1971-76

Chapter 2: 1971-76

1971 was the year when Tino rangatiratanga or Self-Determination for the Maori community was really launched.

Ngati Kuri Trust gives the meaning of Tino Rangatiratanga:

“The word rangatiratanga comes from the word rangatira which is most often translated as chief. Rangatiratanga which refers to chieftainship approximates to oversight, responsibility, authority, control, sovereignty. It is a word used in the Lord's Prayer for kingdom, which is a word very close in meaning to sovereignty. The word tino is an intensive or superlative, meaning variously: very, full, total, absolute. So tino rangatiratanga approximates to total control, complete responsibility, full authority, absolute sovereignty.”

This document goes on to say more politically that:

“The term tino rangatiratanga was used in the Declaration of Independence of 1835 which recognised Nu Tireni (New Zealand) to be a sovereign and independent nation where power and authority rested with the rangatira. The English version of that declaration stated that "all sovereign power and authority resided entirely and exclusively" in the rangatira.”

(See Ngati Kuri Trust, 2011).

Tino rangatiratanga in 1971 was also closely alligned with Nga Tamatoa; literally: “the [Young] Warriors”, which was a Maori activist group formed in 1970, and  functioned from throughout the 1970s, and subsisted to fight for Maori rights, land and culture as well as to confront injustices committed by the New Zealand Government, particularly violations of the Treaty of Waitangi. Nga Tamatoa was the end-result of a University of Auckland conference in 1971, which was organised by the well-known historian and academic, Ranginui Walker. Its make-up was mostly urban and university-schooled, mostly Auckland and Wellington Maori, who were fed up with the government confiscation of lands and the deterioration in usage of the language. It was strongly inspired by other indigenous and minority liberationist groups of the time, such as the Black Panthers in the US, Australian Aborigines and Pacific Islands independence movements. The group had several notable figures, such as actress Rawiri Paratene. The modus operandi of Nga Tamatoa was to ensure full ratification of the Treaty of Waitangi; to keep the 130-year-old agreement in the public arena. Some may argue that the massive $1 bn. return of lands in 1990 by the National Bolger Government was at least in part due to the efforts of Nga Tamatoa throughout the 1970s.

Concurrently with Tino rangatiratanga and Nga Tamatoa, the Te kohanga reo push was occurring. This latter term means language and culture nests in schools, to be manifest in major changes to the national curriculum. Nga Tamatoa was instrumental the following year by way of a 30,000-strong petition to have Maori language taught in schools. Many years later, in 1987, Te kohanga Maori – the Maori language – was officially recognised by an act of parliament. There are now two official languages in New Zealand; English and Maori. Te kohanga Maori was in 1971, though, just an idea by the indigenous community, but one that was fiercely supported by most Maori, as it was obvious that without real grassroots action, both Maori language and culture was showing tangible signs of dying out both quickly and silently. There was also support by Pakeha and school boards, as well as muted encouragement by the New Zealand Government, via the Ministry of Education, for such a proposal.

On Waitangi Day, 1971, Nga Tamatoa put their ideas into practice with the staging of demonstrations towards the government’s lack-of-action on the Treaty. Increasingly the group would label the Treaty as a fraud, culminating in the Maori cognition by the 1980s that they were tricked during the signing, and that the whole thing should be ripped up. It achieved few results, except to galvanise the Maori community and Nga Tamatoa towards more action in the near future. Indeed this was to be the case on Waitangi Days 1973 and 1974. Although wound up by 1980, Nga Tamatoa’s influence continued to be felt during the legislative changes to the Treaty in the mid-1980s and 1990s.

After Britain’s third and successful application to join the EEC (European Economic Community) in 1969, an agreement between New Zealand and Britain was secured -in 1971. This agreement related to New Zealand’s butter, cheese and lamb trades, and was a special arrangement (the Luxembourg Agreement). Although for a finite period, and requiring frequent revisitation over the coming years, it gave NZ time to diversify after Britain became a full EEC member in 1973. The Luxembourg Agreement of 1973 reduced Britain’s share of New Zealand’s butter and cheese quite substantially: in 1970 Britain purchased over ninety per cent of New Zealand’s butter exports; after 1971 it was around seventy per cent. In 1970 Britain bought seventy-five per cent of New Zealand’s cheese quota; by 1976 it was a mere fifty-one per cent. These quantities were reduced after 1977 to approximately thirty-five and twenty-five per cent respectively. From a high of forty-eight per cent in 1938, to forty-three per cent in 1960, and thirty per cent in 1970, British imports to New Zealand fell further after the 1971-73 EEC consequences. When Britain entered the EEC in 1973 all bilateral agreements between New Zealand and Britain had to be terminated.

Therefore, even though New Zealand secured butter, cheese and lamb trades with the UK in 1971, due to the Luxembourg agreement, the writing was on the wall; New Zealand must now commence a long-term development of trade partnerships with other countries. Britain, although having been a very-long-running partner because of it mother-country status, and in fact virtually the only partner with New Zealand up till World War Two, was now looking to its neighbours and European partners, and not to its former colonies and dominions. The 1970s were a new era for Britain, and it was not altogether a bad thing for New Zealand and the Antipodes. Now NZ could focus on its trans-Tasman relationship, as well as its many Pacific neighbours, and even forge new commercial relationships with countries not seriously-considered, such as those in Asia, Europe, USA and even those nations previously considered even less viable such as the Middle-East, Africa and Latin America.

In 1971 Tiwai Point aluminium smelter opened. It is located at the entrance to Bluff Harbour, at the extreme southern point of mainland New Zealand. Although Invercargill is recognised as New Zealand’s southernmost city, Bluff is the southernmost locale, at the entrance to Foveaux Strait. Bluff Harbour is a spit which extends from the western end of the Awarua Plain, and lies between Awarua Bay to the north and Foveaux Strait to the south. Tiwai Point is currently one of the twenty largest aluminium smelters in the world and as of writing provides NZ$3.7 billion worth of economic benefit to the New Zealand economy. Tiwai produces the world’s highest purity primary aluminium, and is sold mostly to Japan. In 1971 used 610 megawatts of electricity, mostly supplied by the hydroelectric Manapouri Power Station, which was completed earlier in the year. Manapouri, which was the subject of earlier discussion in this book, was eventually completed, despite the Save Manapouri Campaign, and Tiwai would probably not have been possible without its raising. The sensed reliability of power from Manapouri played a very important role in the choice of constructing the aluminium smelter in Southland. Both the power plant and the smelter were built as a joint project. Manapouri is the largest electricity consumer in New Zealand and utilises about one-third of the full power of the South Island and about fifteen per cent of national power.

In its 2003 website, Rio Tinto, the owner of Tiwai Point Smelter, provides the main reasons why Tiwai was chosen as the location for the operation in 1971:

·       “The availability of continuous, substantial quantities of hydro electricity from the Manapouri Power Scheme, which is part of New Zealand's national electricity grid;

·       Close to the deep water harbour of Bluff;

·       Well established infrastructure offered by the City of Invercargill in terms of smelter housing needs, services and supplies; and

·       Favourable environmental and climatic conditions that exist at Tiwai Point.”

