Timeline of New Zealand history: Encyclopedia II - Timeline of New Zealand history - Colony and Self Government 1840 to 1946

Timeline of New Zealand history - Colony and Self Government 1840 to 1946

Timeline of New Zealand history - 1840s

• January 29: Hobson arrives in the Bay of Islands.
• New Zealand Company settlers arrive at Te Whanganui a Tara which became Port Nicholson, site of Wellington.
• February 6: Hone Heke is the first to sign the Treaty of Waitangi at Bay of Islands.
• May 21: Hobson proclaims British sovereignty over New Zealand.
• August: French colony established in Akaroa.
• Hobson becomes first Governor and sets up executive and legislative councils.

• European settlements established at New Plymouth and Wanganui.
• February: Capital shifted from Kororareka to Auckland.

• Main body of settlers arrive at Nelson.
• September 10: William Hobson dies.

• Twenty-two European settlers and four Maori killed at a confrontation at Tua Marina, near the Wairau, in Marlborough.
• Robert FitzRoy becomes Governor.

• Hone Heke begins the "War in the North".
• New Zealand Company suspends its colonising operations due to financial difficulties.

• George Grey becomes Governor.

• War in the north ends with capture of Ruapekapeka.
• First New Zealand Constitution Act passed.
• Charles Heaphy, William Fox, and Thomas Brunner begin exploring the West Coast.
• First steam vessel, HMS "Driver", arrives in New Zealand waters.

• Settlement of Dunedin founded by Scottish Otago Association.
• Provinces of New Ulster and New Munster set up under 1846 Act.
• Coal discovered at Brunner on the West Coast.
• Earthquake centred in Marlborough damages most Wellington buildings.

Timeline of New Zealand history - 1850s

• Canterbury settlement founded.

• Second New Zealand Constitution Act passed creating General Assembly and six provinces with representative government.

• Idea of a Mäori King canvassed by Tamihana Te Rauparaha and Matene Te Whiwhi.
• July 4–October 1: New Zealand general election 1853

• First session of the General Assembly opens in Auckland.
• March 10: Thomas Mackenzie born.

• Governor Thomas Gore Browne, appointed in 1854, arrives.
• Severe earthquake on both sides of Cook Strait. Wellington's Basin Reserve is raised, dashing plans to use it for boats.
• Adhesive, imperforate postage stamps on sale.
• October 28–December 28: New Zealand general election 1855.

• Henry Sewell forms first ministry under responsible government and becomes first Premier.
• Edward Stafford forms first stable ministry.
• March 26: William Massey born.

• New Provinces Act passed.
• Te Wherowhero installed as first Mäori King, taking name Potatau I.

• First session of Hawke's Bay and Marlborough provincial councils.
• Gold discovered in Buller River.
• New Zealand Insurance Company established.

Timeline of New Zealand history - 1860s

• Waitara dispute develops into general warfare in Taranaki.
• December 12–March 28: New Zealand general election 1860-1861.

• Grey becomes governor for the second time.
• May Gabriel Read discovers gold in Gabriel's Gully near Lawrence; Central Otago Gold Rush begins.
• First session of Southland provincial council.
• Bank of New Zealand incorporated at Auckland.

• First electric telegraph line opens from Christchurch to Lyttelton.
• First gold shipment from Dunedin to London.

• War resumes in Taranaki and begins in Waikato when General Cameron crosses the Mangatawhiri stream.
• New Zealand Settlements Act passed to effect land confiscation.
• First steam railway in New Zealand opened.
• February 7: HMS Orpheus sinks in Manukau Harbour, killing 189 people.

• 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 are the first Päkehä to cross what becomes known as Arthur's Pass.

• Seat of government transferred from Auckland to Wellington.
• Native Land Court established.
• Mäori resistance continues.
• Auckland streets lit by gas for first time.
• April 30: Robert FitzRoy dies.

• Cook Strait 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.
• January–February: Trevor Chute leads raids against Maro in Taranaki
• February 12–April 6: New Zealand general election 1866.

• Thames goldfield opens; soon the town has more people than Auckland.
• Four Maori seats established in Parliament.
• Lyttelton railway tunnel completed.
• Armed constabulary established.

• Mäori resistance continues through campaigns of Te Kooti Arikirangi and Titokowaru.
• New Zealand's first sheep breed, the Corriedale, is developed.

• Thomas Burns founds New Zealand's first university, the University of Otago, in Dunedin.
• March 12: George Forbes born.

