NZHistory, New Zealand history online - mururoa protest

New directions - Royal NZ Navy

Organisational changes

The independence of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) as a service came to an end when the Ministry of Defence (created in July 1963) was reconstituted to incorporate all three armed services on 1 January 1964. Navy chief Peter Phipps, who had been promoted to the rank of vice-admiral as chief of the defence staff, had been heavily involved in establishing the new structure. Although the Navy Department (which had been set up in 1954 from the previous Navy Office) ceased to exist, the naval board continued to sit as the RNZN’s governing body until 1971, when all the service boards were abolished. (Apart from Phipps, only two other RNZN officers, Neil Anderson (1980-83) and Somerford Teagle (1991-95), have held the highest rank in New Zealand’s defence organisation.)

In November 1989, when the New Zealand Defence Force was created, separate from the Ministry of Defence, the RNZN’s status as a separate service continued – as it does today, despite an increasing emphasis on joint operations.

Anti-nuclear protest

HMNZS Otago

In June 1973 the Norman Kirk-led Labour government dispatched the frigate Otago with a Cabinet minister on board to the vicinity of Mururoa Atoll to protest French nuclear testing there. Otago was later relieved by Canterbury. A National administration would take similar action 22 years later when it sent the research vessel HMNZS Tui to the same location with ministers aboard.

Anzac frigates

During the 1980s, as a stopgap measure, two Leander-class frigates, HMNZS Wellington and Southland, were acquired as replacements for Taranaki and Otago. The four frigate force limped into the 1990s, but crew shortages impacted on the ability to keep Waikato in service.

In 1989 the Labour government reluctantly agreed to the purchase of two Anzac-class frigates, to be built in Australia with significant involvement of New Zealand industry. Part of an Australian initiative to boost naval power in the South Pacific, the project caused much contoversy in New Zealand. HMNZS Te Kaha and Te Mana duly joined the fleet, replacing Wellington and Southland in 1997 and 1999 respectively. An option on two further Anzacs was not taken up.

When Canterbury decomissioned in 2005, the RNZN was reduced to a two-frigate navy (and New Zealand thus returned to the 1880s configuration of two major warships in local waters).

Peacekeeping roles

With the end of the Cold War following the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, New Zealand focused more heavily on peacekeeping operations. Among these were efforts to end conflict in the Balkans following the painful break up of Yugoslavia and also closer to home in the Pacific. The RNZN supplied personnel for a number of peacekeeping operations, including Cambodia in the 1990s; they were involved in river and coastal patrols. In 1990 three RNZN warships provided a venue for peace talks in Bougainville.

The frigates Wellington and Canterbury were also involved in policing UN resolutions relating to Iraq in the Arabian and Persian gulfs as part of the Multinational Interception Force in 1995-96.

The largest peacekeeping operation involving the RNZN occurred in 1999 in East Timor. When Indonesian militias went on a rampage following the East Timorese decision to separate from Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand deployed forces to the island as part of INTERFET. Te Kaha (later replaced by Canterbury) was involved as part of an international naval force deployed in the vicinity of the island, supported by the supply ship HMNZS Endeavour.

RNZN personnel have served in the provincial reconstruuction team that New Zealand has maintained in Bamiyan Province since 2003, and continue to do so.

Assistance to the community

The navy continues to assist the community in a variety of non-military fields, both as a matter of routine and in one-off situations. New Zealand warships are deployed from time to time to provide relief in South Pacific islands stricken by extreme weather events. Within New Zealand the RNZN’s activities in the field have ranged from the 1951 use of naval personnel on the wharves during the waterfront dispute to assistance to earthquake-battered Christchurch in 2011. Search and rescue and fisheries protection are other important areas in which naval assistance has been provided – and continues to be.

The RNZN has had long involvement in hydrography. From 1949 this role was undertaken by the survey ship HMNZS Lachlan, later replaced by HMNZS Monowai. Until the 1990s the RNZN had regulatory functions in this maritime sphere. The current hydrographic vessel, HMNZS Resolution, was acquired during the 1990s.

