NZHistory, New Zealand history online - australia

Signing the Closer Economic Relations agreement

The Prime Minister of New Zealand, Robert Muldoon, watched by James Webster, Australia’s High Commissioner to New Zealand signs the Heads of Agreement on 15 December 1982 which paved the way for the introduction of The Australia–New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement, better known as CER, which came into force on 1 January 1983. National MP Hugh Templeton, one of New Zealand’s principal negotiators, is seated in the background. On the big screen is the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Douglas Anthony.

Building on the 1966 New Zealand Australia Free Trade Agreement, CER was New Zealand’s first comprehensive bilateral trade agreement, and one of the first such agreements in the world. The two major sticking points in the negotiations had been New Zealand's wish for better access for its dairy products in Australia and Australia's wish for New Zealand to remove export incentives and quantitative restrictions. After the two hurdles were overcome via the Heads of Agreement in December 1983, CER was formally signed on 28 March 1983.

Credit:

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: EP/1982/4383/11-F
Photographer: Ross Giblin

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any reuse of this image.

Reddit Twitter Facebook Google StumbleUpon

tags:

1980s

robert muldoon

australia

trade

economy

cer

Federated Australia elephant

Around 1900 political federations, in various guises, were popular issues. This cartoon shows Premier Richard Seddon riding a toy hobby horse labelled ‘South Pacific Federation’, while premiers of Australian states try to persuade him to take the vacant seat alongside them atop the white elephant of ‘Federated Australia’.

New Zealand had participated in Australian colonial conferences since the 1860s. But when federation became a serious prospect in the 1890s, New Zealand took no part in the negotiations and there was little public interest. However, the 1899 decision to federate the Australian colonies sparked off some agitation across the Tasman in favour of joining Australia, and the conservative opposition advocated a referendum on the issue.

As this cartoon shows, Premier Richard Seddon saw himself heading a South Pacific empire, not a subordinate administration. He set up a Royal Commission in 1900 to buy time and get a sense of public opinion. While most submissions opposed union with Australia, many farmers were in favour, fearing trade barriers to their produce if New Zealand stayed outside the new federation.

The prevailing view was that New Zealanders – both Pākehā and Māori – were of superior stock to their trans-Tasman counterparts. Nascent nationalism was also fostered by participation in the South African (Boer) War. And the 1200 miles of often-stormy sea separating the two countries were held up as 1200 arguments against federation.

NZ says no to federation with Australia

A 10-man Royal Commission reported unanimously that New Zealand should not become a state of the new Commonwealth of Australia. Nor did it think that a trade treaty between the two countries was a realistic prospect. Although a New Zealand Australia Free Trade Agreement was eventually signed in 1965, political union is no closer today than it was in 1901.

By the time the Royal Commission reported, the Commonwealth had existed for five months. Its constitution made provision for New Zealand to join the five founding states – on terms to be negotiated.

New Zealand had participated in Australian colonial conferences since the 1860s. But when federation became a serious prospect in the 1890s, New Zealand took no part in the negotiations and there was little public interest. However, the 1899 decision to federate sparked off agitation in favour of joining Australia, and the conservative opposition advocated a referendum on the issue.

Premier Richard Seddon saw himself heading a South Pacific empire, not a subordinate administration. He set up the Royal Commission in 1900 to buy time and get a sense of public opinion. While most submissions opposed union with Australia, many farmers were in favour, fearing trade barriers to their produce.

The prevailing view was that New Zealanders – both Pākehā and Māori – were of superior stock to their counterparts across the Tasman. New Zealand’s trade was mostly with the United Kingdom; Australians were economic rivals rather than partners. Nascent nationalism was also fostered by participation in the South African (Boer) War. And the 1200 miles of stormy sea separating the two countries represented 1200 arguments against federation.

Image: New Zealand Federation Royal Commission (National Library)

Map of Australia in 1914

See enlarged version of this map here. You can also download a hi-res copy as a pdf (18.1 mbs).

This map shows the state borders of the Commonwealth of Australia at the time it entered the First World War in 1914.

Credit:

Map produced by Geographx with research assistance from Damien Fenton and Caroline Lord.

BY-NC-ND

Reddit Twitter Facebook Google StumbleUpon

tags:

ww1

maps

australia

Thames Valley beat Australia 16-14

This article about Thames Valley’s most famous victory – over Australia, 16–14 – appeared in the New Zealand Herald, 19 September 1962.

