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

1. Statistics New Zealand:Historical Population Estimates
2. Statistics New Zealand: New Zealand Official Yearbook, 1990. ISSN 0078-0170 page 52
3. Lambert & Palenski: The New Zealand Almanac, 1982. ISBN 0-908570-55-4
4. "Elections NZ – Leaders of the Opposition". Retrieved 6 April 2008.
5. "TVNZ timeline 1960–2005" (PDF). TVNZ. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
6. List of New Zealand Chess Champions
7. List of NZ Trotting cup winners
8. Auckland Trotting cup at hrnz.co.nz
9. Chatham Cup records, nzsoccer.com

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