Personal details
Full Name:
- Norman Eric Kirk
Lifetime:
- 6 Jan 1923–31 Aug 1974
Prime Minister:
8 Dec 1972–31 Aug 1974
Age on becoming PM:
49
Electorate:
Sydenham
Political Party:
Labour
In 1972 Norman Kirk broke National’s 12-year-long grip on the Treasury benches and became Labour’s first New Zealand-born PM.
Read more...Events In History
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31 August 1974Death of Norman Kirk
Leader of the Labour Party since 1965 and prime minister since late 1972, 'Big Norm' died suddenly at the age of 51. He was the fifth New Zealand PM to die in office. Read more...
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10 April 1973Labour government cancels Springbok rugby tour
Following police warnings of civil strife, Prime Minister Norman Kirk informed the New Zealand Rugby Football Union that the government saw ‘no alternative’ to a 'postponement' of the planned tour by the South African Springboks. Read more...
Articles
1981 Springbok tour
For 56 days in July, August and September 1981, New Zealanders were divided against each other in the largest civil disturbance seen since the 1951 waterfront dispute. The cause of this was the visit of the South African rugby team – the Springboks.
- Page 4 - Stopping the 1973 tourKeeping sport and politics separate was becoming increasingly difficult. In July 1969 HART (Halt All Racist Tours) was founded by University of Auckland students with the specific
Waitangi Day
Every year on 6 February, New Zealand marks the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. For most people, Waitangi Day is a holiday; for many, and especially for Māori, it is a time for reflecting on the Treaty and its place in modern New Zealand.
- Page 5 - Waitangi Day 1970sWaitangi Day, a public holiday from 1974, briefly became New Zealand Day in the 1970s. Increasingly, it became a focus for Māori protest
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 3 - Unofficial prime ministerial housesFrom 1935 to 1975 our prime ministers lived in a series of 'unofficial'
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Main image: Royal family at Waitangi, 1974
Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, the Duke of Edinburgh, and Prime Minister Norman Kirk at Waitangi on 6 February 1974