1969 in New Zealand explained

The following lists events that happened during 1969 in New Zealand.

Population

Estimated population as of 31 December: 2,804,000.^[1]
Increase since 31 December 1968: 31,000 (1.12%).
Males per 100 females: 99.7.

Incumbents

Regal and viceregal

Head of State – Elizabeth II
Governor-General – Sir Arthur Porritt Bt GCMG GCVO CBE.^[2]

Government

The 35th parliament concluded and a general election was held on 26 November. It saw the Second National Government of New Zealand returned for a fourth term, with 45 of the 84 seats. The Social Credit Party lost its only seat. The overall vote was very close, with National only 1% ahead of Labour in total votes cast.

Speaker of the House – Roy Jack .^[3]
Prime Minister – Keith Holyoake
Deputy Prime Minister – Jack Marshall.
Minister of Finance – Robert Muldoon.
Minister of Foreign Affairs – Keith Holyoake.
Attorney-General – Ralph Hanan until 24 July, then vacant until Jack Marshall appointed on 22 December.
Chief Justice — Sir Richard Wild

Parliamentary opposition

Leader of the Opposition – Norman Kirk (Labour).^[4]
Leader of the Social Credit Party – Vernon Cracknell until 26 November

Main centre leaders

Mayor of Auckland – Dove-Myer Robinson
Mayor of Hamilton – Mike Minogue
Mayor of Wellington – Frank Kitts
Mayor of Christchurch – Ron Guthrey
Mayor of Dunedin – Jim Barnes

Events

The voting age is lowered from 21 to 20.^[5]
A law change allows the number of seats in Parliament to increase in order to preserve the number of South Island seats. This increases the number of MPs from 80 to 84.
The trading banks computerise cheque handling and money transfer between banks with overnight processing, between February and November, see Databank Systems Limited.
The Maui gas field was discovered, 35 km off the coast of Taranaki.
The Save Manapouri campaign was launched at a public meeting in Invercargill in October.^[6]
The Auckland Harbour Bridge was widened from 4 to 8 lanes.
Blood and breath alcohol limits introduced for drivers.

Arts and literature

Warren Dibble wins the Robert Burns Fellowship.

See 1969 in art, 1969 in literature

Music

New Zealand Music Awards

Loxene Golden Disc Shane – Saint Paul

See: 1969 in music

Radio and television

Coverage of the Apollo 11 Moon landing on videotape was flown from Sydney to Wellington by the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and a microwave link was put together to allow its simultaneous broadcast throughout the country.^[7]
5 November: the first Network News bulletin was read at 7.35 pm by Dougal Stevenson and received simultaneously around the country^[8] ^[9]

See: 1969 in New Zealand television, 1969 in television, List of TVNZ television programming, Public broadcasting in New Zealand, .

Film

See:, 1969 in film, List of New Zealand feature films, Cinema of New Zealand,

Performing arts

Grand Master of Magic Award established and presented to Edgar (The Great) Benyon.^[10]
Benny Award established by the Variety Artists Club of New Zealand and presented to Edgar (The Great) Benyon.^[10]

Sport

Athletics

Track events within New Zealand switch from imperial to metric distances. Field events would switch later in 1972.
Jeff Julian wins his third national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:19:07.6 on 8 March in Christchurch.

Chess

The 76th National Chess Championship is held in Wellington, and the title is shared by B.R. Anderson of Christchurch and Ortvin Sarapu of Auckland.^[11]

Horse racing

Harness racing

New Zealand Trotting Cup: Spry^[12]
Auckland Trotting Cup: Leading Light^[13]

Shooting

Ballinger Belt – Ian Ballinger (Sydenham)^[14]

Soccer

The Chatham Cup is won by Eastern Suburbs who beat New Brighton 2–0 in the final.^[15]
Teams in the Northern and Central leagues were playing for places in the planned 1970 National league, with the top three in each league being promoted. The Southern League would be represented by Christchurch United, a new club backed by Christchurch City, Shamrock, Rangers and Christchurch Technical, who would continue to play independently in the Southern League.
Northern League premier division (Thompson Shield) won by Mt Wellington.^[16]
Central League won by Western Suburbs FC
Southern League First Division won by Christchurch Technical