Timeline of New Zealand history - 1870s

• The last imperial forces leave New Zealand.
• Julius Vogel's public works and immigration policy begins.
• University of New Zealand created by the New Zealand University Act, establishing a federal university based on the University of London, which lasts until 1961.
• Vogel announces national railway construction programme; over 1,000 miles constructed by 1879.
• First rugby match.
• Auckland to San Francisco mail service begins.
• October 20: Charles Goldie born.

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

• Te Kooti retreats to the King Country and Mäori armed resistance ceases.
• Telegraph communication links Auckland, Wellington and southern provinces.
• March 23: Michael Joseph Savage born.

• New Zealand Shipping Company established.

• First New Zealand steam engine built at Invercargill.

• December 20–January 29: New Zealand general election 1875-1876.

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

• Education Act passed, establishing national system of primary education, "free, secular, and compulsory".
• December 3: Richard Pearse born.

• Completion of Christchurch-Invercargill railway.

• Triennial Parliaments Act passed. Vote is given to every male aged 21 and over.
• Kaitangata mine explosion, 34 people die.
• Annual property tax introduced.
• Kangaroo lays the first Telegraph cable across Cook Strait.
• August 28–September 15: New Zealand general election 1879.

Timeline of New Zealand history - 1880s

• Parihaka 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.
• December 9: New Zealand general election 1881.

• First shipment of frozen meat leaves Port Chalmers for England on the "Dunedin".
• February 12: Birth of Walter Nash.

• Te Kooti pardoned, Te Whiti and other prisoners released.
• Direct steamer link established between New Zealand and Britain.

• King Tawhiao 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 section of North Island main trunk railway begins.
• June 22: New Zealand general election 1884.
• August 28: Peter Fraser born in Scotland.

• Mt Tarawera erupts and the Pink and White Terraces are destroyed, 153 people die.
• Oil is discovered in Taranaki.

• New Zealand's first national park, Tongariro National Park, is presented to the nation by Te Heuheu Tukino IV.
• Reefton becomes first town to have electricity.
• First inland parcel post service.
• September 26: New Zealand general election 1887.

• October 14: Katherine Mansfield (writer) born.

• Abolition of non-residential or property qualification to vote.
• First New Zealand-built locomotive completed at Addington.

Timeline of New Zealand history - 1890s

• Maritime Strike involves 8000 unionists.
• "Sweating" Commission reports on employment conditions.
• First election on a one-man one-vote basis.
• December 5: New Zealand general election 1890.

• John McKenzie introduces the first of a series of measures to promote closer land settlement.
• John Ballance becomes Premier of first Liberal Government.

• First Kotahitanga Mäori Parliament meets.

• April 27: John Ballance dies
• John Ballance succeeded as premier by Richard Seddon.
• June 23: Wiliam Fox dies
• September 19: All women given the right to vote.
• Liquor licensing poll introduced.
• Elizabeth Yates becomes first woman mayor, of Onehunga.
• Banknotes become legal tender.
• Birth of Sidney Holland.
• November 28: New Zealand general election 1893.

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

• Ngaio Marsh (writer) born.

• National Council of Women is founded.
• Brunner Mine explosion, 67 people killed.
• Census measures national population as 743,214.
• Death of former premier Harry Atkinson.
• December 4: New Zealand general election 1896.

• First of series of colonial and later imperial conferences held in London.
• Apirana Ngata and others form Te Aute College Students' Association.

• Old Age Pensions Act.
• First cars imported to New Zealand.
• September 19: Death of George Grey.

• New Zealand army contingent is sent to the South African war.
• First celebration of Labour Day.
• March 12: Julius Vogel dies.
• July 26: Bill Hamilton born.
• December 6: New Zealand general election 1899.

Timeline of New Zealand history - 1900s

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

• Cook and other Pacific Islands annexed.
• Penny postage first used.
• Union of the Synod of Otago and Southland with the Northern Presbyterian Church to form the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand.
• February 14: Edward Stafford dies.
• July 5: Len Lye born.

• Pacific cable begins operating between New Zealand, Australia and Fiji.
• Wreck of trans-tasman steamer SS Elingamite.
• November 25: New Zealand general election 1902.

• Richard Pearse achieves semi-controlled flight near Timaru.
• February 11: Birth of Keith Holyoake.

• New Zealand rugby team tours England and becomes known as the All Blacks.
• Old Age Pension increases to £26 per year; however, eligibility tightened.
• December 6: New Zealand general election 1905.

• June 10: Richard Seddon dies and is succeeded by Joseph Ward as Premier.