(see Rio Tinto Aluminium, 2011).

The completion of the Manapouri Power Station in September 1971, despite the large protests of the previous three years, and especially in 1970, paved the way for Tiwai Point. Without it obviously the project could not have gone ahead and New Zealand would not be capable of producing the quantities of aluminium for domestic use and for export that it is now capable of. The station is housed 180 metres underground at West Point arm of the Lake, in the Fiordland National Park, in Southland. It is different to other hydro power stations as it lacks a high dam; it uses the natural 183-metre-height differential between Lake Manapouri and the ocean at Deep Cove in Doubtful Sound to generate electricity. Construction of the dam involved four separate projects from 1963-71:

1.    The ‘tailrace’ tunnel from Deep Cove, through the mountains, to the power house in West Arm (10km)

2.    Construction of the power station

3.    The link of the two sites of construction – the Wilmot Pass Road, completed in 1965

4.    Transmission lines sent cross-country from West Arm to Bluff (160km)

Warkworth satellite communications ground station, in Northland, sixty-four kilometres north of Auckland (and ninety-four kilometres south of Whangarei), was completed and geared up for transmissions on 17 July 1971. The small town was chosen for the site due to the land foundation being strong enough to handle the mammoth weight of the antenna and pedestal, also because it was sheltered from excessive wind speeds, was within 160 kilometres of Auckland where the international toll exchange is located, was free from microwave frequency-emitting noises, and it was near a suitable town to accommodate the employees and their families. It was originally owned by the New Zealand Post Office, and is now owned by Telecom NZ. High-quality telephone, data, telex, telegraph and television circuits had high demand in 1971, also add to that the coming colour television system, and a communications satellite system such as Warkworth was envisioned as the best answer. The system was proven to be the right choice eighteen months hence when over a billion people worldwide and more than one million New Zealanders tuned in to the world’s first-ever satellite broadcast in January 1973; the Elvis Presley “Aloha from Hawaii” concert, in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. The system of PAL, over NTSC, which is the American system, and is more well-known for video (VHS/DVD) formats, was chosen. From the end of Thompson Road a general view of the system is possible, and a plaque and tree were planted in honour of the visit of NEC’S (Nippon Electrical Company) Dr Koboyashi, are to the right of the road, near the perimeter fence.

The British Lions tour to New Zealand of 1971 was a great success to the UK. Although the first two matches were held in Australia, where they won one and lost one, the New Zealand matches and tests were hugely successful. In fact after forty years they are still the only Lions side to have won a test series in NZ. A game invented and in England, spread to the Antipodean colonies of Australia, New Zealand and also South Africa, but was quickly localised and challenged in these new countries. England has struggled with them ever since and in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries mostly lost to them. The captain of the tour was John Dawes, Coach Carwyn James and manager Doug Smith. Possibly as a result of their Grand Slam Five Nations Championship success in 1971, which had included more players than any other home nation to the touring team, the Lions believed mentally that they were to win against the All Blacks. 

Gerald Davies explained,

“...somewhere along the line it becomes a mental thing...We grew in confidence; we came to believe it was possible to beat the All Blacks.” (See Thomas, 2011).

Whilst this line of thinking paid off for the Lions in the first test at Carisbrook Park in Dunedin (9-3), they weren’t so lucky at the second test in Christchurch, with the All Blacks pounding those 22-11. At Athletic Park, Wellington, the Lions did not make the same error they had in Christchurch, and this resulted in a resounding success for them of 13-3. The Lions scored two converted tries and a drop goal, whilst the All Blacks only managed a try. After the third test the Lions led the series 2-1, and this therefore translated to an All-Black win in Auckland to tie the series. During a tight match in the fourth and final match, where at one stage it was equal at 11-11 before Lions fullback JPR Williams attempted a drop goal, the end-result was a draw and the Lions won the series.

Match/Test	Date	Field	Status	Score
13 / 1	26.6.71	Carisbrook, Dunedin	Win	3-9
17 / 2	10.7.71	Lancaster Park, Christchurch	Loss	22-12
22 / 3	31.7.71	Athletic Park, Wellington	Win	3-13
26 / 4	14.8.71	Eden Park, Auckland	Tie	14-14

On 25 October 1971 a 108-year era ended in New Zealand. It was the era of regular service steam locomotives and ended with the final trip of a J-Class train on New Zealand Railways’ (NZR) overnight Christchurch to Dunedin express. Primarily steam-powered from 1863, it wasn’t until 1923 when some electric locomotives started to be operated, and 1936 when petrol- or diesel-motored cars were introduced. However diesel railcars didn’t gain momentum until the 1950s when mainline diesel-electric locomotives arrived on the scene. This was the event that spelled the end of steam-powered rail in New Zealand. This ‘dieselisation’ of North Island NZR was complete by the end of the sixties. The reason why steam power took longer to phase out in the South Island was that cars on the Friday and Sunday night expresses between Christchurch and Dunedin required heating during winter. This was solved by the initiation of train heating vans attached to diesel-hauled expresses. Early in 1971 however NZR re-introduced a steam engine for a tourism service, the Kingston Flyer, which travelled daily between Lumsden and Kingston on Lake Wakatipu, on the South Island. In the 2000s there have been a group of rail heritage organisations and museums running steam-hauled excursions around the nation, and TranzScenic operates ‘Steam Engine Saturdays’ on the North Island’s main trunk line. These Saturdays utilise a preserved tank engine W794 on the Overlander, between Fielding and Taihape in the central North Island.

In 1972 the Equal Pay Act was passed, and its aim is stated in the title:

“An Act to make provision for the removal and prevention of discrimination, based on the sex of the employees, in the rates of remuneration of males and females in paid employment, and for matters incidental thereto.”

The legislation was seen as a success and a vindication by the NZ feminist movement, which had been working for years for some form of equality in the workplace. In 1967 the National Advisory Council on the Employment of Women (NACEW) was established as part of the Labour Department Act (1954). One of their early actions was to form a Committee of Inquiry into the Implementation of Equal Pay in New Zealand, which was to admit the private sector. The recommendation of the Committee in 1971 was that every remuneration rate should be targeted for equal pay by means of an equal pay act. This would lawfully prohibit discrimination in rates of pay by gender. It also made the comment that there were a limited range of occupations by women, such as domestic workers, teachers, nurses, office workers, sales personnel, etc. The 1971 Committee report made a comparison between this limited range of women’s occupations and the outdated social attitudes about the value of female labour.

In October the Act was passed, extending the principle of pay towards the private sector as well as the public one, and it was to be carried out over the next five years. It was monitored by a number of government reports, such as the Progress of Equal Pay in New Zealand (1975) and Equal Pay Implementation in New Zealand (1979). The second one cited the role of the Human Rights Commission. By 1978 the minimum rate of pay was standardised for both genders. The following year equal payments of both unemployment and sickness benefits were put into law. In 1983 the New Zealand government ratified the 1951 ILO Convention, and has since become a signatory to myriad other international agreements.

