The Mayor of Auckland City was the directly elected head of the
Auckland City Council
Auckland City Council was the local government authority for Auckland City, New Zealand, from 1871 to 1 November 2010, when it and Auckland's six other city and district councils were amalgamated to form the Auckland Council. It was an elected b ...
, the municipal government of
Auckland City, New Zealand. The office existed from 1871 to 2010, when the Auckland City Council and mayoralty was abolished and replaced with the
Auckland Council and the
Mayor of Auckland
The Mayor of Auckland is the directly elected head of the Auckland Council, the local government authority for the Auckland Region in New Zealand, which it controls as a unitary authority. The position exists since October 2010 after the amal ...
.
History
Auckland obtained its first local government in 1851, when the Borough of Auckland was created, covering an area of . This short-lived entity, which existed for about one year, had only one mayor,
Archibald Clark.
When the City of Auckland was formally incorporated in 1871, it covered a much smaller area of . Its municipal council was led by a chairman,
Walter Lee. Soon afterwards the office of Mayor of Auckland was created. At first, the mayor was elected by the councillors. In 1875,
Benjamin Tonks
Benjamin Tonks (1832 – 27 June 1884) was a 19th-century mayor and Member of Parliament in Auckland, New Zealand.
Tonks was elected to the Parnell electorate of the Auckland Provincial Council in 1871. He represented Parnell in the 6th and ...
was the first mayor elected at large, i.e. by the ratepayers.
There were 39 holders of the position. The longest-serving was Sir
Dove-Myer Robinson
Sir Dove-Myer Robinson (15 June 1901 – 14 August 1989) was Mayor of Auckland City from 1959 to 1965 and from 1968 to 1980, the longest tenure of any holder of the office. He was a colourful character and became affectionately known across New ...
, who held the post for 18 years, and was the first person to serve non-consecutive terms.
There were two female Mayors;
Catherine Tizard
Dame Catherine Anne Tizard (née Maclean; 4 April 1931 – 31 October 2021) was a New Zealand politician who served as mayor of Auckland City from 1983 to 1990, and the 16th governor-general of New Zealand from 1990 to 1996. She was the first ...
in 1983 and
Christine Fletcher
Christine Elizabeth Fletcher (née Lees, born 25 January 1955) is a New Zealand politician. Currently an Auckland Council councillor, she was previously a National Party Member of Parliament from 1990 to 1999, and served one term as Mayor of A ...
in 1998.
The city council was abolished on 31 October 2010. The area has since been governed by the
Auckland Council, which also governs the rest of the
Auckland Region.
List of mayors of Auckland City
Key
†: Died in office
List of deputy-mayors
Key
†: Died in office
References
Further reading
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{{Mayors in New Zealand
Auckland City
Mayor of Auckland City
Auckland City Council