1961 in New Zealand

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 1961 in New Zealand

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Decades:
  • 1940s
  • 1950s
  • 1960s
  • 1970s
  • 1980s
See also:
  • Other events of 1961
  • Timeline of New Zealand history

The following lists events that happened during 1961 in New Zealand.

Population[]

  • Estimated population as of 31 December: 2,461,300[1]
  • Increase since 31 December 1960: 57,700 (2.40%)
  • Males per 100 females: 101.2

Incumbents[]

Regal and viceregal[]

  • Head of State – Elizabeth II
  • Governor-General – The Viscount Cobham GCMG TD.[2]

Government[]

Parliamentary opposition[]

  • Leader of the Opposition – Walter Nash (Labour)[4]

Main centre leaders[]

Events[]

January[]

  • The Ohakuri hydroelectric power plant starts operation.

February[]

March[]

April[]

June[]

July[]

August[]

September[]

October[]

  • 12 October Ten National MPs voted with the Opposition to remove capital punishment for murder from the Crimes Bill that the Second National Government had introduced, by a vote of 41 to 30.

November[]

December[]

Arts and literature[]

  • wins the Robert Burns Fellowship.

See 1961 in art, 1961 in literature, Category:1961 books

Music[]

See: 1961 in music

Radio and television[]

  • Auckland television is extended to seven nights a week, two and a half hours a night. On 4 April, Auckland television went commercial. [1]
  • Television transmission began in Christchurch (a year later than Auckland) on 1 June. Wellington followed four weeks later, on 1 July. [2]

See: , 1961 in television, List of TVNZ television programming, Public broadcasting in New Zealand & Category:Television in New Zealand.

Film[]

See: Category:1961 film awards, 1961 in film, List of New Zealand feature films, Cinema of New Zealand, Category:1961 films

Sport[]

Athletics[]

  • Barry Magee wins his first national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:18:54.2 on 4 March in Christchurch.

Chess[]

  • The 68th National Chess Championship was held in Auckland, and was won by Ortvin Sarapu of Auckland (his 6th title).[5]

Cricket[]

  • New Zealand tours South Africa (spanning December 1961 – February 1962) and drew the 5-Test series 2-2:[6]
    • 8–12 December 1961, Durban: 1st Test. SA won by 30 runs (SA 292 + 149, NZ 245 and 166)
    • 26–29 December 1961, Johannesburg: 2nd Test Drawn (SA 322 + 178/6 decl, NZ 223 + 165/4)
    • 1–4 January 1962, Cape Town: 3rd Test. NZ won by 72 runs (NZ 385 + 212/9 decl., SA 190 + 335)
    • 2–5 February 1962, Johannesburg: 4th test. SA won by innings & 51 runs (NZ 164 + 249, SA 464)
    • 16–20 February 1962, Port Elizabeth: 5th Test: NZ won by 40 runs (NZ 275 + 228, SA 190 + 273)

Horse racing[]

Harness racing[]

  • New Zealand Trotting Cup – Invicta[7]
  • Auckland Trotting Cup – Cardigan Bay[8]

Lawn bowls[]

The national outdoor lawn bowls championships are held in Auckland.[9]

  • Men's singles champion – J.H. Rabone (Auckland Bowling Club)
  • Men's pair champions – N. Posa, M. Vulinovich (skip) (Oratia Bowling Club)
  • Men's fours champions – J. Hammersley, L.N. Harris, R.S. Eves, M.J. Squire (skip) (West End Bowling Club, New Plymouth)

Rugby union[]

  • France tour New Zealand, losing all three Test matches:[10]
    • 22 July, Eden Park, Auckland: New Zealand 13 – 6 France
    • 5 August, Athletic Park, Wellington: New Zealand 5 – 3 France
    • 19 August, lancaster Park, Christchurch: New Zealand 32 – 3 France

Soccer[]

  • An English FA XI tours New Zealand, handing out two heavy defeats to the national men's team.[11]
    • 5 June, Wellington: NZ 0 – 8 English FA XI
    • 10 June, Auckland: NZ 1 – 6 English FA XI
  • The Chatham Cup was won by Dunedin team Northern who beat North Shore United 2 – 0 in the final.[12]
  • Provincial league champions:[13]
    • Auckland: North Shore United
    • Bay of Plenty: Kawerau Town
    • Buller: Waimangaroa United
    • Canterbury: Technical OB
    • Franklin: Manurewa AFC
    • Hawke's Bay: Napier Rovers
    • Manawatu: Ohakea
    • Marlborough: Spartans
    • Nelson: Rangers
    • Northland: Kamo Swifts
    • Otago: Northern AFC
    • Poverty Bay: Eastern Union
    • South Canterbury: Thistle
    • Southland: Invercargill Thistle
    • Taranaki: Moturoa
    • Waikato: Hamilton Technical OB
    • Wairarapa: YMCA
    • Wanganui: New Settlers
    • Wellington: Northern
    • West Coast: Grey United

Births[]

  • 26 April: , mining engineer.
  • 10 May: Blyth Tait, equestrian.
  • 26 June: David White, cricketer.
  • 9 August: John Key, politician, 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand (2008–2016)
  • 12 August: Mark Priest, cricketer.
  • 5 October: David Kirk, rugby player and business executive.
  • 5 October: Derek Stirling, cricketer.
  • 10 October: Gary Hurring, swimmer.
  • 31 October: Peter Jackson, filmmaker.
  • 15 November: Hugh McGahan, rugby league footballer.
  • 28 November: Bruce Derlin, tennis player.
  • 9 December: Ian Wright, rower.
  • 30 December: Bill English, politician, 39th Prime Minister of New Zealand (2016–2017)
  • Michael Hight, painter.
  • Willie Jackson, politician and broadcaster.
  • Grant Lingard, artist.
  • Anthony McCarten, playwright and novelist.

Category:1961 births

Deaths[]

Category:1961 deaths

References[]

  1. ^ "Historical population estimates tables". Statistics New Zealand.
  2. ^ Statistics New Zealand: New Zealand Official Yearbook, 1990. ISSN 0078-0170 page 52
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Lambert & Palenski: The New Zealand Almanac, 1982. ISBN 0-908570-55-4
  4. ^ "Elections NZ – Leaders of the Opposition". Archived from the original on 17 October 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2008.
  5. ^ List of New Zealand Chess Champions Archived 14 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Cricinfo Archive
  7. ^ "List of NZ Trotting cup winners". Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2009.
  8. ^ Auckland Trotting cup at hrnz.co.nz Archived 17 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ Pick and Go rugby results database
  11. ^ List of New Zealand national soccer matches
  12. ^ Chatham Cup: nzsoccer.com Archived 14 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ "New Zealand: List of champions". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 1999.

See also[]

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