The 1972 Equal Pay Act has not easy to enforce though: this concept was only interpreted rather conservatively by the Arbitration Court and received lesser levels of scrutiny by the Department of Labour. It was challenged in 1986 by the Clerical Workers Union, which argued that employers should be led to negotiate a claim for equal pay for equal value, but that was dismissed.

Fifteen years later it was revealed that women were earning twenty-two per cent less than men and a seminar for ‘Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value’ was held at Victoria University the following year where the seeds of a national pay equity campaign evolved.  This seminar saw the founding of the Coalition of Equal Value Equal Pay (CEVEP).

Since the abolition of award system in New Zealand in 1991, the Employment Relations Law Reform Bill proposes to repeal the Equal Pact Act and substitute it with a dissimilar and possibly more functional equal pay provision. This will most likely be limited to like work rather than work of equal value, though.

By 1972 New Zealand was following the other First (industrialised) World nations in the Northern Hemisphere in massively increased legal and illegal (narcotic) drug use, such as prescription medicines/pills, and narcotics such as: marijuana, LSD, heroin, cocaine, and also a marked increase in alcohol dependency. In terms of legal drug use, there were one-hundred-and-six million doses of tranquilisers and fifty-two million doses of antidepressants taken in New Zealand in that year alone. Illegal drug use was immeasurable; levels not experienced before. The latter was due to the 1960s change in society’s way-of-thinking and acting, and also a result of new pressures in the 1970s, of a kind that envisaged a “New World”. Overseas events like Woodstock were highly influential in domestic trends and the “free love”/hippy movement were still in motion. However, unlike the US and Europe drug use in New Zealand had not become a massive social and policing problem, nor a major concern to politicians and government, yet it was still an undesirable progression of the early seventies.

1972 saw the introduction into New Zealand politics of the Value Party, what is considered the world’s first environmental party, and forerunner to the Green Party of Aotearoa. Originating at the Victoria University in Wellington, it was started by many of the personalities who later built the Greens Party, such as its first leader, Tony Brunt. A number of the Party manifestos painted a progressive, almost-utopian blueprint for the future of New Zealand, as a semi-socialist, ecologically-sustainable party. Of course this was anything but reality, but it was founded on ideals, and it appealed to those idealistic people on the “New Left”. These were people who didn’t wish to go all the way of the Soviet Union or China, but were dissatisfied with the more centrist ideology and mainstream agenda of the Labour Party. Values was regarded as the first social renewal party with key aspects of respect to Mother Nature, and right from its inception it fundamentally proposed alternative policy, rather than the traditional Oppositionist modus-operandi that was a part of New Zealand parliaments since the nineteenth century. In 1972 Values was a new party, but had already contested the general election that year. It achieved a small amount of the popular vote (around 1-2 per cent), and this increased in later elections, but it was never enough to win seats in parliament, due to First-Past-the-Post. However it did manage to win candidates in local government, the first being Helen Smith of Titahi Bay, who got on to the Porirua City Council the following year. As well as green ideals, other major policies of the new Values Party were an end to nuclear power, disarmament, zero population growth, zero economic growth, drug reform and homosexual law reform. In later years the first and last two were to become reality under a Labour administration (1984-87).

The establishment in 1972 of consular relations between New Zealand and Chile meant that embassies were opened in Wellington and Santiago. First diplomatic relations were founded in 1945 after World War Two and in the context of the creation of the UN, of which both nations are founding members. The establishment of the Chilean embassy in Wellington in 1972 was to provide a tool for deepening these bilateral relations and has since been successful from both a trade and a cultural standpoint. Over the last forty years, since the embassies’ inception, there have been many visits between the two countries by Chilean presidents, New Zealand prime ministers, both country’s senior ministers, trade delegations and visits by heads of important industries and corporations. Commerce and investment are currently significant areas of interest between the two nations, as well as exchange of information in political areas such as social issues. There is also presently an emphasis on the creation of joint ventures, educational systems and cultural expressions.

One of the most significant political events in New Zealand in 1972 was the ending of long conservative rule and the beginning of a new, albeit brief, hegemony by social-democratic Labour, in line with the major social and cultural change of the early 1970s. Although not in the political wilderness for as long as the Australian Labor Party (twenty-two years), National had been in office continuously since 1960. However if one were to discount the aberration of the three-year Labour government of 1957 to 1960, then New Zealand Labour also had an equally-long period in the dark. It was not the landslide some had predicted, but New Zealanders were ready for a change; it was as much a rebellion against the status quo as much as a vote for Labour. Additional factors which helped Norman Kirk sweep to power were the brief economic boom in 1972 with its “programme for prosperity” and generous social reforms in line with earlier Labour government philosophies such as during Seddon and during the late fifties. On 25 November 1.6 million people were registered to vote and there was a turnout of 89.1 per cent. Labour defeated National by a substantial fifty-five seats to thirty-two. No minor parties or independents were elected and this became only the third Labour government. Kirk had been leader since 1965 and therefore had lost two previous elections. His seat was Sydenham. Almost as soon as Labour was elected external pressures began to have a negative effect on the new government. The entry of Britain into the EEC caused limits to be set on New Zealand’s meat, butter and cheese exports. Even though new markets opened up, such as elsewhere in Europe, Latin America and Asia, and new exports such as Chinese gooseberry (kiwifruit), wine, berries, fish, timber, venison and deer velvet took off, it still wasn’t enough to replace the loss to Britain. The oil crisis by OPEC in 1973-74 was not expected by the government, and saw oil price rises of two-hundred per cent. The world recession this triggered had immediate flow-on effects to New Zealand. Energy issues rose to the forefront and searches began for new offshore local gas and oilfields.

Kirk, in keeping with Labour principles wanted to have a more moral foreign policy and a far more independent position for New Zealand, less subservient to Britain and the United States. Just before being elected, in 1972 several private yachts sailed to the French Polynesian nuclear testing zone. On board one of them was Labour MP Matiu Rata. Once in government Kirk made opposition to nuclear testing one of its cornerstones in foreign policy. In the early seventies this became one of New Zealand’s defining pillars of its emerging independence and Kirk was not afraid to make his stand against the United States and Britain; the first prime minister of New Zealand to do so since the end of the Second World War. This made some people uncomfortable, even in the parliamentary Party, and was firmly rejected by the conservative side of politics. Kirk and Whitlam in Australia sided to take their protest against French Pacific nuclear testing to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Holland, but the French ignored the resulting injunction. To the French’s and international community’s surprise the prime minister sent out the frigate Otago to the testing area, with Cabinet Minister Fraser Coleman on board. Coleman said:

“We are a small nation but we will not abjectly surrender to injustice… [The Otago is] a silent accusing witness with the power to bring alive the conscience of the world.” (See Smith & Callan, 1999, p. 201).

