealand Company and was a participant in the Wairau Incident in Marlborough...
  
  's invasion of the South Island
  South Island
  The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...
  
   from Kapiti
  Kapiti
  Kapiti can refer to:*Kapiti Island, a small island a short distance off the New Zealand coast north of Wellington*Kapiti Coast, the stretch of coast that runs adjacent to the island.*Kapiti Line, a suburban railway in Wellington...
  
   begins.

1830s

1831

1831 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State – King William IV*Governor of New South Wales – Major-General Sir Richard Bourke succeeds General Ralph Darling on 22 October- Events :...

• Whaling stations established at Tory Channel
  Tory Channel
  Tory Channel is one of the drowned valleys that form the Marlborough Sounds in New Zealand.Tory Channel is named after the "Tory", a pioneer ship that brought British colonists to Wellington in 1840. It lies to the south of Arapawa Island, separating it from the mainland. At its western end it...
  
   and Preservation Inlet
  Preservation Inlet
  Preservation Inlet is the southernmost fjord in Fiordland National Park and lies on the southwest corner of the South Island of New Zealand.-Geography:...
  
  .

1832

1832 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State – King William IV*Governor of New South Wales – Major-General Sir Richard Bourke-Government and law:*British Resident in New Zealand – James Busby is appointed in March but does not arrive in New Zealand until 10 May 1833....

• 19 April: stonemason William Parrott begins work on the missionaries' Stone Store at Kerikeri
  Kerikeri
  Kerikeri, the largest town in the Northland Region of New Zealand, is a popular tourist destination about three hours drive north of Auckland, and 80 km north of Whangarei...
  
  .
• James Busby
  James Busby
  James Busby is widely regarded as the "father" of the Australian wine industry, as he took the first collection of vine stock from Spain and France to Australia. Later he become a British Resident who traveled to New Zealand, involved in the drafting of the Declaration of the Independence of New...
  
   appointed British Resident.

1833

1833 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State – King William IV*Governor of New South Wales – Major-General Sir Richard Bourke- Events :*10 May – James Busby arrives in the Bay of Islands on HMS Imogene....

• May: James Busby arrives at the Bay of Islands
  Bay of Islands
  The Bay of Islands is an area in the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located 60 km north-west of Whangarei, it is close to the northern tip of the country....
  
  .

1834

1834 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State – King William IV*Governor of New South Wales – Major-General Sir Richard Bourke- Events :*March** – James Busby convenes a meeting of Māori chiefs from northern New Zealand...

• March: United Tribes of New Zealand
  United Tribes of New Zealand
  The United Tribes of New Zealand was a loose confederation of Māori tribes based in the north of the North Island.- History :The confederation was convened in 1834 by British Resident James Busby...
  
   flag adopted by some 25 northern chiefs at Busby's suggestion.

1835

1835 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State – King William IV*Governor of New South Wales – Major-General Sir Richard Bourke-Government and law:*British Resident in New Zealand – James Busby*Additional British Resident in New Zealand – Thomas McDonnell.- Events :...

• 22 April: Weslyan Missionaries extend south beyond their main base at Hokianga to the Waikato Coast, among them James and Mary Wallis
  James and Mary Wallis
  James and Mary Wallis were Wesleyan missionaries and the first European Settlers in Raglan, New Zealand.- Early years and journey to New Zealand :...
  
  .
• October: Declaration of Independence of New Zealand by the "Confederation of United Tribes" signed by 34 northern chiefs (and later by another 18).
• 19 November: A chartered ship carrying 500 Maori from Ngati Tama and Ngati Mutunga
  Ngati Mutunga
  Ngāti Mutunga is a Māori iwi of New Zealand. Their tribal lands are in north Taranaki, with the principal marae being at Urenui.Prominent leader and anthropologist Te Rangi Hīroa was of Ngāti Mutunga descent.-External links:*...
  
   armed with guns, clubs and axes, arrives on the Chatham Islands
  Chatham Islands
  The Chatham Islands are an archipelago and New Zealand territory in the Pacific Ocean consisting of about ten islands within a radius, the largest of which are Chatham Island and Pitt Island. Their name in the indigenous language, Moriori, means Misty Sun...
  
  . It is followed by another ship with 400 more Maori on 5 December. Those Moriori
  Moriori
  Moriori are the indigenous people of the Chatham Islands , east of the New Zealand archipelago in the Pacific Ocean...
  
   that are not killed are enslaved.

1837

1837 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — King William IV dies on 20 June and is succeeded by Queen Victoria.*Governor of New South Wales — The term of office of Major-General Sir Richard Bourke ends...

• Captain William Hobson
  William Hobson
  Captain William Hobson RN was the first Governor of New Zealand and co-author of the Treaty of Waitangi.-Early life:...
  
   sent by New South Wales Governor to report on New Zealand. He suggested a treaty with the Māori and imposition of British Law.
• New Zealand Association formed in London, becoming the New Zealand Colonisation Society in 1838 and the New Zealand Company
  New Zealand Company
  The New Zealand Company originated in London in 1837 as the New Zealand Association with the aim of promoting the "systematic" colonisation of New Zealand. The association, and later the company, intended to follow the colonising principles of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who envisaged the creation of...
  
   in 1839, under the inspiration of Edward Gibbon Wakefield
  Edward Gibbon Wakefield
  Edward Gibbon Wakefield was a British politician, the driving force behind much of the early colonisation of South Australia, and later New Zealand....
  
  .

1838

1838 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor of New South Wales — Sir George Gipps, having been appointed on 5 October 1837, arrives in Sydney on 23 February.- Events :*10 January...

• Bishop Pompallier
  Jean Baptiste Pompallier
  Jean Baptiste François Pompallier was the first vicar apostolic to visit New Zealand. He was born in Lyon, France. He became the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland.-Appointment and voyage:...
  
   founds Roman Catholic Mission at Hokianga
  Hokianga
  Hokianga is an area surrounding the Hokianga Harbour, also known as The Hokianga River, a long estuarine drowned valley on the west coast in the north of the North Island of New Zealand....
  
  .

1839

1839 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor of New South Wales — Sir George Gipps*Lieutenant-Governor — Captain William Hobson - Events :*3 March or 4 March — John Carne Bidwell is the first European to climb Mount Ngauruhoe...

• William Hobson
  William Hobson
  Captain William Hobson RN was the first Governor of New Zealand and co-author of the Treaty of Waitangi.-Early life:...
  
   instructed to establish British rule in New Zealand, as a dependency of New South Wales.
• Colonel William Wakefield
  William Wakefield
  William Hayward Wakefield was an English colonel, the leader of the first colonizing expedition to New Zealand and one of the founders of Wellington. In 1826, he married Emily Sidney, a daughter of Sir John Sidney.-Early life:...
  
   of the New Zealand Company arrives on the Tory to purchase land for a settlement.

1840s

1840

1840 in New Zealand

1840 is considered a watershed year in the history of New Zealand: The Treaty of Waitangi is signed, British sovereignty over New Zealand is proclaimed, organised European settlement begins, and Auckland and Wellington are both founded.-Population:...

• 22 January: New Zealand Company settlers arrive aboard the Aurora at Te Whanganui a Tara which becomes Port Nicholson, site of Wellington
  Wellington
  Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
  
  .
• 29 January: Hobson arrives in the Bay of Islands.
• 6 February: Hone Heke
  Hone Heke
  Hone Wiremu Heke Pokai was a Māori rangatira and war leader in Northern New Zealand and a nephew of Hongi Hika, an earlier war leader of the Ngāpuhi iwi. Hone Heke is considered the principal instigator of the Flagstaff War....
  
   is the first to sign the Treaty of Waitangi
  Treaty of Waitangi
  The Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and various Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand....
  
   at Bay of Islands.
• 21 May: Hobson proclaims British sovereignty over New Zealand. The North Island by treaty and the South Island by discovery.
• May: First capital established at Okiato
  Okiato
  Okiato or Old Russell is a small holiday spot in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, seven km south of present-day Russell. It was New Zealand's first national capital, for a short time from 1840 to 1841, before the seat of government was moved to Auckland...
  
  , which was renamed Russell.
• 18 August: French colony established in Akaroa
  Akaroa
  Akaroa is a village on Banks Peninsula in the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand, situated within a harbour of the same name—the name Akaroa is Kāi Tahu Māori for 'Long Harbour'.- Overview :...
  
  .
• Hobson becomes first Governor and sets up executive and legislative councils.
• Rawiri Taiwhanga in Bay of Islands
  Bay of Islands
  The Bay of Islands is an area in the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located 60 km north-west of Whangarei, it is close to the northern tip of the country....
  
   is running the first dairy
  Dairy
  A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting of animal milk—mostly from cows or goats, but also from buffalo, sheep, horses or camels —for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a dedicated dairy farm or section of a multi-purpose farm that is concerned...
  
   farm in New Zealand, near Kaikohe
  Kaikohe
  Kaikohe is the central service area for the Far North District of New Zealand, about 260 km from Auckland, situated on State Highway 12 at...
  
  .

1841

1841 in New Zealand

-Population:The estimated population of New Zealand at the end of 1841 is 78,400 Māori and 5000 non-Māori.-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor of New South Wales — Sir George Gipps...

• European settlements established at New Plymouth
  New Plymouth
  New Plymouth is the major city of the Taranaki Region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after Plymouth, Devon, England, from where the first English settlers migrated....
  
   and Wanganui
  Wanganui
  Whanganui , also spelled Wanganui, is an urban area and district on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is part of the Manawatu-Wanganui region....
  
  .
• February: Capital shifted from Russell (Okiato
  Okiato
  Okiato or Old Russell is a small holiday spot in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, seven km south of present-day Russell. It was New Zealand's first national capital, for a short time from 1840 to 1841, before the seat of government was moved to Auckland...
  
  ) to Auckland
  Auckland
  The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
  
  .
• 3 May: New Zealand proclaimed a colony independent of New South Wales
  New South Wales
  New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
  
  .

1842

1842 in New Zealand

-Population:The estimated population of New Zealand at the end of 1842 is 76,900 Māori and 10,992 non-Māori .-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Captain William Hobson dies on 10 September...

• Main body of settlers arrive at Nelson
  Nelson, New Zealand
  Nelson is a city on the eastern shores of Tasman Bay, and is the economic and cultural centre of the Nelson-Tasman region. Established in 1841, it is the second oldest settled city in New Zealand and the oldest in the South Island....
  
  .
• 10 September: William Hobson
  William Hobson
  Captain William Hobson RN was the first Governor of New Zealand and co-author of the Treaty of Waitangi.-Early life:...
  
   dies.

1843

1843 in New Zealand

-Population:The estimated population of New Zealand at the end of 1843 is 75,400 Māori and 11,848 non-Māori.-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria...

• Twenty-two European settlers and four Māori killed at the confrontation
  Wairau Affray
  In New Zealand history, the Wairau Affray on 17 June 1843 was the first serious clash of arms between Māori and the British settlers after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and the only one to take place in the South Island...
  
   at Tuamarina
  Tuamarina
  Tuamarina is a locality in Marlborough, New Zealand. State Highway 1 runs through the area. The Tuamarina River joins the Wairau River just south of the settlement. Picton is about 18 km to the north, and Blenheim is about 10 km to the south.The name is a corruption of the Māori word Tuamarino,...
  
  , near the Wairau River
  Wairau River
  The Wairau River is one of the longest rivers in New Zealand's South Island. It flows for 170 kilometres from the Spenser Mountains , firstly in a northwards direction and then northeast down a long, straight valley in inland Marlborough.The river's lower reaches are noted for the surrounding...
  
  , in Marlborough.
• Robert FitzRoy
  Robert FitzRoy
  Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy RN achieved lasting fame as the captain of HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin's famous voyage, and as a pioneering meteorologist who made accurate weather forecasting a reality...
  
   becomes Governor.

1844

1844 in New Zealand

-Population:The estimated population of New Zealand at the end of 1844 is 73,900 Māori and 12,447 non-Māori.-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Captain Robert Fitzroy-Government and law:*Chief Justice — William Martin- Events :...

• Hone Heke
  Hone Heke
  Hone Wiremu Heke Pokai was a Māori rangatira and war leader in Northern New Zealand and a nephew of Hongi Hika, an earlier war leader of the Ngāpuhi iwi. Hone Heke is considered the principal instigator of the Flagstaff War....
  
   begins the "War in the North".
• New Zealand Company suspends its colonising operations due to financial difficulties.

1845

1845 in New Zealand

-Population:The estimated population of New Zealand at the end of 1845 is 72,500 Māori and 12,774 non-Māori.-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Captain Robert Fitzroy is dismissed on 18 November and replaced by Sir George Grey....

• George Grey
  George Edward Grey
  Sir George Grey, KCB was a soldier, explorer, Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Governor of Cape Colony , the 11th Premier of New Zealand and a writer.-Early life and exploration:...
  
   becomes Governor.

1846

1846 in New Zealand

-Population:The estimated population of New Zealand at the end of 1846 is 71,050 Māori and 13,274 non-Māori.-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Sir George Grey-Government and law:*Chief Justice — William Martin- Events :...

• War in the north ends with capture of Ruapekapeka
  Ruapekapeka
  Ruapekapeka is a pā 14 kilometres southeast of Kawakawa in the Northland Region of New Zealand. It is one of the largest and most complex pā in New Zealand, that was designed specifically to counter the cannons of the British forces. The earthworks can still be seen just south of Kawakawa...
  
  .
• First Constitution Act
  New Zealand Constitution Act 1846
  The New Zealand Constitution Act 1846 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to grant self-government to the colony of New Zealand, but it was never fully implemented...
  
   passed.
• Charles Heaphy
  Charles Heaphy
  Major Charles Heaphy VC was a New Zealand explorer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious military award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces....
  
  , William Fox
  William Fox (New Zealand)
  Sir William Fox, KCMG was the second Premier of New Zealand on four occasions in the 19th century, while New Zealand was still a colony. He was known for his eventual support of Māori land rights, his contributions to the education system , and his work to increase New Zealand's autonomy from...
  
  , and Thomas Brunner
  Thomas Brunner
  Thomas Brunner was an English-born surveyor and explorer remembered for his exploration of the western coastal areas of New Zealand's South Island....
  
   begin exploring the West Coast
  West Coast, New Zealand
  The West Coast is one of the administrative regions of New Zealand, located on the west coast of the South Island, and is one of the more remote and most sparsely populated areas of the country. It is made up of three districts: Buller, Grey and Westland...
  
  .
• First steam vessel, HMS Driver, arrives in New Zealand waters.

1848

1848 in New Zealand

-Population:The estimated population of New Zealand at the end of 1848 is 68,300 Māori and 17,166 non-Māori.-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Sir George Grey-Government and law:*Chief Justice — William Martin...

• Settlement of Dunedin
  Dunedin
  Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...
  
   founded by Scottish Otago
  Otago
  Otago is a region of New Zealand in the south of the South Island. The region covers an area of approximately making it the country's second largest region. The population of Otago is...
  
   Association.
• New Ulster Province and New Munster Province set up under 1846 Act.
• Coal
  Coal
  Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
  
   discovered at Brunner
  Brunner, New Zealand
  Brunner is a town in the northwest of New Zealand's South Island. Together with Taylorville and Dobson to the south-west, it had a population of 672 at the 2006 census. It is 12 kilometres to the east of Greymouth, on the south bank of the Grey River. It is on the Midland Line railway near its...
  
   on the West Coast.
• Earthquake
  1848 Marlborough earthquake
  The 1848 Marlborough earthquake is the name associated with a severe earthquake which occurred at 1:40 a.m. on 16 October 1848 and whose epicenter was in the Marlborough region of the South Island of New Zealand....
  
   centred in Marlborough damages most Wellington
  Wellington
  Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
  
   buildings.

1850s

1850

1850 in New Zealand

-Population:The estimated population of New Zealand at the end of 1850 is 65,650 Māori and 22,108 non-Māori.-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Sir George Grey-Government and law:*Chief Justice — William Martin...

• Canterbury
  Canterbury, New Zealand
  The New Zealand region of Canterbury is mainly composed of the Canterbury Plains and the surrounding mountains. Its main city, Christchurch, hosts the main office of the Christchurch City Council, the Canterbury Regional Council - called Environment Canterbury - and the University of Canterbury.-...
  
   settlement founded.

1852

1852 in New Zealand

-Population:The estimated population of New Zealand at the end of 1852 is 63,100 Māori and 27,633 non-Māori.-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Sir George Grey-Government and law:...

• Second New Zealand Constitution Act
  New Zealand Constitution Act 1852
  The New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that granted self-government to the colony of New Zealand...
  
   passed creating General Assembly and six provinces
  Provinces of New Zealand
  The Provinces of New Zealand existed from 1841 until 1876 as a form of sub-national government. They were replaced by counties, which were themselves replaced by districts.Following abolition, the provinces became known as provincial districts...
  
   with representative government.

1853

1853 in New Zealand

The old provinces of New Munster and New Ulster are abolished and replaced by the Provinces of New Zealand. The first general election is held marking a major step on the way to self-government.-Population:...

• Idea of a Māori King canvassed by Tamihana Te Rauparaha and Matene Te Whiwhi.
• About 100 Māori - mostly chiefs - enrolled to vote in the forthcoming election.
• 4 July–1 October: New Zealand general election, 1853
  New Zealand general election, 1853
  The 1853 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 1st term. It was the first national election ever held in New Zealand, although Parliament did not yet have full authority to govern the colony, which was part of the British Empire at...
  
  

1854

1854 in New Zealand

-Population:The estimated population of New Zealand at the end of 1854 is 60,650 Māori and 32,554 non-Māori.-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Sir George Grey resigns on 6 January...

• First session of the General Assembly
  1st New Zealand Parliament
  The 1st New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand. It opened on 24 May 1854, following New Zealand's first general election . It was dissolved on 15 September 1855 in preparation for that year's election...
  
   opens in Auckland.

1855

1855 in New Zealand

-Population:The estimated population of New Zealand at the end of 1855 is 59,500 Māori and 37,192 non-Māori.-Regal and Vice-Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria...

• Governor Thomas Gore Browne
  Thomas Gore Browne
  Colonel Sir Thomas Robert Gore Browne KCMG CB was a British colonial administrator, who was Governor of St Helena, Governor of New Zealand, Governor of Tasmania and Governor of Bermuda.-Early life:...
  
  , appointed in 1854, arrives.
• Severe earthquake
  1855 Wairarapa earthquake
  The 1855 Wairarapa earthquake occurred on 23 January at about 9 p.m. In Wellington, close to the epicenter, shaking lasted for at least 50 seconds. The magnitude of the earthquake is estimated to have been in the range 8.1-8.3, the most powerful recorded in New Zealand since systematic European...
  
   on both sides of Cook Strait. Wellington's Basin Reserve
  Basin Reserve
  The Basin Reserve , is a cricket ground in Wellington, New Zealand, used for Test, first-class and one-day cricket. Some argue that its proximity to the city, its Historic Place status and its age make it the most famous cricket ground in New Zealand...
  
   is raised, dashing plans to use it for boats.
• Adhesive postage stamps on sale.
• 28 October–28 December: New Zealand general election, 1855
  New Zealand general election, 1855
  The 1855 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 2nd term. It was the second national election ever held in New Zealand, and the first one which elected a Parliament that had full authority to govern the colony.-Background:The first...
  
  .

1856

1856 in New Zealand

After several previous attempts, New Zealand finally achieves "Responsible Government", with a majority of the members of the House of Representatives supporting the Government.-Population:...

