New Zealand's Top 100 History Makers

New Zealand's Top 100 History Makers was a weekly television programme first shown on Prime Television New Zealand on 6 October 2005. 430 notable New Zealanders were ranked by a panel to determine the 100 most influential in New Zealand history. There were six episodes to present the list, and a final (seventh) episode, screened live on 17 November 2005, showed the rankings of the top ten of these people as a result of votes collected from the public via text and internet. (These votes are not statistically valid as they involve self-selected voters).

Diana Wichtel, reviewing the show in the New Zealand Listener, described it as "surprisingly watchable", but commented that the format was "history as striptease, with the programme counting down over the weeks to the big winner." Scott Kara, writing in The New Zealand Herald, called it "educational but not dull". Another review described it as "history ... as an Idol-style talent search".

Joseph Romanos, one of the panellists, produced a book later in 2005 containing profiles of the same 100 people. The book was revised for a 2008 edition.

Panel
The show's rankings were produced by merging the ratings of eight panellists, who are all well-known New Zealanders:


 * Stacey Daniels – Television and radio personality
 * Raybon Kan – Comedian
 * Robyn Langwell – Editor of North & South magazine
 * Douglas Lloyd-Jenkins – Writer and historian
 * Melanie Nolan – Historian
 * Joseph Romanos – radio host, sports writer
 * Tainui Stephens – Television producer
 * Kerre Woodham – Radio personality

