Mayor of Invercargill

Mayor of Invercargill
Incumbent Tim Shadbolt since 1998
Style	Sir
Appointer	Elected
Inaugural holder	William Wood
Formation	1871
Succession	after Election
Deputy	Councillor Jackie Kruger
Website	www.icc.govt.nz/YourCouncil

The Mayor of Invercargill is the head of the municipal government of Invercargill, New Zealand, and presides over the Invercargill City Council. The mayor is directly elected using a First Past the Post electoral system. The current mayor is Tim Shadbolt, who is also the longest-serving mayor for Invercargill (18 consecutive years as of 2017). There have been 43 mayors so far.

History

Invercargill was first proclaimed a municipality in 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][2]

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.^[3]

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,^[4] 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.^[5] Longuet was succeeded by William Ott, who was twice elected unopposed^[6][7] and did not seek re-election in 1912.^[8]

Invercargill was proclaimed a city on 1 March 1930 during John D. Campbell's mayoralty.^[5]

There has been one woman mayor so far – Eve Poole.^[5] She has also been the only Jewish mayor. A library building is named after her.^[9] She died in office in 1992. Tim Shadbolt was invited to run in the resulting by-election and claimed a surprising victory.^[10] Shadbolt is the current mayor.^[11] The 2010 election win made Shadbolt the longest serving mayor in New Zealand, with this being his 8th mayoral term (his 6th term in Invercargill).^[12]

Members of Parliament

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):^[13]

• William Wood (1866–1870)
• John Cuthbertson (1873–1875)
• George Lumsden (1875–1878)
• James Walker Bain (1879–1881)
• Joseph Hatch (1884–1887)
• Josiah Hanan (1899–1925)
• Ralph Hanan (1946–1969)

List of Mayors of Invercargill

Invercargill has had 43 mayors so far:^[5][14][15]

	Name	Term	Image
1	William Wood	1871–1873
2	George Lumsden	1873–1874
3	Thomas Pratt	1874–1875
4	John Walker Mitchell	1875–1876
5	John Cuthbertson	1876–1877
6	Joseph Hatch	1877–1878
	George Lumsden, 2nd period	1878–1879
7	George Goodwillie	1879–1880
8	Nicholas Johnson	1880–1881
9	Henry Jaggers	1881–1882
10	John Kingsland	1882–1883
11	William Shirreffs Moir	1883–1884
12	George Froggatt	1884–1885
13	John Lyon McDonald	1885–1886
14	David Roche	1886–1887
	Aaron Blacke[note 1]	1887
15	Edwin Alfred Tapper	1887–1888
16	Thomas Fleming	1888–1889
	John Walker Mitchell, 2nd period	1889–1890
17	William Horatio Hall	1890–1891
18	James Walker Bain	1891–1892
19	Duncan McFarlane	1892–1893
20	Andrew Raeside	1893–1894
21	William Benjamin Scandrett[16]	1894–1895
22	John Sinclair	1895–1896
23	Josiah Hanan	1896–1897
24	Hugh Mair[17]	1897–1898
25	John Stead	1898–1899
26	James Smith Goldie	1899–1901
27	Charles Stephen Longuet	1901–1903[18]
	George Froggatt, 2nd period	1903–1904[19]
	William Benjamin Scandrett, 2nd period	1904–1909
	Charles Steven Longuet, 2nd period	1909–1910
28	William Ott	1910–1912
	William Benjamin Scandrett, 3rd period	1912–1913
	Duncan McFarlane, 2nd period	1913–1917
	John Stead, 2nd period	1917–1921
29	John F. Lillicrap	1921–1923
30	Andrew Bain[20]	1923–1927
31	John Miller	1927–1929
32	John D. Campbell	1929–1931
	John Miller, 2nd period	1931–1938
33	J. Ralph Hanan	1938–1941
34	John Robert Martin	1941–1942
35	Abraham Wachner	1942–1950
36	William Aitchison	1950
37	Brian Hewat	1950–1953
38	Adam Adamson[21]	1953–1962
39	Neil Watson	1962–1971
40	F. Russell Miller	1971–1983
41	Eve Poole	1983–1992
42	Tim Shadbolt	1993–1995
43	David Harrington	1995–1998
	Tim Shadbolt, 2nd period	1998–present

1. ↑ Note that Blacke is not included in official lists of Mayors of Invercargill.

Notes

References

• Cyclopedia Company Limited (1905). The Cyclopedia of New Zealand : Otago & Southland Provincial Districts. Christchurch. Retrieved 18 October 2010. 
• Watt, John Oman Percival (1971). Centenary of Invercargill Municipality 1871–1971. Invercargill: Times Printing Service.  |access-date= requires |url= (help)