Part One: 1900 - World War One:
Part Two: Between the Wars:
Part Three: War War Two – Compulsory Military Training:
Part Four: Korean War – Wahine Disaster:
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1900 - Maori Councils Act passed; Public Health Act passed setting up Department of Public Health in 1901
1901 - Cook and other Pacific Islands annexed; Penny postage first used; Union of the Synod of Otago and Southland with the Northern Presbyterian Church to form the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand
1902 - Pacific telegraph cable begins operating between New Zealand, Australia and Fiji; Wreck of trans-Tasman steamer SS Elingamite; 25 November: New Zealand General Election, 1902
1903 - 31 March: Richard Pearse achieves semi-controlled flight near Timaru; 15 August: The New Zealand All Blacks play their first Rugby Test match against Australia’s Wallabies at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney, Australia. New Zealand win, 22-3
1905 - New Zealand rugby team tours England and becomes known as the All Blacks; Old Age Pension increases to £26 per year – however, eligibility tightened; 6 December: New Zealand General Election, 1905
1906 - 10 June: Richard Seddon dies and is succeeded by Joseph Ward as Premier
1907 - July: Resolution passed to constitute New Zealand as a Dominion; Fire destroys Parliament buildings; Tohunga Suppression Act passed; 26 September; Dominion of New Zealand declared
1908 - Auckland to Wellington main trunk railway line opens; First New Zealanders compete at the Olympics as part of Australasian team; Harry Kerr is the first New Zealander to win an Olympic medal (a bronze in the Men’s 3500 metre walk); Blackball coal miner strike lasts 11 weeks; Ernest Rutherford is awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry; New Zealand’s population reaches one million; 17 November, 24 November and 1 December: New Zealand General Election, 1908
1909 - “Red” Federation of Labour formed; SS Penguin wrecked in Cook Strait, 75 people die; Compulsory Military Training introduced; Stamp-vending machine invented and manufactured in New Zealand
1910 - Halley’s Comet sighted in New Zealand
1911 - 7 December, 14 December: New Zealand General Election, 1911
1912 - William Massey wins vote in the House and becomes Prime Minister; Reform Government formed; Waihi miners’ strike; Malcolm Champion becomes first New Zealand to win an Olympic Gold Medal
1913 - Waterfront strikes in Auckland and Wellington
1914 - World War I begins and German Samoa is occupied; New Zealand Expeditionary Force is despatched to Egypt; Huntly coal mine disaster, 43 people die; 15 August: New Zealand troops land unopposed in Apia; October: 8427 troops leave New Zealand for Europe; 10 December: New Zealand General Election, 1914
1915 - New Zealand forces take part in Gallipoli campaign; Reform and Liberal Parties form National War Cabinet; Britain announces its intention to purchase all New Zealand meat exports during war; 25 April: First landings at Gaba Tepe and Cape Helles on the Gallipoli Peninsula; 27ril: Counterattack launched by Turkish forces under the command of Mustafa Kemal; 20 December: Final withdraw of all troops from Anzac Cove
1916 - New Zealand troops transfer from Western Front; Conscription introduced; Labour Party formed; Lake Coleridge electricity supply scheme opened; 10 June: Passing of the Military Services Bill introduces conscription; July: Battle of Romani defaults Turkish force advancing towards the Suez Canal
1917 - Battle of Passchendaele,: 3,700 New Zealanders killed; Six o’clock public house closing introduced; Lord Liverpool becomes first Governor-General
1918 - New Zealand Division in the Battle of the Somme; End of World War I; Influenza epidemic in which an estimated 8,500 die; Creation of power boards for electricity distribution’ Prohibition petition with 242,001 signatures presented to Parliament
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1919 - Women eligible for election to Parliament; Massey signs Treaty of Versailles; First official airmail flight from Auckland to Dargaville; 17 December: New Zealand General Election, 1919
1920 - Anzac Day established; New Zealand gets League of Nations mandate to govern Western Samoa; First aeroplane flight across Crook Strait; New Zealand sends first team to Olympic Games (previously they have competed as part of Australasian team); Clarence Hadfield D’Arcy wins first Olympic medal for New Zealand
1921 - New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy established
1922 - Meat Producers’ Board placed in control of meat exports; 7 December: New Zealand General Election, 1922
1923 - Otira Tunnel opens; Ross Dependency proclaimed
1924 - All Black “Invincibles” tour of Britain and France
1925 - 4 November: General Election won by the Reform Party under Coates
1926 - National Public Broadcasting begins under auspices of Radio Broadcasting Co. Ltd.