• Henry Sewell
  Henry Sewell
  Henry Sewell was a prominent 19th century New Zealand politician. He was a notable campaigner for New Zealand self-government, and is generally regarded as having been the country's first Premier, having led the Sewell Ministry in 1856.-Early life:Sewell was born on 7 September 1807 in the town of...
  
   forms first ministry under responsible government
  Responsible government
  Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability which is the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy...
  
   and becomes first Premier
  Premier
  Premier is a title for the head of government in some countries and states.-Examples by country:In many nations, "premier" is used interchangeably with "prime minister"...
  
  .
• Edward Stafford
  Edward Stafford (politician)
  Sir Edward Stafford, KCMG served as the third Premier of New Zealand on three occasions in the mid 19th century. His total time in office is the longest of any leader without a political party. He is described as pragmatic, logical, and clear-sighted.-Early life and career:Edward William Stafford...
  
   forms first stable ministry.

1858

1858 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Colonel Thomas Gore Browne-Government and law:The 2nd Parliament continues.*Speaker of the House — Sir Charles Clifford*Premier — Edward Stafford.*Minister of Finance — William Richmond...

• New Provinces Act passed.
• Te Wherowhero
  Potatau Te Wherowhero
  Pōtatau I, Māori King was a Māori warrior, leader of the Waikato tribes, the first Māori King and founder of the Te Wherowhero royal dynasty. He was first known as simply Te Wherowhero and took the name Pōtatau after he became king...
  
   installed as first Māori King, taking name Pōtatau I.

1859

1859 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Colonel Thomas Gore Browne-Government and law:The 2nd Parliament continues.*Speaker of the House — Sir Charles Clifford*Premier — Edward Stafford....

• First session of Hawke's Bay and Marlborough provincial councils.
• Gold
  Gold
  Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
  
   discovered in Buller River
  Buller River
  The Buller River is in the South Island of New Zealand. One of the country's longest rivers, it flows for 170 kilometres from Lake Rotoiti through the Buller Gorge and into the Tasman Sea near the town of Westport...
  
  .
• New Zealand Insurance Company established.

1860s

1860

1860 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Colonel Thomas Gore Browne leaves office on 3 October to take up the post of Governor of Tasmania. His successor is Sir George Grey who takes up the position in December.-Government and law:...

• Waitara dispute develops into First Taranaki War
  First Taranaki War
  The First Taranaki War was an armed conflict over land ownership and sovereignty that took place between Māori and the New Zealand Government in the Taranaki district of New Zealand's North Island from March 1860 to March 1861....
  
  .
• 12 December–28 March: New Zealand general election, 1860–61.

1861

1861 in New Zealand

A ceasefire is reached in the First Taranaki War, with British efforts to defeat Māori disaffected over land purchases having largely failed.Prosperity comes to the south with the onset of the Central Otago Gold Rush...

• George Grey
  George Grey
  George Grey may refer to:*Sir George Grey, 2nd Baronet , British politician*George Grey, 2nd Earl of Kent *Sir George Grey , Governor of Cape Colony, South Australia and New Zealand...
  
   becomes governor for the second time.
• May Gabriel Read
  Gabriel Read
  Gabriel Read was an Australian gold prospector who, after working on the goldfields of California and Victoria, Australia travelled to New Zealand, having heard rumours of gold being found in Mataura, Southland. On 20 May 1861, he discovered gold close to the banks of the Tuapeka River in Otago,...
  
   discovers gold in Gabriel's Gully
  Gabriel's Gully
  Gabriel's Gully is a locality in Otago, New Zealand, three kilometres from Lawrence township and close to the Tuapeka River.The discovery of gold at Gabriel's Gully by Gabriel Read in May 1861 led to the Central Otago goldrush...
  
   near Lawrence
  Lawrence, New Zealand
  Lawrence is a small town of 474 inhabitants in Otago, in New Zealand's South Island. It is located on State Highway 8, the main route from Dunedin to the inland towns of Queenstown and Alexandra...
  
  ; Central Otago Gold Rush
  Central Otago Gold Rush
  The Central Otago Gold Rush was a gold rush that occurred during the 1860s in Central Otago, New Zealand...
  
   begins.
• First session of Southland
  Southland Province
  The Southland Province was a province of New Zealand from March 1861 until the province rejoined with Otago Province in 1870.-History:When provinces were formed in 1853, the southern part of New Zealand belonged to Otago Province...
  
   provincial council.
• Bank of New Zealand
  Bank of New Zealand
  Bank of New Zealand is one of New Zealand’s largest banks and has been operating continuously in the country since the first office was opened in Auckland in October 1861 followed shortly after by the first branch in Dunedin in December 1861...
  
   incorporated at Auckland.

1862

1862 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Sir George Grey-Government and law:The 3rd Parliament continues.*Speaker of the House — David Monro...

• First electric telegraph line opens from Christchurch to Lyttelton
  Lyttelton, New Zealand
  Lyttelton is a port town on the north shore of Lyttelton Harbour close to Banks Peninsula, a suburb of Christchurch on the eastern coast of the South Island of New Zealand....
  
  .
• First gold shipment from Dunedin to London.

1863

1863 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Sir George Grey-Government and law:The 3rd Parliament continues.*Speaker of the House — David Monro...

• War resumes in Taranaki
  Second Taranaki War
  -Background and causes of the war:The conflict in Taranaki had its roots in the First Taranaki War, which had ended in March 1861 with an uneasy truce. Neither side fulfilled the terms of the truce, leaving many of the issues unresolved...
  
   and begins in Waikato when General Cameron crosses the Mangatawhiri stream.
• New Zealand Settlements Act passed to effect land confiscation
  New Zealand land confiscations
  The New Zealand land confiscations took place during the 1860s to punish the Kingitanga movement for attempting to set up an alternative, Māori, form of government that forbade the selling of land. The confiscation law targeted Kingitanga Māori against whom the government had waged war to restore...
  
  .
• First steam railway in New Zealand, the Ferrymead Railway
  Ferrymead Railway
  The Ferrymead Railway is a New Zealand heritage railway built upon the formation of New Zealand's first public railway, the line from Ferrymead to Christchurch, which opened in 1863. On the opening of the line to Lyttelton on 9 December 1867, the Ferrymead Railway became the Ferrymead Branch and...
  
   opened.
• 7 February: HMS Orpheus
  HMS Orpheus (1861)
  HMS Orpheus was a Jason-class Royal Navy corvette that served as the flagship of the Australian squadron. Orpheus sank off the west coast of Auckland, New Zealand on 7 February 1863: 189 crew out of the ship's complement of 259 died in the disaster, making it the worst maritime tragedy to occur in...
  
   sinks in Manukau Harbour
  Manukau Harbour
  Manukau Harbour is the second largest natural harbour in New Zealand by area. It is located to the southwest of the Auckland isthmus, and is an arm of the Tasman Sea.-Geography:...
  
  , killing 189 people.

1864

1864 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Sir George Grey-Government and law:The 3rd Parliament continues.*Speaker of the House — David Monro*Premier — Frederick Weld takes over from Frederick Whitaker on 24 November....

• War in the Waikato ends with battle of Orakau.
• Land in Waikato, Taranaki, Bay of Plenty, and Hawke's Bay confiscated.
• Gold discovered in Marlborough and Westland.
• Arthur, George, and Edward Dobson
  Edward Dobson
  Edward Dobson was Provincial Engineer for the Canterbury Province from 1854 to 1868.-Early life:Edward Dobson was born in London, probably in 1816 or 1817. His parents were John Dobson, a merchant, and Elizabeth Barker. By the time he started his apprenticeship as an architect and surveyor in...
  
   are the first Pākehā to cross what becomes known as Arthur's Pass.

1865

1865 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Sir George Grey-Government and law:The 3rd Parliament continues.*Speaker of the House — David Monro...

• Capital and seat of government transferred from Auckland to Wellington
• Native Land Court established.
• Māori resistance continues.
• Auckland streets lit by gas for first time.

1866

1866 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Sir George Grey-Government and law:The 1866 election is held between 12 February and 6 April...

• First (unreliable) Cook Strait
  Cook Strait
  Cook Strait is the strait between the North and South Islands of New Zealand. It connects the Tasman Sea on the west with the South Pacific Ocean on the east....
  
   submarine telegraph cable laid.
• Christchurch to Hokitika road opens.
• Cobb and Co. coaches run from Canterbury to the West Coast.
• The Presbytery of Otago separates into three presbyteries and becomes the Synod of Otago and Southland
  Synod of Otago and Southland
  The Synod of Otago and Southland is a synod of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand . Originally independent, the Synod merged with the northern Presbyterian church in 1901 to form the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand.-History:...
  
  .
• January–February: Trevor Chute leads raids against Maro in Taranaki
• 12 February–6 April: New Zealand general election, 1866
  New Zealand general election, 1866
  The New Zealand general election of 1866 was held between 12 February and 6 April to elect 70 MPs to the fourth term of the New Zealand Parliament. 13,196 votes were cast....
  
  .

1867

1867 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Sir George Grey-Government and law:The 4th Parliament continues.*Speaker of the House — Sir David Monro*Premier — Edward Stafford*Minister of Finance — William Fitzherbert...

• Thames
  Thames, New Zealand
  Thames is a town at the southwestern end of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand's North Island. It is located on the Firth of Thames close to the mouth of the Waihou River. The town is the seat of the Thames-Coromandel District Council....
  
   goldfield opens; soon the town has more people than Auckland
  Auckland
  The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
  
  .
• Four Māori seats
  Maori seats
  In New Zealand politics, Māori electorates, colloquially also called Māori seats, are a special category of electorate that gives reserved positions to representatives of Māori in the New Zealand Parliament...
  
   established in Parliament. All Māori men over 21 obtained suffrage
  Suffrage
  Suffrage, political franchise, or simply the franchise, distinct from mere voting rights, is the civil right to vote gained through the democratic process...
  
   (allowed to stand for parliament and vote).
• Lyttelton railway tunnel
  Lyttelton rail tunnel
  The Lyttelton Rail Tunnel, initially called the Moorhouse Tunnel, links the city of Christchurch with the port of Lyttelton in the Canterbury region of New Zealand’s South Island. It is the country’s oldest operational rail tunnel, and is on one of the first railway lines in the district...
  
   completed.
• Armed constabulary established.

1868

1868 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Sir George Grey is recalled by the British government and is replaced on 5 February by Sir George Ferguson Bowen.-Government and law:The 4th Parliament continues...

• Māori resistance continues through campaigns of Te Kooti
  Te Kooti
  Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki was a Māori leader, the founder of the Ringatu religion and guerrilla.While fighting alongside government forces against the Hauhau in 1865, he was accused of spying. Exiled to the Chatham Islands without trial along with captured Hauhau, he experienced visions and...
  
   Arikirangi and Titokowaru.
• New Zealand's first sheep breed, the Corriedale, is developed.

1869

1869 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Sir George Ferguson Bowen-Government and law:The 4th Parliament continues.*Speaker of the House — Sir David Monro...

• Thomas Burns
  Thomas Burns (New Zealand)
  Thomas Burns was a prominent early European settler and religious leader of the province of Otago, New Zealand.Burns was baptised at Mauchline, Ayrshire, Scotland in April 1796, the son of estate manager Gilbert Burns, who was the brother of the poet Robert Burns...
  
   founds New Zealand's first university, the University of Otago
  University of Otago
  The University of Otago in Dunedin is New Zealand's oldest university with over 22,000 students enrolled during 2010.The university has New Zealand's highest average research quality and in New Zealand is second only to the University of Auckland in the number of A rated academic researchers it...
  
  , in Dunedin.

1870s

1870

1870 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Sir George Ferguson Bowen-Government and law:The 4th Parliament continues.*Speaker of the House — Sir David Monro stands down at the end of the year...

• The last imperial forces leave New Zealand.
• Julius Vogel
  Julius Vogel
  Sir Julius Vogel, KCMG was the eighth Premier of New Zealand. His administration is best remembered for the issuing of bonds to fund railway construction and other public works...
  
  's public works and immigration policy begins, along with national railway
  Rail transport in New Zealand
  Rail transport in New Zealand consists of a network of gauge railway lines in both the North and South Islands. Rail services are focused primarily on freight, particularly bulk freight, with limited passenger services on some lines...
  
   construction programme; over 1,000 miles constructed by 1879.
• University of New Zealand
  University of New Zealand
  The University of New Zealand was the New Zealand university from 1870 to 1961. It was the sole New Zealand university, having a federal structure embracing several constituent colleges at various locations around New Zealand...
  
   created by the New Zealand University Act, establishing a federal university based on the University of London
  University of London
  -20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
  
  , which lasts until 1961.
• First rugby match.
• Auckland to San Francisco mail service begins.

1871

1871 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Sir George Ferguson Bowen-Government and law:The 1871 election takes place between 14 January and 1 February...

• Deer freed in Otago.
• 14 January–23 February: New Zealand general election, 1871.

1872

1872 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Sir George Ferguson Bowen-Government and law:The 5th Parliament continues.*Speaker of the House — Sir Francis Dillon Bell...

• Te Kooti
  Te Kooti
  Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki was a Māori leader, the founder of the Ringatu religion and guerrilla.While fighting alongside government forces against the Hauhau in 1865, he was accused of spying. Exiled to the Chatham Islands without trial along with captured Hauhau, he experienced visions and...
  
   retreats to the King Country and Māori armed resistance ceases.
• Telegraph communication links Auckland, Wellington and southern provinces.

1873

1873 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Sir George Ferguson Bowen is transferred, on 19 March, to Australia to become Governor of Victoria. His replacement, The Rt...

• New Zealand Shipping Company
  New Zealand Shipping Company
  The New Zealand Shipping Company was a shipping company whose ships ran passenger and cargo services between Great Britain and New Zealand between 1873 and 1973.-New Zealand Shipping Company:...
  
   established.

1874

1874 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — The Rt. Hon Sir James Fergusson resigns and is replaced by The Marquess of Normanby-Government and law:The 5th Parliament continues.*Speaker of the House — Sir Francis Dillon Bell...

• First New Zealand steam engine built at Invercargill.

1875

1875 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — The Marquess of Normanby-Government and law:The 1875 general election begins on 29 December but does not finish until 4 January the following year. The election marks the end of the 5th Parliament....

• 20 December–29 January: New Zealand general election, 1875–76.

1876

1876 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — The Marquess of Normanby-Government and law:The 1875 general election, which started on 29 December, concludes on 4 January...

• Abolition of the provinces and establishment of local government by counties and boroughs.
• New Zealand-Australia telegraph cable established.

1877

1877 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — The Marquess of Normanby-Government and law:The 6th Parliament continues.*Speaker of the House — Sir William Fitzherbet...

• Education Act passed, establishing national system of primary education, "free, secular, and compulsory".

1878

1878 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — The Marquess of Normanby-Government and law:The 6th Parliament continues.*Speaker of the House — Sir William Fitzherbet*Premier — Sir George Grey...

• Completion of Main South Line
  Main South Line
  The Main South Line, sometimes referred to as part of the South Island Main Trunk Railway, is a railroad line that runs north and south from Lyttelton in New Zealand through Christchurch and along the east coast of the South Island to Invercargill via Dunedin...
  
   railway linking Christchurch, Dunedin, and Invercargill
  Invercargill
  Invercargill is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. It lies in the heart of the wide expanse of the Southland Plains on the Oreti or New River some 18 km north of Bluff,...
  
  .

1879

1879 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — The term of The Marquess of Normanby ends on 21 February. Sir Hercules Robinson takes up the appointment on 27 March.-Government and law:...

• Triennial Parliaments Act passed. Manhood suffrage is extended to non-Māori when the vote is given to every male aged 21 and over.
• Kaitangata
  Kaitangata, New Zealand
  Kaitangata is a town near the coast of South Otago, New Zealand, on the left bank of the Clutha River ten kilometres south east of Balclutha. The town is known to its residents simply as Kai....
  
   mine explosion, 34 people die.
• Annual property tax introduced.
• Kangaroo lays the first reliable telegraph cable across Cook Strait
  Cook Strait
  Cook Strait is the strait between the North and South Islands of New Zealand. It connects the Tasman Sea on the west with the South Pacific Ocean on the east....
  
  .
• 28 August–15 September: New Zealand general election, 1879
  New Zealand general election, 1879
  The New Zealand general election of 1879 was held between 28 August and 15 September to elect a total of 88 MPs to the 7th session of the New Zealand Parliament. The Māori vote was held on 1 and 8 September. A total number of 82,271 voters turned out to vote.The election came about when George...
  
   all men enfranchised.

1880s

1881

1881 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — The Hon. Sir Arthur Hamilton-Gordon-Government and law:The general election is held on 9 December...

• Parihaka
  Parihaka
  Parihaka is a small community in Taranaki Region, New Zealand, located between Mount Taranaki and the Tasman Sea. In the 1870s and 1880s the settlement, then reputed to be the largest Māori village in New Zealand, became the centre of a major campaign of non-violent resistance to European...
  
   community forcibly broken up by troops. Te Whiti, Tohu Kakahi and followers arrested and imprisoned.
• Wreck of SS Tararua, 131 people die.
• Auckland and Christchurch telephone exchanges open.
• 9 December: New Zealand general election, 1881
  New Zealand general election, 1881
  The New Zealand general election of 1881 was held 9 December to elect a total of 95 MPs to the 8th session of the New Zealand Parliament. The Māori vote was held on 8 December...
  
  .

1882

1882 in New Zealand

One of New Zealand's major industries — export meat — is initiated when the shipping of frozen meat to Britain proves successful.-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria...

• First shipment of frozen meat leaves Port Chalmers for England on the Dunedin.

1883

1883 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Lieutenant-General Sir William Jervois begins his term on 20 January.-Government and law:The 8th Parliament continues.*Speaker of the House — Maurice O'Rorke....

• Te Kooti
  Te Kooti
  Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki was a Māori leader, the founder of the Ringatu religion and guerrilla.While fighting alongside government forces against the Hauhau in 1865, he was accused of spying. Exiled to the Chatham Islands without trial along with captured Hauhau, he experienced visions and...
  
   pardoned, Te Whiti and other prisoners released.
• Direct steamer link established between New Zealand and Britain.

1884

1884 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Lieutenant-General Sir William Jervois.-Government and law:The 1884 general election is held on 22 July...

• King Tawhiao
  Tawhiao
  Tāwhiao I, Māori King , was leader of the Waikato tribes, the second Māori King and a religious visionary. He was a member of the Ngāti Mahuta iwi of Waikato....
  
   visits England with petition to the Queen, appealing to the Treaty of Waitangi, and is refused access.
• First overseas tour by a New Zealand rugby team, to New South Wales.
• Construction of King Country
  King Country
  The King Country is a region of the western North Island of New Zealand. It extends approximately from the Kawhia Harbour and the town of Otorohanga in the north to the upper reaches of the Whanganui River in the south, and from the Hauhungaroa and Rangitoto Ranges in the east to near the Tasman...
  
   section of North Island main trunk railway begins.
• 22 June: New Zealand general election, 1884
  New Zealand general election, 1884
  The New Zealand general election of 1884 was held on 22 July to elect a total of 95 MPs to the 9th session of the New Zealand Parliament. The Māori vote was held on 21 July. A total number of 137,686 voters turned out to vote.-References:...
  
  .