In January 1973 the world’s first satellite broadcast took place, and was watched by an estimated one billion people, of which several hundred thousand were in New Zealand. It was Elvis Presley’s Aloha from Hawaii concert, broadcast by NBC and showed The King at the peak of his career. This historic television broadcast was another phase in the globalisation of communications and the world becoming a smaller place, in line with the recent advent of the Boeing 747 in particular and other “jumbo” (wide-bodied) jets. New Zealand, as a small, fairly insignificant nation on the world stage, situated in the bottom southeast corner of the earth, was as much a winner from satellite broadcasting as any other country. This new medium would go on to be used for telephones, faxes and much later computer and mobile technology.

The New Zealand-Britain “mother-child” relationship was well and truly over in 1973 when the latter entered the European Economic Community (EEC). This has already been discussed in this chapter, so there is no need for further elaboration.

The year 1973 saw New Zealand’s population reach three million. From hitting one million people in the mid-1920s, and two million by 1952, the population increase had been fairly stable at around 2-2.5 per cent since World War Two. It then fell in 1965, and didn’t get back to the two per cent mark until the early seventies. From 1972 to 1974 the natural increase was 2.1 to 2.2 per cent, before falling continuously throughout the rest of the decade to negative figures. (See Statistics New Zealand, 2011). The population increase to 1973 was not just a result of natural increase from the baby-boomer years and the new “X” generation, but also due to immigration from countries such as the United Kingdom, Europe, Fiji, Samoa and other Pacific Island nations such as the semi-autonomous Cook Islands.

The Domestic Purposes Benefit (DPB) was introduced by Kirk in 1974. It was a means to rectify the failings of the Destitute Persons Act 1910 and the Domestic Proceedings Act 1968, where a woman may experience difficulties in receiving maintenance from the father of her children. Such difficulties required the mother to go to court to get the maintenance agreement or order enforced or in the case where an unmarried mother had to obtain an acknowledgement of paternity from the father or a declaration of paternity from the court, to be entitled to seek the maintenance. The DPB Act “provided State financial support for single mothers, irrespective of whether the father was contributing to maintenance payments.” (See Law Commission Report, 2000).

A criticism of the DPB was that it was being blamed for a shortage of babies for adoption, but it is unclear whether that was founded. There was a reduction in the number of births outside of marriage in the years 1971 to 1976, as well as a softening of community attitudes towards illegitimate children and their mothers, and this latter point was also due to the passing of the Status of Children Act 1969.

In 1973 the New Zealand yacht Fri (pronounced “free”) was the lead vessel in a flotilla of yachts which sailed to Mururoa in French Tahiti, to protest against the continued French nuclear testing. It was preceded by another protest yacht the year earlier, the Vega, captained by David McTaggart, who was allegedly beaten severely by French army commandos and made the international news. This event re-launched the New Zealand (and Australian) nuclear protests of 1972 and 1973, and prompted the voyage of the Fri. On 23 March 1973 the vessel sailed from New Zealand and upon arrival at Mururoa Atoll commenced a fifty-three-day vigil within the test exclusion zone, just outside the Atoll and alongside another flotilla-member, the Spirit of Peace. To back up the protests by the yachts and the demonstrators back in New Zealand, the Kirk government sent two of the Navy frigates, HMNZS Canterbury and the Otago, into the test zone. The frigates were unmolested, probably due to their intimidating size and as they were official government ships, but the Fri was not so lucky, and French commandos stormed the vessel, as well as arresting the crew and impounding the yacht. The French atmospheric nuclear tests had begun in 1966 and continued unabated in 1973. It was not until over twenty years hence, in 1996, that they wound up the operation. In that thirty-three year period they conducted over two-hundred nuclear tests at Mururoa and Fangataufa Atolls, of which forty were atmospheric. There are claims that several hundred Polynesians have died of cancer or are living with cancer from the 1970s through to the present day, although this is unsubstantiated. (See Szabo, 1991).

In 1973 New Zealand’s terms of trade had deteriorated so much that it was at a crisis point. If there was any single event that ended the post-World War Two prosperity and long period of economic growth, then it was most definitely the first oil shock. By the time of the second shock at the decade’s end, the country had experienced six years of struggles and simply added to the pressures into the eighties. But in 1973, before the event, an entire generation of New Zealanders had known nothing but good times riding on the back of industry and commerce, and of course the proverbial “sheep’s back”. First Kirk, then Bill Rowling, and Muldoon all blamed the economic woes on the first oil crisis, which was truthful to some extent, if not convenient. The oil shock did indeed create a massive increase in the cost of imports: it initially increased the wholesale price of oil by four times (second shock increased those prices tenfold (see Belich, 2001, p. 430).The combination with very high inflation and the wholesale price translating to a retail price increase was also responsible for the terms of trade deterioration. However, Belich suggests that the 1973 oil crisis was not fundamentally the reason for the massive economic downturn of the rest of the decade; rather it was also because of Britain’s movement away from trade with New Zealand (it was sixty to seventy per cent of exports and imports prior to this year), the afore-mentioned inflation, and the general ‘decolonisation’ of New Zealand. At this time the newly-discovered phenomenon was taking hold in New Zealand as well as other Western powers where high inflation merged with high unemployment: stagflation. This was a new dilemma and therefore one that New Zealand politicians were at a loss on how to tackle.

The oil crisis of 1973 produced a drop in the nation’s economic performance and a very real perception that the standard of living was falling. From a high of the having the highest standard of living in the world at the end of the nineteenth century, it was actually falling below the averages of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Between 1973 and 1980 New Zealand dropped from being in the top five to nineteenth (see Mein Smith, 2005, p. 202), but of especial concern was that its neighbour and “big cousin”, Australia, was doing better in terms of average real incomes, a country that New Zealand had previously managed to keep up with and often trump in this vital statistic. One may mark the oil hike of 1973 as the time when New Zealand lost the battle for economic supremacy and general prosperity; it has never been managed to reach the top twenty countries in vital indicators since.

In 1969, limited television networking was introduced with live news broadcasts, though New Zealand had to wait until 1973 before the whole country was fully networked. November 1973 also saw the introduction of colour television, in time for the Christchurch Commonwealth Games, in January 1974. A totally different experience to black and white, it brought the ‘box’ to life and brought New Zealand in line with America, which had started colour broadcasts in 1965. The broadcaster was still the old NZBC, (TVNZ not until 1975) and the system chosen was PAL, which stands for Phase Alternating Line. Aside from the Americas which use NTSC, most of the rest of the world uses the PAL system. By the late seventies most New Zealanders had converted to the new type of television. In television technology, with the exception of Teletext, colour viewing would remain the only real improvement until the advent of pay TV in the 1990s, and then of Plasma and LCD flat-panel televisions and digital TV /interactive TV in the early twenty-first century.