The navy today

HMNZS Te Kaha

Apart from the two Anzac frigates, the RNZN today is configured to support Defence Force operations. A multi-role vessel, HMNZS Canterbury, commissioned in 2007, is capable of carrying 250 troops. The fleet also comprises a replenishment ship HMNZS Endeavour, two offshore patrol vessels HMNZS Otago and Wellington, four inshore patrol vessels, a diving support ship and a hydrographic survey ship. On 1 January 2011 the navy had 2135 regular personnel, 332 naval reservists and 375 civilian staff. Almost a quarter of the RNZN’s personnel are female.

'French letter' by Herbs

See the official video for 'French Letter' at NZOnScreen.

'French letter'

Herbs are considered pioneers of the Pacific reggae sound. During the 1980s and early 1990s they had 10 Top 20 hits. One of these, 'Slice of heaven' (with Dave Dobbyn) from the Footrot Flats movie soundtrack, reached number one on both the New Zealand and Australian charts.

Herbs' music was described as ‘infectiously upbeat’, and it often carried a political message. Their 1982 hit 'French letter', questioning French nuclear testing in the South Pacific, came to express the country's anti-nuclear stance. It spent 11 weeks on the charts, peaking at number 15. Its use of a French accordion in combination with a reggae beat helped to create a distinctive Pacific sound.

The song's title was considered too risqué for radio. It was released under the alternative title of ‘Letter to the French’. It was re-released in 1995 to protest against the French resumption of nuclear testing at Mururoa Atoll.

Herbs’ songs of gentle protest about French nuclear testing in the Pacific and their adoption of a reggae rhythm won them many friends outside New Zealand … if indeed there is such a thing as a rock sound of the Pacific, then it is epitomised in the music of Herbs.

Bryan Staff & Sheran Ashley, For the record: a history of the recording industry in New Zealand, 2002

This video clip is sourced from YouTube website. The Ministry for Culture and Heritage does not take any responsibility for the copyright status of this video.

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HMNZS Otago sails for Mururoa test zone

Prime Minister Norman Kirk told the 242 crew of the Otago that their Mururoa mission was an ‘honourable’ one − they were to be ‘silent witness[es] with the power to bring alive the conscience of the world’.

Following France’s refusal to accept an International Court of Justice injunction against its atmospheric nuclear testing, the Labour government decided to station two frigates, HMNZS Canterbury and Otago, in international waters outside the test area. A Cabinet minister would accompany this daring protest. Kirk put all the names into a hat and randomly selected Fraser Colman, the minister of immigration and mines.

The Otago arrived off Mururoa in time to witness the first French test. Colman transferred to HMNZS Canterbury when it arrived to relieve the Otago on 25 July, and he and the crew of the Canterbury watched the second test.

The protests had some success. In 1974 the new French president, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, decided that future tests would be held underground. But as long as testing continued, Mururoa would remain a focus of anti-nuclear protest.

Image: HMNZS Otago (Mururoa Vets)

Sinking the Rainbow Warrior - nuclear-free New Zealand

Hear reaction to the bombing (250k).

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Ref:COMP 3, 1985, tk6
Copyright Sound Archives

In 1985 New Zealand was basking in its position as leader of the anti-nuclear movement. As a country it had clearly punched above its weight. Then, just before midnight on the evening of 10 July two explosions ripped through the hull of the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior, which was moored at Marsden Wharf in Auckland. A Portuguese crew member, Fernando Pereira, was killed in the explosions. The Rainbow Warrior had been involved in protests over French nuclear testing in the Pacific. French Secret Service (DGSE) agents were sent to prevent it leaving for another protest campaign at Mururoa Atoll.