1886

1886 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Lieutenant-General Sir William Jervois.-Government and law:The 9th Parliament continues.*Speaker of the House — Maurice O'Rorke.*Premier — Robert Stout*Minister of Finance — Julius Vogel...

• Mount Tarawera
  Mount Tarawera
  Mount Tarawera is the volcano responsible for New Zealand's largest historic eruption. Located 24 kilometres southeast of Rotorua in the North Island, it consists of a series of rhyolitic lava domes that were fissured down the middle by an explosive basaltic eruption in 1886, which killed over...
  
   erupts and the Pink and White Terraces
  Pink and White Terraces
  The Pink and White Terraces, also called Otukapuarangi or Te Tarata in Māori, were a natural wonder of New Zealand...
  
   are destroyed, 153 people die.
• Oil is discovered in Taranaki.

1887

1887 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Lieutenant-General Sir William Jervois.-Government and law:In the general election on 22 July the Premier Robert Stout loses his seat. A new ministry is formed, the 10th Parliament, on 8 October, with Harry Atkinson as Premier, and is...

• New Zealand's first national park, Tongariro National Park
  Tongariro National Park
  Tongariro National Park is the oldest national park in New Zealand, located in the central North Island. It has been acknowledged by UNESCO as one of the 28 mixed cultural and natural World Heritage Sites....
  
  , is presented to the nation by Te Heuheu Tukino IV.
• First inland parcel post service.
• 26 September: New Zealand general election, 1887
  New Zealand general election, 1887
  The New Zealand general election of 1887 was held on 26 September to elect 95 MPs to the tenth session of the New Zealand Parliament. The Māori vote was held on 7 September. 175,410 votes were cast....
  
  .

1888

1888 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — Lieutenant-General Sir William Jervois.-Government and law:The 10th Parliament continues.*Speaker of the House — Maurice O'Rorke.*Premier — Harry Atkinson.*Minister of Finance — Harry Atkinson....

• 12 August: Reefton becomes first town in the Southern Hemisphere to have a public supply of electricity after the commissioning of the Reefton Power Station
  Reefton Power Station
  Reefton Power Station was the first power station to supply municipal electricity in the Southern Hemisphere.It supplied electricity to the town of Reefton in New Zealand. The power station turbine was run by water supplied from the Inangahua River via two tunnels and a headrace flume...
  
  .

1889

1889 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — The term of Lieutenant-General Sir William Jervois ends on 23 March. The Earl of Onslow takes up the position of Governor on 2 May.-Government and law:The 10th Parliament continues....

• Abolition of non-residential or property qualification to vote
  History of voting in New Zealand
  -Early local body elections:Probably the first notable election held in the new colony was the election of the first Wellington Town council pursuant to the Municipal Corporations Act in October 1842. It was open to all "Burgessers". These were undoubtedly male only, though it is not clear whether...
  
  .
• First New Zealand-built locomotive completed at Addington Workshops
  Addington Workshops
  The Addington Railway Workshops was a major railway facility established in the Christchurch suburb of Addington in May 1880 by the New Zealand Railways Department. The workshops were previously in Carlyle Street and closed in 1990.-Description:...
  
  .

1890s

1890

1890 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — The Earl of Onslow-Government and law:The 10th Parliament continues.*Speaker of the House — Maurice O'Rorke.*Premier — Harry Atkinson.*Minister of Finance — Harry Atkinson....

• A maritime strike
  1890 Australian maritime dispute
  The 1890 Australian Maritime Dispute, commonly known as the 1890 Maritime Strike, was on a scale unprecedented in the Australian colonies to that point in time, causing political and social turmoil across all Australian colonies and in New Zealand, including the collapse of colonial governments in...
  
   in Australia spreads to New Zealand, involving 8000 unionists.
• "Sweating" Commission reports on employment conditions.
• 5 December: New Zealand general election, 1890
  New Zealand general election, 1890
  The New Zealand general election of 1890 was one of New Zealand's most significant. It marked the beginning of party politics in New Zealand with the formation of the First Liberal government, which was to enact major welfare, labour and electoral reforms, including giving the vote to women.It was...
  
  , the first election on a one-man one-vote basis

1891

1891 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — The Earl of Onslow-Government and law:Following their victory in the 1890 election the First Liberal Government forms the 11th Parliament, taking office on 24 January...

• John McKenzie
  John McKenzie (New Zealand)
  Sir John McKenzie KCMG was a New Zealand politician. He served as Minister of Lands and Agriculture in the Liberal Government of John Ballance.-Early life:...
  
   introduces the first of a series of measures to promote closer land settlement.
• John Ballance
  John Ballance
  John Ballance served as the 14th Premier of New Zealand at the end of the 19th century, and was the founder of the Liberal Party .-Early life:...
  
   becomes Premier of first Liberal Government
  First Liberal Government of New Zealand
  The First Liberal Government of New Zealand was the first responsible government in New Zealand politics organised along party lines. The Government formed following the founding of the Liberal Party and took office on the 24 January 1891, and governed New Zealand for over 21 years until 10 July...
  
  .

1892

1892 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — The term of The Earl of Onslow ends on 25 February. David Boyle, 7th Earl of Glasgow become Governor from 6 June.-Government and law:...

• First Kotahitanga Māori Parliament meets.

1893

1893 in New Zealand

With the sudden death of John Balance on 27 April the 13 years of Richard Seddon as Prime Minister begins. On 28 November New Zealand women become the first in the world to vote in a national election.-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria...

• 27 April: John Ballance
  John Ballance
  John Ballance served as the 14th Premier of New Zealand at the end of the 19th century, and was the founder of the Liberal Party .-Early life:...
  
   dies
• John Ballance succeeded as premier by Richard Seddon
  Richard Seddon
  Richard John Seddon , sometimes known as King Dick, is to date the longest serving Prime Minister of New Zealand. He is regarded by some, including historian Keith Sinclair, as one of New Zealand's greatest political leaders....
  
  .
• 19 September: All women given the right to vote, New Zealand becomes first country to grant universal suffrage
  Women's suffrage in New Zealand
  Women's suffrage in New Zealand was an important political issue in the late 19th century. Of countries presently independent, New Zealand was the first to give women the vote in modern times....
  
   and plural voting
  Plural voting
  Plural voting is the practice whereby one person might be able to vote multiple times in an election. It is not to be confused with a plurality voting system which does not necessarily involve plural voting...
  
   abolished.
• Liquor licensing poll introduced.
• Elizabeth Yates
  Elizabeth Yates (mayor)
  Elizabeth Yates was the mayor of Onehunga borough in New Zealand for most of 1894. She was the first female mayor anywhere in the British Empire. Onehunga is now part of the city of Auckland.- Life :...
  
  , Onehunga
  Onehunga
  Onehunga is a suburb of Auckland City, New Zealand and the location of the Port of Onehunga, the city's small port on the Manukau Harbour. It is eight kilometres south of the city centre, close to the volcanic cone of One Tree Hill, Maungakiekie....
  
  , becomes first woman mayor in British Empire.
• Banknotes become legal tender.
• 28 November: New Zealand general election, 1893
  New Zealand general election, 1893
  The New Zealand general election of 1893 was held on Tuesday, 28 November in the general electorates, and on Wednesday, 20 December in the Māori electorates to elect a total of 74 MPs to the 12th session of the New Zealand Parliament...
  
  .

1894

1894 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — David Boyle, 7th Earl of Glasgow-Government and law:The 12th New Zealand Parliament continues with the Liberal Party in power....

• Compulsory arbitration of industrial disputes and reform of employment laws.
• Advances to Settlers Act.
• Clark, Fyfe and Graham become the first people to climb Mt Cook.
• Wreck of SS Wairarapa.

1896

1896 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — David Boyle, 7th Earl of Glasgow-Government and law:The Liberal Party is re-elected and begins the 13th New Zealand Parliament.*Speaker of the House — Sir Maurice O'Rorke...

• National Council of Women
  National Council of Women of New Zealand
  The National Council of Women of New Zealand is a lobbying group for women's rights. The Council was established in 1896.-Establishment of the Council:...
  
   is founded.
• The Brunner Mine disaster
  Brunner Mine disaster
  An explosion deep in the Brunner Mine at 9:30am on Thursday 26 March 1896 killed all 65 miners inside, and was the worst mining disaster of New Zealand’s history....
  
   kills 67.
• Census measures national population as 743,214.
• 13 October: First public screening of a motion picture
  Cinema of New Zealand
  New Zealand cinema, can refer to films made by New Zealand-based production companies in New Zealand. However, it may also refer to films made about New Zealand by filmmakers from other countries...
  
   in New Zealand
• 4 December: New Zealand general election, 1896
  New Zealand general election, 1896
  The New Zealand general election of 1896 was held on Wednesday, 4 December in the general electorates, and on Thursday, 19 December in the Māori electorates to elect a total of 74 MPs to the 13th session of the New Zealand Parliament...
  
  .

1897

1897 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — The term of David Boyle, 7th Earl of Glasgow as Governor ends on 8 February. He is succeeded on 9 August by Sir Uchter John Mark Knox, 5th Earl of Ranfurly-Government and law:...

• First of series of colonial and later imperial conferences held in London.
• Apirana Ngata
  Apirana Ngata
  Sir Apirana Turupa Ngata was a prominent New Zealand politician and lawyer. He has often been described as the foremost Māori politician to have ever served in Parliament, and is also known for his work in promoting and protecting Māori culture and language.-Early life:One of 15 children, Ngata...
  
   and others form Te Aute College Students' Association. http://www.stats.govt.nz/quick-facts/people/history-1850-1899.htm

1898

1898 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — The Earl of Ranfurly GCMG -Government and law:The 13th New Zealand Parliament continues with the Liberal Party in power.*Speaker of the House — Sir Maurice O'Rorke...

• Old Age Pensions Act.
• First cars imported to New Zealand.

1899

1899 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — The Earl of Ranfurly GCMG -Government and law:The Liberal Party is re-elected and forms the 14th New Zealand Parliament...

• New Zealand army contingent is sent to the South African war.
• First celebration of Labour Day.
• 6 December: New Zealand general election, 1899
  New Zealand general election, 1899
  The New Zealand general election of 1899 was held on Wednesday, 6 December in the general electorates, and on Tuesday, 19 December in the Māori electorates to elect a total of 74 MPs to the 14th session of the New Zealand Parliament. A total number of 373,744 voters turned out to...
  
  .

1900s

1900

1900 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — Queen Victoria*Governor — The Earl of Ranfurly GCMG -Government and law:The 14th New Zealand Parliament continued...

• Māori Councils Act passed.
• Public Health Act passed setting up Department of Public Health in 1901.

1901

1901 in New Zealand

-Population:A census was held in March 1901. The population was given as 772,719 — an increase of 9.86% over the previous census in 1896.The figures for the 1901 census revealed that the North Island's population had exceeded the South Island's for the first time since the Central Otago Gold Rush...

• Cook
  Cook Islands
  The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...
  
   and other Pacific Islands annexed.
• Penny postage first used.
• Union of the Synod of Otago and Southland
  Synod of Otago and Southland
  The Synod of Otago and Southland is a synod of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand . Originally independent, the Synod merged with the northern Presbyterian church in 1901 to form the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand.-History:...
  
   with the Northern Presbyterian Church to form the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand
  Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand
  The Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand is the main Presbyterian church in New Zealand.-History:The Presbyterian Church of New Zealand was formed in October 1901 with the amalgamation of churches in Synod of Otago and Southland with those north of the Waitaki River.Presbyterians had by and...
  
  .

1902

1902 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Edward VII*Governor - The Earl of Ranfurly GCMG -Government:The Liberal Party was re-elected and formed the 15th New Zealand Parliament.*Speaker of the House - George O'Rorke*Prime Minister - Richard Seddon...

• Pacific telegraph cable begins operating between New Zealand, Australia and Fiji.
• Wreck of trans-tasman steamer SS Elingamite
  SS Elingamite
  SS Elingamite was a single screw passenger steamer of 2585 tons, built in 1887 and owned by Huddart Parker. The ship was wrecked in 1902 off the north coast of New Zealand carrying a large consignment of gold...
  
  .
• 25 November: New Zealand general election, 1902
  New Zealand general election, 1902
  The New Zealand general election of 1902 was held on Tuesday, 25 November in the general electorates, and on Monday, 22 December in the Māori electorates to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 15th session of the New Zealand Parliament...
  
  .

1903

1903 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Edward VII*Governor - The Earl of Ranfurly GCMG -Government:The 15th New Zealand Parliament continued...

• 31 March: Richard Pearse
  Richard Pearse
  Richard William Pearse , son of Cornish immigrants from St Columb near Newquay, a New Zealand farmer and inventor who performed pioneering experiments in aviation....
  
   achieves semi-controlled flight near Timaru
  Timaru
  TimaruUrban AreaPopulation:27,200Extent:Former Timaru City CouncilTerritorial AuthorityName:Timaru District CouncilPopulation:42,867 Land area:2,736.54 km² Mayor:Janie AnnearWebsite:...
  
  .
• 15 August: The New Zealand All Blacks
  All Blacks
  The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....
  
   play their first Rugby Test Match
  Test match (rugby union)
  Test match in rugby union is a match recognised as being a full international match by at least one of the participating teams' governing bodies. It is an unofficial but widely used term in the sport....
  
   against Australia's Wallabies
  Australia national rugby union team
  The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the...
  
   at the Sydney Cricket Ground
  Sydney Cricket Ground
  The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...
  
   in Sydney, Australia. New Zealand win, 22-3.

1904

1904 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Edward VII*Governor - The Earl of Ranfurly GCMG, succeeded the same year by The Lord Plunket GCMG KCVO -Government:The 15th New Zealand Parliament continued...

1905

1905 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Edward VII*Governor - The Lord Plunket GCMG KCVO -Government:The Liberal Party are re-elected and formed the 16th New Zealand Parliament.*Speaker of the House - Arthur Guinness...

• New Zealand rugby team tours England and becomes known as the All Blacks
  All Blacks
  The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....
  
  .
• Old Age Pension increases to £26 per year; however, eligibility tightened.
• 6 December: New Zealand general election, 1905
  New Zealand general election, 1905
  The New Zealand general election of 1905 was held on Wednesday, 6 December in the general electorates, and on Wednesday, 20 December in the Māori electorates to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 16th session of the New Zealand Parliament...
  
  .

1906

1906 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Edward VII*Governor - The Lord Plunket GCMG KCVO -Government:*Speaker of the House - Arthur Guinness...

• 10 June: Richard Seddon
  Richard Seddon
  Richard John Seddon , sometimes known as King Dick, is to date the longest serving Prime Minister of New Zealand. He is regarded by some, including historian Keith Sinclair, as one of New Zealand's greatest political leaders....
  
   dies and is succeeded by Joseph Ward
  Joseph Ward
  Sir Joseph George Ward, 1st Baronet, GCMG was the 17th Prime Minister of New Zealand on two occasions in the early 20th century.-Early life:...
  
   as Premier.

1907

1907 in New Zealand

There are celebrations throughout the country this year as New Zealand changes from colony to independent dominion status by proclamation of King Edward VII on 26 September...

• July: Resolution passed to constitute New Zealand as a Dominion.
• Fire destroys Parliament buildings.
• Tohunga Suppression Act
  Tohunga Suppression Act
  The Tohunga Suppression Act 1907 was an Act of the New Zealand Parliament aimed to replace tohunga as traditional Māori healers with "modern" medicine....
  
   passed
• 26 September: Dominion of New Zealand
  Dominion of New Zealand
  The Dominion of New Zealand is the former name of the Realm of New Zealand.Originally administered from New South Wales, New Zealand became a direct British colony in 1841 and received a large measure of self-government following the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852...
  
   declared.

1908

1908 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Edward VII*Governor - The Lord Plunket GCMG KCVO -Government:The 16th New Zealand Parliament, Liberal concluded but the Liberal Party retained in power following the 1908 General Election in November/December...

• Auckland to Wellington main trunk railway line opens.
• First New Zealanders compete at the Olympics as part of Australasian
  Australasia at the 1908 Summer Olympics
  Australasia was the name of a combined team from Australia and New Zealand that competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, England. It was the fourth appearance of Australia, which had not missed any edition of the Summer Olympic Games, and the first appearance of New Zealand...
  
   team.
• Harry Kerr
  Harry Kerr
  Harry Kerr was a New Zealand athlete who competed mainly in the 3500 metre walk....
  
   is the first New Zealander to win an Olympic medal (a bronze in the Men's 3500 metre walk
  Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics - Men's 3500 metre walk
  The men's 3500 metre walk race was held for the only time at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. The competition was held on Tuesday, July 14, 1908.It was held in two rounds...
  
  ).
• Blackball
  Blackball, New Zealand
  Blackball is a small town on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand, approximately 29 km from Greymouth.Blackball was named after the Black Ball Shipping Line, which leased land in the area to mine for coal. It was formerly known as Joliffetown and Moonlight Gully.Blackball is a centre...
  
   coal miner strike lasts 11 weeks.
• Ernest Rutherford is awarded the Nobel Prize
  Nobel Prize
  The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
  
   in Chemistry.
• New Zealand's population reaches one million.
• 17 November,24 November and 1 December: New Zealand general election, 1908
  New Zealand general election, 1908
  The New Zealand general election of 1908 was held on Tuesday, 17 November, 24 November and 1 December in the general electorates, and on Wednesday, 2 December in the Māori electorates to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 17th session of the New Zealand Parliament...
  
  .

1909

1909 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Edward VII*Governor - The Lord Plunket GCMG KCVO -Government:The 1tth New Zealand Parliament, Liberal commenced.*Speaker of the House - Sir Arthur Guinness*Prime Minister - Joseph Ward...

• "Red" Federation of Labour formed.
• SS Penguin wrecked in Cook Strait, 75 people die.
• Compulsory military training introduced.
• Stamp–vending machine invented and manufactured in New Zealand.

1910s

1910

1910 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Edward VII, succeeded by George V*Governor - The Lord Plunket GCMG KCVO, succeeded the same year by The Lord Islington GCMG GBE DSO PC -Government:The TBDth New Zealand Parliament continued....

• Halley's Comet sighted in New Zealand.

1911

1911 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George V*Governor - The Lord Islington GCMG GBE DSO PC -Government:*Speaker of the House - Arthur Guinness *Prime Minister - Joseph Ward *Minister of Finance - Joseph Ward...

• 7 December,14 December: New Zealand general election, 1911
  New Zealand general election, 1911
  The New Zealand general election of 1911 was held on Thursday, 7 and 14 December in the general electorates, and on Tuesday, 19 December in the Māori electorates to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 18th session of the New Zealand Parliament...
  
  .

1912

1912 in New Zealand

The 1911 General Election, the first contested by the Reform Party, left parliament in an indeterminate state, with Reform holding 38 seats, Liberal 36, Labour 1 and with 5 independents....

• William Massey
  William Massey
  William Ferguson Massey, often known as Bill Massey or "Farmer Bill" served as the 19th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1912 to 1925, and was the founder of the Reform Party. He is widely considered to have been one of the more skilled politicians of his time, and was known for the particular...
  
   wins vote in the House and becomes Prime Minister; Reform Government
  Reform Government of New Zealand
  The Reform Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 1912 to 1928. It is perhaps best remembered for its anti-trade union stance in the Waihi miners' strike of 1912 and a dockworkers' strike the following year...
  
   formed.
• Waihi miners' strike
  Waihi miners' strike
  The Waihi miners' strike was a major strike action in 1912 by gold miners in the New Zealand town of Waihi. It is widely regarded as the most significant industrial action in the history of New Zealand's labour movement...
  
