| Post: | Mayor |
| Body: | Invercargill |
| Insignia: | File:Invercargill CoA (shield only).svg |
| Insigniasize: | 100px |
| Insigniacaption: | Coat of arms of Invercargill |
| Incumbent: | Nobby Clark |
| Incumbentsince: | 2022 |
| Style: | His/Her Worship |
| Appointer: | Elected |
| Termlength: | Three years, renewable |
| Formation: | 1871 |
| Inaugural: | William Wood |
| Deputy: | Tom Campbell |
The Mayor of Invercargill is the head of the municipal government of Invercargill, New Zealand, and leads the Invercargill City Council. The mayor is directly elected using a First Past the Post electoral system every three years. The current mayor is Nobby Clark. Invercargill also has a deputy mayor that is chosen from the council. There have been 44 mayors so far.
Invercargill was first proclaimed a municipality on 28 June 1871. On 26 August of that year, the first mayoral elections were held, and William Wood was elected as first mayor, defeating J.W. Mitchell by 191 to 140 votes. Unlike other municipalities, the mayor has always been elected "at large" (i.e., by the public), rather than (as for example in Christchurch) the councillors choosing one of their group.[1]
Originally, mayoral elections were held on an annual basis. From 1915, mayors were elected for a two-year term; and, as of 1935, the mayoral term was extended to three years. There is an election in 2022.
When David Roche resigned the mayoralty in 1887, council appointed Aaron Blacke as mayor until an extraordinary election could be held. This was not done in strict accordance with the law, and Blacke is not included in official lists of Mayors of Invercargill.
Greater Invercargill was created on 10 January 1910 during Charles Steven Longuet's reign. Longuet was succeeded by William Ott, who was twice elected unopposed[2] [3] and did not seek re-election in 1912.[4]
Invercargill was proclaimed a city on 1 March 1930 during John D. Campbell's mayoralty.
There has been one female mayor so far – Eve Poole. A library building is named after Poole.[5] She died in office in 1992. Tim Shadbolt ran in the resulting by-election and was elected.[6] [7] Shadbolt's 2010 election win was his 8th mayoral term and this made him longest-serving mayor in New Zealand (6 terms served in Invercargill).[8]
Seven former mayors have also been Members of Parliament, and all of them represented the Invercargill electorate (the years in brackets give their term in Parliament):[9]
Invercargill has had 44 mayors so far:[10] [11] [12]
| Name | Term | Elections | Image | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | William Wood | 1871–1873 | 1871 • 1872 | ||
| 2 | George Lumsden | 1873–1874 | 1873 | ||
| 3 | Thomas Pratt | 1874–1875 | 1874 | ||
| 4 | John Walker Mitchell | 1875–1876 | 1875 | ||
| 5 | John Cuthbertson | 1876–1877 | 1876 | ||
| 6 | Joseph Hatch | 1877–1878 | 1877 | ||
| (2) | George Lumsden, 2nd period | 1878–1879 | 1878 | ||
| 7 | George Goodwillie | 1879–1880 | 1879 | ||
| 8 | Nicholas Johnson | 1880–1881 | 1880 | ||
| 9 | Henry Jaggers | 1881–1882 | 1881 | ||
| 10 | John Kingsland | 1882–1883 | 1882 | ||
| 11 | William Sherriffs Moir | 1883–1884 | 1883 | ||
| 12 | George Froggatt | 1884–1885 | 1884 | ||
| 13 | John Lyon McDonald | 1885–1886 | 1885 | ||
| 14 | David Roche | 1886–1887 | 1886 | ||
| – | Aaron Blacke[13] | align=center | 1887 | ||
| 15 | Edwin Alfred Tapper | 1887–1888 | 1887 | ||
| 16 | Thomas Fleming | 1888–1889 | 1888 | ||
