1973 in New Zealand

← 1972 1971 1970 1973 in New Zealand → 1974 1975 1976
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
See also:	Other events of 1973 Timeline of New Zealand history

Population

• Estimated population as of 31 December: 3,024,900^[1]
• Increase since 31 December 1970: 65,200 (2.20%)
• Males per 100 females: 99.7
• It took 21 years for the population to grow from 2 million to 3 million.

Incumbents

Regal and viceregal

• Head of State – Elizabeth II
• Governor-General – Sir Denis Blundell GCMG GCVO KBE QSO.^[2]

Government

The 37th New Zealand Parliament commenced. Government was by a Labour majority of 55 seats to the National Party's 32 seats.

• Speaker of the House – Stanley Whitehead.^[3]
• Prime Minister – Norman Kirk
• Deputy Prime Minister – Hugh Watt.^[3]
• Minister of Finance – Bill Rowling.^[3]
• Minister of Foreign Affairs – Norman Kirk.^[3]
• Attorney-General – Martyn Finlay.^[3]

Parliamentary opposition

• Leader of the Opposition – Jack Marshall (National).^[4]

Main centre leaders

• Mayor of Auckland – Dove-Myer Robinson
• Mayor of Hamilton – Mike Minogue
• Mayor of Wellington – Frank Kitts
• Mayor of Christchurch – Neville G. Pickering
• Mayor of Dunedin – Jim Barnes

Events

January

• 2 January: description

Arts and literature

• Graham Billing wins the Robert Burns Fellowship.

See 1973 in art, 1973 in literature, Category:1973 books

Music

New Zealand Music Awards

• ALBUM OF THE YEAR John Donoghue – Spirit Of Pelorus Jack
• RECORDING ARTIST / GROUP OF THE YEAR Shona Laing
• BEST SINGLE / SINGLE OF THE YEAR John Hanlon – Damn The Dam
• BEST NEW ARTIST Shona Laing
• BEST NZ RECORDED COMPOSITION Anna Leah – Love Bug
• PRODUCER OF THE YEAR Keith Southern – Join Together
• ENGINEER OF THE YEAR Peter Hitchcock – Only Time Could Let Us Know
• ARRANGER OF THE YEAR Mike Harvey – Damn The Dam

See: 1973 in music

Performing arts

• Benny Award presented by the Variety Artists Club of New Zealand to Ray Columbus.

Radio and television

• Colour television broadcasts begin on 31 October. The licence fee for a colour television is NZ$35.
• The Wedding of Princess Anne and Mark Phillips on 14 November is the first international live broadcast into New Zealand.
• In December, Fred Dagg makes his first appearance.^[5]

• Feltex Television Awards:
  • Natural History Programme: Bird of a Single Flight
  • Best News, Current Affairs: Election Night '72
  • Best Light Entertainment: Loxene Golden Disc 1972
  • Best Drama and the Arts: Gone Up North and An Awful Silence
  • Best Documentary: Deciding
  • Allied Crafts: Loxene Golden Disc set and work on Pop Co.

• The first ZM radio stations were started in 1973 as 1ZM Auckland, 2ZM Wellington and 3ZM Christchurch.

See: 1973 in New Zealand television, 1973 in television, List of TVNZ television programming, Category:New Zealand television, Category:New Zealand television shows, Public broadcasting in New Zealand

Film

• Rangi's Catch

See: Category:1973 film awards, 1973 in film, List of New Zealand feature films, Cinema of New Zealand, Category:1973 films

Sport

Athletics

• Terry Manners wins his first national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:18:28.7 on 10 March in Inglewood. In the same year, on 1 December, the title is taken over by John Robinson who wins his first national title, clocking 2:15:03.6 in Christchurch.

Chess

• The 80th National Chess Championship is held in Wellington, and is won by Ortvin Sarapu of Auckland (his 12th title).^[6]

Horse racing

From January 1973 all races were run at metric distances rather than imperial.

Harness racing

• New Zealand Trotting Cup: Arapaho^[7]
• Auckland Trotting Cup: Arapaho^[8]

Soccer

• New Zealand National Soccer League won by Christchurch United
• The Chatham Cup is won by Mount Wellington who beat North Shore United 3—0 in the final.^[9]
• New Zealand hosted and won the inaugural Oceania Cup tournament, beating Tahiti 2-0 in the final.

Births

• 25 January: Ruben Wiki, rugby league footballer
• 20 February: Leisen Jobe, field hockey player
• 1 April: Stephen Fleming, cricketer
• 8 April: Nicholas Tongue, freestyle swimmer
• 27 May: Tana Umaga, rugby player
• 27 May: Ian Winchester, athlete
• 2 July: Andrew Buckley, field hockey player
• 10 July: Andrew McCormick, rugby union footballer
• 23 July: Adrian Cashmore, rugby player
• 31 July: Tasha Williams, hammer thrower
• 4 August: Hymie Gill, field hockey player
• 5 August: Justin Marshall, rugby player
• 13 August: Martin Moana, rugby league footballer
• 23 August: Kerry Walmsley, cricketer
• 5 September: Lesley Nicol, netball player
• 1 September: Trent Bray, freestyle swimmer
• 14 November: Darren Smith, field hockey player
• 15 November: Shayne O'Connor, cricketer
• 16 November: Brendan Laney, rugby player
• 29 December: Garth da Silva, boxer
• Kirsten Cameron, swimmer

Category:1973 births

Deaths

• 5 February – John Stewart, politician (born 1902)
• 11 April – Rongowhakaata Pere Halbert, Māori leader, interpreter, historian, genealogist (born 1894)
• 20 May – Charles Brasch, poet and literary editor (born 1909)
• 18 November – Peter McKeefry, Roman Catholic bishop and cardinal (born 1899)
• 19 November – Cyril Allcott, cricketer (born 1896)
• 15 December – Keith Buttle, mayor of Auckland (born 1900)

Category:1973 deaths

References

See also

• List of years in New Zealand
• Timeline of New Zealand history
• History of New Zealand
• Military history of New Zealand
• Timeline of the New Zealand environment
• Timeline of New Zealand's links with Antarctica

For world events and topics in 1973 not specifically related to New Zealand see: 1973