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(Top) 1 Population 2 Incumbents 2.1 Regal and viceregal 2.2 Government 2.3 Parliamentary opposition 2.4 Main centre leaders 3 Events 4 Arts and literature 4.1 Music 4.2 Radio 4.3 Film 5 Sport 5.1 Athletics 5.2 British Empire and Commonwealth Games 5.3 Chess 5.4 Horse racing 5.4.1 Harness racing 5.5 Lawn bowls 5.6 Rugby union 5.7 Soccer 6 Births 7 Deaths 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

1954 in New Zealand

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1954
in
New Zealand

→

Decades:

Population[edit]

Estimated population as of 31 December: 2,118,400.^[1]
Increase since 31 December 1953: 43,700 (2.11%).^[1]
Males per 100 females: 101.2.^[1]

Incumbents[edit]

Regal and viceregal[edit]

Head of State – Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, from 6 February 1952
Governor-General – Lieutenant-General The Lord Norrie GCMG GCVO CB DSO MC, from 1952 to 1957^[2]

Government[edit]

The 30th New Zealand Parliament expired this year. The National Party was elected to a third term in office under Sidney Holland on 13 November.

Speaker of the House – Matthew Oram from 1950 to 1957
Prime Minister – Sidney Holland from 13 December 1949 to 20 September 1957.
Deputy Prime Minister – Keith Holyoake from 13 December 1949 to 20 September 1957.
Minister of Finance – Sidney Holland until November, followed by Jack Watts
Minister of Foreign Affairs – Clifton Webb from 19 September 1951 to 26 November 1954, followed by Tom Macdonald
Chief Justice — Sir Harold Barrowclough

Parliamentary opposition[edit]

Leader of the Opposition – Walter Nash (Labour).^[3]

Main centre leaders[edit]

Mayor of Auckland – John Luxford from 1953 to 1956
Mayor of Hamilton – Roderick Braithwaite from 1953 to 1959
Mayor of Wellington – Robert Macalister from 1950 to 1956
Mayor of Christchurch – Robert M. Macfarlane from 1938 to 1941 and again from 1950 to 1958
Mayor of Dunedin – Leonard Morton Wright from 1950 to 1959

Events[edit]

12 January: 50,000 people mass in Wellington as Elizabeth II attends the state opening of Parliament.^[4]
30 January: The Royal tour by Queen Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh concludes at Bluff as they depart on the SS Gothic^[5]
23 June – Teenagers Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme are arrested for the murder of Parker's mother.
20 September – the Mazengarb Report on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents is presented to Parliament.
8 November – eighteen-year-old golf amateur Bob Charles causes a sensation by beating a top international field to win the New Zealand Golf Open
13 November – the National Party wins re-election at a general election
Hastings becomes the first town in New Zealand to fluoridate its water supply.^[6]

Arts and literature[edit]

See 1954 in art, 1954 in literature

Music[edit]

See: 1954 in music

Radio[edit]

2 January – First radio episode of It's in the Bag, hosted by Selwyn Toogood^[7]

See: Public broadcasting in New Zealand

Film[edit]

The Seekers

See: Category:1954 film awards, 1954 in film, List of New Zealand feature films, Cinema of New Zealand, Category:1954 films

Sport[edit]

Athletics[edit]

20 February: Yvette Williams breaks the world long jump record by jumping 20 feet 7+1⁄2 inches (6.287 metres) at Gisborne.^[8]
Edwin Rye wins his first national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:35:45 on 6 March in Hamilton, New Zealand.

British Empire and Commonwealth Games[edit]

Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
7	7	5	19

Chess[edit]

The 61st National Chess Championship is held in Wellington, and is won by Ortvin Sarapu of Auckland (his third successive title).^[9]

Horse racing[edit]

Harness racing[edit]

New Zealand Trotting Cup – Johnny Globe^[10]
Auckland Trotting Cup – Caduceus^[11]

Lawn bowls[edit]

The national outdoor lawn bowls championships are held in Christchurch.^[12]

Men's singles champion – Robin Andrew (Onehunga Bowling Club)
Men's pair champions – N.A. McNabb, C.L. Spearman (skip) (Christchurch RSA Bowling Club)
Men's fours champions – J. Rothwell, H.L. Rule, W. O'Neill, Pete Skoglund (skip) (Otahuhu Bowling Club)

