New Zealand; key historical events
Page last modified 24/6/2020
15/3/2019, A White-supremacist gunman shot dead 50 Muslim
worshipers at Friday prayers at a mosque in Christchurch New Zealand, with
several others wounded, some seriously.
2006, Maori Queen Te
Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu died, aged 75.
1999, The Labour Party led by Helen Clark
won the elections. They were re-elected in 2002 and 2005. New Zealand provided
armed forces for peacekeeping duties in East Timor. Since 2002 New Zealand’s
armed forces have been focissed towards peacekeeping duties and dealing with
economic threats.
1998, Jenny Shipley, National Party
Prime Minister, terminated her coalition with the New Zealand First (NZF) Party
amd sacked Winston Peters, NZF, as Deputy prime Minister. She now led a
minority government.
1998, The Waitangi Tribunal
ordered the New Zealand government to return some NZ$ 6.1 million-worth of
confiscated land.
1997, The National Party (NP) formed a
coalition with the New Zealand First Party. Jenny Shipley, NP, became the
first woman Prime Minister of New Zealand.
1996, First use of Proportional
Represntation in New Zealand elections, following a referendum decision to
adopt the system in 1993. The National Party formed a coalition to preserve
its working majority.
1995, Annual Waitangi
Day celebrations (marking the Waitangi Treaty of 1840,
the foundation of the modern State of New Zealand) were cancelled following
proetsts by Maoris.
1992, The Maoris won
South Island fishing rights.
1/10/1991, New Zealand's Resource Management Act 1991 comes
into force.
4/9/1990, In New Zealand the Labour Prime Minister, Geoffrey Palmer,
resigned, following the electoral defeat of his Party. He was replaced by Michael Moore.
James Bulger,
National
Party, became the Prime Minister.
27/10/1990, In New Zealand elections, the National Party led by James Bolgar
defeated the ruling Labour Party.
1989, Labour Prime Minister Lange
resigned and was replaced by Geoffrey Palmer.
1987, The Labour Party won elections and began
widespread privatisation. A nuclear ban was enshrined in law.
3/11/1985, In New Zealand, two
French agents pleaded guilty to the sinking of the Greenpeace ship, Rainbow Warrior, and the manslaughter of the
photographer on board.
22/9/1985, French
Prime Minister Laurent
Fabius admitted that French agents had sunk the Greenpeace boat Rainbow Warrior in Auckland, New
Zealand, on 10/7/1985. The French Defence Minister was forced to resign.
10/7/1985. The Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior was blown up in Auckland
harbour, New Zealand. Limpet mines had been attached to the ship, killing one
crewmember. French security forces were implicated. The rainbow Warrior was to
have taken part in a protest against French nuclear tests at Mururoa atoll in the south
Pacific.
14/7/1984, In New
Zealand general elections, the Labour Party led by Prime Minister David Lange
defeated the ruling National Party. The Auckland harbour Headland
was restored to the Maoris.
28/11/1981, The National Party won a very narrow
election victory in New Zealand.
29/11/1975, In New
Zealand the National
Party defeated the Labour Government. Robert Muldoon became Prime
Minister. An
economic austerity programme was implemented.
25/11/1972, Norman Kirk became Prime Minister of New
Zealand after Labour
won a sweeping electoral victory.
7/2/1972, Sir Keith Holyoake retired as Prime Minister
of New Zealand. He was succeeded by John Marshall.
14/6/1967. Australian and New Zealand woolgrowers expressed
concern over the effects of the mini skirt on wool prices, which
were down 6d a pound on the last season.
14/9/1961, New Zealand introduced compulsory selective
military service.
26/11/1960, General election in New Zealand was won by the National Party,
with 46 seats. Labour won 34 seats. Keith Holyoake was appointed Prime Minister.
30/11/1957, General
election in New Zealand was won by the Labour Party with a majority
of one seat. Walter Nash became Prime Minister.
1/9/1951, Australia, New Zealand, and the USA signed the ANZUS Pact, a mutual
defence treaty. This marked a shift in New Zealand politics
away from the UK and towards the US.
