1974 in New Zealand

← 1973 1972 1971 1974 in New Zealand → 1975 1976 1977
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 1974 in New Zealand.

Population

• Estimated population as of 31 December: 3,091,900. ^[1]
• Increase since 31 December 1973: 65,200 (2.20%). ^[1]
• Males per 100 females: 99.7. ^[1]

Incumbents

Regal and viceregal

• Head of State – Elizabeth II
• Governor-General – Sir Denis Blundell GCMG GCVO KBE QSO . ^[2]

Government

The 37th New Zealand Parliament continued. Government was by a Labour majority of 55 seats to the National Party's 32 seats.

• Speaker of the House – Stan Whitehead . ^[3]
• Prime Minister – Norman Kirk then Bill Rowling
• Deputy Prime Minister – Hugh Watt then Bob Tizard ^[3]
• Minister of Finance – Bill Rowling then Bob Tizard . ^[3]
• Minister of Foreign Affairs – Norman Kirk then Bill Rowling . ^[3]
• Attorney-General – Martyn Finlay . ^[3]

Parliamentary opposition

• Leader of the Opposition – Jack Marshall (National) until 4 July, then Robert Muldoon (National). ^[4]

Main centre leaders

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

Events

• 24 January – 2 February: Christchurch hosts the 1974 British Commonwealth Games. ^[5]
• 30 January – 8 February: Royal visit by the Queen for the Commonwealth Games and Waitangi Day accompanied by the Duke, Princess Anne, Mark Phillips and Charles, Prince of Wales. ^[6]
• 6 February – Waitangi Day, then named New Zealand Day, is first celebrated as a nationwide public holiday.
• 1 April – The Accident Compensation Commission is established, providing universal no-fault accidental injury cover to all New Zealanders.
• 9 April – Dunedin experiences a magnitude 4.9 earthquake which causes $3.5 million (2024 terms) in damages. ^{[7] [8]}
• August – The government approved Sunburst as the first ohu, a type of rural intentional community, near Whitianga, Coromandel. ^[9]
• 31 August – Prime Minister Norman Kirk dies of heart complications, aged 51. He was replaced by Bill Rowling, see New Zealand Labour Party leadership election, 1974.
• September – The country's first Pizza Hut restaurant opens in New Lynn, Auckland.
• The voting age is lowered from 20 to 18. ^[10]

Arts and literature

• Hone Tuwhare wins the Robert Burns Fellowship.

See 1974 in art, 1974 in literature

Music

New Zealand Music Awards

• BEST NEW ARTIST Bunny Walters
• RECORDING ARTIST / GROUP OF THE YEAR Bull Dogs All-Star Goodtime Band
• BEST NZ RECORDED COMPOSITION John Hanlon – Is It Natural
• PRODUCER OF THE YEAR Mike Harvey – Is It Natural
• ARRANGER OF THE YEAR Mike Harvey – Is It Natural

See: 1974 in music

Performing arts

• Benny Award presented by the Variety Artists Club of New Zealand to Les Andrews.

Radio and television

• The target delivery date for colour television for all New Zealanders was when the country hosted the 1974 Commonwealth Games.
• 17 October – Coronation Street episode 924, the first Coronation Street episode filmed in colour, airs on NZBC TV. ^{[11] [12]}
• Feltex Television Awards:
  • Best Programme: Richard John Seddon – Premier
  • Best Performer: Bill McCarthy
  • Best Actor: Tony Currie as Seddon
  • Writing: Alexander Guyan in Lunch with Richard Burton
  • Allied Crafts: Janice Wharekawa – Vision Mixer for Happen Inn and others
  • Special Award: Television team for the 1974 Commonwealth Games

See: 1974 in New Zealand television, 1974 in television, Category:Television in New Zealand, List of TVNZ television programming, Category:New Zealand television shows, Public broadcasting in New Zealand

Film

See: Category:1974 film awards, 1974 in film, List of New Zealand feature films, Cinema of New Zealand, Category:1974 films