1928 - New Zealand Summer Time introduced; Charles Kingsford Smith completes first flight across Tasman Sea; 14 December: General Election won by new United Party; Ted Morgan wins first Olympic Gold Medal for New Zealand
1929 - Economic depression worsens; Severe earthquake in Murchison, Karamea District, 17 people die; First health stamps issued
1930 - Unemployment Board set up to provide relief work
1931 - Napier earthquake, 256 die; Substantial percentage reductions in public service wages and salaries; Airmail postage stamps introduced; 2 December: General Election won by newly formed Coalition Government under George Forbes
1932 - Compulsory arbitration of industrial disputes abolished; Unemployed riots in Auckland, Dunedin and Christchurch; Reductions in old-age and other pensions; Distinctive New Zealand coins first issued, see New Zealand pound
1933 - 9 September: Elizabeth McCombs becomes first women MP
1934 - Reserve Bank and Mortgage Corporation established; First Trans-Tasman airmail
1935 - Air services begin across Cook Strait; 24 November: New Zealand Post Office jams 1ZB radio broadcast by Colin Scrimgeour (Uncle Scrim); 27 November: General Election – First Labour Government elected under Michael Joseph Savage
1936 - Reserve Bank taken over by state; State housing programme launched; Guaranteed prices for dairy products introduced; National Party formed from former Coalition MPs; Inter-island trunk air services introduced; Jack Lovelock wins Olympic gold and sets world record for 1500m; Jean Batten’s record flight from England; Working week reduced from 44 to 40 hours
1937 - April: Federation of Labour unifies Trade Union Movement; RNZAF set up as separate branch of Armed Forces; March: Fee milk in schools introduced
1938 - Social Security Act establishes revised pensions structure and the basis of a National Health Service; Import and exchange controls are introduced; 15 October: General Election, Labour re-elected
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1939 - Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force formed; Bulk purchases of farm products by Great Britain; 3 September: War declared on Germany; 7 September: First New Zealander (an officer flying with e RAF) taken Prisoner of War; 12 September: Enlistment of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force begins; 4 October: Government announces the formation of a Maori Battalion for 2 NZEF; 23 November: Bernard Freyberg is appointed to commander of 2 NZEF; 13 December: HMNZS Achilles takes part in The Battle on the River Plate
1940 - 5 January: First Echelon of the 2 NZEF leaves New Zealand for the Middle East; 12 February: The main body of the First Echelon of the 2 NZEF arrives at Maadi Camp in Egypt; 27 March: Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage dies; 1 April: Peter Fraser becomes Prime Minister; 1 April: Formation of No. 75 (NZ) Squadron of the RAF; 11 June: New Zealand declares war on Italy; 19 June: RMS Niagara hits a mine off Bream Head, Northland; 2 August: Home Guard established; 20 August: German raider Orion sinks the steamer Turakina off Cape Egmont; October: Stanley Graham kills 7 in shooting spree near Hokitika; 25 November: Steamer Holmwood sunk by German raiders off the Chatham Island; 27 November: Rangitane sunk by German raiders 480 km from East Cape; 8 December: New Zealand steamer Komata sunk by German raiders off Nauru; Sidney Holland becomes Leader of Opposition; Conscription for Military Service; German mines laid across Hauraki Gulf
1941 - 20 May-1 June: New Zealand forces suffer heavy losses in the Battle of Crete; 8 December: New Zealand declares war on Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbour; Maori War Effort Organisation set up; Pharmaceutical and General Practitioner Medical Benefits introduced
1942 - Economic stabilisation; New Zealand troops in First and Second Battles of El Alamein; Food rationing introduced; Mobilisation of women for essential work; 12 June: First 5 ships of American troops from the 37th US Army Division land in Auckland; 14 June: First American Marines from the 1st Corps Division land in Wellington
1943 - New Zealand troops take part in invasion of Italy; February: Mutiny by Japanese Prisoners of War at Featherston Prisoner of War Camp results in 48 Japanese dead, 61 wounded, plus one dead and 11 injured guards; 3 April: Battle of Manners Street between American and New Zealand servicemen; 20 June: Several Marines drown during landing exercises at Paekakariki; 28 August: Eleanor Roosevelt arrives in New Zealand for visit; 3 September: Eleanor Roosevelt flies out from Auckland; 25 September: General Election, Labour re-elected
1944 - Australia-New Zealand agreement provides for co-operation in the South Pacific
1945 - New Zealand signs United Nations charter; Maori Social and Economic Advancement Act passed; National Airways Corporation founded
1946 - Family Benefit of £1 per week become universal; Bank of New Zealand nationalised; 24 November: New Zealand General Election, 1946; 20 August: Railway disaster in Manawatu Gorge
1947 - Statute of Westminster adopted with the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1947, passed by New Zealand Parliament; New Zealand Constitution Amendment (Request and Consent) Act 1947 passed, granting Parliament of New Zealand the ability to amend the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852; First public performance by National Orchestra; Mabel Howard becomes first woman Cabinet Minister; Fire in Ballantyne’s Department store, Christchurch, 41 people die
1948 - British Nationality and New Zealand Citizenship Act 1948 passed; Protest campaign against exclusion of Maori players from rugby tour of South Africa; Polio epidemic closes school; Mount Ruapehu and Mount Ngauruhoe erupt; Meat rationing ends
1949 - 1 January: New Zealanders become “British Subjects and New Zealand Citizens”; Referendum agrees to compulsory Military Training; New Zealand gets first four navy frigates; 30 November: General Election, National Government elected.