By early 1974 Polynesian immigration was higher than ever. It had become the single largest group of immigrants and for most, Auckland, and in particular South Auckland – Manukau City, Otara, Manurewa, Papatoetoe, etc. - was the destination of choice. Auckland was fast approaching the centre of the largest grouping of South Pacific Islanders outside the islands themselves; a fact from the next decade, and the immigration was creating a new subculture in New Zealand. For the first time ever it was becoming less and less common to hear only English on the streets and in shopping centres, and Samoan and other Polynesian words were becoming part of the lexicon of youth and their street slang.

The tenth Commonwealth Games (formerly Empire Games) was held in Christchurch on 22 January 1974 for two weeks, and was opened by the Duke of Edinburgh. There were a total of 1,278 athletes and 372 team officials from thirty-eight nations, and 40,000 tourists attended. The Games were nicknamed the “Friendly Games” and the nightly weightlifting was a must-see for many Kiwis. One of the British weightlifting competitors, Precious McKenzie, who was considered the smallest lifter, made New Zealand his home some years later. Dick Taylor became the winner of New Zealand’s first gold medal, crossing the finish line of the 10,000 metres with his arms raised in triumph. One of the greatest events of the Games was a tussle for the 1,500 metres finals, between New Zealand’s own John Walker and Tanzania’s Filbert Bayl. John Walker was beaten by Bayl by three-tenths of a second (!), but both created new world records: Bayl in 3:32:2 and Walker in 3:32:5. Walker held mid-1970s records for both the old mile and the 2,000 metres. Another surprise was on the first day of competition where Richard Taylor won gold for New Zealand in the ten thousand metres. The final medal tally put New Zealand in fourth place with nine gold, eight silver and eighteen bronze (See Smith & Callan, 1999, p. 202). The Games created a temporary, but real, upswing in the mood of the nation, after the economic quagmire the country had sunk into, the social problems of Vietnam protests, antinuclear protests and general dissatisfaction.

Music is an integral part of any nation’s social and cultural history, and it is the playback of a particular song that often makes a person reminisce about a certain year or era. In 1974 that song was “Join Together”, written by Steve Allen and performed with the NZ Maori Theatre Trust.

“The 10th Commonwealth Games … was an odd coupling of 1970s cosmic harmony and cut-throat competition. The song that caught the mood of this Woodstock in tracksuits was Steve Allen’s hummable, even uplifting, anthem ‘Join together’.” (See Ministry for Culture & Heritage, 2008).

Steve Allen, whose real name was Alan Stevenson, wrote the song in 1973, and by his own admission, bashed it out in half an hour. He later said, “As with all good songs, it fell into place. The words were predetermined; it was just a case of finding a simple tune to string them together.” Created at EMI studios in Wellington in the winter of 1973 its backing track was created by a single guitarist, bassist and drummer, plus Allen on keyboard. The fuller feel came later when he collaborated with the seven vocalists of the NZ Maori Theatre Trust. His song came first in the Studio One competition for the theme song for the Games, and he won $300 (about $14,000 today). Prior to the Games it hit number two on the NZBC’s Pop-o-Meter Top Twenty, but failed to trump Helen Reddy’s “Delta Dawn”. The song was played by Allen and a massed choir in front of 35,000 spectators and many more worldwide via television at the Opening Ceremony. He later recalled that he was “…stuck in the middle of an awful lot of people, a long march and being pretty chuffed to be singing my own material.” (See Ministry of Culture & Heritage, 2008). The Friendly Games were claimed to be a little bit too friendly, similar to the 1973 Ngaruawahia Pop Festival, where there was a fair bit of late-night communing between athletes in the Athletes’ Village. But after all it was the era of peace and free love. In 1978 Allen complained that the song became so popular it defined him in the eyes of the general public, and conversely caused all his other musical work to be overlooked. Much later he apologised for that comment, saying that he was quoted out of context, but maintained that it was good to be remembered for “Join Together”, but would have been nice to be remembered for his other works as well. (See Ministry for Culture & Heritage, 2008).

The Maori word “Ohu” means literally communal or group volunteer work, and the Kirk Ohu scheme in 1973 was a project designed to help groups to live and work communally on rural land, such as the kibbutz movement in post-1948 Israel. It has been said to be the closest government-sanctioned thing to institutionalisation of the counter-culture movement.  Even though not successful in the long-term, the ohus were a radical and well-meaning policy of the Labour government, and experienced a measure of success in the short-term. In addition to greater productivity of the rural workforce, the scheme helped alleviate alcoholism and recreational drug use, in particular marijuana.  In addition to people leaving the cities to work on ohus, it also became attractive to the spiritual aspirations of people pursuing an alternative style of life. It was an official land settlement scheme where the users leased crown lands. The policy was announced to an ohu working party by Minister of Lands Matiu Rata, and was explained in future monetarist terms. He mentioned the over-emphasis on the GNP, “…perpetual greed, speculation, profiteering, unethical practices and the cult of individualism…” (See Smith & Callan, 1999, p. 200). In keeping with left-wing Labour ideology Norman Kirk had hoped that it would act as an antidote to the materialism of modern 1970s society, although by the time it was enacted as government policy many of those in the community whom it was aimed at had already been living an alternative, hippie-style culture. It ultimately failed as it was impracticable and an undesirable return to living in a long-gone era of no conveniences. The November 1974 issue of Mushroom Magazine summed up why the ohus were to be doomed in the very near future:

“If the plumbing is unserviceable: avoid using it altogether… washing up is more pleasant outside at a bench with a removable basin … [there was] shitting-in-squat and composting excreta for at least six months with other vegetable and animal matter … The Lady in the household has powerful conditioning to overcome …” (See Smith & Callan, 1999, p. 200).

In 1974 the voting age was reduced to eighteen. During most of New Zealand’s history, voting has been restricted to the over-21s, but at a couple of times just after World War I and during World War II there was a temporary franchise change, mostly to allow serving military personnel to vote, regardless of age or not being a current resident. In 1969 the voting age was legislatively reduced to twenty, and then the change in 1974. Whether the reason for the 1974 change or not, it was done in an atmosphere of frenzied student interest in politics due to the protests over Vietnam. On 21 June 2007 Green Party MP Sue Bradford introduced a bill into parliament that would lower the age further to sixteen, which although radical, had been proposed in some European parliaments (but failed).  Waiting until the consideration of Members’ Bills session, a little over one month later, Bradford abandoned the idea, citing “adverse public opinion”. A similar bill in the state lower house of Australian Capital Territory (ACT), was also proposed in 2007, and was also defeated.

