1909 in New Zealand

← 1908 1907 1906 1909 in New Zealand → 1910 1911 1912
Decades:	1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s
See also:	History of New Zealand List of years in New Zealand Timeline of New Zealand history

The following lists events that happened during 1909 in New Zealand.

Incumbents

Regal and viceregal

• Head of State – Edward VII
• Governor – The Lord Plunket GCMG KCVO ^[1]

Government

The 11th New Zealand Parliament commenced.

• Speaker of the House – Sir Arthur Guinness
• Prime Minister – Joseph Ward
• Minister of Finance – Joseph Ward
• Attorney-General – John Findlay
• Chief Justice – Sir Robert Stout

Parliamentary opposition

Leader of the Opposition – William Massey (independent until February and thereafter as leader of the Reform Party) ^[2]

Main centre leaders

• Mayor of Auckland – Arthur Myers then Charles Grey
• Mayor of Wellington – Alfred Newman
• Mayor of Christchurch – Charles Allison
• Mayor of Dunedin – John McDonald then James Walker

Events

• 1 January: The Quackery Prevention Act 1908 becomes law, preventing false advertising in relation to ingredients, composition, structure, nature or operation of a medicine.^{[ citation needed ]}
• 12 February: Inter-island steamer SS Penguin is wrecked at Cape Terawhiti in Cook Strait with the loss of 75 lives. ^[3]
• 14 February: The first North Island Main Trunk passenger express train leaves Auckland for Wellington, an overnight trip scheduled to take 19 hours 15 minutes, with a sleeping car, day cars with reclining seats, postal/parcels vans, and a dining car for part of the way.

Undated

• The Canterbury (NZ) Aero Club, the first in New Zealand, is formed by George Bolt. ^[4]

Arts and literature

See 1909 in art, 1909 in literature

Music

See: 1909 in music

Film

See: 1909 in film, List of New Zealand feature films, Cinema of New Zealand, Category:1909 films

Sport

Boxing

National amateur champions

• Heavyweight – M. Ryan (Invercargill)
• Middleweight – S. Monaghan (Ohakune)
• Welterweight – G. Watchorn (Palmerston North)
• Lightweight – J. Finnerty (Invercargill)
• Featherweight – J. Hagerty (Timaru)
• Bantamweight – C. Stewart (Timaru)

Chess

• The 22nd National Chess Championship was held in Dunedin, and was won by F.K. Kelling of Wellington. ^[5]

Golf

• The third New Zealand Open championship was won by J.A. Clements (his second consecutive win). ^[6]
• The 17th National Amateur Championships were held in Auckland ^[7]
  • Men: Arthur Duncan (Wellington) – 6th title
  • Women: Mrs ? Bevan.

Horse racing

Harness racing

• New Zealand Trotting Cup: Wildwood Junior ^[8]
• Auckland Trotting Cup: Havoc ^[9]

Rugby league

New Zealand national rugby league team

Rugby union

• Auckland defend the Ranfurly Shield only once, beating Taranaki 18-5

Soccer

Provincial league champions: ^[10]

• Auckland: Auckland Corinthians
• Canterbury: Burnham Industrial School
• Otago: Dunedin City
• Southland: Murihiku
• Taranaki: Kaponga
• Wellington: Wellington Swifts

Tennis

• Anthony Wilding and Australian Norman Brookes, as the Australasian team, successfully defend the Davis Cup, beating the United States 5–0. The final is held in Sydney.
• Anthony Wilding wins the men's singles at the Australian Open.

Births

• 15 April: Jack Watts , politician. (d. 1970)
• 18 April: Tom Skinner , politician, Federation of Labour president. (d. 1991)
• 20 May: Bill Pratney , cyclist. (d. 2001)
• 13 June: Ralph Hanan , politician. (d. 1969)
• 14 July: Brian Shorland , organic chemist. (d. 1999)
• 27 July: Charles Brasch , poet and literary editor. (d. 1973)
• 20 August: Alby Roberts , cricketer. (d. 1978)
• 15 September: Jean Batten , aviator. (d. 1982)
• 16 September: Rod MacKenzie , rugby union player (d. 2000)
• 31 October: Frank Bateson , astronomer. (d. 2007)
• 23 December: Don Cleverley , cricketer. (d. 2004)

Deaths

• 14 February: Elsie Dohrmann , scholar, teacher and temperance campaigner ^[11]
• 28 April: John Wilson (businessman) , businessman and judge
• 7 August: Arthur Remington , politician
• 14 August: Samuel Brown , Mayor of Wellington.
• Maria Sophia Pope , shopkeeper and businesswoman. ^[12]

See also

• History of New Zealand
• List of years in New Zealand
• Military history of New Zealand
• Timeline of New Zealand history
• Timeline of New Zealand's links with Antarctica
• Timeline of the New Zealand environment

References

1. Statistics New Zealand: New Zealand Official Yearbook, 1990. ISSN 0078-0170 page 52
2. "Elections NZ – Leaders of the Opposition". Archived from the original on 17 October 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2008.
3. Christchurch City Libraries
4. Rendel, David (1975) Civil Aviation in New Zealand: An Illustrated History. Wellington. A.H. & A.W.Reed. ISBN   0-589-00905-2
5. List of New Zealand Chess Champions Archived 14 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
6. History of NZ open: TVNZ
7. McLintock, A. H., ed. (1966). "Men's Golf – National Champions". An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 13 February 2009.
8. "List of NZ Trotting cup winners". Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
9. Auckland Trotting cup at hrnz.co.nz Archived 17 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
10. "New Zealand: List of champions". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 1999.
11. "Dohrmann, Elsie". teara.govt.nz. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
12. Smith, Jo-Anne. "Maria Sophia Pope". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . Ministry for Culture and Heritage . Retrieved 23 April 2017.

External links

Media related to 1909 in New Zealand at Wikimedia Commons