| (4) | John Walker Mitchell, 2nd period | 1889–1890 | 1889 | ||
| 17 | William Horatio Hall | 1890–1891 | 1890 | ||
| 18 | James Walker Bain | 1891–1892 | 1891 | ||
| 19 | Duncan McFarlane | 1892–1893 | 1892 | ||
| 20 | Andrew Raeside | 1893–1894 | 1893 | ||
| 21 | William Benjamin Scandrett[14] | 1894–1895 | 1894 | ||
| 22 | John Sinclair | 1895–1896 | 1895 | ||
| 23 | Josiah Hanan | 1896–1897 | 1896 | ||
| 24 | Hugh Mair[15] | 1897–1898 | 1897 | ||
| 25 | John Stead | 1898–1899 | 1898 | ||
| 26 | James Smith Goldie | 1899–1901 | 1899 | ||
| 27 | Charles Stephen Longuet | 1901–1903[16] | 1901 • 1902 | ||
| (12) | George Froggatt, 2nd period | 1903–1904[17] | 1903 | ||
| (21) | William Benjamin Scandrett, 2nd period | 1904–1909 | 1904 • 1905 • 1906 1907 • 1908 | ||
| (27) | Charles Steven Longuet, 2nd period | 1909–1910 | 1909 | ||
| 28 | William Ott | 1910–1912 | 1910 • 1911 | ||
| (21) | William Benjamin Scandrett, 3rd period | 1912–1913 | 1912 | ||
| (19) | Duncan McFarlane, 2nd period | 1913–1917 | 1913 • 1914 • 1915 | ||
| (25) | John Stead, 2nd period | 1917–1921 | 1917 • 1919 | ||
| 29 | John F. Lillicrap | 1921–1923 | 1921 | ||
| 30 | Andrew Bain[18] | 1923–1927 | 1923 • 1925 | ||
| 31 | John Miller | 1927–1929 | 1927 | ||
| 32 | John D. Campbell | 1929–1931 | 1929 | ||
| (31) | John Miller, 2nd period | 1931–1938 | 1931 • 1933 1935 • 1938 | ||
| 33 | J. Ralph Hanan | 1938–1941 | |||
| 34 | John Robert Martin | 1941–1942 | 1941 | ||
| 35 | Abraham Wachner | 1942–1950 | 1944 • 1947 | ||
| 36 | William Aitchison | 1950 | |||
| 37 | Brian Hewat | 1950–1953 | 1950 | ||
| 38 | Adam Adamson[19] | 1953–1962 | 1953 • 1956 • 1959 | ||
| 39 | Neil Watson | 1962–1971 | 1962 • 1965 • 1968 | ||
| 40 | F. Russell Miller | 1971–1983 | 1971 • 1974 1977 • 1980 | ||
| 41 | Eve Poole | 1983–1992 | 1983 • 1986 1989 • 1992 | ||
| 42 | Tim Shadbolt | 1993–1995 | |||
| 43 | David Harrington | 1995–1998 | 1995 | ||
| (42) | Tim Shadbolt, 2nd period | 1998–2022 | 1998 • 2001 • 2004 2007 • 2010 • 2013 2016 • 2019 | ||
| 44 | Nobby Clark | 2022–present | 2022 |
| Name | Term of office | Mayor | |
|---|---|---|---|
| William Benjamin Scandrett | 1902[20] | Longuet | |
| William Benjamin Scandrett | 1911[21] | Ott | |
| John Stead | 1915–1916[22] [23] | McFarlane | |
| William Ott | 1918–1919[24] [25] | Stead | |
| John Matheson | 1919[26] | ||
| John Lillicrap | 1919–1920[27] [28] | ||
| Thomas Daniel Lennie | 1922–1923[29] | Lillicrap | |
| Alexander Glass | 1924[30] | Bain | |
| Gordon Reed | 1935–1938[31] [32] | J. Miller | |
| Ralph Hanan | 1938[33] | ||
| John Robert Martin | 1940–1941[34] | Hanan | |
| Abraham Wachner | 1941–1942 | Martin | |
| William Aitchison | 1944–1950 | Wachner | |
| Neil Watson | 1953–1962 | Adamson | |
| Clive Faul | 1962–1965[35] | Watson | |
| F. Russell Miller | 1965–1971 | ||
| Norman Jones | 1971–1974 | F. R. Miller | |
| Eve Poole | 1974–1980[36] | ||
| Michael Deaker | 1980–1983[37] | ||
| Jim Fenton | 1983–1986[38] | Poole | |
| Mark Winter | 1986–1989 | ||
| Bruce Pagan | 1989–1992 | ||
| Dougal Soper | 1992–1995[39] | ||
| Shadbolt | |||
| Mark Winter | 1995–1998[40] | Harrington | |
| Neil Boniface | 1998–2010[41] | Shadbolt | |
| Jackie Kruger | 2010–2012[42] | ||
| Darren Ludlow | 2012–2017[43] | ||
| Rebecca Amundsen | 2017–2019[44] | ||
| Toni Biddle | 2019–2020[45] [46] | ||
| Nobby Clark | 2020–2022[47] | ||
| Tom Campbell | 2022–present[48] | Clark |