  .
• Malcolm Champion
  Malcolm Champion
  Malcolm Eadie Champion was New Zealand's first Olympic gold medallist, and the first swimmer to represent New Zealand at an Olympic Games...
  
   becomes first New Zealander to win an Olympic Gold Medal.

1913

1913 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State — George V*Governor — The Earl of Liverpool -Government:*Speaker of the House — Arthur Guinness , then Frederic Lang *Prime Minister — William Massey...

• Waterfront strikes in Auckland and Wellington.

1914

1914 in New Zealand

New Zealand showed no hesitation in emulating Britain's declaration of war on Germany and entering World War I. New Zealand troops became the first to occupy German territory when they took over Samoa in November.-Regal and Vice Regal:...

• World War I
  World War I
  World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
  
   begins and German Samoa
  Samoa
  Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
  
   is occupied.
• New Zealand Expeditionary Force
  New Zealand Expeditionary Force
  The New Zealand Expeditionary Force was the title of the military forces sent from New Zealand to fight for Britain during World War I and World War II. Ultimately, the NZEF of World War I was known as the First New Zealand Expeditionary Force...
  
   is despatched to Egypt
  Egypt
  Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
  
  .
• Huntly
  Huntly, New Zealand
  Huntly is a town in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is on State Highway 1, 93 kilometres south of Auckland and 35 kilometres north of Hamilton. It is situated on the North Island Main Trunk Railway and straddles the Waikato River.Huntly was called Rahui Pokeka when...
  
   coal mine disaster, 43 people die.
• 15 August: Troops depart for Samoa
  Samoa
  Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
  
  .
• 29 August: New Zealand troops land unopposed in Apia.
• October: 8427 troops leave New Zealand for Europe.
• 10 December: New Zealand general election, 1914
  New Zealand general election, 1914
  The New Zealand general election of 1914 was held on 10 December to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 19th session of the New Zealand Parliament. A total number of 616,043 voters were registered, of which 84.7% voters turned out to vote....
  
  .

1915

1915 in New Zealand

World War I and New Zealand's participation in it dominate the year. Most notably, New Zealand troops take part in the landings at ANZAC cove, Gallipoli on 25 April, and the ensuing campaign....

• New Zealand forces take part in Gallipoli
  Gallipoli
  The Gallipoli peninsula is located in Turkish Thrace , the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. Gallipoli derives its name from the Greek "Καλλίπολις" , meaning "Beautiful City"...
  
   campaign.
• Reform and Liberal parties form National War Cabinet.
• Britain announces its intention to purchase all New Zealand meat exports during war.
• 25 April: First landings at Gaba Tepe
  Landing at Anzac Cove
  The landing at Anzac Cove was part of the amphibious invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula by Australian and New Zealand forces on 25 April 1915. The landing, north of Gaba Tepe on the Aegean coast of the Peninsula, was made by soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and was the first...
  
   and Cape Helles
  Landing at Cape Helles
  The landing at Cape Helles was part of the amphibious invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula by British and French forces on April 25, 1915 during the First World War. Helles, at the foot of the peninsula, was the main landing area. With the support of the guns of the Royal Navy, a British division...
  
   on the Gallipoli
  Gallipoli
  The Gallipoli peninsula is located in Turkish Thrace , the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. Gallipoli derives its name from the Greek "Καλλίπολις" , meaning "Beautiful City"...
  
   Peninsula.
• 27 April: Counterattack launched by Turkish forces under the command of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
  Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
  Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was an Ottoman and Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, writer, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey....
  
  .
• 20 December: Final withdraw of all troops from Anzac Cove
  Anzac Cove
  Anzac Cove is a small cove on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. It became famous as the site of World War I landing of the ANZAC on April 25, 1915. The cove is a mere long, bounded by the headlands of Ari Burnu to the north and Little Ari Burnu, known as Hell Spit, to the south...
  
  .

1916

1916 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George V*Governor - The Earl of Liverpool -Government:The 19th New Zealand Parliament continued as a grand coalition led by the Reform Party*Speaker of the House - Frederic Lang...

• New Zealand troops transfer from Western Front.
• Conscription
  Conscription
  Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
  
   introduced.
• Labour Party
  New Zealand Labour Party
  The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. It describes itself as centre-left and socially progressive and has been one of the two primary parties of New Zealand politics since 1935....
  
   formed.
• Lake Coleridge
  Lake Coleridge
  Lake Coleridge is located in inland Canterbury, in New Zealand's South Island. Located 35 kilometres to the northwest of Methven, it has a surface area of 47 km²....
  
   electricity supply scheme opened.
• 10 June: Passing of the Military Services Bill introduces conscription.
• July: Battle of Romani defaults Turkish force advancing towards the Suez Canal
  Suez Canal
  The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...
  
  .

1917

1917 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George V*Governor - The Earl of Liverpool Until 28 June *Governor-General - The Earl of Liverpool from 28 June-Government:...

• Battle of Passchendaele, 3,700 New Zealanders killed.
• Six o'clock public house closing introduced.
• Lord Liverpool becomes first Governor-General.

1918

1918 in New Zealand

The jubilation over the end of World War I was overshadowed by the Spanish flu pandemic reaching New Zealand. In four months, it is estimated that 8000 New Zealanders died of the disease and between one third and one half of the population were infected....

• New Zealand Division in the Battle of the Somme.
• End of World War I.
• Influenza epidemic
  Spanish flu
  The 1918 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic, and the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus . It was an unusually severe and deadly pandemic that spread across the world. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin...
  
   in which an estimated 8,500 die.
• Creation of power boards for electricity distribution.
• Prohibition
  Prohibition
  Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
  
   petition with 242,001 signatures presented to Parliament.

1919

1919 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George V*Governor-General - The Earl of Liverpool -Government:The 19th New Zealand Parliament concludes. The election held in November sees the Reform Party returned with an increased majority...

• Women eligible for election to Parliament.
• Massey signs Treaty of Versailles
  Treaty of Versailles
  The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
  
  .
• First official airmail flight from Auckland to Dargaville
  Dargaville
  Dargaville is a town in the North Island of New Zealand. It is situated on the bank of the Northern Wairoa River in the Northland region. The town is located 55 kilometres southwest of Whangarei....
  
  .
• 17 December: New Zealand general election, 1919.

1920s

1920

1920 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George V*Governor-General - The Earl of Liverpool, succeeded the same year by The Viscount Jellicoe GCB OM GCVO -Government:The 20th New Zealand Parliament commenced, with the Reform Party in Government...

• Anzac Day
  ANZAC Day
  Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, commemorated by both countries on 25 April every year to honour the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought at Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. It now more broadly commemorates all...
  
   established.
• New Zealand gets League of Nations
  League of Nations
  The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
  
   mandate to govern Western Samoa.
• First aeroplane flight across Cook Strait.
• New Zealand sents first team to Olympic Games (previously they have competed as part of Australasian team).
• Clarence Hadfield D'Arcy
  Clarence Hadfield D'Arcy
  Darcy Clarence Hadfield was a New Zealand rower who won a bronze medal at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. Subsequently he became the third New Zealander to hold the Professional World Sculling Championship....
  
   wins first Olympic medal for New Zealand.

1921

1921 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George V*Governor-General - The Viscount Jellicoe GCB OM GCVO -Government:The TBDth New Zealand Parliament continued.*Speaker of the House - TBD*Prime Minister - TBD*Deputy Prime Minister - TBD...

• New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy
  New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy
  The New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy was formed in 1921 and remained in existence until 1941. It was the precursor to the Royal New Zealand Navy .Originally the British Royal Navy provided total security for the colony of New Zealand...
  
   established.

1922

1922 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George V*Governor-General - The Viscount Jellicoe GCB OM GCVO -Government:The TBDth New Zealand Parliament continued.*Speaker of the House - TBD*Prime Minister - TBD*Deputy Prime Minister - TBD...

• Meat Producers' Board placed in control of meat exports.
• 7 December: New Zealand general election, 1922
  New Zealand general election, 1922
  The New Zealand general election of 1922 was held on Monday, 6 December in the Māori electorates, and on Tuesday, 7 December in the general electorates to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 21st session of the New Zealand Parliament...
  
  .

1923

1923 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George V*Governor-General - The Viscount Jellicoe GCB OM GCVO -Government:The 21st New Zealand Parliament continued...

• Otira tunnel opens. Ross Dependency
  Ross Dependency
  The Ross Dependency is a region of Antarctica defined by a sector originating at the South Pole, passing along longitudes 160° east to 150° west, and terminating at latitude 60° south...
  
   proclaimed.

1924

1924 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George V*Governor-General - The Viscount Jellicoe GCB OM GCVO succeeded by General Sir Charles Fergusson Bt GCMG KCB DSO MVO -Government:The 21st New Zealand Parliament continued...

• All Black 'Invincibles' tour of Britain and France.

1925

1925 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George V*Governor-General - General Sir Charles Fergusson Bt GCMG KCB DSO MVO -Government:The 21st New Zealand Parliament concluded, with its final year being marked by the death of premier William Massey. The Reform Party governed as a minority with the...

• 4 November: General election
  New Zealand general election, 1925
  The New Zealand general election of 1925 was held 4 November to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 22nd session of the New Zealand Parliament...
  
   won by the Reform party under Gordon Coates
  Gordon Coates
  Joseph Gordon Coates, MC and bar served as the 21st Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1925 to 1928.- Early life :Born on the Hukatere Peninsula in Kaipara Harbour where his family ran a farm, Coates took on significant responsibility at a relatively early age because his father suffered from...
  
  .

1926

1926 in New Zealand

-Population:A census was held in March 1926.-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George V*Governor-General - General Sir Charles Fergusson Bt GCMG KCB DSO MVO -Government:...

• National public broadcasting begins under auspices of Radio Broadcasting Co. Ltd.

1927

1927 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 1,450,400* Increase since previous 31/12/1926: 20,700 * Males per 100 Females: 104.3-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George V...

1928

1928 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 1,467,400 * Increase since previous 31/12/1927: 17,000 * Males per 100 Females: 104.2-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George V...

• New Zealand Summer Time introduced.
• Charles Kingsford Smith
  Charles Kingsford Smith
  Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith MC, AFC , often called by his nickname Smithy, was an early Australian aviator. In 1928, he earned global fame when he made the first trans-Pacific flight from the United States to Australia...
  
   completes first flight across Tasman Sea
  Tasman Sea
  The Tasman Sea is the large body of water between Australia and New Zealand, approximately across. It extends 2,800 km from north to south. It is a south-western segment of the South Pacific Ocean. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, the first recorded European...
  
  .
• 14 December: General election
  New Zealand general election, 1928
  The New Zealand general election of 1928 was held on Tuesday, 13 November in the Māori electorates, and on Wednesday, 14 November in the general electorates to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 23rd session of the New Zealand Parliament...
  
   won by new United Party
  New Zealand Liberal Party
  The New Zealand Liberal Party is generally regarded as having been the first real political party in New Zealand. It governed from 1891 until 1912. Out of office, the Liberals gradually found themselves pressed between the conservative Reform Party and the growing Labour Party...
  
  .
• Ted Morgan
  Ted Morgan (boxer)
  Edward "Ted" Morgan was a boxer from New Zealand, who won the gold medal in the men's welterweight division at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands....
  
   wins first Olympic Gold Medal for New Zealand.

1929

1929 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 1,486,100 * Increase since previous 31/12/1928: 18,700 * Males per 100 Females: 104.1-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George V...

• Economic depression worsens.
• Severe earthquake in the Murchison
  Murchison, New Zealand
  Murchison is a town in the Tasman Region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is near the western end of the "Four Rivers Plain", at the confluence of the Buller River and the Matakitaki River...
  
   - Karamea
  Karamea
  Karamea is a town on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand.It is the northernmost settlement of any real size on the West Coast, and is located 96 kilometres north-east by road from Westport. There is no other connecting road to the town - the road north ends at the Kohaihai River some...
  
   district results in 17 deaths.
• First health stamps issued.

1930s

1930

1930 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 1,506,800* Increase since previous 31/12/1929: 20,700 * Males per 100 Females: 103.9-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George V...

• Unemployment Board set up to provide relief work.

1931

1931 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 1,522,800 * Increase since previous 31/12/1930: 16,000 * Males per 100 Females: 103.8-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George V...

• Napier earthquake, 256 die.
• Substantial percentage reductions in public service wages and salaries.
• Airmail
  Airmail
  Airmail is mail that is transported by aircraft. It typically arrives more quickly than surface mail, and usually costs more to send...
  
   postage stamps introduced.
• 2 December: General election
  New Zealand general election, 1931
  The 1931 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 24th term. It resulted in the newly formed coalition between the United Party and the Reform Party remaining in office as the Liberal-Reform Government, although the opposition Labour...
  
   won by newly formed Coalition Government under George Forbes
  George William Forbes
  George William Forbes served as the 22nd Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1930 to 1935. Few expected him to become Prime Minister when he did, and some believed him unsuitable, but he nevertheless remained in that office for five years...
  
  .

1932

1932 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 1,534,700 * Increase since previous 31/12/1931: 11,900 * Males per 100 Females: 103.6-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George V...

• Compulsory arbitration of industrial disputes abolished.
• Unemployed riots in Auckland, Dunedin and Christchurch.
• Reductions in old-age and other pensions.
• Distinctive New Zealand coins first issued, see New Zealand pound
  New Zealand pound
  The pound was the currency of New Zealand between 1840 and 1967. Like the British pound, it was subdivided into 20 shillings each of 12 pence. As a result of the great depression of the early 1930s, the New Zealand agricultural export market to the UK was badly affected...
  
  .

1933

1933 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 1,547,100 * Increase since previous 31/12/1932: 12,400 * Males per 100 Females: 103.4-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George V...

• 9 September: Elizabeth McCombs
  Elizabeth McCombs
  Elizabeth McCombs was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party, and the first woman elected to the New Zealand Parliament. New Zealand women gained the right to vote in 1893, though were not allowed to stand for the House of Representatives until the election of 1919...
  
   becomes first woman MP.

1934

1934 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 1,558,400 * Increase since previous 31/12/1933: 11,300 * Males per 100 Females: 103.3-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George V...

• Reserve Bank and Mortgage Corporation established.
• First trans-Tasman airmail.

1935

1935 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 1,569,700 * Increase since previous 31/12/1934: 11,300 * Males per 100 Females: 103.1-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George V...

• Air services begin across Cook Strait.
• 24 November: New Zealand Post Office
  New Zealand Post Office
  The New Zealand Post Office was a New Zealand government department.As a Government Department, the New Zealand Post Office or N.Z.P.O., previously the Post and Telegraph Department or P & T, had as the political head the Postmaster General who was a member of Cabinet, and, when it was a separate...
  
   jams 1ZB radio broadcast by Colin Scrimgeour
  Colin Scrimgeour
  Rev. Colin Graham Scrimgeour, known as Uncle Scrim or Scrim was a New Zealand Methodist Minister and Broadcaster....
  
   (Uncle Scrim).
• 27 November: General election:
  New Zealand general election, 1935
  The 1935 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 25th term. It resulted in the Labour Party's first electoral victory, with Michael Joseph Savage becoming the first Labour Prime Minister...
  
   First Labour Government
  First Labour Government of New Zealand
  The First Labour Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 1935 to 1949. It set the tone of New Zealand's economic and welfare policies until the 1980s, establishing a welfare state, a system of Keynesian economic management, and high levels of state intervention...
  
   elected under Michael Joseph Savage
  Michael Joseph Savage
  Michael Joseph Savage was the first Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand.- Early life :Born in Tatong, Victoria, Australia, Savage first became involved in politics while working in that state. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1907. There he worked in a variety of jobs, as a miner, flax-cutter and...
  
  .

1936

1936 in New Zealand

The shape of New Zealand politics for the next five decades was defined when, in the aftermath of their heavy defeat by Labour, the United and Reform parties merged to form the New Zealand National Party...

• Reserve Bank
  Reserve Bank of New Zealand
  The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is the central bank of New Zealand and is constituted under the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989. The Governor of the Reserve Bank is responsible for New Zealand's currency and operating monetary policy. The Bank's current Governor is Dr. Alan Bollard...
  
   taken over by state.
• State housing
  State housing
  State housing is the system of public housing offered to New Zealand residents on low to moderate incomes. Some 66,000 houses are managed by Housing New Zealand Corporation, most of which are owned by the government.-The Liberal Government:...
  
   programme launched.
• Guaranteed prices for dairy products introduced.
• National Party
  New Zealand National Party
  The New Zealand National Party is the largest party in the New Zealand House of Representatives and in November 2008 formed a minority government with support from three minor parties.-Policies:...
  
   formed from former Coalition MPs.
• Inter-island trunk air services introduced.
• Jack Lovelock
  Jack Lovelock
  John Edward Lovelock was a New Zealand athlete, and the 1936 Olympic champion in the 1500 metres....
  
   wins Olympic gold and sets world record for 1500m.
• Jean Batten
  Jean Batten
  Jean Gardner Batten CBE OSC was a New Zealand aviatrix. Born in Rotorua, she became the best-known New Zealander of the 1930s, internationally, by taking a number of record-breaking solo flights across the world....
  
  's record flight from England.
• Working week reduced from 44 to 40 hours.

1937

1937 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 1,601,800 * Increase since 31/12/1936: 17,200 * Males per 100 Females: 103.1- Regal and Vice Regal :*Head of State - George VI*Governor-General - The Viscount Galway GCMG DSO OBE PC...

• April: Federation of Labour unifies trade union movement.
• RNZAF set up as separate branch of armed forces.
• March: Free Milk in schools introduced.

1938

1938 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 1,618,500 * Increase since 31/12/1937: 16,500 * Males per 100 Females: 103.2-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George VI*Governor-General - The Viscount Galway GCMG DSO OBE PC...

• Social Security Act establishes revised pensions structure and the basis of a national health service.
• Import and exchange controls are introduced.
• 15 October: General election
  New Zealand general election, 1938
  The 1938 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 26th term. It resulted in the governing Labour Party being re-elected, although the newly-founded National Party gained a certain amount of ground.-Background:The Labour Party had won...
  
  , Labour re-elected.

1939

1939 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 1,641,600 * Increase since 31/12/1938: 23,300 * Males per 100 Females: 103.0-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George VI*Governor-General - The Viscount Galway GCMG DSO OBE PC...

• Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force formed.
• Bulk purchases of farm products by Great Britain.
• 3 September: War declared on Germany
• 7 September: First New Zealander (An officer flying with the RAF
  Royal Air Force
  The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
  
  ) taken prisoner of war
  Prisoner of war
  A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
  
  .
• 12 September: Enlistment in the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force
  New Zealand Expeditionary Force
  The New Zealand Expeditionary Force was the title of the military forces sent from New Zealand to fight for Britain during World War I and World War II. Ultimately, the NZEF of World War I was known as the First New Zealand Expeditionary Force...
  
   begins.
• 4 October: Government announces the formation of a Māori Battalion
  Maori Battalion
  The 28th Battalion, more commonly known as the Māori Battalion, was an infantry battalion of the New Zealand Army that served during the Second World War. It was formed following pressure on the Labour government by some Māori MPs and Māori organisations throughout the country wanting a full Māori...
  
   for 2 NZEF
• 23 November: Bernard Freyberg is appointed to commander of 2 NZEF
• 13 December: HMNZS Achilles
  HMNZS Achilles (70)
  HMNZS Achilles was a Leander class light cruiser which served with the Royal New Zealand Navy in World War II. She became famous for her part in the Battle of the River Plate, alongside HMS Ajax and HMS Exeter....
  
   takes part in The Battle of the River Plate
  Battle of the River Plate
  The Battle of the River Plate was the first naval battle in the Second World War. The German pocket battleship had been commerce raiding since the start of the war in September 1939...
  
