norman kirk

Personal details

Full Name:

  • Norman Eric Kirk

Lifetime:

  • 6 Jan 192331 Aug 1974

Prime Minister:

8 Dec 1972–31 Aug 1974

Age on becoming PM:

49

Electorate:

Sydenham

Political Party:

Labour

Biography

In 1972 Norman Kirk broke National’s 12-year-long grip on the Treasury benches and became Labour’s first New Zealand-born PM.

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Events In History

Articles

1981 Springbok tour

  • 1981 Springbok tour

    For 56 days in July, August and September 1981, New Zealanders were divided against each other in the largest civil disturbance seen since the 1951 waterfront dispute. The cause of this was the visit of the South African rugby team – the Springboks.

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  • Page 4 - Stopping the 1973 tourKeeping sport and politics separate was becoming increasingly difficult. In July 1969 HART (Halt All Racist Tours) was founded by University of Auckland students with the specific

Waitangi Day

  • Waitangi Day

    Every year on 6 February, New Zealand marks the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. For most people, Waitangi Day is a holiday; for many, and especially for Māori, it is a time for reflecting on the Treaty and its place in modern New Zealand.

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  • Page 5 - Waitangi Day 1970sWaitangi Day, a public holiday from 1974, briefly became New Zealand Day in the 1970s. Increasingly, it became a focus for Māori protest

Housing the Prime Minister

  • Housing the Prime Minister

    Almost 150 years after the government purchased the first official premier's residence on Tinakori Road, Wellington, the address of Premier House remains the same. But in the intervening years the building has been extended, renamed, abandoned and refurbished.

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  • Page 3 - Unofficial prime ministerial housesFrom 1935 to 1975 our prime ministers lived in a series of 'unofficial'
  • Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, the Duke of Edinburgh, and Prime Minister Norman Kirk at Waitangi on 6 February 1974