1972 in New Zealand

← 1971 1970 1969 1972 in New Zealand → 1973 1974 1975
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
See also:	History of New Zealand List of years in New Zealand Timeline of New Zealand history

The following lists events that happened during 1972 in New Zealand.

Population

• Estimated population as of 31 December: 2,959,700. ^[1]
• Increase since 31 December 1971: 61,200 (2.11%). ^[1]
• Males per 100 females: 99.7. ^[1]

Incumbents

Regal and viceregal

• Head of State – Elizabeth II
• Governor-General – Sir Arthur Porritt Bt GCMG GCVO CBE , followed by Sir Denis Blundell GCMG GCVO KBE QSO . ^[2]

Government

The 36th Parliament of New Zealand concluded. A general election was held on 25 November and saw the second National government defeated by a large margin, with the Labour Party winning 55 of 87 seats in Parliament.

• Speaker of the House – Roy Jack until 8 December, then Alfred Allen . ^[3]
• Prime Minister – Keith Holyoake then Jack Marshall then Norman Kirk
• Deputy Prime Minister – Jack Marshall then Robert Muldoon then Hugh Watt . ^[3]
• Minister of Finance – Robert Muldoon then Bill Rowling . ^[3]
• Minister of Foreign Affairs – Keith Holyoake then Jack Marshall then Norman Kirk . ^[3]
• Attorney-General – Dan Riddiford until 9 February, then Roy Jack until 8 December, then Martyn Finlay . ^[3]
• Chief Justice — Sir Richard Wild

Parliamentary opposition

• Leader of the Opposition – Norman Kirk (Labour) until 8 December, then Jack Marshall (National). ^[4]

Main centre leaders

• Mayor of Auckland – Dove-Myer Robinson
• Mayor of Hamilton – Mike Minogue
• Mayor of Wellington – Frank Kitts
• Mayor of Christchurch – Neville Pickering
• Mayor of Dunedin – Jim Barnes

Events

Mount Ngauruhoe eruption

• 7 February – Jack Marshall replaces Keith Holyoake as prime minister.
• 14 September – As a part of the Māori protest movement, activist group Ngā Tamatoa, the Te Reo Māori Society of Victoria University, and Te Huinga Rangatahi (the New Zealand Māori Students’ Association) presented a petition signed by over 33,000 people calling for te Reo Māori to be taught in schools, leading to the creation of te Wiki o te Reo Māori (Māori Language Week) in 1975, and a revitalisation of Māori language. ^{[5] [6]}
• 20 October – Restrictions on the manufacture and sale of margarine in New Zealand are removed. ^[7]
• 25 November – The 1972 general election is held. The Labour Party, led by Norman Kirk, wins 55 of the 87 seats and forms the third Labour government.
• 3 December – Qantas commences the first Boeing 747 service in New Zealand, between Christchurch and Sydney. ^[8]
• Chile and New Zealand establish embassies in each other's capitals. ^[9]
• The Values Party is formed.
• Mount Ngauruhoe erupts.

Arts and literature

• Ian Wedde wins the Robert Burns Fellowship.

See 1972 in art, 1972 in literature

Music

New Zealand Music Awards

• Loxene Golden Disc Suzanne – Sunshine Through A Prism
• Loxene Golden Disc Creation – Carolina

See: 1972 in music

Performing arts

• Benny Award presented by the Variety Artists Club of New Zealand to Jon Zealando and Lou Clauson QSM.

Radio and Television

• The Broadcasting Authority in March grants the right to broadcast a second television channel to the private consortium Independent Television Corporation. After the election of the Labour Government in November, Norman Kirk announces the second channel will be run by NZBC.
• In September, the first live broadcast of an All Black match takes place. The All Blacks played against Australia. Archived 22 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine
• Feltex Television Awards:
  • Best Programme: Charlie's Rock – Pukemanu
  • Outstanding Performance: Peter Sinclair in Golden Disc Award
  • Best Drama: Charlie's Rock – Pukemanu

See: 1972 in New Zealand television, 1972 in television, List of TVNZ television programming, Public broadcasting in New Zealand

Film

• To Love a Māori

See: 1972 in film, List of New Zealand feature films, Cinema of New Zealand

Sport

Athletics

• Field events within New Zealand switch from imperial to metric measurements. Track events changed earlier in 1969.
• David McKenzie wins his fourth and last national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:14:11.2 on 11 March in Dunedin.

