Today in History

1854 Parliament's first sitting in Auckland

It started with a bang – 21 in fact, fired from the guns at Auckland's Fort Britomart. As soon as the smoke had cleared, New Zealand's first Parliament was under way.

It was noon on Wednesday, 24 May 1854, and the venue was Auckland, the country's capital city and home to Parliament for the next 10 years. The day was wet and miserable – even if it was Queen Victoria's birthday – and the buildings were not yet ready to receive the new Parliament, but there was excitement in the air as New Zealand took an important step in its history.

The colony's first parliamentarians, all 37 of them, were sworn in, giving their oaths of allegiance to the Crown in the person of the acting governor, R.H. Wynyard. Then the Members went to a formal reception in the afternoon and a ball that evening. Three days later, there was the state opening of the General Assembly with all the pomp and ceremony that could be mustered, which was a great treat for the locals who turned out to watch.

Image: Auckland Parliament in 1859