  .

1940 to 1946

1940

1940 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 1,633,600 * Increase since 31/12/1939: -8000 * Males per 100 Females: 99.1-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George VI*Governor-General - The Viscount Galway GCMG DSO OBE PC...

• 5 January: First Echelon of the 2NZEF leaves New Zealand for the Middle East.
• 12 February: The main body of the First Echelon of the 2NZEF, arrives at Maadi
  Maadi
  Maadi is a wealthy suburb south of Cairo, Egypt. The town is home to the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, Cairo American College , Lycée Français du Caire , Misr American College , Maadi British International School , the Cairo Rugby Club, and the national Egyptian Geological Museum.-...
  
   Camp in Egypt
  Egypt
  Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
  
  .
• 27 March: Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage
  Michael Joseph Savage
  Michael Joseph Savage was the first Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand.- Early life :Born in Tatong, Victoria, Australia, Savage first became involved in politics while working in that state. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1907. There he worked in a variety of jobs, as a miner, flax-cutter and...
  
   dies
• 1 April: Peter Fraser becomes Prime Minister.
• 1 April: Formation of No. 75 (NZ) Squadron
  No. 75 Squadron RNZAF
  No. 75 Squadron RNZAF was an air combat squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. It was formed from the RAF's World War II bomber squadron, No. 75 Squadron, which had been initially equipped by the New Zealand government and was largely manned by New Zealanders...
  
   of the RAF
  Royal Air Force
  The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
  
  
• 11 June: New Zealand declares war on Italy.
• 19 June: RMS Niagara
  RMS Niagara
  RMS Niagara was an ocean liner launched on 17 August 1912 and owned by the Union Steam Ship Company. She was nicknamed "the Titanic of the Pacific", but after the sinking of the real RMS Titanic this was dropped in favour of "Queen of the Pacific"...
  
   hits a mine off Bream Head
  Bream Head
  Bream Head is a promontory on the east coast of Northland in the North Island of New Zealand. Located at the end of a 30 kilometre-long peninsula, the head juts into the Pacific Ocean to the southeast of Whangarei...
  
  , Northland
• 2 August: Home Guard established.
• 20 August: German raider Orion sinks the steamer Turakina off Cape Egmont
  Cape Egmont
  Cape Egmont is the westernmost point of Taranaki, on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. It is located close to the volcanic cone of Mount Taranaki or Mount Egmont....
  
  .
• October: Stanley Graham
  Stanley Graham
  Eric Stanley George Graham was a New Zealand mass murderer who killed seven people.-Early life:Graham was born and raised in Longford, Kokatahi, New Zealand. He then moved to Kowhitirangi, an agricultural district 12 miles from Hokitika in the South Island where he worked as a farmer and where he...
  
   kills 7 in shooting spree near Hokitika
• 25 November: Steamer Holmwood sunk by German raiders off the Chatham Islands
  Chatham Islands
  The Chatham Islands are an archipelago and New Zealand territory in the Pacific Ocean consisting of about ten islands within a radius, the largest of which are Chatham Island and Pitt Island. Their name in the indigenous language, Moriori, means Misty Sun...
  
  .
• 27 November: Rangitane sunk by German raiders 480 km from East Cape
  East Cape
  East Cape is the easternmost point of the main islands of New Zealand. It is located to the north of Gisborne in the northeast of the North Island....
  
  
• 8 December: New Zealand steamer Komata sunk by German raiders off Nauru
  Nauru
  Nauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, to the east. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, covering just...
  
  
• Sidney Holland
  Sidney Holland
  Sir Sidney George Holland, GCMG, CH was the 25th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 13 December 1949 to 20 September 1957.-Early life:...
  
   becomes Leader of Opposition.
• Conscription for military service.
• German mines laid across Hauraki Gulf
  Hauraki Gulf
  The Hauraki Gulf is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has a total area of 4000 km², and lies between the Auckland Region, the Hauraki Plains, the Coromandel Peninsula and Great Barrier Island...
  
  .

1941

1941 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 1,631,200 * Increase since 31/12/1940: -2400 * Males per 100 Females: 96.1* The scheduled census was not held due to World War II-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George VI...

• 20 May - 1 June: New Zealand forces suffer heavy losses in the Battle of Crete
  Battle of Crete
  The Battle of Crete was a battle during World War II on the Greek island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, when Nazi Germany launched an airborne invasion of Crete under the code-name Unternehmen Merkur...
  
  .
• 8 December: New Zealand declares war on Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor
  Attack on Pearl Harbor
  The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
  
  .
• Māori War Effort Organisation set up.
• Pharmaceutical and general practitioner medical benefits introduced.

1942

1942 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 1,636,400 * Increase since 31/12/1941: 5200 * Males per 100 Females: 94.2-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George VI...

• Economic stabilisation.
• New Zealand troops in First
  First Battle of El Alamein
  The First Battle of El Alamein was a battle of the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War, fought between Axis forces of the Panzer Army Africa commanded by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, and Allied forces The First Battle of El Alamein (1–27 July 1942) was a battle of the Western Desert...
  
   and Second Battles
  Second Battle of El Alamein
  The Second Battle of El Alamein marked a major turning point in the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. The battle took place over 20 days from 23 October – 11 November 1942. The First Battle of El Alamein had stalled the Axis advance. Thereafter, Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery...
  
   of El Alamein.
• Food rationing introduced.
• Mobilisation of women for essential work.

• 12 June: First 5 ships of American troops from the 37th US Army Division land in Auckland.
• 14 June: First American Marines from the 1st Corps Division land in Wellington.

1943

1943 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 1,642,000 * Increase since 31/12/1942: 5600 * Males per 100 Females: 92.9-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George VI...

• New Zealand troops take part in invasion of Italy
  Military history of New Zealand during World War II
  thumb|A 1940 poster, signed by Michael Joseph Savage, calling on New Zealanders to support the war effort.New Zealand entered the Second World War by declaring war on Nazi Germany with Britain...
  
  .
• February: Mutiny by Japanese
  Japanese people
  The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
  
   prisoners of war
  Prisoner of war
  A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
  
   at Featherston prisoner of war camp
  Featherston prisoner of war camp
  Featherston prisoner of war camp was a camp for captured Japanese soldiers during World War II at Featherston, New Zealand. It had been established during World War I as the largest military training camp in New Zealand. At the request of the United States, in September 1942 it was re-established...
  
   camp results in 48 Japanese dead, 61 wounded, plus one dead and 11 injured guards.
• 3 April: Battle of Manners Street
  Battle of Manners Street
  The Battle of Manners Street refers to a riot involving American servicemen and New Zealand servicemen and civilians outside the Allied Services Club in Manners Street, Wellington, New Zealand in 1943. The club was a social centre, open to all military personnel.In 1942-44 there were many American...
  
   between American and New Zealand servicemen
• 20 June: Several Marines drown during landing exercises at Paekakariki
  Paekakariki
  Paekakariki is a town in the Kapiti Coast District in the south-western North Island of New Zealand. It is 22 km north of Porirua and 45 km north-east of Wellington, the nation's capital city....
  
  .
• 28 August: Eleanor Roosevelt
  Eleanor Roosevelt
  Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
  
   arrives in New Zealand for visit.
• 3 September: Eleanor Roosevelt flies out from Auckland.
• 25 September: General election
  New Zealand general election, 1943
  The 1943 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 27th term. With the onset of World War II, elections were initially postponed, but it was eventually decided to hold a general election in September 1943, around two years after it...
  
  , Labour re-elected.

1944

1944 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 1,676,300 * Increase since 31/12/1943: 34,300 * Males per 100 Females: 94.3-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George VI...

• Australia-New Zealand Agreement provides for co-operation in the South Pacific.

1945

1945 in New Zealand

-Population:A census was held in 1945. This was a year earlier than the established pattern, to make up for the lack of a census in 1941 due to World War II.* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 1,727,800...

• New Zealand signs United Nations
  United Nations
  The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
  
   charter.
• Māori Social and Economic Advancement Act passed.
• National Airways Corporation
  National Airways Corporation
  National Airways Corporation was the national domestic airline of New Zealand from 1947 until 1978 when it amalgamated with New Zealand's international airline, Air New Zealand. The airline was headquartered in Wellington...
  
   founded.

1946

1946 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 1,781,200 * Increase since 31/12/1945: 53,400 * Males per 100 Females: 100.2-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George VI...

• Family benefit of £1 per week becomes universal.
• Bank of New Zealand
  Bank of New Zealand
  Bank of New Zealand is one of New Zealand’s largest banks and has been operating continuously in the country since the first office was opened in Auckland in October 1861 followed shortly after by the first branch in Dunedin in December 1861...
  
   nationalised.
• 24 November: New Zealand general election, 1946
  New Zealand general election, 1946
  The 1946 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 28th term. It saw the governing Labour Party re-elected, but by a substantially narrower margin than in the three previous elections...
  
  .
• 20 August: Railway disaster in Manawatu Gorge

1947 to 1949

1947

1947 in New Zealand

- Population :* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 1,817,500 * Increase since 31/12/1946: 36,300 * Males per 100 Females: 100.3- Regal and Vice Regal :*Head of State - George VI...

• Statute of Westminster
  Statute of Westminster 1931
  The Statute of Westminster 1931 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Passed on 11 December 1931, the Act established legislative equality for the self-governing dominions of the British Empire with the United Kingdom...
  
   adopted with the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1947
  Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1947
  The Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1947 was a constitutional Act of the New Zealand Parliament that formally accepted the full external autonomy offered by the British Parliament...
  
  , passed by New Zealand Parliament.
• New Zealand Constitution Amendment (Request and Consent) Act 1947
  New Zealand Constitution Amendment (Request and Consent) Act 1947
  The New Zealand Constitution Amendment Act 1947 and New Zealand Constitution Amendment Act 1947 were two enactments passed by the Parliament of New Zealand and Parliament of the United Kingdom respectively...
  
   passed, granting Parliament of New Zealand the ability to amend the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852.
• First public performance by National Orchestra.
• Mabel Howard
  Mabel Howard
  |-...
  
   becomes first woman cabinet minister.
• Fire in Ballantyne's department store
  Ballantyne's store disaster
  The Ballantyne's fire on 18 November 1947 remains the deadliest fire in New Zealand history. Forty one people died in the blaze in the Christchurch Central City; all were employees who found themselves trapped by the fire or were overcome by smoke while evacuating the store complex without a fire...
  
  , Christchurch, 41 people die.

1948

1948 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 1,853,900 * Increase since 31/12/1947: 36,400 * Males per 100 Females: 100.5-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George VI...

• British Nationality and New Zealand Citizenship Act 1948 passed.
• Protest campaign against exclusion of Māori players from rugby tour of South Africa.
• Polio epidemic closes schools.
• Mount Ruapehu
  Mount Ruapehu
  Mount Ruapehu, or just Ruapehu, is an active stratovolcano at the southern end of the Taupo Volcanic Zone in New Zealand. It is 23 kilometres northeast of Ohakune and 40 kilometres southwest of the southern shore of Lake Taupo, within Tongariro National Park...
  
   and Mount Ngauruhoe
  Mount Ngauruhoe
  Mount Ngauruhoe is an active stratovolcano or composite cone in New Zealand, made from layers of lava and tephra. It is the youngest vent in the Tongariro volcanic complex on the Central Plateau of the North Island, and first erupted about 2,500 years ago...
  
   erupt.
• Meat rationing ends.

1949

1949 in New Zealand

Most New Zealanders became New Zealand citizens in addition to being British subjects, as the British Nationality and New Zealand Citizenship Act 1948 came into effect....

• 1 January: New Zealanders become "British Subjects and New Zealand Citizens"
• Referendum agrees to compulsory military training.
• New Zealand gets first four navy frigates.
• 30 November: General election:
  New Zealand general election, 1949
  The 1949 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 29th term. It saw the governing Labour Party defeated by the opposition National Party...
  
   National Government elected.

1950s

1950

1950 in New Zealand

New Zealand entered into the Korean War - a total of 4,700 New Zealanders served in Korea. New Zealand also was involved in the Malayan Emergency.The New Zealand Legislative Council was abolished.The 1950 British Empire Games was held in Auckland....

• Naval and ground forces sent to Korean War
  Korean War
  The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
  
  .
• New Zealand Legislative Council
  New Zealand Legislative Council
  The Legislative Council of New Zealand was the upper house of the New Zealand Parliament from 1853 until 1951. Unlike the lower house, the New Zealand House of Representatives, the Legislative Council was appointed.-Role:...
  
   abolished.
• Wool boom
  New Zealand wool boom
  The New Zealand Wool Boom of 1951 was one of the greatest economic booms in the history of New Zealand, and the direct result of US policy in the 1950–53 Korean War....
  
  .

1951

1951 in New Zealand

The year was dominated by the 1951 New Zealand waterfront dispute.New Zealand entered a mutual defence pact with the United States and Australia - ANZUS.-Population:A census was held in 1951.* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 1,970,500...

• Prolonged waterfront dispute
  1951 New Zealand waterfront dispute
  The 1951 New Zealand waterfront dispute was the largest and most widespread industrial dispute in New Zealand history. During the time, up to twenty thousand workers went on strike in support of waterfront workers protesting financial hardships and working conditions. Thousands more refused to...
  
  , state of emergency proclaimed.
• ANZUS
  ANZUS
  The Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty is the military alliance which binds Australia and New Zealand and, separately, Australia and the United States to cooperate on defence matters in the Pacific Ocean area, though today the treaty is understood to relate to attacks...
  
   treaty signed between United States, Australia and New Zealand.
• Māori Women's Welfare League established.
• 27 December: New Zealand general election, 1951
  New Zealand general election, 1951
  The 1951 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 30th term. It saw the governing National Party remain in office, increasing its lead over the opposition Labour Party.-Background:...
  
  

1952

1952 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 2,024,600* Increase since 31 December 1951: 54,100 * Males per 100 Females: 101.1-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - George VI followed by Elizabeth II...

• Population reaches over two million.

1953

1953 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 2,074,700* Increase since 31 December 1952: 50,100 * Males per 100 Females: 101.1-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State – Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, from 6 February 1952...

• First tour by a reigning monarch.
• Edmund Hillary
  Edmund Hillary
  Sir Edmund Percival Hillary, KG, ONZ, KBE , was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest – see Timeline of climbing Mount Everest...
  
   and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay
  Tenzing Norgay
  Padma Bhushan, Supradipta-Manyabara-Nepal-Tara Tenzing Norgay, GM born Namgyal Wangdi and often referred to as Sherpa Tenzing, was a Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer...
  
   first to climb Mount Everest.
• Railway disaster at Tangiwai
  Tangiwai disaster
  The Tangiwai disaster on 24 December 1953 was the worst rail accident in New Zealand history. An 11-carriage overnight express from Wellington to Auckland fell into the Whangaehu River at Tangiwai, ten kilometres west of Waiouru. The bridge carrying the North Island Main Trunk Railway over the...
  
  , 151 people die.

1954

1954 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 2,118,400* Increase since 31 December 1953: 43,700 * Males per 100 Females: 101.2-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State – Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, from 6 February 1952...

• New Zealand signs South East Asia Collective Defence Treaty.
• Gains seat on United Nations Security Council
  United Nations Security Council
  The United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...
  
  .
• 20 September: in midst of moral panic
  Moral panic
  A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order. According to Stanley Cohen, author of Folk Devils and Moral Panics and credited creator of the term, a moral panic occurs when "[a] condition, episode, person or group of...
  
  , the Mazengarb Report
  Mazengarb Report
  The Mazengarb Report of 1954, formally titled the Report of the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents , resulted from a ministerial inquiry sparked primarily by two infamous and well-publicised events in New Zealand's history: the 22 June 1954 Parker-Hulme murder...
  
   is presented.
• 13 November: New Zealand general election, 1954
  New Zealand general election, 1954
  The 1954 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 31st term. It saw the governing National Party remain in office, but with a slightly reduced majority...
  
  .
• Social Credit gets 10 percent of vote in general election, but no seats in Parliament.

1955

1955 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 2,164,800* Increase since 31 December 1954: 46,400 * Males per 100 Females: 101.2-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State – Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, from 6 February 1952...

• Pulp and paper mill
  Tasman Mill
  The Tasman Mill is a pulp and paper mill located just outside the town of Kawerau in New Zealand. Tasman Mill is the largest single in employer in the Eastern Bay of Plenty region. Three separate companies operate within Tasman including Norske Skog, who operate the paper mill, Carter Holt Harvey,...
  
   opens at Kawerau.
• Rimutaka rail tunnel opened.

1956

1956 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 2,209,200* Increase since 31 December 1955: 44,400 * Males per 100 Females: 101.2-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State – Elizabeth II...

• New Zealand troops sent to Malaya
  Federation of Malaya
  The Federation of Malaya is the name given to a federation of 11 states that existed from 31 January 1948 until 16 September 1963. The Federation became independent on 31 August 1957...
  
  .
• Roxburgh
  Roxburgh Dam
  The Roxburgh Dam is the earliest of the large hydroelectric projects in the southern South Island of New Zealand. It lies across the Clutha River / Mata-Au, some from Dunedin, some to the north of the town of Roxburgh...
  
   and Whakamaru power stations in operation.

1957

1957 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 2,262,800* Increase since 31 December 1956: 53,600 * Males per 100 Females: 101.1-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State – Elizabeth II...

• 17 February: Last hanging, of Walter James Bolton
  Walter James Bolton
  Walter James Bolton was a New Zealand farmer who was found guilty of poisoning his wife. He is known as the last person to be executed in New Zealand before the abolition of capital punishment....
  
  .
• Scott Base
  Scott Base
  Scott Base is a research facility located in Antarctica and is operated by New Zealand. It was named after Captain Robert Falcon Scott, Royal Navy, leader of two British expeditions to the Ross Sea area of Antarctica...
  
   established in Ross Dependency
  Ross Dependency
  The Ross Dependency is a region of Antarctica defined by a sector originating at the South Pole, passing along longitudes 160° east to 150° west, and terminating at latitude 60° south...
  
  .
• Court of Appeal constituted.
• Dairy products gain 10 years of unrestricted access to Britain.
• 30 November: General election
  New Zealand general election, 1957
  The 1957 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 32nd term. It saw the governing National Party narrowly defeated by the Labour Party...
  
  , National loses election, Walter Nash
  Walter Nash
  Sir Walter Nash, GCMG, CH served as the 27th Prime Minister of New Zealand in the Second Labour Government from 1957 to 1960, and was also highly influential in his role as Minister of Finance...
  
   leads Second Labour Government
  Second Labour Government of New Zealand
  The Second Labour Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 1957 to 1960. It was most notable for raising taxes on alcohol, cigarettes and petrol, a move which was probably responsible for the government lasting for only one term....
  
  .

1958

1958 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 2,316,000* Increase since 31 December 1957: 53,200 * Males per 100 Females: 101.3-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State – Elizabeth II*Governor-General – The Viscount Cobham GCMG TD....