This match, played the previous day, was the Wallabies’ final provincial match before the fourth and final test at Eden Park. Australia led 14–6 at halftime before the Swamp Foxes' T. E. Shaw completed the comeback when he kicked his second dropped goal from 40 m. Shaw had earlier converted tries scored by J.P. Maxwell and T.J. Kilpin.

Credit:

New Zealand Rugby Museum
Permission of the New Zealand Rugby Museum must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Reddit Twitter Facebook Google StumbleUpon

tags:

australia

rugby

thames valley

Australian gold rush migrants

Following the discovery of gold at Gabriels Gully in Otago (1861), thousands of miners left Australia’s main goldfields in Victoria to try their luck in the South Island. Further discoveries were made at Wakamarina in Marlborough (1864) and at Greenstone Creek on the West Coast (1864). Between 1861 and 1867 there were 50,000 new arrivals from Australia. Many left as the rush slowed but over 11,000 stayed. A number of these arrivals became prominent New Zealanders, including future premiers Julius Vogel and Richard Seddon. Strongly independent with a firm sense of democracy, the Australian gold miners had a long-term impact on New Zealand’s political culture.

Some were less desirable additions to the New Zealand population. Richard Burgess and one-time prison mate Henry Garrett were the sort of men some feared would join the mass exodus to the Otago goldfields. St John Branigan, the head of the fledgling Otago police force, warned that such men would be attracted to Otago not just because of the promise of rich pickings from the goldfields but from the pockets of unsuspecting miners. As a recruit from the Victorian police Branigan had 'seen it all before'.

At one point Hokitika was described as ‘a suburb of Melbourne’, such was the level of migration from the Victorian goldfields. Burgess and his associates followed this well-beaten path from Victoria to Otago and then on to the other South Island fields. Upon their release from Dunedin gaol in 1865 Burgess and Kelly headed straight for the West Coast and it was in Hokitika that the final members of the Burgess gang – Levy and Sullivan – were recruited. Burgess had known Levy from his time in Victoria, where Levy worked as a gold buyer and 'fence' (someone who sells stolen goods). Sullivan had also lived in Victoria prior coming to New Zealand.

Credit:

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: J-040-004
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Reddit Twitter Facebook Google StumbleUpon

tags:

Design of the Australian flag

The flag of Australia.

A New Zealand design?

New Zealander William Stevens, a ship’s officer on the SS Taieri, was one of five competitors whose design was selected as a winner of the Australian flag competition in 1901. The five entrants reportedly submitted almost identical designs – showing ‘a Union Jack in the left hand top corner, a six pointed star beneath it (representing the six federated states of Australia), and the Southern Cross on the fly’. Newspaper reports at the time remarked that if the people of New Zealand changed their mind and decided to join the Commonwealth of Australia all that would need to be done to the flag would be ‘to place a seven-pointed star instead of a six-pointed one beneath the Union Jack’. A seven-pointed star was adopted in 1908 in any case, to represent the Territory of New Guinea and any other future territories. Stevens, and the other four competitors – all of whom were Australian, received 40 pounds each.

Credit:

Wikipedia

Reddit Twitter Facebook Google StumbleUpon

tags:

australia

flag

1965 - key events

New Zealand sends combat forces to Vietnam

New Zealand's involvement in Vietnam was highly controversial and attracted protest and condemnation at home and abroad. For a growing number of New Zealanders the war triggered a re-examination of our foreign policy and identity.

The government was initially cautious in its approach, choosing to send a Civilian Surgical Team in 1963. Under increasing pressure from the United States, army engineers were dispatched in June 1964 to help with reconstruction projects. In April 1965 the US Secretary for State, Henry Cabot Lodge, arrived in Wellington. He was greeted by anti-war demonstrations but the following month the government announced it was sending its first combat force: the Royal New Zealand Artillery's 161 Battery. In July 161 Battery, now stationed at Bien Hoa air base near Saigon, opened fire on a Viet Cong position in support of the American 173rd Airborne Brigade.

Prison Riots

Mt Eden Prison is one of New Zealand's oldest prisons and probably its best known. By 1945 there were public calls for the ageing Victorian stone building to be demolished. In the winter of 1965, as over-crowding reached a critical point, a prison-wide riot erupted. On 20 July, following a failed mass breakout attempt, prisoners lit fires that quickly spread along the roof. By the time they surrendered 33 hours later little remained of the prison other than its exterior stone shell. The rebellious mood quickly spread. Conflicts and fires were started at Wellington's Mt Crawford Prison and Paparua Prison in Christchurch.

