1962 in New Zealand

← 1961 1960 1959 1962 in New Zealand → 1963 1964 1965
Decades:	1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
See also:	History of New Zealand List of years in New Zealand Timeline of New Zealand history

The following lists events that happened during 1962 in New Zealand.

Population

• Estimated population as of 31 December: 2,515,800. ^[1]
• Increase since 31 December 1961: 54,500 (2.21%). ^[1]
• Males per 100 females: 101.0. ^[1]

Incumbents

Regal and viceregal

• Head of State – Elizabeth II
• Governor-General – The Viscount Cobham GCMG TD , followed by Brigadier Sir Bernard Fergusson GCMG GCVO DSO OBE . ^[2]

Government

• Speaker of the House – Ronald Algie . ^[3]
• Prime Minister – Keith Holyoake
• Deputy Prime Minister – Jack Marshall . ^[3]
• Minister of Finance – Harry Lake . ^[3]
• Minister of Foreign Affairs – Keith Holyoake . ^[3]
• Attorney-General – Ralph Hanan . ^[3]
• Chief Justice — Sir Harold Barrowclough

Parliamentary opposition

• Leader of the Opposition – Walter Nash (Labour) ^[4]

Main centre leaders

• Mayor of Auckland – Dove-Myer Robinson
• Mayor of Hamilton – Denis Rogers
• Mayor of Wellington – Frank Kitts
• Mayor of Christchurch – George Manning
• Mayor of Dunedin – Stuart Sidey

Events

• The Office of the Ombudsman was established

January

• 1 January: Samoa (then called Western Samoa) attains full independence, becoming the first independent Polynesian territory.

February

• 5 February: Dunedin lawyer James Patrick Ward was killed by a letter bomb sent to his office in what police described as "one of the most callous murders in the history of New Zealand crime". ^[5]

August

• 11 August: New Zealand Railways's Cook Strait ferry service began, using the GMV Aramoana.

November

• 12 December: The Flag of Wellington is adopted. ^[6]

Arts and literature

• R.A.K. Mason wins the Robert Burns Fellowship.

See 1962 in art, 1962 in literature, Category:1962 books

Music

See: 1962 in music

Radio and television

• New Zealand Broadcasting Service (NZBS) is restructured on 1 April to form New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation.
• An outside broadcast van is in use in Auckland, and similar vans are ordered for Wellington and Christchurch.
• Dunedin gets television service with the launch of DNTV2 on 31 July.
• There are 23,343 licensed television sets in New Zealand. ^[7]

See: 1962 in New Zealand television, 1962 in television, List of TVNZ television programming, Category:Television in New Zealand, Public broadcasting in New Zealand

Film

See: Category:1962 film awards, 1962 in film, List of New Zealand feature films, Cinema of New Zealand, Category:1962 films

Sport

Athletics

• 27 January: Peter Snell sets a new world record for the mile of 3m 54.4s, running at Cook's Gardens, Wanganui. ^[8]
• Barry Magee wins his second national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:24:55.4 in Auckland.

British Empire and Commonwealth Games

Main article: New Zealand at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games

Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
10	12	10	32

Chess

• The 69th National Chess Championship was held in Auckland, and was won by G.G. Haase of Dunedin. ^[9]

Horse racing

Harness racing

• New Zealand Trotting Cup – Lordship defeats Cardigan Bay in a rain-affected race ^[10]
• Auckland Trotting Cup – Dandy Briar ^[11]

Lawn bowls

The national outdoor lawn bowls championships are held in Christchurch. ^[12]

• Men's singles champion – Jeff Barron (Miramar Bowling Club)
• Men's pair champions – Frank Livingstone, Bob McDonald (skip) (Onehunga Bowling Club)
• Men's fours champions – W. Humphreys, S. Barlow, H.W. Todd, R. Brown (skip) (Marlborough Bowling Club)

Soccer

• The Chatham Cup is won by Hamilton Technical Old Boys who beat Northern of Dunedin 4–1 in the final. ^[13]
• Provincial league champions: ^[14]
  • Auckland: Eastern Suburbs AFC
  • Bay of Plenty: Rangers
  • Buller: Waimangaroa Utd
  • Canterbury: Western
  • Franklin: Manurewa AFC
  • Hawke's Bay: Napier Rovers
  • Manawatu: Thistle
  • Marlborough: Woodbourne
  • Nelson: Rangers
  • Northland: Otangarei United
  • Otago: Northern AFC
  • Poverty Bay: Eastern Union
  • South Canterbury: Thistle
  • Southland: Invercargill Thistle
  • Taranaki: Moturoa
  • Waikato: Hamilton Technical OB
  • Wairarapa: Lansdowne United
  • Wanganui: Wanganui Athletic
  • Wellington: Northern
  • West Coast: Runanga
• The inaugural Rothmans Cup was played between the champion clubs from Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago as a de facto national championship. The final was won by Northern AFC of Dunedin 3-2 on aggregate. ^[15]

Births

• 12 January (in England): Terry Wiles , thalidomide survivor.
• 4 February: Frank Bunce , rugby union player.
• 17 February: Tony Blain , cricketer.
• 1 March: Russell Coutts , yachtsman.
• 4 March: John Young , composer.
• 15 March: Trevor Franklin , cricketer.
• 6 June: Grant Fox , rugby player.
• 8 June: John Cutler , yachtsman.
• 16 June Jonathan Temm , lawyer.
• 22 July: Rena Owen , actress.
• 5 August: Richard de Groen , cricketer.
• 13 September: Brian Fowler , cyclist.
• 21 September: Kelly Evernden , tennis player.
• 22 September: Martin Crowe , cricketer.
• 27 September: Gavin Larsen , cricketer.
• 9 October: Paul Radisich , racing driver.
• 12 October: Mark S. Olsen , painter.
• 7 November: Debbie Hockley , cricketer.
• 29 December: Wynton Rufer , soccer player.
• Tim Chadwick , artist and writer.
• Jon Stevens , singer.

Category:1962 births

Deaths

• 26 April: Jerry Skinner , Labour politician.
• 20 June John Houston , historian and writer.
• 14 July: Janet Mackenzie , New Zealand teacher ^[16]
• 18 July: G. H. Cunningham , mycologist and plant pathologist.
• 18 September: Clyde Carr , Labour politician.
• 8 October: Donald Charles Cameron, Mayor of Dunedin
• 20 October: Cora Louisa Burrell, politician (MLC).
• 28 October: Bill Schramm , Labour politician and 11th Speaker of the House of Representatives.

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

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. Lambert & Palenski: The New Zealand Almanac, 1982. ISBN   0-908570-55-4
4. "Elections NZ – Leaders of the Opposition". Archived from the original on 17 October 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2008.
5. "Dunedin solicitor killed in bomb blast". Otago Daily Times. 6 February 1962.
6. "City of Wellington: city flag". Archives Online. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
7. "TVNZ Timeline" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 January 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2006.
8. NZhistory.net
9. List of New Zealand Chess Champions Archived 14 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
10. "List of NZ Trotting cup winners". Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2009.
11. Auckland Trotting cup at hrnz.co.nz Archived 17 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
12. 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.
13. Chatham Cup records, nzsoccer.com Archived 14 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine
14. "New Zealand: List of champions". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 1999.
15. Rothmans Cup
16. Hughes, Beryl. "Janet Craig McKutcheon Mackenzie". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . Ministry for Culture and Heritage . Retrieved 23 April 2017.