Norman Kirk, prior to being elected as prime minister, always had a weight problem, similar to David Lange several years later. Unlike Lange, who resorted to surgical measures to reduce some bulk (he had a stomach stapling procedure in 1984), Kirk managed to slim down somewhat by natural means by 1972. During his gruelling time as PM Kirk maintained an intense schedule and had little holiday time. His weight gradually rose as did his blood pressure. By the end of 1973 he was experiencing heart problems, but he recovered. His doctor advised a reduction of workload but either through necessity of being prime minister, or by choice, he didn’t follow that advice. By August 1974 he was forced to enter hospital. On 31 August Kirk died of heart problems. He was only fifty-one. On 6 September 1974 a state funeral was held in Wellington. The mourners formed a queue which stretched down Parliament Building’s front steps and across Parliament grounds, as people waited to pay respects while his body lay in state. The entire country was in shock, and even those who didn’t vote for him in 1972 or didn’t agree with his administration of two years, were still saddened by his passing.  Interment of his body occurred in his hometown, Waimate. Quoted in Smith & Callan, C. K. Stead wrote a poem about “Big Norm”:

“Maurice, I dreamed of you last night. You wore

A black track suit, red striped. Saying goodbye

We fought back the tears. I woke thinking you dead.

Here in the North manuka is flecked with flowers,

Willows bent in stream-beds are edged with green,

But the tall-striding poplars seem no more

Than ghostly sketches of their summer glory,

Beyound the dunes blue of the sky out-reaches

The blue of ocean where the spirits of our dead

Stream northward to their home. Under flame trees

By Ahipara golf course someone’s transistor tells me

The news again, and down on the hard sand

In letters large enough to match the man

The children have scrawled it: BIG NORM IS DEAD.”

C. K. Stead

(Quoted in Smith & Callan, 1999, p. 206).

Almost immediately after Kirk’s death the Labour caucus appointed his successor, Bill Rowling, as the new Prime Minister of New Zealand (first few days it was Kirk’s deputy, Hugh Watt, serving as acting PM). His real name was Wallace Edward Rowling, and he was in the Parliament since 1962. His elevation to the frontbench after the 1972 could be seen as a major promotion as he had no prior ministerial experience. His two years as Finance Minister was overall acceptable, although sometimes rather turbulent as he had some difficult economic challenges due to Kirk’s programme of reform.

During his year as Prime Minister he was often attacked by the much more vociferous and political Leader of the Opposition, Muldoon, and many in the party and Labour supporters eventually labelled him as being weak and ineffectual. His rationale was that he did not want to stoop to the levels of the National Party, which he characterised as confrontational and aggressive. It is not surprising that he lost the election in 1975 on this particular front, much the same as the similarly-deposed Don Brash lost the National leadership in 2006. However it was not the only reason; the Labour Party was by 1975 seen as too radical for New Zealanders in the 1970s, much as in Australia in the same years. (Both Labour parties changed considerably by the early eighties to become more centrist, even over the centre to the right, such as with Lange and his Australian counterpart, Hawke.) Rowling went on to serve as Leader of the Opposition for a long eight years; both 1978 and 1981 were votes of confidence in him as the Party almost won back government in percentage terms, but this did not translate to a majority of seats. He was finally dumped by the Party in favour of Lange in 1983.

The famous (infamous?) Maori Land March from Te Hapua in Northland to Wellington was if not one of the country’s largest Maori protests, then possibly its most well-known and long-remembered one. Proposed by John Rangihau, it was a protest against not only the failure to return confiscated lands, but also against its continuing confiscation. Signalling a fundamental change in Maori relations with the state and the Pakeha majority, it was the ushering in a new 1970s era of “Maori Renaissance”. It continued to gain strength throughout the late 1970s. The official speaker was Dame Whina Cooper of Te Roopu o te Matakite, and as the March passed over the Auckland Harbour Bridge, through Auckland, onto Hamilton and Te Kuiti it grew from less than a couple of hundred to several thousand. It picked up 50,000 temporarily en-route, which is a significant number remembering that the entire population of New Zealand was only three million. By the time it arrived in Wellington it was 5,000-strong. In Wellington they handed the Government a Memorial of Rights with 60,000 signatures and requested a guarantee of not a single acre more be lost. The Labour government refused to make any firm commitments. The March disbanded at that stage, but some remained in the Parliament grounds for some time, including Cooper. A documentary team interviewed some and made a film. Other influential persons involved in the Land March were Eva Rickard and Tama Poata and Donna Awatere. Years later, in 1998, Awatere recalls the March. She stated that it was not supported by the Maori community when proposed, and that some were afraid that there would be backlashes and arrests by the government if it was to be carried out. She said they had been “warned”:

“By the time we got to Warkworth the mood was changing: marae started to receive us and support us. And then suddenly they came in their thousands and then their tens of thousands. When we got to the Auckland Harbour Bridge there were so many of us, walking in time, that the bridge began to sway, and I was scared we would bring the whole thing down. As we marched to Wellington no marae was big enough to hold us. We walked for weeks, and the day we walked into Wellington we had a larger crowd than I had ever seen. The country was behind us.” (See Smith & Callan, 1999, p. 212).

There was some success for the March as that year the Treaty of Waitangi’s new Waitangi Tribunal amended the legislation so that claims from 1975 would be granted. The Tribunal was founded in that year, but some would surmise that it didn’t really ‘come to life’ until 1981, under the chairmanship of Justice Edward T. (Taihakurei) Durie, the first person of Maori descent to be appointed a judge of the Maori Land Court. This was a big win for Maori, and one that would only be the start of better things to come, culminating in the 1990 Bolger return of lands (and waterways) worth $1 billion. However these were early days and anything was welcome. Bill Rowling, about to be defeated by the National Party and Muldoon, was still the Prime Minister and he presided over the Tribunal, and was proud of it (not that it helped the election outcome for Labour). Professor King says that “Perhaps the single measure with the most pervasive influence, though not greatly commented on at the time, was the establishment of the Waitangi Tribunal…” (See King, 2003, p. 484). The key purpose of the Tribunal was to deliberate and make judgements on the alleged breaches of the original 1840 Treaty of Waitangi since the year 1985. The Tribunal was not well-known by the public, including the Maori community for that matter, for the first ten years, until 1985 under the fourth Labour government of David Lange. It was then radically amended to include claims retrospectively not to 1975, or even 1875, but all the way back to 1840. At that point it became the key focus of Maori resource (land) claims against the Crown. During the 1980s and 1990s the Tribunal created grants that amounted to nothing less than a revolution.