Panel rankings

 * 1) Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937) – physicist
 * 2) Kate Sheppard (1848–1934) – suffragist
 * 3) Sir Edmund Hillary (1919–2008) – mountaineer and explorer
 * 4) Sir George Grey (1812–1898) – Governor and Premier
 * 5) Michael Joseph Savage (1872–1940) – politician
 * 6) Sir Āpirana Ngata (1874–1950) – Māori politician
 * 7) Hōne Heke (c.1807/1808 – 1850) – Māori chief
 * 8) Dr Frederick Truby King (1858–1938) – founder of Plunket Society
 * 9) William Hobson (1792–1842) – co-author of the Treaty of Waitangi
 * 10) Jean Batten (1909–1982) – aviator
 * 11) Sir Brian Barratt-Boyes (1924–2006) – heart surgeon
 * 12) Sir Peter Snell (1938–2019) – runner
 * 13) Bill Pickering (1910–2004) – space scientist
 * 14) Sir Peter Jackson (born 1961) – film maker
 * 15) Janet Frame (1924–2004) – writer
 * 16) Te Rauparaha (1760s–1849) – Māori leader
 * 17) Sir Colin Meads (1936–2017) – All Black
 * 18) Dame Whina Cooper (1895–1994) – Māori leader
 * 19) Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923) – writer
 * 20) Thomas Brydone (1837–1904) and William Soltau Davidson (1846–1924) – refrigeration pioneers
 * 21) Richard Pearse (1877–1953) – aviation pioneer
 * 22) Te Whiti o Rongomai (c.1830–1907) – pacifist Māori leader
 * 23) Richard Seddon (1845–1906) – Premier and Prime Minister of New Zealand
 * 24) Sir Te Rangi Hīroa (Peter Buck) (1877–1951) – Māori leader
 * 25) Sir Julius Vogel (1835–1899) – politician
 * 26) Maurice Wilkins (1916–2004) – scientist Nobel laureate
 * 27) Helen Clark (born 1950) – politician
 * 28) Mabel Howard (1894–1972) – politician
 * 29) Sir Bernard Freyberg (1889–1963) – lieutenant-general
 * 30) Sir Harold Gillies (1882–1960) – plastic surgeon
 * 31) Dame Kiri Te Kanawa (born 1944) – opera singer
 * 32) Sir Keith Park (1892–1975) – air chief marshal
 * 33) Professor Alan MacDiarmid (1927–2007) – Nobel laureate chemist
 * 34) Sir Peter Blake (1948–2001) – yachtsman
 * 35) Dr C.E. (Clarence Edward) Beeby (1902–1998) – educationalist
 * 36) Jack Lovelock (1910–1949) – athlete
 * 37) Dr John Bedbrook – biotechnologist
 * 38) James K. Baxter (1926–1972) – poet
 * 39) Dr Fred Hollows (1929–1993) – eye surgeon
 * 40) Sir Murray Halberg (1933-2022) – athlete and philanthropist
 * 41) Neil Finn (born 1958) – musician
 * 42) Edward Gibbon Wakefield (1796–1862) – colony founder
 * 43) David Lange (1942–2005) – politician
 * 44) Sir Robert Muldoon (1921–1992) – politician
 * 45) Thomas Edmonds – industrialist
 * 46) Colin McCahon (1919–1987) – painter
 * 47) Colin Murdoch (1929–2008) – inventor
 * 48) Sir Archibald McIndoe (1900–1960) – plastic surgeon
 * 49) Rev Samuel Marsden (1765–1838) – missionary
 * 50) Peter Fraser (1884–1950) – politician
 * 51) John Clarke (1948–2017) – comedian
 * 52) Ettie Rout (1877–1936) – campaigner for safe sex
 * 53) Arthur Lydiard (1917–2004) – popularised jogging
 * 54) Kupe – discoverer of Aotearoa
 * 55) Te Puea Hērangi (1883–1952) – Māori leader
 * 56) Sir John Walker (born 1952) – runner
 * 57) Tim Finn (born 1952) – musician
 * 58) John A. Lee (1891–1982) – politician
 * 59) Sir James Wattie (1902–1974) – industrialist
 * 60) Sir Bill Hamilton (1899–1978) – inventor
 * 61) Norman Kirk (1923–1974) – politician
 * 62) Bill Gallagher (1911–1990) – inventor
 * 63) Dr Michael King (1945–2004) – historian
 * 64) Frances Hodgkins (1869–1947) – painter
 * 65) George Nēpia (1905–1986) – All Black
 * 66) Sir James Fletcher (1886–1974) – industrialist
 * 67) Mother Aubert (1835–1926) – nun
 * 68) Charles Heaphy (1820–1881) – explorer
 * 69) A.H. Reed (1875–1975) – publisher
 * 70) Frank Sargeson (1903–1982) – writer
 * 71) Sir Roger Douglas (born 1937) – politician
 * 72) Dr Matthew During (1956–2023) – neuroscientist
 * 73) Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki (c.1832–1893) – warrior
 * 74) Hongi Hika (1772–1828) – warrior chief
 * 75) Sir David Low (1891–1963) – cartoonist
 * 76) Kate Edger (1857–1935) – women's pioneer
 * 77) Dame Marie Clay (1926–2007) – educationalist
 * 78) Rewi Alley (1897–1987) – sinophile
 * 79) Thomas Rangiwahia Ellison (1867–1904) – rugby union captain
 * 80) Rua Kenana Hepetipa (1869–1937) – prophet
 * 81) Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana (1873?–1939) – prophet
 * 82) Aunt Daisy (1879–1963) – broadcaster
 * 83) Charles Upham (1908–1994) – soldier
 * 84) Ralph Hotere (1931–2013) – artist
 * 85) Sir Richard Hadlee (born 1951) – cricketer
 * 86) Billy T. James (1948–1991) – comedian
 * 87) Sir Keith Sinclair (1922–1993) – historian
 * 88) Charles Goldie (1870–1947) – painter
 * 89) John Minto (born 1953) – activist
 * 90) Rudall Hayward (1900–1974) – film maker
 * 91) Witi Ihimaera (born 1944) – writer
 * 92) John Te Rangianiwaniwa Rangihau (1919–1987) – Māori language promoter
 * 93) Dave Dobbyn (born 1957) – songwriter
 * 94) Russell Coutts (born 1962) – sailor
 * 95) Jonah Lomu (1975–2015) – All Black
 * 96) Peter Mahon (1923–1986) – lawyer
 * 97) Georgina Beyer (1957-2023) – transgender politician
 * 98) A. J. Hackett (born 1958) – bungy jumping pioneer
 * 99) Denny Hulme (1936–1992) – Formula One driver
 * 100) Russell Crowe (born 1964) – actor

On the final programme, the 101st on the list was revealed:

101. Sir Mountford "Toss" Woollaston (1910–1998) – painter

Public rankings

 * 1) Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937) – scientist
 * 2) Kate Sheppard (1848–1934) – suffragist
 * 3) Edmund Hillary (1919–2008) – explorer and humanitarian
 * 4) Charles Upham (1908–1994) – war hero
 * 5) Billy T. James (1948–1991) – comedian
 * 6) David Lange (1942–2005) – prime minister
 * 7) Āpirana Ngata (1874–1950) – politician
 * 8) Colin Murdoch (1929–2008) – inventor of the disposable syringe
 * 9) Rua Kenana Hepetipa (1869–1937) – prophet
 * 10) Roger Douglas (born 1937) – politician and economist

Other editions
Other countries have produced similar shows; see Greatest Britons spin-offs