Personal details
Full Name:
- Joseph George Ward
Lifetime:
- 26 Apr 1856–8 Jul 1930
Prime Minister:
6 Aug 1906–12 Mar 1912; 10 Dec 1928–28 May 1930
Age on becoming PM:
50
Electorate:
Awarua (1906-12); Invercargill (1928-30)
Political Party:
Liberal; United
Sir Joseph Ward, New Zealand’s political Lazarus, led governments nearly a quarter of a century apart.
Read more...Events In History
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6 November 1908Last spike for North Island main trunk line
The last spike was driven home by Prime Minister Ward at Manganuioteao, between National Park and Ōhakune. A regular express service between Auckland and Wellington began in February 1909. Read more...
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26 September 1907Joseph Ward proclaims Dominion status
The prime minister read the proclamation to the gathered crowd from the steps of the General Assembly Library in Wellington. This first Dominion Day was a public holiday. Read more...
Articles
Dominion status
On 26 September 1907 the colony of New Zealand ceased to exist. It became, instead, a dominion within the British Empire.
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Page 2 – Becoming a dominion
New Zealand had its own reasons for wanting to become a dominion. Premier Sir Joseph Ward hoped the term ‘dominion’ would remind the world that New Zealand was not
Housing the Prime Minister
Almost 150 years after the government purchased the first official premier's residence on Tinakori Road, Wellington, the address of Premier House remains the same. But in the intervening years the building has been extended, renamed, abandoned and refurbished.
- Page 2 - The first premier houseOur first premiers had to find their own digs. That changed in 1865, when the government bought the premier a simple 22-year-old wooden cottage in Thorndon’s Tinakori
The 1920s
The 1920s was the decade that modern New Zealand came of age. Despite political and economic uncertainty, the country shrugged off the gloom of war to embrace the Jazz Age - an era of speed, power and glamour. Explore an overview of the decade and a year-by-year breakdown of key events.
- Page 11 - 1928 - key eventsA selection of key New Zealand events from
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Main image: Announcement of war with Germany, 1914
New Zealand's Governor, Lord Liverpool, outside Parliament announcing Britain's declaration of war.