Rugby union[edit]

The All Blacks played four Test Matches on a tour of Europe:^[13]
- 9 January, Lansdowne Road, Dublin: New Zealand 14 – 3 Ireland
- 30 January, Twickenham, London: New Zealand 5 – 0 England
- 13 February, Murrayfield, Edinburgh New Zealand 3 – 0 Scotland
- 27 February, Stade Colombes, Paris: New Zealand 0 – 3 France

Soccer[edit]

The national men's team undertook a 10-match tour of Australia, which included 3 internationals. They played one warm-up match prior to the tour.^[14]
- 31 July, Wellington: NZ 6 – 0 Wellington
- 3 August, Adelaide: NZ 3 – 2 South Australia
- 7 August, Adelaide: NZ 3 – 1 Australian XI
- 11 August, Melbourne: NZ 1 – 2 Victoria
- 14 August, Melbourne: NZ 2 – 1 Australia
- 18 August, Granville: NZ 0 – 3 Granville
- 21 August, Sydney: NZ 4 – 1 New South Wales Benge (2), Charlton, Olley
- 25 August, Brisbane: NZ 2 – 2 Queensland Smith, Steele
- 28 August, Brisbane: NZ 1 – 4 Australia'
- 29 August, Newcastle: NZ 1 – 1 Northern Districts Smith
- 4 September, Sydney: NZ 1 – 4 Australia
- 5 September, Bulli: NZ 4 – 4 South Coast
The Chatham Cup is won by Onehunga who beat Western of Christchurch 1–0 in the final.^[15]
Provincial league champions:^[16]
- Auckland: North Shore United
- Bay of Plenty: Mangakino Utd
- Buller: Millerton Thistle
- Canterbury: Western
- Hawke's Bay: Hastings Wanderers
- Manawatu: Palmerston North United
- Nelson: Settlers
- Northland: Otangarei United
- Otago: Northern
- Poverty Bay: Eastern Union
- South Canterbury: Northern Hearts
- Southland: Brigadiers
- Taranaki: Old Boys
- Waikato: Huntly Thistle
- Wanganui: New Settlers
- Wellington: Stop Out

Births[edit]

17 February: Brian Houston, New Zealand-born Australian pastor.
17 March: Peter Dunne, politician
30 April: Jane Campion, film director.
11 May: Murray Haszard, technology entrepreneur.
20 May: Julie Brougham, Olympic equestrian (died 2021)
15 June: Larry Ross, motorcycle speedway rider.
17 June: Trevor Mallard, politician
5 July: John Wright, cricket player and coach
24 October: Tu Wyllie, politician
18 November: Evan Gray, cricketer
24 December: Graham Sligo, field hockey player

Category:1954 births

Deaths[edit]

7 May: Cyril Brownlie, rugby union player.
26 May: Frederick Doidge, former cabinet minister and New Zealand High Commissioner (London)
1 June: Charles E. Major, politician.
5 June: Alexander Stuart, politician
1 August: Arthur Stallworthy, politician.
7 December: George William Smith, athlete, rugby union and league player.
John Buckland Wright, engraver.

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c "Historical population estimates tables". Statistics New Zealand. Archived from the original on 31 December 2017.

^ Statistics New Zealand: New Zealand Official Yearbook, 1990. ISSN 0078-0170 page 52

^ "Elections NZ – Leaders of the Opposition". Archived from the original on 17 October 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2008.

^ Today in History | NZHistory

^ NZHistory.net - includes video

^ (Ministry of Health) Archived 23 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine

^ "1954 - key events".

^ nzhistory.net.nz

^ List of New Zealand Chess Champions Archived 14 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine

^ "List of NZ Trotting cup winners". Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2009.

^ Auckland Trotting cup at hrnz.co.nz Archived 17 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine

^ McLintock, A.H., ed. (1966). "Bowls, men's outdoor—tournament winners". An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 6 June 2018.

^ Pick and Go Rugby Tests database

^ List of New Zealand national soccer matches

^ Chatham Cup records, nzsoccer.com Archived 14 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine

^ "New Zealand: List of champions". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 1999.