27/11/1946, New
Zealand elections gave 42 seats to Labour, which retained power, against 38 seats for
the National
Party.
4/8/1942, David Russell
Lange, New Zealand politician and Prime Minister 1984-9, was born.
He
controversially
refused to allow nuclear armed ships to dock in New Zealand.
26/3/1936, New Zealand began radio broadcasts of its
Parliamentary sessions.
13/3/1936, Sir Francis Bell, who was Prime Minister of
New Zealand for only 16 days, died aged 84.
25/9/1921, Sir Robert Muldoon, Prime Minister of New
Zealand 1975-84, was born.
20/7/1919. Sir Edmund
Hillary, who conquered Mount Everest in 1953 with Tenzing Norgay,
was born in Auckland, North Island, New Zealand.
11/9/1918, Desmond James Scott, New Zealand fighter
pilot, was born.
1916, The New Zealand Labour Party was
founded, by trades unionists and other socialists.
11/12/1907, Fire destroyed the
Parliament buildings at Wellington, New Zealand.
26/9/1907. New Zealand became a dominion. It had
become a colony of Britain in 1840. A series of wars between the British and
the native Maoris ended with peace in the 1870s. Full independence was
achieved in 1947.
11/6/1901, New
Zealand annexed the Cook Islands.
28/11/1893, Women
first voted in New Zealand, at the General Election, see 19/9/1893.
19/9/1893. New
Zealand became the first country to allow women the vote. The Women’s Christian
Temperance
Union had been pressing for this for 8 years, and had presented three petitions
to the House of Representatives. Each time the number of signatures rose, until
a record 31,872 names swayed the House. Despite an unscrupulous liquor lobby,
the WCTU won and intended to press for women’s votes in other countries. See 28/11/1893.
23/6/1893, Sir William Fox,
New Zealand statesman, died (born 9/6/1812).
1890, A Liberal
Govermment was elected.
20/1/1887. New
Zealand annexed the Kermadec Islands.
14/3/1869, The third
Maori rebellion
in 15 years ended with the defeat of the rebel leader, Titokowaru.
1867, Four Maori seats were established in the House of Representatives.
1865, Wellington became the capital of New Zealand.
4/5/1863, Maoris clashed
with British
settlers at Taranaki, New Zealand, over land rights.
1861, Gold
was discovered near Dunedin.
19/3/1861, An uneasy
truce was agreed between the Maoris and the British in the two-year war over the enforced
sale of Maori lands.
16/12/1860, The first immigrant ship, the Charlotte Jane, arrived in New Zealand.
25/6/1860, Death of Maori King, Potatau Te Wherowher.
1857, Gold mining began in New Zealand.
1852, The New
Zealand House of Representatives was established.
23/3/1848. The first
official settlement at Dunedin, New
Zealand. It was originally called New Edinburgh.
11/3/1845, In New
Zealand, a Maori uprising against the British began. The Maori were protesting at European settlement of Maori lands, in breach of the
1840 Treaty of Waitangi.
11/3/1844, In New
Zealand, Maoris rose up
against British rule.
1841, New Zealand was separated from the colony of New South
Wales.
21/5/1840, Captain William Hobson proclaimed New Zealand to be
a British Colony.
6/2/1840. Captain Hobson signed the Treaty of Waitangi with Maori chiefs in
New Zealand. The Maoris were guaranteed possession of their lands but if they
wished to sell them must first offer them to the British government. Britain
was concerned at French plans to send settlers to New Zealand, and at
mistreatment of the Maoris by land speculators and escaped convicts from
Australia.
27/3/1839, John Balance, New Zealand politician, was born
(died 1893).
24/2/1815, Land in New Zealand was sold to a White
person for the first time, for a mission church.
7/10/1769, Captain Cook reached New Zealand.
13/12/1642. New Zealand was discovered by the Dutch
explorer Abel
Tasman.
1000 - `1200, The Maori, a
Polynesian people, arrived in New Zealand from eastern Polynesia.