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1950 - Naval and Ground Forces sent to Korean War; New Zealand Legislative Council abolished; Wool boom
1951 - Prolonged Waterfront dispute, state of emergency proclaimed; ANZUS Treaty signed between United States, Australia and New Zealand; Maori Women’s Welfare League established; 27 December: New Zealand General Election, 1951
1952 - Population reaches over two million
1953 - First tour by a reigning monarch; Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay first to climb Mount Everest; Railway disaster at Tangiwai, 151 people die
1954 - New Zealand signs South East Asia Collective Defence Treaty; Gains seat on United Nations Security Council; 20 September: In midst of moral panic, the Mazengarb Report is presented; 13 November: New Zealand General Election, 1954; Social Credit gets 10 percent of vote in General Election, but no seats in Parliament
1955 - Pulp and paper mill opens at Kawerau; Rimutaka Rail Tunnel opened
1956 - New Zealand troops sent to Malaya; Roxburgh and Whakamaru Power Stations in operation
1957 - 17 February: Last hanging of Walter James Bolton; Scott Base established in Ross Dependency; Court of Appeal constituted; Dairy products gain 10 years of unrestricted access to Britain; 30 November: General Election, National loses election, Walter Nash leads Second Labour Government
1958 - PAYE tax introduced; Arnold Nordmeyer’s “Black Budge”; First geothermal electricity generated at Wairakei; First heart-lung machine used at Greenlane Hospital, Auckland; Hamilton New Zealand Temple, the first temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Southern Hemisphere, is built
1959 - Antarctic Treaty signed with other countries involved in scientific exploration in Antarctica; Auckland Harbour Bridge opened
1960 - Regular television programmes begin in Auckland; Government Service Equal Pay Act passed; 26 November: general Election, National Government elected; Treasury leases New Zealand’s first computer from IBM
1961 - New Zealand joins the International Monetary Fund; Capital punishment abolished
1962 - New Zealand troops sent to Malaysia during confrontation with Indonesia; Western Samoa becomes independent; Sir Guy Powles becomes first Ombudsman; New Zealand Maori Council established; Cook Strait rail ferry service begins; Taranaki gas well opens
1963 - 30 November: New Zealand General Election, 1963
1964 - Marsden Point Oil Refinery opens at Whangarei; Cook Strait power cables laid; Auckland’s population reaches half a million
1965 - NAFTA agreement negotiated with Australia; Support for United States in Vietnam; New Zealand combat force sent, protest movement begins; Cook Islands becomes self-governing
1966 - International airport officially opens at Auckland; New Zealand labour force reaches one million; National Library of New Zealand created; Te Atairangi Kaahu becomes first Maori Queen; 26 November: New Zealand general Election, 1966
1967 - Referendum extends hotel closing hours to 10pm; 10 July: Decimal currency introduced, see New Zealand Dollar; Lord Arthur Porritt becomes first New Zealand-born Governor-General; Breath and blood tests introduced for suspected drinking drivers; Denny Hulme becomes New Zealand’s first (and currently only) Formula 1 World Champion
1968 - Inter-island ferry Wahine sinks in severe storm in Wellington Harbour, 51 people die; Three die in Inangahua earthquake