Chess

• The 79th National Chess Championship is held in Hamilton, and is won by R.J. Sutton of Auckland (his third title). ^[10]

Horse racing

Harness racing

• New Zealand Trotting Cup: Globe Bay ^[11]
• Auckland Trotting Cup: Royal Ascot ^[12]

Olympic Games

Summer Olympics

Main article: New Zealand at the 1972 Summer Olympics

Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	1	1	3

• New Zealand sends a team of 89 competitors.

Winter Olympics

Main article: New Zealand at the 1972 Winter Olympics

Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
0	0	0	0

• New Zealand sends a team of two alpine skiers.

Paralympic Games

Summer Paralympics

Main article: New Zealand at the 1972 Summer Paralympics

• New Zealand sends a team of 10 competitors.

Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
3	3	3	9

Soccer

• New Zealand National Soccer League won by Mt. Wellington AFC
• The Chatham Cup is won by Christchurch United who met Mount Wellington.
  • Final 4-4 after extra time
  • First replay 1-1 after extra time
  • Second replay 2-1 ^[13]

Births

• 3 January: Shaun Longstaff , rugby player
• 9 January: Gary Stead , cricketer
• 3 March: Peter O'Leary , soccer referee
• 27 March: David Bain , originally served 12 years for murder of his family, conviction quashed by Privy Council and subsequently found not guilty at retrial.
• 29 March: Paul Kent , swimmer
• 12 April: Jenny Shepherd , field hockey player
• 17 April: Dylan Mika , All Black (died 20 March 2018)
• 16 May: Matthew Hart , cricketer
• 3 June: Robert Kennedy , cricketer
• 7 June: Karl Urban , actor
• 11 June: Stephen Kearney , rugby league player and coach
• 21 June (in South Africa): Irene van Dyk , netball player
• 3 July: Aleksei Kulashko , chess player
• 4 July: Craig Spearman , cricketer
• 12 August: Tony Marsh , rugby player
• 6 October: Brooke Howard-Smith , broadcaster.
• 27 October: John Steel , swimmer
• 16 December: Angela Bloomfield , actress
• 18 December: Julian Arahanga , actor
• 20 December: Jonathan Wyatt , long-distance runner
• Veeshayne Armstrong , television presenter.
• (in Britain): Warwick Murray , academic.
• (in Hong Kong): Jack Yan , publisher, designer and businessman

Deaths

March

• 2 March – Billy Wallace, rugby player and All Black (born 1878)
• 4 March – Major-General Sir Harold Barrowclough, former chief justice (born 1894)

April

• 14 April – Bert Hawthorne, motor racing driver (born 1943)

July

• 10 July – Charles Bowden, politician (born 1886)

August

• 8 August – Agnes Weston, politician (MLC) (born 1879)

September

• 8 September – Harold Temple White, music teacher, conductor, organist and composer (born 1881) ^[14]

October

• 5 October – Jim Barclay, politician (born 1882)
• 8 October – Laurie Brownlie, rugby player and All Black (born 1899)
• 20 October – John Pascoe, photographer and mountaineer (born 1908)
• 22 October – James K. Baxter, poet (born 1926)

December

• 11 December – John Mills, cricketer (born 1905)
• 26 December – Ronald Hugh Morrieson, writer (born 1922)

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. Keane, Basil (20 June 2012). "Ngā rōpū tautohetohe – Māori protest movements: Cultural rights". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Retrieved 17 September 2021.
6. "History of the Māori language: Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori - Māori Language Week". Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 31 July 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
7. Margarine Amendment Act 1972 No 127
8. "No hitches in first jumbo service". The Press . 4 December 1972. p. 1.
9. "New Zealand and Chile". New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
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. Chatham Cup records, nzsoccer.com Archived 14 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine
14. White, Judith. "Harold Temple White". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . Ministry for Culture and Heritage . Retrieved 23 April 2017.

See also

• 1972 in science
• 1972 in Australia
• History of New Zealand
• Military history of New Zealand
• Timeline of the New Zealand environment
• Timeline of New Zealand history
• Timeline of New Zealand's links with Antarctica