1962 in New Zealand

The following lists events that happened during 1962 in New Zealand.

Population

 * Estimated population as of 31 December: 2,515,800.
 * Increase since 31 December 1961: 54,500 (2.21%).
 * Males per 100 females: 101.0.

Regal and viceregal

 * Head of State – Elizabeth II
 * Governor-General – The Viscount Cobham GCMG TD, followed by Brigadier Sir Bernard Fergusson GCMG GCVO DSO OBE.

Government

 * Speaker of the House – Ronald Algie.
 * Prime Minister – Keith Holyoake
 * Deputy Prime Minister – Jack Marshall.
 * Minister of Finance – Harry Lake.
 * Minister of Foreign Affairs – Keith Holyoake.
 * Attorney-General – Ralph Hanan.
 * Chief Justice — Sir Harold Barrowclough

Parliamentary opposition

 * Leader of the Opposition –  Walter Nash (Labour)

Main centre leaders

 * Mayor of Auckland – Dove-Myer Robinson
 * Mayor of Hamilton – Denis Rogers
 * Mayor of Wellington – Frank Kitts
 * Mayor of Christchurch – George Manning
 * Mayor of Dunedin – Stuart Sidey

Events

 * The Office of the Ombudsman was established

January

 * 1 January: Samoa (then called Western Samoa) attains full independence, becoming the first independent Polynesian territory.

February

 * 5 February: Dunedin lawyer James Patrick Ward was killed by a letter bomb sent to his office in what police described as "one of the most callous murders in the history of New Zealand crime".

August

 * 11 August: New Zealand Railways's Cook Strait ferry service began, using the GMV Aramoana.

November

 * 12 December: The Flag of Wellington is adopted.

Arts and literature

 * R.A.K. Mason wins the Robert Burns Fellowship.

See 1962 in art, 1962 in literature, Category:1962 books

Music
See: 1962 in music

Radio and television

 * New Zealand Broadcasting Service (NZBS) is restructured on 1 April to form New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation.
 * An outside broadcast van is in use in Auckland, and similar vans are ordered for Wellington and Christchurch.
 * Dunedin gets television service with the launch of DNTV2 on 31 July.
 * There are 23,343 licensed television sets in New Zealand.

See: 1962 in New Zealand television, 1962 in television, List of TVNZ television programming, Category:Television in New Zealand, Public broadcasting in New Zealand

Film
See: Category:1962 film awards, 1962 in film, List of New Zealand feature films, Cinema of New Zealand, Category:1962 films

Athletics

 * 27 January: Peter Snell sets a new world record for the mile of 3m 54.4s, running at Cook's Gardens, Wanganui.
 * Barry Magee wins his second national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:24:55.4 in Auckland.

Chess

 * The 69th National Chess Championship was held in Auckland, and was won by G.G. Haase of Dunedin.

Harness racing

 * New Zealand Trotting Cup – Lordship defeats Cardigan Bay in a rain-affected race
 * Auckland Trotting Cup – Dandy Briar

Lawn bowls
The national outdoor lawn bowls championships are held in Christchurch.
 * Men's singles champion – Jeff Barron (Miramar Bowling Club)
 * Men's pair champions – Frank Livingstone, Bob McDonald (skip) (Onehunga Bowling Club)
 * Men's fours champions – W. Humphreys, S. Barlow, H.W. Todd, R. Brown (skip) (Marlborough Bowling Club)

Soccer

 * The Chatham Cup is won by Hamilton Technical Old Boys who beat Northern of Dunedin 4–1 in the final.
 * Provincial league champions:
 * Auckland:	Eastern Suburbs AFC
 * Bay of Plenty:	Rangers
 * Buller:	Waimangaroa Utd
 * Canterbury:	Western
 * Franklin:	Manurewa AFC
 * Hawke's Bay:	Napier Rovers
 * Manawatu:	Thistle
 * Marlborough:	Woodbourne
 * Nelson:	Rangers
 * Northland:	Otangarei United
 * Otago:	Northern AFC
 * Poverty Bay:	Eastern Union
 * South Canterbury:	Thistle
 * Southland:	Invercargill Thistle
 * Taranaki:	Moturoa
 * Waikato:	Hamilton Technical OB
 * Wairarapa:	Lansdowne United
 * Wanganui:	Wanganui Athletic
 * Wellington:	Northern
 * West Coast:	Runanga
 * The inaugural Rothmans Cup was played between the champion clubs from Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago as a de facto national championship. The final was won by Northern AFC of Dunedin 3-2 on aggregate.

Births
Category:1962 births
 * 12 January (in England): Terry Wiles, thalidomide survivor.
 * 4 February: Frank Bunce, rugby union player.
 * 17 February: Tony Blain, cricketer.
 * 1 March: Russell Coutts, yachtsman.
 * 4 March: John Young, composer.
 * 15 March: Trevor Franklin, cricketer.
 * 6 June: Grant Fox, rugby player.
 * 8 June: John Cutler, yachtsman.
 * 16 June Jonathan Temm, lawyer.
 * 22 July: Rena Owen, actress.
 * 5 August: Richard de Groen, cricketer.
 * 13 September: Brian Fowler, cyclist.
 * 21 September: Kelly Evernden, tennis player.
 * 22 September: Martin Crowe, cricketer.
 * 27 September: Gavin Larsen, cricketer.
 * 9 October: Paul Radisich, racing driver.
 * 12 October: Mark S. Olsen, painter.
 * 7 November: Debbie Hockley, cricketer.
 * 29 December: Wynton Rufer, soccer player.
 * Tim Chadwick, artist and writer.
 * Jon Stevens, singer.

Deaths

 * 26 April: Jerry Skinner, Labour politician.
 * 20 June John Houston, historian and writer.
 * 14 July: Janet Mackenzie, New Zealand teacher
 * 18 July: G. H. Cunningham, mycologist and plant pathologist.
 * 18 September: Clyde Carr, Labour politician.
 * 8 October: Donald Charles Cameron, Mayor of Dunedin
 * 20 October: Cora Louisa Burrell, politician (MLC).
 * 28 October: Bill Schramm, Labour politician and 11th Speaker of the House of Representatives.