The 1953–54 royal tour
- When
- 1953–1954
- Reach
- Nationwide
Elizabeth II became the first reigning monarch to visit New Zealand. An estimated three in four New Zealanders saw her in person.
The tour covered 46 towns in five and a half weeks, and the crowds were extraordinary even by the standards of the time. It was the high-water mark of New Zealand’s identification with Britain, coming just before the trade relationship began to weaken and a decade before Britain first sought to join the EEC. The Queen’s Christmas Day broadcast from Auckland was overshadowed by Tangiwai the night before.
Regions affected
Sources
Written for this project from these references rather than copied from them. Follow a link to check the account against the original.
Related
The influenza pandemic
About 9,000 people died in two months — roughly half as many as died in four years of war. Māori died at more than seven times the Pākehā rate.
Television broadcasting begins
AKTV2 broadcast to a few thousand Auckland sets for two hours a night, opening with a British sitcom.
AucklandThe 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.
New Zealand declares war on Germany
‘Where she goes, we go’ — 140,000 served overseas and nearly 12,000 died, from a population of 1.6 million.