• PAYE tax introduced.
• Arnold Nordmeyer
  Arnold Nordmeyer
  Sir Arnold Henry Nordmeyer, ONZ, KCMG , born Heinrich Arnold Nordmeyer, was a New Zealand politician. He was leader of the Labour Party for three years while it was in Opposition.-Early life:...
  
  's "Black Budget
  Black Budget (New Zealand)
  In New Zealand, the term Black Budget refers to the government budget of 26 June 1958 in which Finance Minister Arnold Nordmeyer increased taxes on beer, tobacco, cars and petrol.The second Labour government took office in 1957, the 32nd Parliament...
  
  ".
• First geothermal electricity generated at Wairakei.
• First heart-lung machine
  Heart-lung machine
  Cardiopulmonary bypass is a technique that temporarily takes over the function of the heart and lungs during surgery, maintaining the circulation of blood and the oxygen content of the body. The CPB pump itself is often referred to as a heart–lung machine or "the pump"...
  
   used at Greenlane Hospital, Auckland.
• Hamilton New Zealand Temple
  Hamilton New Zealand Temple
  The Hamilton New Zealand Temple is the 13th constructed and 11th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
  
  , the first temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the southern hemisphere, is built.

1959

1959 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 2,359,700* Increase since 31 December 1958: 43,700 * Males per 100 Females: 101.0-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State – Elizabeth II*Governor-General – The Viscount Cobham GCMG TD....

• Antarctic Treaty signed with other countries involved in scientific exploration in Antarctica.
• Auckland Harbour Bridge
  Auckland Harbour Bridge
  The Auckland Harbour Bridge is an eight-lane box truss motorway bridge over the Waitemata Harbour, joining St Marys Bay in Auckland with Northcote in North Shore City, New Zealand. The bridge is part of State Highway 1 and the Auckland Northern Motorway...
  
   opened.

1960s

1960

1960 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 2,403,600* Increase since 31 December 1959: 43,900 * Males per 100 Females: 101.0-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State – Elizabeth II*Governor-General – The Viscount Cobham GCMG TD....

• Regular television programmes begin in Auckland.
• Government Service Equal Pay Act passed.
• 26 November: General election
  New Zealand general election, 1960
  The 1960 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 33rd term. It saw the governing Labour Party defeated by the National Party, putting an end to the short second Labour government.-Background:...
  
  , National Government
  Second National Government of New Zealand
  The Second National Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 1960 to 1972. It was a conservative government which sought mainly to preserve the economic prosperity and general stability of the early 1960s...
  
   elected.
• Treasury leases New Zealand's first computer from IBM.

1961

1961 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 2,461,300* Increase since 31 December 1960: 57,700 * Males per 100 Females: 101.2-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State – Elizabeth II*Governor-General – The Viscount Cobham GCMG TD....

• New Zealand joins the International Monetary Fund
  International Monetary Fund
  The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
  
  .
• Capital punishment
  Capital punishment in New Zealand
  Capital punishment in New Zealand first appeared in a codified form when New Zealand became a British territory in 1840, and was first employed in 1842. It was last used in 1957, abolished for murder in 1961, and abolished altogether, including for treason, in 1989. During the period that it was in...
  
   abolished.http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/C/CapitalPunishment/CapitalPunishment/en

1962

1962 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 2,515,800* Increase since 31 December 1961: 54,500 * Males per 100 Females: 101.0-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State – Elizabeth II...

• New Zealand troops sent to Malaysia during confrontation with Indonesia
  Indonesia
  Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
  
  .
• Western Samoa becomes independent.
• Sir Guy Powles
  Guy Powles
  Sir Guy Richardson Powles, ONZ, KBE, CMG . New Zealand diplomat, last Governor of Western Samoa and architect of Samoan independence, and first Ombudsman.-Early life:...
  
   becomes first Ombudsman
  Ombudsman
  An ombudsman is a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some internal or external constituency while representing not only but mostly the broad scope of constituent interests...
  
  .
• New Zealand Māori Council established.
• Cook Strait rail ferry service begins.
• Taranaki gas well opens.

1963

1963 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 2,566,900* Increase since 31 December 1962: 51,100 * Males per 100 Females: 100.8-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State – Elizabeth II...

• 30 November: New Zealand general election, 1963
  New Zealand general election, 1963
  The 1963 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 34th term. The results were almost identical to those for the previous election, and the governing National Party remained in office....
  
  .

1964

1964 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 2,617,000* Increase since 31 December 1963: 50,100 * Males per 100 Females: 100.8-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State – Elizabeth II...

• Marsden Point
  Marsden Point
  Marsden Point is a head of the Whangarei Harbour, near Whangarei, New Zealand, lying close to the northern tip of Bream Bay. It is also a major industrial area, containing Marsden Point Oil Refinery, the country's only such facility, and two large defunct power plant stations...
  
   oil refinery opens at Whangarei
  Whangarei
  Whangarei, pronounced , is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the regional capital of Northland Region. Although commonly classified as a city, it is officially part of the Whangarei District, administered by the Whangarei District Council a local body created in 1989 to administer both the...
  
  .
• Cook Strait power cables laid.
• Auckland's population reaches half a million.

1965

1965 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 2,663,800* Increase since 31 December 1964: 46,800 * Males per 100 Females: 100.7-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State – Elizabeth II...

• NAFTA agreement negotiated with Australia.
• Support for United States in Vietnam
  Vietnam War
  The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
  
  ; New Zealand combat force sent, protest movement begins.
• Cook Islands
  Cook Islands
  The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...
  
   becomes self-governing.

1966

1966 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 2,711,300* Increase since 31 December 1965: 47,500 * Males per 100 Females: 100.7-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State – Elizabeth II...

• International airport officially opens at Auckland.
• New Zealand labour force reaches one million.
• National Library of New Zealand created.
• Te Atairangi Kaahu becomes first Māori Queen.
• 26 November: New Zealand general election, 1966
  New Zealand general election, 1966
  The 1966 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 35th term. It saw the governing National Party win a third consecutive term in office...
  
  .

1967

1967 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 2,745,000* Increase since 31 December 1966: 33,700 * Males per 100 Females: 100.2-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State – Elizabeth II...

• Referendum extends hotel closing hours to 10pm.
• 10 July: Decimal currency introduced, see New Zealand Dollar
  New Zealand dollar
  The New Zealand dollar is the currency of New Zealand. It also circulates in the Cook Islands , Niue, Tokelau, and the Pitcairn Islands. It is divided into 100 cents....
  
  .
• Lord Arthur Porritt becomes first New Zealand-born Governor-General.
• Breath and blood tests introduced for suspected drinking drivers.
• Denny Hulme
  Denny Hulme
  Denis Clive "Denny" Hulme, OBE was a New Zealand racing driver, the 1967 Formula One World Champion for the Brabham team....
  
   becomes New Zealand's first (and currently only) Formula 1 World Champion.

1968

1968 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 2,773,000* Increase since 31 December 1967: 28,000 * Males per 100 Females: 99.8 – Note that this was the first year in which the number of females exceeded the number of males.-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State – Elizabeth...

• Inter-island ferry Wahine
  Wahine disaster
  The Wahine disaster occurred on 10 April 1968 when the TEV Wahine, a New Zealand inter-island ferry of the Union Company, foundered on Barrett Reef at the entrance to Wellington Harbour and capsized near Steeple Rock...
  
   sinks in severe storm in Wellington Harbour, 51 people die.
• Three die in Inangahua
  Inangahua Junction
  Inangahua Junction is a small town in the northwest of New Zealand's South Island. It is located at the confluence of the Inangahua and Buller Rivers, 34 kilometres north of Reefton and 46 kilometres southeast of Westport. Murchison is 52 kilometres to the east. The town of Inangahua is just to the...
  
   earthquake.

1969

1969 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 2,804,000* Increase since 31 December 1968: 31,000 * Males per 100 Females: 99.7.-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II...

• Vote extended to 20-year-olds.
• First output from Glenbrook
  Glenbrook, New Zealand
  Glenbrook is a rural and industrial area in the Franklin district of New Zealand.The industrial site, that of New Zealand's major steel mill, New Zealand Steel, is not located close to any towns - the surrounding countryside is occupied by huge farms...
  
   Steel Mill
  New Zealand Steel
  New Zealand Steel is a large steel mill located at Glenbrook, New Zealand. It uses a unique method of producing steel from ironsand, abundant on the west coast of the North Island...
  
  .
• 29 November: General election
  New Zealand general election, 1969
  The 1969 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 36th term. It saw the governing National Party win a fourth consecutive term, under Prime Minister Keith Holyoake.-The Election:...
  
  , National wins fourth election in a row.

1970s

1970

1970 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 2,852,100* Increase since 31 December 1969: 48,100 * Males per 100 Females: 99.9-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II...

• Natural gas
  Natural gas
  Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
  
   from Kapuni
  Kapuni
  Kapuni is a small hydrocarbons field and drilling site in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located within a dairy farming area in Taranaki, south of New Plymouth....
  
   supplied to Auckland.

1971

1971 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 2,888,500* Increase since 31 December 1970: 46,400 * Males per 100 Females: 99.7-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II...

• New Zealand secures continued access of butter and cheese to the United Kingdom.
• Nga Tamatoa
  Nga Tamatoa
  Ngā Tamatoa was a Māori activist group that operated from the early 1970s until 1979, and existed to fight for Maori rights, land and culture as well as confront injustices perpetrated by the New Zealand Government, particularly violations of the Treaty of Waitangi.Nga Tamatoa emerged out of a...
  
   protest at Waitangi celebrations.
• Tiwai Point
  Tiwai Point
  thumb|[[Awarua Plain]] , Tiwai Point and [[Bluff, New Zealand|Bluff]] viewed from the [[International Space Station]] in 2008.Tiwai Point lies at the entrance to Bluff Harbour on the southern coast of the South Island of New Zealand...
  
   aluminium
  Aluminium
  Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
  
   smelter begins operating.
• Warkworth
  Warkworth, New Zealand
  Warkworth is a town in the upper North Island of New Zealand, within the Rodney District and lying at the far north of the Auckland Region but just south of the Northland Region...
  
   satellite station begins operation.

1972

1972 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 2,959,700* Increase since 31/12/1971: 61,200 * Males per 100 Females: 99.7-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II...

• Values Party
  Values Party
  The Values Party, considered the world's first national-level environmentalist party that pre-dated any fashionable Green terminology, was established in 1972 at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, one of its initial leaders being Tony Brunt...
  
   is formed.
• Equal Pay Act passed.
• 25 November: General election
  New Zealand general election, 1972
  The New Zealand general election of 1972 was held to elect MPs to the 37th session of the New Zealand Parliament. The Labour Party, led by Norman Kirk, defeated the governing National Party.-Background:...
  
  , Labour
  New Zealand Labour Party
  The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. It describes itself as centre-left and socially progressive and has been one of the two primary parties of New Zealand politics since 1935....
  
   Government led by Norman Kirk
  Norman Kirk
  Norman Eric Kirk was the 29th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1972 until his sudden death in 1974. He led the Parliamentary wing of the New Zealand Labour Party from 1965 to 1974. He was the fourth Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand, but the first to be born in New Zealand...
  
   elected.

1973

1973 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 3,024,900* Increase since 31 December 1970: 65,200 * Males per 100 Females: 99.7* It took 21 years for the population to grow from 2 million to 3 million.-Regal and Vice Regal:...

• Naval frigate despatched in protest against French nuclear testing in the Pacific.
• New Zealand's population reaches three million.
• Oil price hike means worst terms of trade in 30 years.
• Colour TV introduced.

1974

1974 in New Zealand

Christchurch played host to the 10th Commonwealth Games, which earned the nickname "The friendly games".Prime Minister Norman Kirk died in office, and was replaced by former finance minister Bill Rowling.-Population:...

• 31 August: Prime Minister Norman Kirk
  Norman Kirk
  Norman Eric Kirk was the 29th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1972 until his sudden death in 1974. He led the Parliamentary wing of the New Zealand Labour Party from 1965 to 1974. He was the fourth Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand, but the first to be born in New Zealand...
  
   dies.
• Commonwealth Games
  Commonwealth Games
  The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....
  
   held in Christchurch
  1974 British Commonwealth Games
  The 1974 British Commonwealth Games were held in Christchurch, New Zealand from 24 January to 2 February 1974. The bid vote was held in Edinburgh at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games....
  
  .

1975

1975 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 3,143,700* Increase since 31 December 1974: 51,800 * Males per 100 Females: 99.5-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand...

• 4 January: Lynne Cox
  Lynne Cox
  Lynne Cox is an American long-distance open-water swimmer and writer. In 1971, she and her teammates were the first group of teenagers to complete the crossing of the Catalina Island Channel in California. She was always the slowest swimmer in her swim classes...
  
   became the first woman to swim across Cook Strait
  Cook Strait
  Cook Strait is the strait between the North and South Islands of New Zealand. It connects the Tasman Sea on the west with the South Pacific Ocean on the east....
  
  .
• 14 September: Māori land march protesting at land loss leaves Te Hapua
  Te Hapua
  Te Hapua is a community on the shores of the Parengarenga Harbour in Northland, New Zealand. The road to Te Hapua leaves State Highway 1 at Waitiki Landing.Te Hapua is the most northerly settlement in the North Island of New Zealand....
  
  
• 13 October: Māori land march reaches Parliament building in Wellington, Whina Cooper
  Whina Cooper
  Dame Whina Cooper ONZ DBE , was born Hohewhina Te Wake, daughter of Heremia Te Wake of the Te Rarawa iwi, at Te Karaka, Hokianga,...
  
   presents a Memorial of Rights to the Prime Minister Bill Rowling
  Bill Rowling
  Sir Wallace Edward Rowling, KCMG , often known as Bill Rowling, was the 30th Prime Minister of New Zealand. He was in office for just over a year, having been appointed Prime Minister following the death of the highly popular Norman Kirk...
  
   and Māori Affairs Minister Matiu Rata
  Matiu Rata
  Matiu Rata was a New Zealand Māori politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Northern Maori from 1963 to 1979, the Minister of Lands and Minister of Māori Affairs in the Third Labour Government of New Zealand between 1972 and 1975...
  
  .
• The Waitangi Tribunal
  Waitangi Tribunal
  The Waitangi Tribunal is a New Zealand permanent commission of inquiry established under the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975...
  
   is established.
• Second TV channel starts broadcasting.
• 29 November: New Zealand general election, 1975
  New Zealand general election, 1975
  The 1975 New Zealand general election was held to elect MPs to the 38th session of the New Zealand Parliament. It was the first election in New Zealand where 18-20 year olds and all permanent residents of New Zealand were eligible to vote, although only citizens were able to be...
  
  . Robert Muldoon
  Robert Muldoon
  Sir Robert David "Rob" Muldoon, GCMG, CH served as the 31st Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1975 to 1984, as leader of the governing National Party. Muldoon had been a prominent member of the National party and MP for the Tamaki electorate for some years prior to becoming leader of the party...
  
   becomes Prime Minister after National Party victory.
• 1975 in New Zealand television
  1975 in New Zealand television
  This is a list of New Zealand television-related events in 1975.-Events:* The New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation is divided into Radio New Zealand, Television One, based in Wellington and Dunedin, and TV2, based in Auckland and Christchurch....
  
  

1976

1976 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 3,163,400* Increase since 31 December 1975: 19,700 * Males per 100 Females: 99.5-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand...

• New Zealand's national day 6 February renamed from New Zealand Day to Waitangi Day
• Matrimonial Property Act passed.
• Pacific Islands "overstayers" deported.
• EEC import quotas for New Zealand butter set until 1980.
• Introduction of metric system
  Metric system
  The metric system is an international decimalised system of measurement. France was first to adopt a metric system, in 1799, and a metric system is now the official system of measurement, used in almost every country in the world...
  
   of weights and measures.
• Subscriber toll dialling introduced.
• 1976 in New Zealand television
  1976 in New Zealand television
  This is a list of New Zealand television-related events in 1976.-Ending this year:*No shows ending this year....
  
  

1977

1977 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 3,166,400* Increase since 31 December 1976: 3000 * Males per 100 Females: 99.4-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand...

• National Superannuation scheme begins.
• New Zealand signs the Gleneagles Agreement
  Gleneagles Agreement
  The Gleneagles Agreement was unanimously approved by the Commonwealth of Nations at a meeting at Gleneagles, Auchterarder, Scotland. In 1977, Commonwealth Presidents and Prime Ministers agreed, as part of their support for the international campaign against apartheid, to discourage contact and...
  
  .
• The 200 nautical mile (370 km) exclusive economic zone
  Exclusive Economic Zone
  Under the law of the sea, an exclusive economic zone is a seazone over which a state has special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources, including production of energy from water and wind. It stretches from the seaward edge of the state's territorial sea out to 200 nautical...
  
   (EEZ) is established.
• 5 January: Bastion Point
  Bastion Point
  Bastion Point is a coastal piece of land in Orakei, Auckland, New Zealand, overlooking the Waitemata Harbour. The area has significance in New Zealand history for its role in 1970s Māori protests against forced land alienation by non Māori New Zealanders.-History:The land was occupied by Ngāti...
  
   occupied by protesters.

1978

1978 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 3,165,200* Increase since 31 December 1977: -1,200 * Males per 100 Females: 99.2* This was the first year in which New Zealand's population declined ....

• Registered unemployed reaches 25,000.
• New Zealand Film Commission
  New Zealand Film Commission
  The New Zealand Film Commission is a New Zealand government agency formed to assist with creating and promoting New Zealand films...
  
   established.
• 12 February: 17 arrested after protestors led by Eva Rickard
  Eva Rickard
  Eva Rickard rose to prominence as an activist for Māori land rights activist and for women’s rights within Māoridom. Her methods included public civil disobedience and she is best known for leading the occupation of Raglan golf course in the 1970s.-Biography:Eva Rickard was most notably regarded...
  
   set up camp on the Raglan golf course.
• 25 May: Army and Police remove protesters from Bastion Point
  Bastion Point
  Bastion Point is a coastal piece of land in Orakei, Auckland, New Zealand, overlooking the Waitemata Harbour. The area has significance in New Zealand history for its role in 1970s Māori protests against forced land alienation by non Māori New Zealanders.-History:The land was occupied by Ngāti...
  
  , 218 arrests are made.
• 25 November: General election
  New Zealand general election, 1978
  The 1978 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to elect the 39th New Zealand Parliament. It saw the governing National Party, led by Robert Muldoon, retain office, although the opposition Labour Party managed to win the largest share of the vote...
  
  , National re-elected.

1979

1979 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 3,163,900* Increase since 31/12/1978: -1,300 * Males per 100 Females: 99.0-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand*Governor-General - The Rt Hon...

• Air New Zealand Flight 901
  Air New Zealand Flight 901
  Air New Zealand Flight 901 was a scheduled Air New Zealand Antarctic sightseeing flight that operated between 1977 and 1979, from Auckland Airport to Antarctica and return via Christchurch...
  
   crashes on Mount Erebus
  Mount Erebus
  Mount Erebus in Antarctica is the southernmost historically active volcano on Earth, the second highest volcano in Antarctica , and the 6th highest ultra mountain on an island. With a summit elevation of , it is located on Ross Island, which is also home to three inactive volcanoes, notably Mount...
  