Sport

British Commonwealth Games

Main article: New Zealand at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games

Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
9	8	18	35

Chess

• The 81st National Chess Championship is held in Christchurch. The title is shared by P.A. Garbett and Ortvin Sarapu, both of Auckland. ^[13]

Horse racing

Harness racing

• Robalan defeats hot favorite Young Quinn to win the New Zealand Trotting Cup ^[14]
• Auckland Trotting Cup: Young Quinn ^[15]

Soccer

• New Zealand National Soccer League won by, Mount Wellington
• The Chatham Cup is won by Christchurch United who beat Wellington Diamond United 2–0 in the final. ^[16]

Births

• 6 January: Dion Waller , rugby player
• 10 January: Jemaine Clement , comedian
• 28 February: Moana Mackey , politician
• 21 March: Rhys Darby , actor and comedian ^[17]
• 27 April (in Australia): Richard Johnson , soccer player
• 6 May: Sean Pero Cameron , basketball player
• 25 May: James Reid , singer, guitarist and founder of The Feelers
• 2 June: Andy Booth , motor racing driver
• 15 June: Andrew Timlin , field hockey player
• 10 July: Chris Drum , cricketer
• 14 July (in Bulgaria): Pavlina Nola , tennis player
• 26 July: Kees Meeuws , rugby player
• 1 August: Michelle Turner , field hockey player
• 27 August: Michael Mason , cricketer
• 15 September: Emily Drumm , cricketer
• 11 October: Liz Couch , skeleton racer
• 23 October: Beatrice Faumuina , discus thrower
• 5 November: Taine Randell , rugby player
• 13 November: Carl Hoeft , rugby player
• 22 November: Oliver Driver , actor, director, broadcoaster and television presenter
• 2 December: Robbie Hart , cricketer
• 7 December: Jason Spice , rugby and cricket player
• 10 December: Chris Martin , cricketer
• Kate Duignan , novelist
• Tim Selwyn , activist

Category:1974 births

Deaths

• 12 February: Alice Bush , doctor and medical activist.
• 13 February: Murray Hudson GC, soldier.
• 13 February: Sir Leslie Munro , diplomat and politician.
• 14 February: Charles 'Stewie' Dempster , cricketer.
• 5 August: Robert McKeen , politician – 12th Speaker of the House of Representatives.
• 12 August: James Fletcher , industrialist.
• 30 August: Professor George Jobberns , academic.
• 31 August: Norman Kirk , Prime Minister.
• 7 September: Paddy Kearins , politician.
• 12 September: Hector Bolitho , writer and biographer.
• 26 October: Dan Riddiford , politician.
• 28 October: Charles Elliot Fox , missionary.
• 11 December: Maurice Duggan , writer.

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. Bell, Daniel (17 March 2016). Encyclopedia of International Games. McFarland. p. 512. ISBN   978-1-4766-1527-1.
6. "Royal tours". Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 11 July 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
7. Gorman, Paul (26 September 2020). "The day the earth moved". The Otago Daily Times . Retrieved 14 June 2024.
8. Littlewood, Matthew (8 April 2024). "Information event to commemorate earthquake". Otago Daily Times . Retrieved 14 June 2024.
9. Wilton, Caren (4 April 2018). "Communes and communities – Communes: 1960s and 1970s". Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Retrieved 5 October 2024.
10. "New Zealand Parliament – Parliament timeline". Archived from the original on 19 January 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2008.
11. "TV series in colour". The Press . 12 October 1974. p. 16.
12. "Professor Erlich a TV personality". The Press . 19 October 1974. p. 5.
13. List of New Zealand Chess Champions Archived 14 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
14. "List of NZ Trotting cup winners". Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2009.
15. Auckland Trotting cup at hrnz.co.nz Archived 17 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
16. Chatham Cup records, nzsoccer.com Archived 14 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine
17. Hunkin, Joanna (10 October 2008). "Roll call: Rhys Darby". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 6 July 2012.

External links

Media related to 1974 in New Zealand at Wikimedia Commons