The following lists events that happened during 1951 in New Zealand.
The year was dominated by the
1951 New Zealand waterfront dispute
The 1951 New Zealand waterfront dispute was the largest and most widespread industrial dispute in New Zealand history. During the time, up to twenty thousand workers went on strike in support of waterfront workers protesting against financial ha ...
.
New Zealand entered a mutual defence pact with the United States and Australia – ANZUS.
Population
A New Zealand census was held in 1951.
* Estimated population as of 31 December: 1,970,500
* Increase since 31 December 1950: 42,800 (2.22%)
* Males per 100 females: 100.9
Governor-General
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...
KBE
KBE may refer to:
* Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters
* Knowledge-based engineering
Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...
29th New Zealand Parliament
The 29th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand. It opened in 1950, following the 1949 general election. It was dissolved in 1951 in preparation for the 1951 general election. The governing Labour Party had been ...
continued. In power was the
National government A national government is the government of a nation.
National government or
National Government may also refer to:
* Central government in a unitary state, or a country that does not give significant power to regional divisions
* Federal governme ...
under
Sidney Holland
Sir Sidney George Holland (18 October 1893 – 5 August 1961) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 25th prime minister of New Zealand from 13 December 1949 to 20 September 1957. He was instrumental in the creation and consolidation o ...
. The
general election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
saw the governing National Party re-elected with a twenty-seat margin, a substantial improvement on the twelve-seat margin it previously held.
The New Zealand Legislative Council voted itself out of existence, making New Zealand a unicameral democracy.
*
Speaker of the House
The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England.
Usage
The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hunger ...
Sidney Holland
Sir Sidney George Holland (18 October 1893 – 5 August 1961) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 25th prime minister of New Zealand from 13 December 1949 to 20 September 1957. He was instrumental in the creation and consolidation o ...
Sidney Holland
Sir Sidney George Holland (18 October 1893 – 5 August 1961) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 25th prime minister of New Zealand from 13 December 1949 to 20 September 1957. He was instrumental in the creation and consolidation o ...
Leader of the Opposition
The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...
Official Secrets Act
An Official Secrets Act (OSA) is legislation that provides for the protection of state secrets and official information, mainly related to national security but in unrevised form (based on the UK Official Secrets Act 1911) can include all infor ...
is passed.
* 15 February: The start of the "
1951 Waterfront dispute
The 1951 New Zealand waterfront dispute was the largest and most widespread industrial dispute in New Zealand history. During the time, up to twenty thousand workers went on strike in support of waterfront workers protesting against financial ha ...
" a massive labor strike lasting for 151 days.
* 1 September: Signing of the ANZUS treaty.
1951 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1951.
— Opening lines of ''The Catcher in the Rye''
Events
*January 12 – Janie Moore, C. S. Lewis' so-called adoptive mother, dies.
*March – The American wri ...
1951 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1951.
Specific locations
* 1951 in British music
* 1951 in Norwegian music
Specific genres
* 1951 in country music
* 1951 in jazz
Events
*January 29 – Nilla Pizzi wins th ...
Radio and television
* Experimental television broadcasts had been allowed from 1951 (as long as they included nothing that could be classed as 'entertainment')
See:
Public broadcasting in New Zealand
Public broadcasting in New Zealand is funded through New Zealand Government body New Zealand On Air, and consists of a number of television channels, radio stations, and websites. In addition to funding solely public media outlets, New Zealand ...
1951 in film
The year 1951 in film involved some significant events.
Top-grossing films United States
The top ten 1951 released films by box office gross in the United States are as follows:
International
The highest-grossing 1951 films in countries outs ...
The national outdoor lawn bowls championships are held in Wellington.
* Men's singles champion – A. Graham (Johnsonville Bowling Club)
* Men's pair champions – G.G. Littlejohn, A.J. Webster (skip) (Hutt Bowling Club)
* Men's fours champions – A.J. Murdoch, H.L. Rule, A. Rivers,
Pete Skoglund
Thomas Theodorus "Pete" Skoglund (25 July 1905 – 2 October 1968) was a New Zealand lawn bowls player.
At the 1950 British Empire Games in Auckland he won the men's fours bronze medal alongside teammates Arthur Engebretsen, Noel Jolly and Fr ...