Election ’75 was one of those sea-change polls, where an ‘experiment’, such as the Second Labour Government, is ended, and the status-quo, what some may term the ‘natural party of government’, such as the National Party, is re-instated. Kirk and then Rowling’s government was not as radical, far-reaching, questionable or as left-wing as its counterpart across the Tasman, but it failed to secure a second term nonetheless. Whitlam’s Australian Labor Party (ALP) government in Australia was sacked by the Governor-General, acting on the orders of the Queen, as it had lost Supply. This was an extreme way of leaving government. At the 1975 election in Australia, Labor lost to the Opposition Coalition by astronomic proportions. This was not the case in New Zealand, but people had lost confidence in Labour here also, and a return to conservative rule was the desire by a large majority of the electorate. The election campaign involved, on the government side, the ill-fated campaign: “Citizens for Rowling”. This was utilising the backing of some major players in the New Zealand corporate and social arena, but was ultimately deemed elitist and a dismissal of ordinary, middle-class New Zealanders. National responded with “Rob’s Mob”, but it is questionable whether that made any difference to the outcome. Muldoon was a consummate orator, television performer, and evoked a forward-looking, centre-right, financially-responsible alternate government. After all the problems and economic difficulties of the previous three years, Kiwis were looking to rebuild the national economy and recreate individual wealth that had been a hallmark of the 1950s and 1960s, mostly under the “Tories”. A clever tactic of Muldoon’s was to use his previous finance minister’s experience and focus on the economic impact of Rowling newly-created compulsory personal superannuation platform, which would cause government ownership of the New Zealand economy, using the workers’ capital. This, he said, is Communism. Muldoon used the premise that it could be funded from future taxes rather than an additional impost on current wages. The results turned out to be a mirror-image/carbon-copy of the state of the Parliament pre-election. From Labour Government 55 seats vs. 32 seats National Opposition, it became National Government 55: 32 Labour Opposition. Although Social Credit won 7.43 per cent of the vote, or almost 120,000 votes, it still failed to secure a single seat. As was the case to a lesser extent for Values, winning about five per cent, or 83,000 votes. This election was another example of small parties (mostly left-of-centre) not being empowered in the national polity, so it was argued at the 1993 MMP referendum. The full results below:

Change in Seats

The new government adopted its election pledge on personal super shortly after taking office.

A government estimate in 1975 put the official poverty statistic at eighteen per cent of all New Zealanders, or approximately half-a-million persons. This was a staggering statistic and was blamed on the previous Labour government, but in truth it had been edging up before 1972. A product of unemployment and the sharp decreases in the cost of living in the early 1970s, Muldoon’s new government acted to bring the economy back to the black, but this was insufficient, and poverty and unemployment continued to rise, albeit at a slower rate.

The “Think Big” strategy of the new National government commenced very soon after being re-elected, and was a major part of Muldoon’s policy manifesto for the first term (1975-78). It basically comprised the creation of large-scale investments, such as the expansion of a steel works, the construction of chemical plants, and the construction of an oil refinery. Through these investments, he aimed to reduce the national import bill and thereby effect a notable improvement in the balance of payments/ terms of trade. Think Big was the main hallmark of the Muldoon years of 1975-84, but ultimately it failed, as the projects were inherently risky and had not been costed effectively. Think Big in particular, and the government’s manifestos of all three terms were designed to stabilise and rocket the economy forward, but the end result was the opposite effect.

Think Big of the late 1970s and into the first half of the Eighties was an attempt to re-create the economic prosperity New Zealand had enjoyed in the 1950s and 1960s. It was simply a way of utilising technology to capitalise on native resources.  Part of the programme was for the government to invest heavily (and ultimately) unsuccessfully in a venture to make synthetic petrol, ammonia urea and methanol out of natural gas. This was a bold move designed to make the country self-reliant in energy, as well as to kill unemployment. Think Big was a hallmark of the Muldoon years right from its inception in 1975, to its downfall in 1984, but as King suggests,

“These were all policies and tactics favoured by the man who had chosen to be both Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, and who was so strong-willed that nobody in his cabinet or caucus was capable of challenging him or deflecting policies he was determined to follow.” (See King, 2003, p. 486).

Although a rather harsh and erudite summary of Muldoon’s leadership style, this was quite close to the truth. However, it must be remembered that as well as being elected by a substantial majority in 1975, he was re-elected with a smaller base in 1978, and again in 1981. New Zealanders were satisfied enough with his leadership to give him a go for three terms; almost a decade, and therefore a discussion in posterity of his government’s failings, including Think Big and the 1982-84 price and wage freeze, amongst other policies, must be examined in that light. The key question relating to Think Big, is did New Zealand benefit? Cynical historians may surmise that it was a significant distraction to the success of the National government, which by the 1981 election, retained power by a single seat. By the 1980s, fundamental changes were required in the New Zealand economy. In the absence of actual studies, it is dubious whether the programme actually assisted the economy during its long tenure, but there was a definite powering-up of economic activity during the construction phases. Higher oil prices, on a permanent basis, did not materialise, although oil prices dropped in real terms. Was this as a result of the programme? There were benefits to the construction industry, but only of a short-term nature. The Muldoon years may be judged harshly re-Think Big, but it was a kick-start to the economy from the 1969-75 years of stagnation; however was this kick-start a product of Think Big, the National government, or a combination of New Zealand and the Western world’s revival since the economic events of the early seventies that featured the nation’s forty-six drop in the terms of trade and a climb of inflation to the value of more than ten per cent (much as a result of the oil crises)?

The creation of Television New Zealand (TVNZ), following on from the NZBC, in Avalon, near Wellington, and the start of Channel Two, was a cogent new era in television broadcasting for the nation. On 1 April 1975 NZBC was separated into three state-owned corporations: TV1 (Channel One), TV2 (Channel Two), and Radio New Zealand. The existing NZBC TV service became TV One, based in Avalon, opening on that day. TV One used the WNTV1 and DNTV2 studios, whilst AKTV2’s (Auckland) Shortland Street studios (name used for a 1980s/1990s soap opera show of that name) and CHTV3 (Christchurch) studios were used for the new TV2, which started later in 1975. The next major change occurred in 1980, when the two channels merged to form TVNZ. TV2 was known prior to this year as South Pacific Television. One of the highlights of the new TVNZ from 1976 onwards was the immensely-popular and extremely-successful Telethons, held at Avalon (more about Telethons shortly).

On the 6^th February 1976 New Zealand Day was permanently re-christened ‘Waitangi Day’. Since the previous year the Waitangi Tribunal was a new force in Pakeha-Maori relations and an attempt by the Rowling Government, then the Muldoon administration, to redress some of the land ownership issues for the indigenous community, as well as a general boost to Maori-Pakeha relations, government attempts to reduce the disparity in general living standards between the two groups and a firm and material engagement of what some may refer to as ‘fixing the wrongs’. The renaming of the national anniversary was supported by a substantial majority of New Zealand, as many were sympathetic to the Maori cause in the mid-1970s, but also because it gave new meaning to the officially-recognised date of the birth of New Zealand’s civilisation. It was of course fully accepted by Maori as it recognised the role of the Treaty’s signatories, who were the ancestors of a large group of late twentieth-century Maori people. Despite some in the National Party who were opposed to the change, Muldoon was nothing if not pragmatic, and the vote was passed quickly and easily.