• New Zealand constituted as a Dominion.
• Fire destroys Parliament buildings.

• Auckland to Wellington main trunk railway line opens.
• Blackball coal miner strike lasts 11 weeks .
• Ernest Rutherford is awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
• New Zealand's population reaches one million.
• November 17,November 24 and 1 December: New Zealand general election 1908.

• "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.

Timeline of New Zealand history - 1910s

• Halley's Comet sighted in New Zealand.

• January 13: Birth of Queensland politician Joh Bjelke-Petersen in Dannevirke.
• December 7,December 14: New Zealand general election 1911.

• William Massey wins vote in the House and becomes first Reform Party Prime Minister.
• Waihi miners' strike.
• March 5: Birth of Jack Marshall.

• Waterfront strikes in Auckland and Wellington.

• World War I begins and German Samoa is occupied.
• New Zealand Expeditionary Force is despatched to Egypt.
• Huntly coal mine disaster, 43 people die.
• August 15: Troops depart for Samoa.
• August 29: New Zealand troops land unopposed in Apia.
• October: 8427 troops leave New Zealand for Europe.
• December 10: New Zealand general election 1914.

• New Zealand forces take part in Gallipoli campaign.
• Reform and Liberal parties form National War Cabinet.
• Britain announces its intention to purchase all New Zealand meat exports during war.
• April 25: First landings at Gaba Tepe and Cape Hellas on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
• April 27: Counterattack launched by Turkish forces under the command of Mustafa Kemal.
• November 2: Douglas Lilburn (composer) born.
• December 20: Final withdraw of all troops from Anzac Cove.

• New Zealand troops transfer from Western Front.
• Conscription introduced.
• Labour Party formed.
• Lake Coleridge electricity supply scheme opened.
• Selwyn Toogood born.
• June 10: Passing of the Military Services Bill introduces conscription.
• July: Battle of Romani defaults Turkish force advancing towards the Suez Canal.

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

• New Zealand Division in the Battle of the Somme.
• End of World War I.
• Influenza epidemic in which an estimated 8,500 die.
• Creation of power boards for electricity distribution.
• Prohibition petition with 242,001 signatures presented to Parliament.

• Women eligible for election to Parliament.
• Massey signs Treaty of Versailles.
• First official airmail flight from Auckland to Dargaville.
• July 26: Angus Tait born.
• December 17: New Zealand general election 1919.

Timeline of New Zealand history - 1920s

• Anzac Day established.
• New Zealand gets League of Nations mandate to govern Western Samoa.
• First aeroplane flight across Cook Strait.

• New Zealand Division of Royal Navy established.
• September 25: Birth of Robert Muldoon.

• Meat Producers' Board placed in control of meat exports.
• December 7: New Zealand general election 1922.

• Otira tunnel opens. Ross Dependency proclaimed. Death of Katherine Mansfield.
• January 6: Birth of Norman Kirk.
• January 9: Death of Katherine Mansfield (writer).

• All Black 'Invincibles' tour of Britain and France.
• January 21: birth of Bill Andersen, communist and trade union leader.
• August 28: Janet Frame (writer) born.

• May 10: Death of William Massey.
• November 4: New Zealand general election 1925 won by the Reform party under Gordon Coates.

• National public broadcasting begins under auspices of Radio Broadcasting Co. Ltd.
• June 29: James K. Baxter (writer) born.

• November 15: Birth of Bill Rowling.

• New Zealand Summer Time introduced.
• General election won by new United Party.
• Charles Kingsford Smith completes first flight across Tasman Sea.
• December 14: New Zealand general election 1928

• Economic depression worsens.
• Severe earthquake in Murchison-Karamea district, 17 people die.
• First health stamps issued.

Timeline of New Zealand history - 1930s

• Unemployment Board set up to provide relief work.
• February 14: Death of Thomas Mackenzie, former Prime Minister.
• September 3: Cherry Wilder born Cherry Barbara Grimm.

• Newly formed Coalition Government under George Forbes wins general election.
• Hawke's Bay earthquake, 256 die.
• Substantial percentage reductions in public service wages and salaries.
• Airmail postage stamps introduced.
• December 2: New Zealand general election 1931.

• Compulsory arbitration of industrial disputes abolished.
• Unemployed riots in Auckland, Dunedin and Christchurch.
• Reductions in old-age and other pensions.
• June 4: Birth of Maurice Shadbolt (writer).
• October 17: Birth of C. K. Stead (writer).