NAFTA signed

Australia played an important part in New Zealand's early economic development but Britain became the main market for both countries' agricultural exports. New Zealand continued to trade with Australia, though, and the trans-Tasman neighbours signed their first formal economic agreement in 1922. But due to the guaranteed access to the British market it was of little consequence. By the early 1960s Britain had made clear its intention to join the European Economic Community, which would mean an end to New Zealand and Australia's cosy arrangements with the British market. Against this background a New Zealand Australia Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed on 31 August 1965. It came into force on 1 January 1966.

The agreement allowed for the phasing out of duties on a range of products over a period of up to eight years. Each country submitted lists of products to be included in ‘free trade’ schedules, which were then subject to an annual review. This led to criticisms that the agreement was ‘too complex and bureaucratic’. NAFTA had a modest impact on trade between the two neighbours. By the end of the 1960s Australia continued to provide around 20% of New Zealand's imports, while our exports to Australia had increased from 4% to 8%. Others argued that NAFTA played an important part in stimulating debate on trans-Tasman economic integration, culminating in the 1983 Closer Economic Relations (CER) agreement.

Cook Islands achieve self-government

New Zealand's formal ties with the Cook Islands began as a result of a petition by the chiefs of Rarotonga. In 1901 the Federal Parliament of the Cooks was abolished and the islands were incorporated into the boundaries of New Zealand. Until 1946 the islands were governed by the Resident Commissioner of Rarotonga, who was appointed by the New Zealand government.

After the Second World War steps were taken towards establishing responsible internal self-government. By 1957 a representative Legislative Assembly of the Cook Islands with increased legislative powers was created. In 1962 this Assembly declared its intention to achieve internal self-government, which was achieved in August 1965.

Other 1965 events

Waikato University at Hamilton was officially opened in February
TEAL became Air New Zealand
Ray Columbus and The Invaders won the inaugural Loxene Golden Disc Award for Till we kissed. These awards were the forerunner of today's Tui Awards or New Zealand Music Awards
The Benmore hydroelectric scheme came on line. Electricity was sent to the North Island via a new inter-island cable
The last steam express on the North Island main trunk line left Auckland for Wellington
The first commercial services flew out of Auckland's new International Airport at Mangere (which was officially opened in January 1966)
The Lawson quintuplets were born in Auckland. They were the first set of quintuplets to survive in New Zealand
The final link in the Haast pass road was completed
The stellar career of Kiri Te Kanawa was launched when she won the Mobil Song Quest
Norman Kirk replaced Arnold Nordmeyer as leader of the opposition Labour Party. ‘Big Norm’ would later end National's 12-year stranglehold on power with a landslide victory in 1972.

Can you remember 1965? Add your memories and comments in the form below.

Commonwealth of Australia - facts and stats

Flag

1914 Map

Click on map for more detail

General facts

Population: 4,948,990 (1914)
Capital:
- Officially – Canberra
- ‘Temporarily’ – Melbourne (1914 population 670,000)

Government

Head of State: King George V (6 May 1910 – 20 January 1936)
Head of Government:
- Prime Minister Joseph Cook (24 June 1913 – 17 September 1914)
- Prime Minister Andrew Fisher (17 September 1914 – 27 October 1915)
- Prime Minister William (‘Billy’) Hughes (27 October 1915 – 9 February 1923)

Participation in the War

Entered the war: 4 August 1914 (British Empire declared war on Germany)
Ceased hostilities: 11 November 1918 (armistice with Germany)
Ended belligerent status: 10 August 1920 (Treaty of Sèvres signed with Ottoman Empire)

Military Forces

Army

Peacetime strength 1914:
Reserves 1914:

The Australian Imperial Force (AIF)

Total mobilised during the war: 416,000
Served overseas: 324,000

Immediately after the declaration of war against Germany, the Australian government offered to raise an expeditionary force for service overseas alongside British imperial troops. The British government accepted the offer and voluntary recruitment for this force – the ‘Australian Imperial Force’ (AIF) – began on 10 August 1914.

The troop convoy carrying the Main Body of the AIF left its final assembly point at Albany, Western Australia, for Egypt on 1 November 1914. It had been joined at Albany by the troop convoy carrying the Main Body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF), and the two contingents formed a single combined convoy for their journey across the Indian Ocean. The AIF portion of the convoy consisted of 20,000 soldiers and 7800 horses embarked on 28 transport ships.

The convoy entered the Suez Canal on 30 November 1914 and began to disembark at Alexandria a few days later. The AIF and NZEF were allocated areas in the countryside near the Egyptian capital, Cairo, in which to establish their base camps.