  , Antarctica, 257 people die.
• Carless days
  Carless days
  Carless days were introduced by the Muldoon government of New Zealand on 30 July 1979. The enabling legislation was one of several unsuccessful attempts to help the declining New Zealand economy after the oil shocks of the late 1970s - other such policies included the Think Big strategy.In this...
  
   introduced to reduce petrol consumption.
• 7 November: MP Matiu Rata
  Matiu Rata
  Matiu Rata was a New Zealand Māori politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Northern Maori from 1963 to 1979, the Minister of Lands and Minister of Māori Affairs in the Third Labour Government of New Zealand between 1972 and 1975...
  
   resigns from the Labour Party
  New Zealand Labour Party
  The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. It describes itself as centre-left and socially progressive and has been one of the two primary parties of New Zealand politics since 1935....
  
   to join Mana Motuhake
  Mana Motuhake
  Mana Māori Motuhake was a Māori political party in New Zealand. The name is difficult to translate accurately, but essentially refers to Māori self-rule and self-determination — mana, in this context, can be understood as "authority" or "power", while motuhake can be understood as...
  
   Party.
• Nambassa
  Nambassa
  Nambassa was a series of hippie-conceived festivals held between 1976 and 1981 on large farms around Waihi and Waikino in New Zealand. They were music, arts and alternatives festivals that focused on peace, love, and an environmentally friendly lifestyle...
  
   3 day music and alternatives festival held in Waihi
  Waihi
  Waihi is a town in Hauraki District in the North Island of New Zealand, especially notable for its history as a gold mine town. It had a population of 4,503 at the 2006 census....
  
  . Largest event of its kind in New Zealand.

1980s

1980

1980 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 3,176,400* Increase since 31 December 1979: 12,500 * Males per 100 Females: 99.2-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand...

• Social Credit
  Social Credit Party (New Zealand)
  The New Zealand Social Credit Party was a political party which served as the country's "third party" from the 1950s through into the 1980s. The party held a number of seats in the New Zealand Parliament, although never more than two at a time...
  
   wins East Coast Bays by-election.
• Saturday trading partially legalised.
• Eighty-day strike at Kinleith Mill
  Kinleith Mill
  The Kinleith Mill is a Carter Holt Harvey pulp and paper plant located at Kinleith, Tokoroa, New Zealand. The mill is the largest of four pulp and paper mills operated by Carter Holt Harvey...
  
  .

1981

1981 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 3,194,500* Increase since 31 December 1980: 18,100 * Males per 100 Females: 98.7-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand*Governor-General - The Hon...

• South African rugby team's tour
  1981 Springbok Tour
  The 1981 South African rugby union tour of New Zealand was a controversial tour of New Zealand by the South Africa national rugby union team, known as "the Springboks"...
  
   brings widespread disruption.
• 28 November: New Zealand general election, 1981
  New Zealand general election, 1981
  The 1981 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the 40th New Zealand Parliament. It saw the governing National Party, led by Robert Muldoon, win a third term in office, although the opposition Labour Party, led by Bill Rowling, actually won the largest share of...
  
  .

1982

1982 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 3,226,800* Increase since 31 December 1981: 32,300 * Males per 100 Females: 98.6-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand...

• CER
  Closer Economic Relations
  Closer Economic Relations is a free trade agreement between the governments of New Zealand and Australia. It is also known as the Australia New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement and sometimes shortened to...
  
   agreement signed with Australia.
• First köhanga reo
  Kohanga reo
  The Māori language revival is a movement to promote, reinforce and strengthen the speaking of the Māori language. Primarily in New Zealand, but also in centres with large numbers of New Zealand migrants , the movement aims to increase the use of Māori in the home, in education, government and...
  
   established.
• Year-long wage, price and rent freeze imposed lasts until 1984.
• First New Zealand Football team to compete at FIFA World Cup
  FIFA World Cup
  The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
  
   Finals

1983

1983 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 3,264,800* Increase since 31 December 1982: 38,000 * Males per 100 Females: 98.6-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand...

• Visit by nuclear-powered United States Navy frigate "Texas" sparks protests.
• Official Information Act
  Official Information Act 1982
  The Official Information Act 1982 is a New Zealand law passed by the 3rd National government in 1982 to "make official information more freely available, to provide for proper access by each person to official information relating to that person, to protect official information to the extent...
  
   replaces Official Secrecy Act.
• New Zealand Party
  New Zealand Party
  width=300|thumb|Party logoThe New Zealand Party was a political party operating in New Zealand. It was established by millionaire property tycoon Bob Jones, and promoted both social and economic liberalization. The New Zealand Party's motto was "Freedom and Prosperity", and it has sometimes been...
  
   founded.

1984 to 1989

1984

1984 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 3,293,000* Increase since 31 December 1983: 28,200 * Males per 100 Females: 98.3-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand*Governor-General - The Hon...

• Te Hikoi ki Waitangi march and disruption of Waitangi Day celebrations.
• Auckland's population exceeds that of the South Island.
• 14 July: New Zealand general election, 1984
  New Zealand general election, 1984
  The 1984 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the 41st New Zealand Parliament. It marked the beginning of the Fourth Labour Government, with David Lange's Labour Party defeating long-serving Prime Minister Robert Muldoon of the National Party. It was also the...
  
   won by Labour under David Lange
  David Lange
  David Russell Lange, ONZ, CH , served as the 32nd Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1984 to 1989. He headed New Zealand's fourth Labour Government, one of the most reforming administrations in his country's history, but one which did not always conform to traditional expectations of a...
  
  .
• Constitutional crisis follows general election; outgoing Prime Minister Robert Muldoon
  Robert Muldoon
  Sir Robert David "Rob" Muldoon, GCMG, CH served as the 31st Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1975 to 1984, as leader of the governing National Party. Muldoon had been a prominent member of the National party and MP for the Tamaki electorate for some years prior to becoming leader of the party...
  
   refuses to implement advice of Prime Minister elect David Lange.
• Government devalues New Zealand dollar by 20 percent.
• 26 July: David Lange
  David Lange
  David Russell Lange, ONZ, CH , served as the 32nd Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1984 to 1989. He headed New Zealand's fourth Labour Government, one of the most reforming administrations in his country's history, but one which did not always conform to traditional expectations of a...
  
   becomes New Zealand's 32nd Prime Minister;Fourth Labour government
  Fourth Labour Government of New Zealand
  The Fourth Labour Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 26 July 1984 to 2 November 1990. It enacted major social and economic reforms, including reformation of the tax system. The economic reforms were known as Rogernomics after Finance Minister Roger Douglas...
  
   formed.
• Finance Minister Roger Douglas
  Roger Douglas
  Sir Roger Owen Douglas , is a New Zealand politician who formerly served as a senior New Zealand Labour Party Cabinet minister. He became arguably best-known for his prominent role in the radical economic restructuring undertaken by the Fourth Labour Government during the 1980s...
  
   begins deregulating the economy.
• New Zealand ratifies the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
  Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
  The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women is an international convention adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly....
  
  .

1985

1985 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 3,303,100* Increase since 31 December 1984: 10,100 * Males per 100 Females: 98.2-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand...

• Anti-nuclear policy leads to refusal of a visit by the American warship, the USS Buchanan.
• 10 July: Greenpeace
  Greenpeace
  Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
  
   vessel Rainbow Warrior
  Rainbow Warrior (1978)
  The Rainbow Warrior was a former UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food trawler later purchased by the environmental organisation Greenpeace...
  
   bombed and sunk
  Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior
  The sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, codenamed Opération Satanique, was an operation by the "action" branch of the French foreign intelligence services, the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure , carried out on July 10, 1985...
  
   by French DGSE agents in Auckland harbour.
• New Zealand dollar floated.
• First case of locally-contracted AIDS
  AIDS
  Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
  
   is reported.
• Waitangi Tribunal given power to hear grievances arising since 1840.
• 20 November Archbiship Paul Reeves
  Paul Reeves
  Sir Paul Alfred Reeves, ONZ, GCMG, GCVO, CF, QSO was Archbishop and Primate of New Zealand from 1980 to 1985 and the 15th Governor-General of New Zealand from 22 November 1985 to 20 November 1990...
  
   appointed Governor General.

1986

1986 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 3,313,500* Increase since 31/12/1985: 10,400 * Males per 100 Females: 97.9-Regal and Vice Regal:* Head of State - Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand...

• Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986 passed.
• Royal Commission
  Royal Commission on the Electoral System
  The Royal Commission on the Electoral System was formed in New Zealand in 1985, and reported in 1986. The decision to form the Royal Commission was taken by the Fourth Labour government, after the Labour party had received more votes, yet won fewer seats than the National Party in both the 1978 and...
  
   reports in favour of an MMP (Mixed Member Proportional) electoral system.
• Jim Bolger
  Jim Bolger
  James Brendan "Jim" Bolger, ONZ was the 35th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1990 to 1997. Bolger was elected on the promise of delivering a "Decent Society" following the previous Labour government's economic reforms, known as Rogernomics...
  
   becomes National Party leader.
• Soviet cruise ship, the Mikhail Lermontov
  Mikhail Lermontov (ship)
  MS Mikhail Lermontov was an ocean liner owned by the Soviet Union's Baltic Shipping Company, built in 1972 by V.E.B. Mathias-Thesen Werft, Wismar, East Germany. She was later converted into a cruise ship...
  
  , sinks in Marlborough Sounds
  Marlborough Sounds
  The Marlborough Sounds are an extensive network of sea-drowned valleys created by a combination of land subsidence and rising sea levels at the north of the South Island of New Zealand...
  
  .
• Goods and Services Tax
  Goods and Services Tax (New Zealand)
  Goods and Services Tax is a value added tax introduced in New Zealand on 1 October 1986 at 10%. It later increased to 12.5% on 1 July 1989 and was further increased to 15% on 1 October 2010....
  
   introduced.
• First visit to New Zealand by the Pope
  Pope
  The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
  
  .
• The Constitution Act ends the right of the British Parliament
  Parliament of the United Kingdom
  The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
  
   to pass laws for New Zealand.

1987

1987 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 3,342,100* Increase since 31 December 1986: 28,600 * Males per 100 Females: 97.9-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II*Governor-General - The Rt Revd...

• Share prices plummet by 59 percent in four months.
• Māori Language Act making Māori an official language passed.
• Anti-nuclear legislation enacted.
• First Lotto draw.
• New Zealand's first heart transplant is performed.
• New Zealand wins Rugby World Cup
  Rugby World Cup
  The Rugby World Cup is an international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board and held every four years since 1987....
  
  .
• Significant earthquake in the Bay of Plenty
  Bay of Plenty
  The Bay of Plenty , often abbreviated to BOP, is a region in the North Island of New Zealand situated around the body of water of the same name...
  
  .
• 15 August: General election
  New Zealand general election, 1987
  The 1987 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the 43rd sitting of the New Zealand Parliament. The governing New Zealand Labour Party, led by Prime Minister David Lange, was re-elected for a second term, although the Opposition National Party made gains...
  
  , Labour re-elected.

1988

1988 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 3,345,200* Increase since 31/12/1987: 3,100 * Males per 100 Females: 97.3-Regal and Vice Regal:* Head of State - Elizabeth II...

• Number of unemployed exceeds 100,000.
• Bastion Point
  Bastion Point
  Bastion Point is a coastal piece of land in Orakei, Auckland, New Zealand, overlooking the Waitemata Harbour. The area has significance in New Zealand history for its role in 1970s Māori protests against forced land alienation by non Māori New Zealanders.-History:The land was occupied by Ngāti...
  
   land returned to Māori ownership.
• Combined Council of Trade Unions formed. Royal Commission on Social Policy issues April Report.
• Gibbs Report on hospital services and Picot Report on education published.
• State Sector Act passed.
• Cyclone Bola
  Cyclone Bola
  Cyclone Bola was one of the costliest cyclones in the history of New Zealand, causing severe damage as an extratropical cyclone when it passed near the country in March 1988. It formed on February 24 to the north of Fiji, and tracking generally southwestward it reached hurricane-force winds near...
  
   strikes northern North Island.
• Electrification of the central section of the North Island Main Trunk Railway completed.
• New Zealand Post
  New Zealand Post
  New Zealand Post, commonly referred by its acronym, NZPost is a State owned enterprise responsible for providing postal service in New Zealand.-History:...
  
   closes 432 post offices.
• Fisheries quota package announced for Māori iwi.

1989

1989 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 3,369,800* Increase since 31/12/1988: 24,600 * Males per 100 Females: 97.1-Regal and Vice Regal:* Head of State - Elizabeth II...

• Prime Minister David Lange
  David Lange
  David Russell Lange, ONZ, CH , served as the 32nd Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1984 to 1989. He headed New Zealand's fourth Labour Government, one of the most reforming administrations in his country's history, but one which did not always conform to traditional expectations of a...
  
   suggests formal withdrawal from ANZUS.
• Jim Anderton
  Jim Anderton
  James Patrick Anderton, usually known as Jim Anderton , is the leader of the Progressive Party, a New Zealand political party. He has served in Parliament since 1984. He served as Deputy Prime Minister from 1999 to 2002 and is currently also the sitting Father of the House, the longest...
  
   founds NewLabour Party
  NewLabour Party (New Zealand)
  NewLabour was a left-of-centre party founded in 1989 by Jim Anderton, an MP and former President of the New Zealand Labour Party.NewLabour was established by a number of Labour Party members who left the party in reaction to "Rogernomics", the economic policies implemented by the Labour Party's...
  
  .
• Lange resigns and Geoffrey Palmer becomes Prime Minister.
• First annual balance of payments surplus since 1973.
• Reserve Bank Act sets bank's role as one of maintaining price stability.
• First school board elections under Tomorrow's Schools reforms.
• First elections under revised local government structure.
• Sunday trading begins.
• Third TV channel begins.
• Māori Fisheries Act passed.

1990s

1990

1990 in New Zealand

New Zealand celebrated its sesquicentennial, 150 years since the signing of The Treaty of Waitangi.In the general election in October, National was elected in a landside victory....

• New Zealand celebrates its sesquicentennial.
• Māori leaders inaugurate National Congress of Tribes.
• Dame Catherine Tizard
  Catherine Tizard
  Dame Catherine Anne Tizard, was Mayor of Auckland City and the 16th Governor-General of New Zealand, the first woman to hold either office.-Early life:...
  
   becomes first woman Governor-General.
• Geoffrey Palmer resigns as Prime Minister and is succeeded by Mike Moore.
• One and two cent coins are no longer legal tender.
• Commonwealth Games held in Auckland
  1990 Commonwealth Games
  The 1990 Commonwealth Games were held in Auckland, New Zealand from 24 January-3 February 1990. It was the 14th Commonwealth Games, and part of New Zealand's 1990 sesquicentennial celebrations. Participants competed in ten sports: athletics, aquatics, badminton, boxing, cycling, gymnastics, judo,...
  
  .
• Telecom
  Telecom New Zealand
  Telecom New Zealand is a New Zealand-wide communications service provider , providing fixed line telephone services, a mobile network, an internet service provider , a major ICT provider to NZ businesses , and a wholesale network infrastructure provider to other NZ CSPs...
  
   sold for $4.25 billion.
• Pay Television Network Sky TV
  SKY Network Television
  Sky Network Television Limited , , is a New Zealand pay television service. On 30 June 2011, Sky had 829,421 subscribers, which comprises:*808,617 digital subscribers*20,840 other subscribers...
  
   began broadcasting.
• Big earthquake in Hawke's Bay.
• 27 October: New Zealand general election, 1990
  New Zealand general election, 1990
  The 1990 New Zealand general election was held on 27 October to determine the composition of the 43rd New Zealand parliament. The governing Labour Party was defeated, ending its controversial two terms in office...
  
  : National Party has landslide victory. Jim Bolger
  Jim Bolger
  James Brendan "Jim" Bolger, ONZ was the 35th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1990 to 1997. Bolger was elected on the promise of delivering a "Decent Society" following the previous Labour government's economic reforms, known as Rogernomics...
  
   becomes Prime Minister.
• 13–14 November: David Gray kills thirteen at Aramoana
  Aramoana massacre
  The Aramoana massacre was a mass murder that occurred on 13 November 1990 in the small seaside township of Aramoana, New Zealand. Resident David Gray, a 33-year-old unemployed man, began indiscriminately shooting people in the township with a scoped semi-automatic rifle, after a verbal dispute with...
  
  , before police shoot him dead.

1991

1991 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 3,516,000* Increase since 31 December 1990: 40,900 Note that there is a discontinuity between the 1990 and 1991 figures as switched from using the de facto population concept to ....

• The Resource Management Act 1991 is enacted, rewriting planning law.
• First budget of new Finance Minister, Ruth Richardson
  Ruth Richardson
  Ruth Richardson served as New Zealand's Minister of Finance from 1990 to 1993, and is known for her strong pursuit of free-market economic reforms .-Early life:...
  
  . Welfare payments further reduced.
• The Alliance party
  Alliance (New Zealand political party)
  The Alliance is a left-wing political party in New Zealand. It was formed in 1991, and was influential in the 1990s, but has since declined and has no representation in parliament. It suffered a major setback after Jim Anderton, the party's leader, left the party in 2002, taking several of the...
  
   is formed.
• Employment Contracts Act passed.
• Consumers Price Index has lowest quarterly increase for 25 years.
• Welfare payments cut.
• Number of unemployed exceeds 200,000 for the first time.
• New Zealand troops join multi-national force in the Gulf War
  Gulf War
  The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
  
  .
• An avalanche on Aoraki/Mount Cook
  Aoraki/Mount Cook
  Aoraki / Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand, reaching .It lies in the Southern Alps, the mountain range which runs the length of the South Island. A popular tourist destination, it is also a favourite challenge for mountain climbers...
  
   reduces its height by 10.5 metres.

1992

1992 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 3,533,000* Increase since 31 December 1991: 37,200 * Males per 100 females: 97.0-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand...

• Government and Māori interests negotiate Sealord fisheries deal.
• Public health system reforms.
• State housing commercialised.
• New Zealand gets seat on United Nations Security Council
  United Nations Security Council
  The United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...
  
  .
• Student Loan system is started / Tertiary Fees raised

1993

1993 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 3,597,900* Increase since 31 December 1992: 45,600 * Males per 100 Females: 97.1-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand...

• Centennial of women's suffrage celebrated.
• New Zealand First Party launched by Winston Peters
  Winston Peters
  Winston Raymond Peters is a New Zealand politician and leader of New Zealand First, a political party he founded in 1993. Peters has had a turbulent political career since entering Parliament in 1978. He served as Minister of Maori Affairs in the Bolger National Party Government before being...
  
  .
• 6 November: General election
  New Zealand general election, 1993
  The 1993 New Zealand general election was held on 6 November 1993 to determine the composition of the 44th New Zealand Parliament. It saw the governing National Party, led by Jim Bolger, win a second term in office, despite a major swing back towards the Labour Party. The new Alliance and New...
  
   won by National, without obtaining a majority.
• Referendum favours MMP electoral system.
• Opposition MP Peter Tapsell
  Peter Tapsell (New Zealand)
  Sir Peter Wilfred Tapsell, KNZM, MBE, FRCS, FRCSEd was Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives from 1993 to 1996...
  
   becomes Speaker of the House, thus giving the government a majority.

1994

1994 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 3,648,200* Increase since 31 December 1993: 50,400 * Males per 100 Females: 97.2-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand...

• Government commits 250 soldiers to front-line duty in Bosnia
  Bosnia and Herzegovina
  Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
  
  .
• Government proposes $1 billion cap in plan for final settlement of Treaty of Waitangi
  Treaty of Waitangi
  The Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and various Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand....
  
   claims.
• New Zealand's first casino opens in Christchurch.
• David Bain
  David Bain
  David Cullen Bain is a New Zealander who featured in one of the country's most notable murder cases. He was convicted in May 1995 of the murders of his parents and siblings in Dunedin on 20 June 1994...
  
   is convicted of murdering five members of his family.
• First fast-ferry service begins operation across Cook Strait.

