Protest & renaissance

The great Māori urban migration

Māori went from about 25 percent urban in 1945 to nearly 80 percent by 1975 — one of the fastest urbanisations recorded anywhere.

No Maoris, No Tour

A petition of 162,000 signatures opposed sending an All Black team to South Africa with Māori players excluded. The tour went ahead anyway.

Television broadcasting begins

AKTV2 broadcast to a few thousand Auckland sets for two hours a night, opening with a British sitcom.

Western Samoa becomes independent

The first Pacific nation to regain independence in the twentieth century did so from New Zealand, ending 48 years of often harsh administration.

Decimal currency day

Pounds, shillings and pence became dollars and cents, promoted by a cartoon character called Mr Dollar and a jingle everyone remembers.

The Wahine disaster

The inter-island ferry struck Barrett Reef in a storm with winds over 150 km/h and capsized in the harbour entrance. Fifty-three people died.

Ngā Tamatoa formed

A group of young urban Māori activists, many university-educated, began confronting the state over te reo, the Treaty and racism — loudly and publicly.

The Māori language petition

Te petihana reo Māori

Ngā Tamatoa and Te Reo Māori Society delivered a 30,000-signature petition asking for te reo to be taught in schools. The date is now Māori Language Day.

Britain joins the EEC

New Zealand’s guaranteed British market for lamb, butter and cheese began closing after ninety years. The economy has never worked the same way since.

A frigate sails to Mururoa

Norman Kirk sent HMNZS Otago, with a cabinet minister aboard, to sit in the French nuclear test zone in protest.

The Māori land march

Te Rōpū o te Matakite

Whina Cooper, aged 79, led a month-long hīkoi from Te Hāpua in the far north to Parliament under the slogan ‘not one more acre’.

Treaty of Waitangi Act — the Waitangi Tribunal

A permanent commission of inquiry was created to hear Treaty claims — but only for breaches after 1975, which made it nearly useless for a decade.

The Bastion Point occupation

Takaparawhau

Ngāti Whātua occupied their remaining ancestral land for 506 days against a government subdivision. Police and army removed them, arresting 222 people.

Eva Rickard and the Raglan golf course

Land taken from Tainui Awhiro for a wartime airfield had become a golf course. Eva Rickard led an occupation of the fairway and was arrested on it.

The Erebus disaster

An Air New Zealand sightseeing flight to Antarctica flew into Mount Erebus in whiteout conditions. All 257 people aboard died.

The Springbok tour

Fifty-six days that split the country. Protesters occupied the pitch at Hamilton and stopped the game; by the final test, police in riot gear fought crowds outside Eden Park.