The AIF at Gallipoli 1915

The AIF contributed an infantry division (1st Australian Division) and an infantry brigade (4th Australian Brigade) to the British-led Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (MEF) that landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula on 25 April 1915. The Australian forces were grouped together with New Zealand troops as the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps – ‘Anzac’ – and tasked with seizing the heights of Gaba Tepe (overlooking what was soon to be known as Anzac Cove). The Australian Light Horse brigades (minus their horses) arrived as reinforcements in May and a second infantry division was recruited in Australia and dispatched to Gallipoli in September.

The Australians suffered 26,000 casualties during the eight-month Gallipoli campaign and were involved in some of the fiercest fighting on the peninsula. The most renowned Australian action of the campaign was the Battle of Lone Pine, a diversionary attack on strongly defended Ottoman trenches carried out by Australian troops during the Sari Bair Offensive on 6–9 August 1915. Seven Australian soldiers were awarded the Victoria Cross for their actions during this battle (one of them, Captain Alfred Shout, was originally from New Zealand).

Lance-Corporal Albert Jacka VC

Gallipoli, 19 May 1915: Lance-Corporal Albert Jacka, 14th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, single-handedly recaptures a section of trench at Courtney’s Post that had been seized by Ottoman troops earlier that day. After his unit fail to retake the position in a direct assault along the trench, Jacka climbs over the parapet into no-man’s-land while the his men divert the Ottoman soldiers’ attention by firing their rifles and throwing two grenades. The diversion works and Jacka leaps into the Ottoman-held trench to find himself surrounded by seven enemy soldiers. He kills them all, shooting five and bayoneting two. For his actions Jacka becomes the first soldier of the Australian Imperial Force to be awarded the Victoria Cross.

The AIF in the Middle East 1916-1918

After the Gallipoli campaign the Light Horse component of the AIF was reorganised and expanded in Egypt during early 1916. When the AIF infantry divisions left for France, the Australian Light Horse regiments remained behind to serve with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) against the Ottoman Turks, first in the Sinai campaign of 1916 and then in the Palestine campaign of 1917–18. Together with the New Zealand Mounted Rifles and British Yeomanry units they provided the EEF commanders, General Archibald Murray and his successor, General Sir Edmund Allenby, with the mobile strike force that helped to deliver the EEF victories such as the Battle of Romani in 1916, the Third Battle of Gaza in 1917 and the Battle of Megiddo in 1918.

The most famous Australian action of the campaign was the successful mounted charge by the 4th Australian Light Horse Brigade across open ground against Turkish trenches at Beersheba during the opening phase of the Third Battle of Gaza.

The AIF on the Western Front 1916-1918

After the Gallipoli campaign the infantry component of the AIF was reorganised and expanded to four divisions in early 1916 in Egypt. These divisions went to the Western Front in May. A fifth infantry division was raised in Australia later that year and transported directly to the United Kingdom for service in France.

The first operation involving Australian troops on the Western Front saw the 5th Australian Division suffer 5300 casualties on 5 July 1916 in the disastrous Battle of Fromelles. By early 1917 some 90,000 Australian troops were in France, serving in five infantry divisions grouped into two separate corps, ‘I Anzac Corps’ and ‘II Anzac Corps’ (which included the New Zealand Division). In November 1917 the five Australian divisions were reorganised into a single ‘Australian Corps’ following a precedent set by the Canadians.

Australian troops took part in most of the British offensives on the Western Front from mid-1916, including the later stages of the Battle of the Somme, Messines and the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele). The most notable victory won by the Australian Corps on the Western Front was its part in the breaking of the Hindenburg Line in August–September 1918.

Royal Australian Navy

Peacetime strength 1914: 3,800
Total mobilised during the war: 9950 (including 3000 Royal Australian Naval Reserve)

Fleet (1914)

Battlecruisers: 1
Cruisers: 3
Light cruisers: 3
Destroyers: 3
Submarines: 2

Conscription

Conscription was not implemented in Australia during the war. The Hughes government attempted to introduce conscription through national referendums in October 1916 and December 1917. On both occasions the public voted against the proposal, albeit in bitterly fought close contests that divided Australia along sectarian and class lines. The result was that the AIF remained an all-volunteer force for the duration of the conflict.

Casualties

Australian Imperial Force

Dead (all causes): 58,961
Wounded: 152,171

Royal Australian Navy

Dead (all causes): 85

Sources

Peter Dennis, Jeffrey Grey, Ewan Morris and Robin Prior (eds), The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2008

Governor George Gipps

Portrait of George Gipps, Governor of New South Wales, c1847.

Read more about Governor George Gipps

Credit:

Reddit Twitter Facebook Google StumbleUpon

tags:

australia

george gipps