(skip) (Otahuhu Bowling Club)
Rugby league
*The
1951 French rugby league tour of Australia and New Zealand
The 1951 French rugby league tour of Australia and New Zealand was the first ever tour of Australasia by any French sports team in history. Puig Aubert captained the France national rugby league team who played 28 matches in total in both Austra ...
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
in all three tests, winning back the cup.
* Ranfurly Shield: North Auckland defended the shield against Bay of Plenty (16–12) and Thames Valley (19–6) before losing it to Waikato (3–6). Waikato then defended successfully against Auckland (14–6), Bay of Plenty (32–10), Taranaki (21–12) and Wanganui (14–0).
Shooting
* Ballinger Belt –
Maurie Gordon
Maurice George Gordon (2 April 1926 – 29 June 2016) was a New Zealand competitive rifle shooter who won a gold medal representing his country at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games in Christchurch.
Early life and family
Born in Napier on 2 A ...
(Okawa)
Soccer
* The New Zealand national soccer team played 9 matches, 6 of them internationals:
** 11 August, Wellington: NZ 3 – 1 Victoria (Australia)
** 10 September, Auckland: NZ 2 – 0 Auckland
** 15 September, Suva: NZ 6 – 1 Suva
** 19 September, Nouméa: NZ 0 – 2 New Caledonia
** 22 September, Nouméa: NZ 6 – 4 New Caledonia
** 24 September, Nouméa: NZ 0 – 2 New Caledonia
** 30 September, Nouméa: NZ 3 – 1 New Caledonia
** 4 October, Nouméa: NZ 9 – 0 New Hebrides
** 7 October, Suva: NZ 6 – 4 Fiji
* The Chatham Cup is won by Eastern Suburbs of Auckland who beat
Northern
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a ra ...
of Dunedin 5— 1in the final.
* Provincial league champions:
** Auckland: Eastern Suburbs AFC
** Buller: Millerton Thistle
** Canterbury: Technical OB
** Hawke's Bay: Napier HSOB
** Manawatu: St Andrews
** Nelson: Thistle
** Northland: Kamo Swifts
** Otago: Northern AFC
** Poverty Bay: Thistle
** South Canterbury: Northern Hearts
** Southland: Brigadiers
** Taranaki: Old Boys
** Waikato: Claudelands Rovers, Rotowaro (shared)
** Wanganui: Technical College Old Boys
** Wellington: Seatoun AFC
** West Coast: Runanga
Births
* 8 January: Garry Moore, mayor of Christchurch.
* 24 January
Dianne Macaskill
Dianne Mary Macaskill is a New Zealand public servant. She was the Chief Executive and Chief Archivist of Archives New Zealand. She started in this role on 11 June 2001 and finished her term on 10 June 2009.Archives New Zealand
* 21 February: John Parker, cricketer.
* 6 March: Maurice Williamson, politician, cabinet minister
* 29 March: Geoff Howarth, cricketer.
* 22 June: Todd Hunter, musician.
* 3 July: Richard Hadlee, cricketer.
* 21 July: (in Fiji) Bernie Fraser, rugby player.
* 14 August: Vern Hanaray, road cyclist.
* 14 September: Karen Plummer, cricketer.
* 20 September: Stephen Boock, cricketer.
* 27 October:
Rick Barker
Richard John Barker (born 27 October 1951) is a New Zealand politician. He is a member of the Labour Party, and was a middle-ranking Cabinet minister in the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand.
Biography Early life and career
Barker was bor ...
Charles Tilleard Natusch
Lewis Tilleard Natusch, but always known as Charles Natusch, (4 October 1859 – 16 July 1951) was a noted New Zealand architect and quantity surveyor, known particularly as a builder of fine houses for wealthy clients.
Early life
Born and rais ...
, architect
* 4 November:
Oscar Natzka
Oscar Natzka (15 June 19124 November 1951) was a New Zealand operatic singer.
Early life
Born as Franz Oscar Natzke (as he was sometimes credited earlier in his career) at Wharepuhunga, North Island, New Zealand, he was the son of August Natzke ( ...
, opera singer.
* 1 December: Te Rangi Hīroa, Māori leader (born 1877)
Timeline of New Zealand history
This is a timeline of the history of New Zealand that includes only events deemed to be of principal importance – for less important events click the year heading or refer to List of years in New Zealand.
Prehistory (to 1000 CE)
* 85 mya ...