1995

1995 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 3,706,700* Increase since 31/12/1994: 58,400 * Males per 100 Females: 97.3-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand...

• Team New Zealand wins America's Cup
  America's Cup
  The America’s Cup is a trophy awarded to the winner of the America's Cup match races between two yachts. One yacht, known as the defender, represents the yacht club that currently holds the America's Cup and the second yacht, known as the challenger, represents the yacht club that is challenging...
  
  .
• Occupation of Moutoa Gardens
  Moutoa Gardens
  Moutoa Gardens, also known as Pakaitore, is a park in the city of Wanganui, New Zealand. Named after the Battle of Moutua Island in the Second Taranaki War, it contains a memorial to the battle inscribed "To the memory of the brave men who fell at Moutoa, 14 May 1864, in defence of law and order...
  
  , Wanganui
  Wanganui
  Whanganui , also spelled Wanganui, is an urban area and district on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is part of the Manawatu-Wanganui region....
  
  .
• Waikato Raupatu Claims Settlement Act passed.
• New political parties form: the Conservatives
  New Zealand Conservative Party
  The New Zealand Conservative Party was a short-lived political party in New Zealand. It was founded by a dissident National Party MP, Ross Meurant.-Foundation:...
  
  , Christian Heritage
  Christian Heritage New Zealand
  The Christian Heritage Party of New Zealand was a New Zealand political party espousing Christian values...
  
   and United New Zealand
  United New Zealand
  United New Zealand was a centrist political party in New Zealand founded in 1995. It merged with the Christian-based Future New Zealand party to form the United Future New Zealand party in 2000.-History:...
  
  .
• Renewal of French nuclear tests results in New Zealand protest flotilla and navy ship "Tui" sailing for Moruroa
  Moruroa
  Moruroa , also historically known as Aopuni, is an atoll which forms part of the Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia in the southern Pacific Ocean...
  
   Atoll.
• Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Auckland, Nelson Mandela
  Nelson Mandela
  Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
  
   visits.
• New Zealand contingent returns from Bosnia.

1996

1996 in New Zealand

-Population:* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 3,762,300* Increase since 31/12/1995: 55,600 * Males per 100 Females: 97.3-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II...

• Imported pests Mediterranean fruit flies and white-spotted tussock moths cause disruption to export trade and to Aucklanders.
• Kahurangi National Park
  Kahurangi National Park
  Kahurangi National Park is a national park in the northwest of the South Island of New Zealand. It was gazetted in 1996 and covers 4,520 km². It is the second largest of New Zealand's fourteen national parks...
  
  , the 13th National Park
  National parks of New Zealand
  The national parks of New Zealand are 14 protected areas administered by the Department of Conservation "for the benefit, use, and enjoyment of the public". These are popular tourist destinations, with three-tenths of tourists visiting at least one national park during their stay in New Zealand...
  
  , is opened in north-west Nelson
  Nelson, New Zealand
  Nelson is a city on the eastern shores of Tasman Bay, and is the economic and cultural centre of the Nelson-Tasman region. Established in 1841, it is the second oldest settled city in New Zealand and the oldest in the South Island....
  
  .
• Waitangi Tribunal recommends generous settlement of Taranaki land claims.
• First legal sports betting at TAB.
• The commercial radio stations and networks owned by Radio New Zealand
  Radio New Zealand
  Radio New Zealand is a New Zealand public service radio broadcaster and Crown entity formed by the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news, current affairs and arts network Radio New Zealand National and classical music and jazz network Radio New Zealand Concert with full government funding...
  
   are sold to Clear Channel
  Clear channel
  A clear-channel station is an AM band Radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. Usually known as class A stations since 1982, they are occasionally still referred to by their former...
  
   creating The Radio Network
  The Radio Network
  The Radio Network is the wholly owned New Zealand division of radio company Australian Radio Network, a partnership of Clear Channel and APN News & Media. It is the owner and operator of the Newstalk ZB News service and nationwide Newstalk ZB, Classic Hits, ZM, Coast, Hauraki, Easy Mix, Flava and...
  
  .
• $170 million Ngai Tahu settlement proposed, $40 million Whakatohea settlement announced.
• 12 October: First MMP election
  New Zealand general election, 1996
  The 1996 New Zealand general election was held on 12 October 1996 to determine the composition of the 45th New Zealand Parliament. It was notable for being the first election to be held under the new Mixed Member Proportional electoral system, and produced a parliament considerably more diverse...
  
   brings National/New Zealand First coalition government.

1997

1997 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand*Governor-General - The Rt Hon. Sir Michael Hardie Boys GNZM, GCMG, QSO-Government:The 45th New Zealand Parliament continued...

• America's Cup damaged in attack by a Māori activist.
• TV4 begins daily broadcasts.
• Customs Service cracks down on imported Japanese used cars following claims of odometer fraud.
• Auckland's Sky Tower
  Sky Tower
  The Sky Tower is an observation and telecommunications tower located on the corner of Victoria and Federal Streets in the Auckland CBD, Auckland City, New Zealand. It is tall, as measured from ground level to the top of the mast, making it the tallest free-standing structure in the Southern...
  
   is opened.
• Compulsory superannuation is rejected by a margin of more than nine to one in New Zealand's first postal referendum.
• Jim Bolger resigns as Prime Minister after losing support of the National Party caucus, and is replaced by New Zealand's first woman Prime Minister, Jenny Shipley
  Jenny Shipley
  Dame Jenny Shipley, DNZM , served as the 36th Prime Minister of New Zealand from December 1997 to December 1999, the first woman to hold this office and the first, and to date only, woman to serve as parliamentary leader of the National Party of New Zealand.-Early life:Shipley was born as Jennifer...
  
  .

1998

1998 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand*Governor-General - The Rt Hon. Sir Michael Hardie Boys GNZM, GCMG, QSO-Government:The 45th New Zealand Parliament continued...

• Auckland city businesses hit by a power cut
  1998 Auckland power crisis
  The 1998 Auckland power crisis was a five-week-long power outage.Almost all of downtown Auckland in New Zealand was supplied electricity by Mercury Energy via four power cables, two of them 40-year-old oil-filled cables that were past their replacement date. One of the cables failed on 20 January,...
  
   lasting several weeks. The crisis of over a month results in an inquiry into Mercury Energy.
• The women's rugby team, the Black Ferns
  Black Ferns
  The Black Ferns is New Zealand's national women's rugby union team.- The name :The name comes from the use of the colour black and the silver fern as New Zealand sporting symbols...
  
  , become the world champions.
• The National - New Zealand First coalition Government is dissolved leaving the Jenny Shipley led National Party as a minority government.
• Several cases of tuberculosis discovered in South Auckland in the worst outbreak for a decade.
• The Hikoi of Hope marches to Parliament, calling for more support for the poor.
• The government announces plans to lease 28 new fighter aircraft but says no to a new naval frigate.
• Prime TV launched
• Road toll 514

1999

1999 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand*Governor-General - The Rt Hon. Sir Michael Hardie Boys GNZM, GCMG, QSO-Government:...

• APEC is held in Auckland
• Drinking age is lowered from 20 to 18yrs of age
• 27 November: New Zealand general election, 1999
  New Zealand general election, 1999
  The 1999 New Zealand general election was held on 27 November 1999 to determine the composition of the 46th New Zealand Parliament. The governing National Party, led by Prime Minister Jenny Shipley, was defeated, being replaced by a coalition of Helen Clark's Labour Party and the smaller Alliance...
  
  . Helen Clark
  Helen Clark
  Helen Elizabeth Clark, ONZ is a New Zealand political figure who was the 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand for three consecutive terms from 1999 to 2008...
  
  's Fifth Labour Government
  Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand
  The Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand between 10 December 1999 and 19 November 2008.-Overview:The fourth National government, in power since 1990, was widely unpopular by 1999, with much of the public antagonised by a series of free-market economic reforms,...
  
   is sworn in.
• Road toll 508

2000s

2000

2000 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand*Governor-General - The Rt Hon. Sir Michael Hardie Boys GNZM, GCMG, QSO-Government:The 46th New Zealand Parliament continued...

• January: The name suppression of American billionaire
  Billionaire
  A billionaire, in countries that use the short scale number naming system, is a person who has a net worth of at least one billion units of a given currency, usually the United States dollar, Euro, or Pound sterling. Forbes magazine updates a complete list of U.S. dollar billionaires around the...
  
   Peter Lewis, who was arrested and convicted of drug possession charges, causes controversy.

2001

2001 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand*Governor-General - The Rt Hon. Sir Michael Hardie Boys GNZM, GCMG, QSO followed by The Hon. Dame Silvia Cartwright PCNZM, DBE, QSO-Government:...

• Interest accrual is removed from student loans while studying. Students who accrued interest prior to 2001 are still required to pay.
• Air New Zealand
  Air New Zealand
  Air New Zealand Limited is the national airline and flag carrier of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 26 domestic destinations and 24 international destinations in 15 countries across Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania, and is...
  
   bailout, government purchases a 76.5% share in the company

2002

2002 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand*Governor-General - The Hon. Dame Silvia Cartwright PCNZM, DBE, QSO-Government:...

• Kiwibank
  Kiwibank
  Kiwibank Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of the state-owned enterprise New Zealand Post Limited. Through Kiwibank, New Zealand Post provides banking services through its PostShops and joint venture Books & More and Papermate outlets throughout New Zealand.The bank was initiated as part of Jim...
  
   is formed
• 30 June: The population of Canterbury
  Canterbury, New Zealand
  The New Zealand region of Canterbury is mainly composed of the Canterbury Plains and the surrounding mountains. Its main city, Christchurch, hosts the main office of the Christchurch City Council, the Canterbury Regional Council - called Environment Canterbury - and the University of Canterbury.-...
  
   reaches half a million.
• 27 July: 2002 general election
  New Zealand general election, 2002
  The 2002 New Zealand general election was held on 27 July 2002 to determine the composition of the 47th New Zealand Parliament. It saw the reelection of Helen Clark's Labour Party government, as well as the worst-ever performance by the opposition National Party.Arguably the most controversial...
  
  , Labour returned for a second term; National records worst result in the party's history.

2003

2003 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand*Governor-General - The Hon. Dame Silvia Cartwright PCNZM, DBE, QSO-Government:The 47th New Zealand Parliament continued...

• Population of New Zealand exceeds 4 million.
• Prostitution Reform Act 2003 passed in parliament
• Appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
  Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
  The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is one of the highest courts in the United Kingdom. Established by the Judicial Committee Act 1833 to hear appeals formerly heard by the King in Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is one of the highest courts in the United...
  
   abolished; Supreme Court of New Zealand
  Supreme Court of New Zealand
  The Supreme Court of New Zealand is the highest court and the court of last resort in New Zealand, having formally come into existence on 1 January 2004. The court sat for the first time on 1 July 2004. It replaced the right of appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, based in London...
  
   established, and begins work in early 2004.

2004

2004 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Queen Elizabeth II*Governor-General - The Hon. Dame Silvia Cartwright PCNZM, DBE, QSO-Government:The 47th New Zealand Parliament continued...

• Foreshore and Seabed Act
  New Zealand foreshore and seabed controversy
  The New Zealand foreshore and seabed controversy is a debate in the politics of New Zealand. It concerns the ownership of the country's foreshore and seabed, with many Māori groups claiming that Māori have a rightful claim to title. These claims are based around historical possession and the Treaty...
  
   passed.
• Civil Union Act passed
• Māori Party
  Maori Party
  The Māori Party, a political party in New Zealand, was formed on 7 July 2004. The Party is guided by eight constitutional "kaupapa", or Party objectives. Tariana Turia formed the Māori Party after resigning from the Labour Party where she had been a Cabinet Minister in the Fifth Labour-led...
  
   formed.
• Maori TV begins broadcasting

2005

2005 in New Zealand

At the beginning of 2005, the news was dominated by the recent "Boxing Day Tsunami". New Zealanders gave time and $25 million for relief in the areas affected....

• 17 September: 2005 general election
  New Zealand general election, 2005
  The 2005 New Zealand general election held on 17 September 2005 determined the composition of the 48th New Zealand Parliament. No party won a majority in the unicameral House of Representatives, but the Labour Party of Prime Minister Helen Clark secured two more seats than nearest rival, the...
  
  , Labour-led government returned for a third term with a narrow margin.

2006

2006 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand*Governor-General - The Hon. Dame Silvia Cartwright PCNZM, DBE, QSO, succeeded by The Hon. Anand Satyanand, PCNZM, QSO-Government:...

• Labour enacts its election promise to remove interest on loans
  Student loan
  A student loan is designed to help students pay for university tuition, books, and living expenses. It may differ from other types of loans in that the interest rate may be substantially lower and the repayment schedule may be deferred while the student is still in education...
  
   to students living in New Zealand.
• Five cent coins
  Coins of the New Zealand dollar
  This article concerns the coins of the New Zealand dollar.- Pre-dollar :Prior to 10 July 1967, the New Zealand pound, using the £sd system, was the currency of New Zealand. Coins of the pound tend to follow the size, weight, and composition of their British counterparts...
  
   are dropped from circulation and existing 10 cent, 20 cent and 50 cent coins are replaced with smaller coins.
• The government announces a NZ$
  New Zealand dollar
  The New Zealand dollar is the currency of New Zealand. It also circulates in the Cook Islands , Niue, Tokelau, and the Pitcairn Islands. It is divided into 100 cents....
  
  11.5 billion surplus, the largest in the country's history and second only to Denmark in the Western World.
• South Island
  South Island
  The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...
  
   population reaches 1 million

2007

2007 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand*Governor-General - The Hon. Anand Satyanand, PCNZM, QSO-Government:2007 was the second full year since the election of the 48th Parliament...

• David Bain
  David Bain
  David Cullen Bain is a New Zealander who featured in one of the country's most notable murder cases. He was convicted in May 1995 of the murders of his parents and siblings in Dunedin on 20 June 1994...
  
  's final Privy Council appeal results in the quashing of his convictions for the murder of his family. A re-trail is ordered by the Solicitor-General of New Zealand
  Solicitor-General of New Zealand
  The Solicitor-General of New Zealand is the second law officer of state in New Zealand. The Solicitor-General is also head of the Crown Law Office, that comprises lawyers employed to represent the Attorney-General in court proceedings in New Zealand....
  
  .
• 2 May: Freeview is launched, providing free-to-air digital television.
• 1 July: KiwiSaver
  KiwiSaver
  The KiwiSaver scheme is a New Zealand voluntary long-term savings scheme which came into operation from Monday, 2 July 2007. The main purpose of the KiwiSaver fund is for retirement savings....
  
   retirement savings scheme introduced.
• 2 July Willie Apiata receives the first Victoria Cross for New Zealand
  Victoria Cross for New Zealand
  The Victoria Cross for New Zealand is a military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the New Zealand Armed Forces. It may be awarded to a person of any rank in any service and civilians under military command, and is presented to the recipient by the...
  
  , the first New Zealander awarded a VC since World War II
  World War II
  World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
  
  .
• 18 December:Electoral Finance Act
  Electoral Finance Act
  The Electoral Finance Act 2007 was a controversial act in New Zealand. The Electoral Finance Bill was introduced by the Fifth Labour Government partly in response to the 2005 New Zealand election funding controversy, in particular "third-party" campaigns....
  
   enacted.

2008

2008 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand*Governor-General - The Hon. Anand Satyanand, PCNZM, QSO-Government:The 48th New Zealand Parliament continued until the general election in November...

• 11 January: mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary
  Edmund Hillary
  Sir Edmund Percival Hillary, KG, ONZ, KBE , was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest – see Timeline of climbing Mount Everest...
  
   dies.
• 8 November: General election
  New Zealand general election, 2008
  The 2008 New Zealand general election was held on 8 November 2008 to determine the composition of the 49th New Zealand parliament. The conservative National Party, headed by its Parliamentary leader John Key, won a plurality of votes and seats, ending 9 years of government dominated by the social...
  
  : The National Party
  New Zealand National Party
  The New Zealand National Party is the largest party in the New Zealand House of Representatives and in November 2008 formed a minority government with support from three minor parties.-Policies:...
  
   gains the largest share ending 9 years of Labour-led government.
• 27 November: (28 November NZ Time.) XL Airways Germany A320 Flight 888T
  XL Airways Germany A320 Flight 888T
  XL Airways Germany Flight 888T was an Airbus A320 which was seen to plunge into the Mediterranean Sea, 7 km off Saint-Cyprien on the French coast, close to the Spanish border, in November 2008. The technical flight originated from Perpignan - Rivesaltes Airport, performed an overflight of...
  
  , an aeroplane owned by Air New Zealand
  Air New Zealand
  Air New Zealand Limited is the national airline and flag carrier of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 26 domestic destinations and 24 international destinations in 15 countries across Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania, and is...
  
   crashes in the Mediterranean Sea off the south coast of France, killing all seven on board, 5 of whom are New Zealanders.
• Helen Clark
  Helen Clark
  Helen Elizabeth Clark, ONZ is a New Zealand political figure who was the 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand for three consecutive terms from 1999 to 2008...
  
   is named Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme
  United Nations Development Programme
  The United Nations Development Programme is the United Nations' global development network. It advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP operates in 177 countries, working with nations on their own solutions to...
  
   (UNDP), ranking third in the UN office
• National reintroduces titular honours 6 years after Labour removed them from the New Zealand Honours System in 2000.

2009

2009 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand*Governor-General - The Hon. Anand Satyanand, PCNZM, QSO-Government:2009 will be the first full year of the election of the current Parliament....

• 6 March: David Bain
  David Bain
  David Cullen Bain is a New Zealander who featured in one of the country's most notable murder cases. He was convicted in May 1995 of the murders of his parents and siblings in Dunedin on 20 June 1994...
  
   retrial begins, resulting in not guilty verdicts on all five murder charges on 5 June.
• 28 April: First confirmed New Zealand case in the 2009 swine flu outbreak.

2010s

2010

2010 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand*Governor-General - The Hon Anand Satyanand PCNZM QSO-Government:2010 is the second full year of the 49th Parliament.*Speaker of the House - Lockwood Smith...

• 4 September: Earthquake
  2010 Canterbury earthquake
  The 2010 Canterbury earthquake was a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, which struck the South Island of New Zealand at 4:35 am on local time ....
  
   shakes the Canterbury Region measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale causing widespread damage to Christchurch
  Christchurch
  Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
  
   and surrounding areas.

2011

2011 in New Zealand

-Regal and Vice Regal:*Head of State - Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand*Governor-General - The Hon. Sir Anand Satyanand, PCNZM, QSO, succeeded by The Hon. Sir Jerry Mateparae, GNZM, QSO-Government:...

• 22 February: Earthquake hits Christchurch, measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale. Unlike the preceding September earthquake there is considerable loss of life.

• 9 September Rugby world cup starts off in Auckland

See also

• List of years in New Zealand
• Timeline of environmental history of New Zealand
  Timeline of environmental history of New Zealand
  This is a timeline of environmental history of New Zealand. These events relate to the more notable events affecting the natural environment of New Zealand as a result of human activity.-Pre 1800s:...
  
  

External links

• New Zealand at Timelines of History
• Today in New Zealand History calendar at New Zealand History Online