Waitangi Day has always been a day of protests and discontent from some in the Maori community, going back to 1971, when Nga Tamatoa had a major role in the demonstrations. Initially it was argued that the Treaty should have a greater role in governmental Maori affairs, but this evolved by the early 1980s to a complete rejection of the Treaty- that is, that it was a fraud perpetrated by the 1840 English colonial authorities, designed to trick the Maori to cede their sovereignty, their lands, and what was on the lands/in the seas, lakes and rivers. By the mid-eighties, under the Lange Labour Government, Maori leaders and/or elders had admitted that the Treaty had indeed been honoured and that it should be honoured. This may have been at least partially as a result of Lange’s new “Consensus Government”, whereas National had only demonstrated a grudging acceptance of Maori recognition and Treaty-based land rights, and this from the side of politics (conservative) that most Maori didn’t support. (All of the four Maori seats were, and still are, Labour). There is a perception today that the Treaty is constantly being politicised and the media only cover protests. Ngapuhi, whose ancestors comprised the main Treaty signatories, have not supported protesters and attempted to keep the Day peaceful and commemorative. Being a day that is observed by everyone in the country, many people have an opinion. Some suggest that, being divisive, Waitangi Day should be rejected in favour of ANZAC Day on 25 April. Some even suggest the revival of Dominion Day. Others say that the day is not relevant to those in the community who are neither Maori, nor of British descent. Peter Dunn, leader of United Future party, has suggested a return to New Zealand Day. One thing that is certain is that Waitangi Day will always have a political and debatable undertone.

In 1976 the EEC import quotas for butter were set until the year 1980. This was celebrated by dairy farmers, of which almost all had expected such movement when voting National in 1975. It was a case of New Zealand fighting back against Britain’s entry into the Euro zone, but was ultimately a failure.

Subscriber toll dialling was introduced in that year, and meant that people in New Zealand could easily (but not cheaply) call anywhere overseas directly, without the need to first connect with an operator. The quality of the line was often very second-rate, with static, long delays and poor audio quality, but this had changed by the 1990s.

From an idea to follow the rest of the world, save America, in the early seventies, to its actual implementation in 1976, metric conversion was a challenging, but ultimately rewarding, accomplishment. A simpler and more common-sense system that used tens as its base, it was not accepted by everyone in the community, especially, but not exclusively, the older members of New Zealand’s community. Metrification in New Zealand was actually commenced in 1969, but not completed until 14 December 1976. The government body that oversaw the change was the Metric Advisory Board (MAB). The initial adjustment was the introduction of the New Zealand metric symbol, introduced in March 1971. By late 1972 temperature, road signs and measures of important commodities such as wool and milk had been metrified. Unlike Great Britain, which had major opposition from many groups, New Zealand’s experience was relatively docile and accepting. Today there are few who still use imperial units, even among the elderly. This latter group would be mostly in the late seventies upwards. One of the few industries that still utilises imperial measurements (and possibly the only one) is the aviation industry, but this is by international convention. Even in that industry a number of aspects, such as fuel quantity, aircraft weight, runway length, and others are expressed in metric terms.

Controversial in some circles in 1976, and still today, was the deportation of a large group of Polynesian over stayers. New Zealand’s immigration policy tends to be middle-of-the-road, as compared to tough administrations such as the USA, and more lenient ones such as Britain, Australia and Canada. By the early seventies South Pacific Island immigration was beginning to rival those from more traditional sources such as Britain, Ireland and Europe. This was comprised of mostly Samoan and Fijian nationalities, but also from small island nations that were originally external territories (overseas dependencies) of New Zealand, such as the Cook Islands, Tokelau and Nuku’alofa. Auckland was the city of choice for most, being the largest and most cosmopolitan centre, the one with the best climate, first port-au-call and the place where there was a family, friend, employer and cultural network already established. However a large proportion also settled in Wellington, and significantly smaller movements to Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Gisborne and other regional centres.

Telethon ’76! The first telethon in New Zealand was an historic, memorable all-night event telecast live from TVNZ’s Avalon studios, to raise money for disabled people nationwide. Telethon NZ was an event that only those people who lived through them could really know how exciting and uplifting the whole experience was, and how it brought together all Kiwis from Bluff to Cape Reinga, from all walks of life, all ages and all ethnicities. Telethon New Zealand was more than just raising money, albeit that was its prime objective; it was a night of national camaraderie, Kiwi spirit, a joining of hands (literally - dancing in the studio!), the only night of the year that children can stay up all night without reprimand, a night that individuals, small business and corporations alike got together to make a difference to the disadvantaged.

Twenty-one minutes of the highlights of Telethon ’76 has been uploaded to YouTube by TVNZ OnDemand. URL is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv4VRljK-nQ

1976 Telethon was, together with the 1981 Telethon, arguably the equally-most historically- memorable one. Hosted by Dougal Stevenson, it featured a number of live performances, a bank of telephone-operators, and the theme song, which became an iconic piece of music for New Zealand history: “Thank you very much”. The full lyrics were:

CHORUS: “Thank you very much for your kind donations,

                   Thank you very much,

                   Thank you very very very much,

                   Thank you very much for your kind donations,

                   Thank you very very very much.”

VERSE:              “You don’t know how nice it all seems,

                   It’s been much better than we dreamed.”

[CHORUS], etc.

Amongst the performances were the Conga Line, Red Indian dance and song, Bunny-Hop, Hawaiian luau dance, drag/beauty queen dance, and the ticker along the bottom of people’s television screens would display donation amounts and the donors. Constantly the grand total was displayed on a digital board bordered with light bulbs. All that was needed was a telephone and a pledge; no money was actually transacted on the night (unlike today with phone or Internet payments via credit cards or BPAY).  For people living in the greater Wellington region, it was doubly exciting as they could go to the studios, although access to the live studio was restricted. Different to today’s telethons in New Zealand or overseas, which do not attract a national audience and bring everyone together, the 1970s telethons in New Zealand were nation-building and culture in-the-making. Additionally important was the fact that neither of the channels were twenty-four-hour broadcasting until the early nineties, and this made it even more imperative to be viewed and to participate in. Often donors would challenge presenters to perform for their donation, such as: ‘Helen Steward Ltd’s staff and management giving $150 if Rees Jones and Craig Little will sing two verses some time or other of “Rock around the Clock”’; the police answering donations on-air, and other public-friendly stunts to raise funds. Telethon ’76 was the second such event, started the previous year, and repeated every year until 1979, thereafter it was held every two years until 1985, followed by 1988, 1990, 1991, and by the Canadian Canwest owners of TV3 in 1993 and 2009. The 1970s telethons, 1990 and 1991 ones were hosted by TV2; others by TV1 prior to 1993. The 1975 event raised almost $600,000 for St John Ambulance, and it increased each time until 1985, where more than $6 million was raised. The final national telethon by TV3, in 1993, raised $3.5 million for the Starship Children’s Hospital.  The most recent event, in 2009, hosted by TV3, raised just under $2 million, and was called “The Big Night In”, supporting KidsCan- children with cancer.

Telethon ’76 will forever be remembered as one of those iconic events where all age groups, ethnicities and backgrounds contributed to the sense of Kiwiness, nation-building, generosity and community, that from the late eighties onwards gradually diminished, although has not totally disappeared. It was a snapshot of the country in the 1970s, as much for its hair, clothes and music fashion as its sense of national spirit and camaraderie.