Rainbow Warrior after the attack

Two DGSE officers, Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart, were arrested on 24 July. Having been charged with murder, both pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment. The case was a source of considerable embarrassment to the French government. While the attack was on an international organisation and not the New Zealand nation as such, most New Zealanders did not make such a distinction. The fact that the attack was carried out on New Zealand territory by a supposed friend produced a sense of outrage and a serious deterioration in relations between New Zealand and France.

Greenpeace

Greenpeace is an international environmental organisation founded in Canada in 1971. It is well known for its campaigns to stop nuclear testing and whaling, as well as its stand on other environmental issues such as bottom trawling, global warming, ancient forest destruction and genetic engineering. The organisation's official mission statement says that:

'Greenpeace is an independent, campaigning organisation which uses non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems, and to force solutions for a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace's goal is to ensure the ability of the earth to nurture life in all its diversity.'

France used its influence to threaten New Zealand's access to the important European Economic Community market, and New Zealand exports to France were boycotted. New Zealanders reacted in a similar manner to French imports. Eventually, both countries agreed to allow the United Nations to mediate a settlement.

Almost a year after the bombing, on 8 July 1986, United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar announced, in a binding decision, that New Zealand would receive an apology and compensation of $13 million from France. France was also ordered not to interfere with New Zealand's trade negotiations.

Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart were to serve their sentences in full on Hao Atoll in French Polynesia. In what was considered to be the final insult, both were released early: Alain Marfart returned to France because of 'illness' in 1987, while Dominique Prieur was repatriated in May 1988 because she was pregnant. Both were honoured, decorated and promoted upon their return home.

This incident did much to promote what was described as New Zealand's 'silent war of independence' and was central to an upsurge in New Zealand nationalism. There was a sense of having to 'go it alone' as traditional allies such as the United States and Britain sat on their hands while France worked to block New Zealand exports. The failure of Britain and the United States to condemn this act of terrorism hardened support for a more independent foreign policy line.

In September 2006 the agent who placed the bomb was named as Gerard Royal by his brother, Antoine. Their sister, Segolene Royal, was an unsuccessful Socialist candidate in the 2007 French presidential elections.

Nuclear testing in the Pacific - nuclear-free New Zealand

French test at Mururoa Atoll

After the Second World War the United States, along with their French and British allies, frequently tested nuclear weapons in the Pacific region. In the 1950s New Zealand military personnel observed British and American nuclear tests in Australia, the Pacific and in Nevada, and vessels of the Royal New Zealand Navy were weather ships for British tests in the Indian Ocean. In 1963 the British, American and Soviet governments agreed to ban atmospheric tests. New Zealand also signed this treaty. Noticeable exceptions among the signatories were India, China and France.

New Zealand was involved in ongoing protest over French nuclear testing from the mid-1960s when France began testing nuclear weapons in French Polynesia. Mururoa (also called Moruroa) Atoll became the focal point for both the tests and opposition to them. Greenpeace vessels sailed into the test site in 1972, and the following year the New Zealand and Australian governments took France to the International Court of Justice in an attempt to ban tests. France ignored the court's ruling that they cease testing.

The third Labour government, led by Norman Kirk, responded by sending two navy frigates, HMNZS Canterbury and Otago, into the test area. A Cabinet minister was also selected to accompany this protest. Prime Minister Kirk put all the Cabinet ministers' names into a hat and drew out the name of Fraser Colman, the minister of immigration and mines. He sailed from Auckland on 25 June aboard the Otago, which carried a crew of 242. A month later the ship was at Mururoa, and those on board witnessed the first atmospheric test. Fraser Colman transferred to the Canterbury when it arrived to relieve the Otago on 25 July, and he and the crew of the Canterbury saw the second French atmospheric test on Mururoa. These protests achieved some limited success because in 1974 the new French president, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, ordered that the tests move underground. With testing continuing, however, Mururoa remained a focus of anti-nuclear protest.

Mururoa Atoll bomb test

French nuclear bomb test at Mururoa (Moruroa) Atoll, 1970.

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