Births

5 January: David Dixon, American football player
20 January: Blair Larsen, rugby player
27 January: Shane Thomson, cricketer
23 February: Michael Campbell, golfer
24 April: Tony Tuimavave, rugby league player
3 May: Chris Zoricich, soccer player
25 June: Liza Hunter-Galvan, long-distance runner
3 July (in Florida, USA): Leonard King, basketball player
26 July: Tony Tatupu, rugby league player
27 July: Brendon Pongia, basketballer and television presenter
6 August: Simon Doull, cricketer
6 September: Doug Pirini, decathlete
9 September: Rachel Hunter, model
10 September: Craig Innes, rugby footballer
6 October: Kirsten Smith, javelin thrower
10 October: Scott Nelson, race walker
13 October: Hugh McCutcheon, volleyball player and coach
11 November: Michael Owens, cricketer
20 November: Chris Harris, cricketer
5 December (in Maine, USA): Eric Saindon, visual effects supervisor (film)

Deaths

9 January: Brigadier General Leslie Andrew, VC, DSO, soldier.
22 January: Sir Matthew Oram, politician and 13th Speaker of the House of Representatives.
8 May: Sir Sydney Smith, forensic expert.
15 June: Frank Langstone, politician.
24 July: Ralph Hanan, politician.
21 September: William Denham, politician.
23 October: Janie Searle, Salvation Army officer and community leader.

Notes and References

Web site: Historical population estimates tables . https://web.archive.org/web/20171231000952/http://archive.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/population/estimates_and_projections/historical-population-tables.aspx . 31 December 2017 . Statistics New Zealand.
Statistics New Zealand: New Zealand Official Yearbook, 1990. ISSN 0078-0170 page 52
Lambert & Palenski: The New Zealand Almanac, 1982.
Web site: Elections NZ – Leaders of the Opposition. 6 April 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20081017200326/http://www1.elections.org.nz/democracy/leaders-opposition.html. 17 October 2008. dead. dmy-all.
Web site: Voting age reduced to 18 years in 1974. New Zealand Parliament.
Web site: 1969 – key events. The 1960s. NZ History.
Web site: TVNZ timeline. live. 7 March 2021. TVNZ. https://web.archive.org/web/20060222034710/http://images.tvnz.co.nz:80/tvnz/pdf/tvnz_timeline.pdf . 22 February 2006 .
New Zealand Listener 28 November 2009 pp29 Volume 221 No 3629
Web site: 2005-12-03. TVNZ - History Of Television - History Of Television In Nz - The Early Years. 2021-03-07. https://web.archive.org/web/20051203054907/http://corporate.tvnz.co.nz/tvnz_detail/0,2406,111544-247-252,00.html. 3 December 2005.
Web site: James V. Reilly. 'Benyon, Edgar Wilson – Benyon, Edgar Wilson', from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 30 October 2012.
http://www.poisonpawn.co.nz/nzcftitles.htm List of New Zealand Chess Champions
Web site: List of NZ Trotting cup winners . 6 May 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120222233106/http://www.hrnz.co.nz/data/major_races/nz_trotting_cup.htm . 22 February 2012 . dead . dmy-all .
http://www.hrnz.co.nz/data/major_races/major_race2.htm Auckland Trotting cup at hrnz.co.nz
Web site: New Zealand champion shot / Ballinger Belt winners . National Rifle Association of New Zealand . 17 January 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150125012900/http://www.nranz.com/competitions/ballinger_belt . 25 January 2015 .
http://www.nzsoccer.com/page/chatham_cup_records.html Chatham Cup records, nzsoccer.com
https://www.rsssf.org/tablesn/nz68.html League tables 1969 – rsssf