• Elizabeth McCombs becomes first woman MP.
• Distinctive New Zealand coins first issued.

• Reserve Bank and Mortgage Corporation established.
• First trans-Tasman airmail.
• Peter Arnett born.
• February 10: Fleur Adcock born.

• First Labour Government elected under Michael Joseph Savage.
• Air services begin across Cook Strait.
• Novelist Barry Crump is born.
• May 21: Birth of Jim Bolger, Future Prime Minister.
• November 24: New Zealand Post office jams 1ZB radio broadcast by Colin Scrimgeour (Uncle Scrim).
• November 27: New Zealand general election 1935.

• Reserve Bank taken over by state.
• State housing programme launched.
• Guaranteed prices for dairy products introduced.
• National Party formed from former Coalition MPs.
• Inter-island trunk air services introduced.
• Jack Lovelock wins New Zealand's first Olympic gold.
• Jean Batten's record flight from England.
• Working week reduced from 44 to 40 hours.
• August 7: birth of Joy Cowley, New Zealand writer.
• March 14: birth of Bob Charles

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

• Social Security Act establishes revised pensions structure and the basis of a national health service.
• Import and exchange controls are introduced.
• Birth of Jim Anderton, future political leader.
• October 15: New Zealand general election 1938.

• Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force formed.
• Bulk purchases of farm products by Great Britain.
• Birth of Philip Temple, author.
• September 3: War declared on Germany
• September 7: First New Zealander (An officer flying with the RAF) taken prisoner of war.
• September 12: Enlistment in the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force begins.
• October 4: Government announces the formation of a Maori battalion for 2 NZEF
• November 23: Bernard Freyberg is appointed to commander of 2 NZEF
• December 13: HMNZS Achilles takes part in The Battle of the River Plate.

Timeline of New Zealand history - 1940 to 1946

• January 5: First Echelon of the 2NZEF leaves New Zealand for the Middle East.
• February 12: The main body of the First Echelon of the 2NZEF, arrives at Maadi Camp in Egypt.
• March 27: Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage dies
• April 1: Peter Fraser becomes Prime Minister.
• April 1: Formation of No. 75 (NZ) Squadron of the RAF
• June 11: New Zealand declares war on Italy.
• June 19: Niagara hits a mine off Bream Head, Northland
• August 2: Home Guard established.
• August 20: German raider Orion sinks the steamer Turakina off Cape Egmont.
• October: Stanley Graham kills 7 in shooting spree near Hokitika
• November 25: Steamer Holmwood sunk by German raiders off the Chatham Islands.
• November 27: Rangitane sunk by German raiders 480km from East Cape
• December 8: New Zealand steamer Komata sunk by German raiders off Nauru
• Sidney Holland becomes Leader of Opposition.
• Conscription for military service.
• German mines laid across Hauraki Gulf.

• Mäori War Effort Organisation set up.
• Pharmaceutical and general practitioner medical benefits introduced.
• Ian Mune born.

• Economic stabilisation.
• New Zealand troops in Battle of El Alamein.
• Food rationing introduced.
• Mobilisation of women for essential work.
• April 21: Birth of Geoffrey Palmer.
• June 12: First 5 ships of American troops from the 37th US Army Division land in Auckland.
• June 14: First American Marines from the 1st Corps Division land in Wellington.
• August 4: Birth of David Lange.

• New Zealand troops take part in invasion of Italy.
• February: Mutiny by Japanese prisoners of war in Featherston camp results in 48 Japanese dead, 61 wounded, plus one dead and 11 injured guards.
• April 3: Battle of Manners Street between American and New Zealand servicemen
• June 20: Several Marines drown during landing exercises at Paekakariki.
• August 28: Eleanor Roosevelt arrives in New Zealand for visit.
• September 3: Eleanor Roosevelt flies out from Auckland.
• September 25: New Zealand general election 1943.
• July 20: Chris Amon born.

• Australia-New Zealand Agreement provides for co-operation in the South Pacific.
• March 6: Kiri Te Kanawa born.
• Jack Body born.
• Witi Ihimaera born.

• New Zealand signs United Nations charter.
• Mäori Social and Economic Advancement Act passed.
• National Airways Corporation founded.
• February 5: Michael Cullen born
• November 15: Roger Donaldson born
• December 15: Michael King born

• Family benefit of £1 per week becomes universal.
• Bank of New Zealand nationalised.
• Poet Bill Manhire born.
• November 24: New Zealand general election 1946.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Colony and Self Government 1840 to 1946 ", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki