1954 in New Zealand

← 1953 1952 1951 1954 in New Zealand → 1955 1956 1957
Decades:	1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
See also:	History of New Zealand List of years in New Zealand Timeline of New Zealand history

The following lists events that happened during 1954 in New Zealand.

Population

• Estimated population as of 31 December: 2,118,400. ^[1]
• Increase since 31 December 1953: 43,700 (2.11%). ^[1]
• Males per 100 females: 101.2. ^[1]

Incumbents

Regal and viceregal

• Head of State – Elizabeth II , Queen of New Zealand, from 6 February 1952
• Governor-General – Lieutenant-General The Lord Norrie GCMG GCVO CB DSO MC , from 1952 to 1957 ^[2]

Government

The 30th New Zealand Parliament expired this year. The National Party was elected to a third term in office under Sidney Holland on 13 November.

• Speaker of the House – Matthew Oram from 1950 to 1957
• Prime Minister – Sidney Holland from 13 December 1949 to 20 September 1957.
• Deputy Prime Minister – Keith Holyoake from 13 December 1949 to 20 September 1957.
• Minister of Finance – Sidney Holland until November, followed by Jack Watts
• Minister of Foreign Affairs – Clifton Webb from 19 September 1951 to 26 November 1954, followed by Tom Macdonald
• Chief Justice — Sir Harold Barrowclough

Parliamentary opposition

• Leader of the Opposition – Walter Nash (Labour). ^[3]

Main centre leaders

• Mayor of Auckland – John Luxford from 1953 to 1956
• Mayor of Hamilton – Roderick Braithwaite from 1953 to 1959
• Mayor of Wellington – Robert Macalister from 1950 to 1956
• Mayor of Christchurch – Robert M. Macfarlane from 1938 to 1941 and again from 1950 to 1958
• Mayor of Dunedin – Leonard Morton Wright from 1950 to 1959

Events

• 12 January – 50,000 people mass in Wellington as Elizabeth II attends the state opening of Parliament. ^[4]
• 30 January – The Royal tour by Queen Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh concludes at Bluff as they depart on the SS Gothic. ^[5]
• 22 May – A Douglas DC-3 crashes near Paraparaumu Airport after its wing hits a house. Three people died. ^[6]
• 23 June – Teenagers Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme are arrested for the murder of Parker's mother.
• 20 September – the Mazengarb Report on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents is presented to Parliament.
• 8 November – eighteen-year-old golf amateur Bob Charles causes a sensation by beating a top international field to win the New Zealand Golf Open
• 13 November – the National Party wins re-election at a general election
• Hastings becomes the first town in New Zealand to fluoridate its water supply. ^[7]

Arts and literature

See 1954 in art, 1954 in literature

Music

See: 1954 in music

Radio

• 2 January – First radio episode of It's in the Bag , hosted by Selwyn Toogood ^[8]

See: Public broadcasting in New Zealand

Film

• The Seekers

See: Category:1954 film awards, 1954 in film, List of New Zealand feature films, Cinema of New Zealand, Category:1954 films

Sport

Athletics

• 20 February: Yvette Williams breaks the world long jump record by jumping 20 feet 7+1⁄2 inches (6.287 metres) at Gisborne. ^[9]
• Edwin Rye wins his first national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:35:45 on 6 March in Hamilton, New Zealand.

British Empire and Commonwealth Games

Main article: New Zealand at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games

Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
7	7	5	19

Chess

• The 61st National Chess Championship is held in Wellington, and is won by Ortvin Sarapu of Auckland (his third successive title). ^[10]

Horse racing

Harness racing

• New Zealand Trotting Cup – Johnny Globe ^[11]
• Auckland Trotting Cup – Caduceus ^[12]

Lawn bowls

The national outdoor lawn bowls championships are held in Christchurch. ^[13]

• Men's singles champion – Robin Andrew (Onehunga Bowling Club)
• Men's pair champions – N.A. McNabb, C.L. Spearman (skip) (Christchurch RSA Bowling Club)
• Men's fours champions – J. Rothwell, H.L. Rule, W. O'Neill, Pete Skoglund (skip) (Otahuhu Bowling Club)

Rugby union

• The All Blacks played four Test Matches on a tour of Europe: ^[14]
  • 9 January, Lansdowne Road, Dublin: New Zealand 14 – 3 Ireland
  • 30 January, Twickenham, London: New Zealand 5 – 0 England
  • 13 February, Murrayfield, Edinburgh New Zealand 3 – 0 Scotland
  • 27 February, Stade Colombes, Paris: New Zealand 0 – 3 France

Soccer

• The national men's team undertook a 10-match tour of Australia, which included 3 internationals. They played one warm-up match prior to the tour. ^[15]
  • 31 July, Wellington: NZ 6 – 0 Wellington
  • 3 August, Adelaide: NZ 3 – 2 South Australia
  • 7 August, Adelaide: NZ 3 – 1 Australian XI
  • 11 August, Melbourne: NZ 1 – 2 Victoria
  • 14 August, Melbourne: NZ 2 – 1 Australia
  • 18 August, Granville: NZ 0 – 3 Granville
  • 21 August, Sydney: NZ 4 – 1 New South Wales Benge (2), Charlton, Olley
  • 25 August, Brisbane: NZ 2 – 2 Queensland Smith, Steele
  • 28 August, Brisbane: NZ 1 – 4 Australia'
  • 29 August, Newcastle: NZ 1 – 1 Northern Districts Smith
  • 4 September, Sydney: NZ 1 – 4 Australia
  • 5 September, Bulli: NZ 4 – 4 South Coast
• The Chatham Cup is won by Onehunga who beat Western of Christchurch 1–0 in the final. ^[16]
• Provincial league champions: ^[17]
  • Auckland: North Shore United
  • Bay of Plenty: Mangakino Utd
  • Buller: Millerton Thistle
  • Canterbury: Western
  • Hawke's Bay: Hastings Wanderers
  • Manawatu: Palmerston North United
  • Nelson: Settlers
  • Northland: Otangarei United
  • Otago: Northern
  • Poverty Bay: Eastern Union
  • South Canterbury: Northern Hearts
  • Southland: Brigadiers
  • Taranaki: Old Boys
  • Waikato: Huntly Thistle
  • Wanganui: New Settlers
  • Wellington: Stop Out

Births

• 1 January: Rawiri Paratene , actor and director
• 17 February: Brian Houston , New Zealand-born Australian pastor.
• 17 March: Peter Dunne , politician
• 30 April: Jane Campion , film director.
• 11 May: Murray Haszard , technology entrepreneur.
• 20 May: Julie Brougham , Olympic equestrian (died 2021)
• 15 June: Larry Ross , motorcycle speedway rider.
• 17 June: Trevor Mallard , politician
• 5 July: John Wright , cricket player and coach
• 22 July: Stu Wilson , rugby union player (died 2025)
• 24 October: Tu Wyllie , politician
• 18 November: Evan Gray , cricketer
• 24 December: Graham Sligo , field hockey player

Category:1954 births

Deaths

• 7 May: Cyril Brownlie , rugby union player.
• 26 May: Frederick Doidge , former cabinet minister and New Zealand High Commissioner (London)
• 1 June: Charles E. Major , politician.
• 5 June: Alexander Stuart , politician
• 1 August: Arthur Stallworthy , politician.
• 7 December: George William Smith , athlete, rugby union and league player.
• John Buckland Wright , engraver.

See also

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

For world events and topics in 1954 not specifically related to New Zealand see: 1954

References

1. "Historical population estimates tables". Statistics New Zealand. Archived from the original on 31 December 2017.
2. Statistics New Zealand: New Zealand Official Yearbook, 1990. ISSN 0078-0170 page 52
3. "Elections NZ – Leaders of the Opposition". Archived from the original on 17 October 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2008.
4. Today in History | NZHistory
5. NZHistory.net - includes video
6. "Accident Douglas DC-3D ZK-AQT, Saturday 22 May 1954". asn.flightsafety.org. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
7. (Ministry of Health) Archived 23 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine
8. "1954 - key events".
9. nzhistory.net.nz
10. List of New Zealand Chess Champions Archived 14 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
11. "List of NZ Trotting cup winners". Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2009.
12. Auckland Trotting cup at hrnz.co.nz Archived 17 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
13. McLintock, A.H., ed. (1966). "Bowls, men's outdoor—tournament winners". An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
14. Pick and Go Rugby Tests database
15. List of New Zealand national soccer matches
16. Chatham Cup records, nzsoccer.com Archived 14 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine
17. "New Zealand: List of champions". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 1999.

External links

Media related to 1954 in New Zealand at Wikimedia Commons