# 1962 in New Zealand

"none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive
The following lists events that happened during 1962 in New Zealand.

## Population

* Estimated population as of 31 December: 2,515,800.
* Increase since 31 December 1961: 54,500 (2.21%).
* Males per 100 females: 101.0.

## Incumbents
### Regal and viceregal

* Head of State – Elizabeth II
* Governor-General – The Viscount Cobham GCMG TD, followed by Brigadier Sir Bernard Fergusson GCMG GCVO DSO OBE.

### Government

* Speaker of the House – Ronald Algie.
* Prime Minister – Keith Holyoake
* Deputy Prime Minister – Jack Marshall.
* Minister of Finance – Harry Lake.
* Minister of Foreign Affairs – Keith Holyoake.
* Attorney-General – Ralph Hanan.
* Chief Justice — Sir Harold Barrowclough

### Parliamentary opposition

* Leader of the Opposition – Walter Nash (Labour)

### Main centre leaders

* Mayor of Auckland – Dove-Myer Robinson
* Mayor of Hamilton – Denis Rogers
* Mayor of Wellington – Frank Kitts
* Mayor of Christchurch – George Manning
* Mayor of Dunedin – Stuart Sidey

## Events

* The Office of the Ombudsman was established

### January

* 1 January: Samoa (then called Western Samoa) attains full independence, becoming the first independent Polynesian territory.

### February

* 5 February: Dunedin lawyer James Patrick Ward was killed by a letter bomb sent to his office in what police described as "one of the most callous murders in the history of New Zealand crime".

### August

* 11 August: New Zealand Railways's Cook Strait ferry service began, using the GMV Aramoana.

### November

* 12 December: The Flag of Wellington is adopted.

### December
## Arts and literature

* R.A.K. Mason wins the Robert Burns Fellowship.
See 1962 in art, 1962 in literature, Category:1962 books

### Music

See: 1962 in music

### Radio and television

* New Zealand Broadcasting Service (NZBS) is restructured on 1 April to form New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation.
* An outside broadcast van is in use in Auckland, and similar vans are ordered for Wellington and Christchurch.
* Dunedin gets television service with the launch of DNTV2 on 31 July.
* There are 23,343 licensed television sets in New Zealand.
See: 1962 in New Zealand television, 1962 in television, List of TVNZ television programming, Category:Television in New Zealand, Public broadcasting in New Zealand

### Film

See: Category:1962 film awards, 1962 in film, List of New Zealand feature films, Cinema of New Zealand, Category:1962 films

## Sport
### Athletics

* 27 January: Peter Snell sets a new world record for the mile of 3m 54.4s, running at Cook's Gardens, Wanganui.
* Barry Magee wins his second national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:24:55.4 in Auckland.

### British Empire and Commonwealth Games

| Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 10 | 12 | 10 | 32 |

### Chess

* The 69th National Chess Championship was held in Auckland, and was won by G.G. Haase of Dunedin.

### Horse racing
#### Harness racing

* New Zealand Trotting Cup – Lordship defeats Cardigan Bay in a rain-affected race
* Auckland Trotting Cup – Dandy Briar

### Lawn bowls

The national outdoor lawn bowls championships are held in Christchurch.
* Men's singles champion – Jeff Barron (Miramar Bowling Club)
* Men's pair champions – Frank Livingstone, Bob McDonald (skip) (Onehunga Bowling Club)
* Men's fours champions – W. Humphreys, S. Barlow, H.W. Todd, R. Brown (skip) (Marlborough Bowling Club)

### Soccer

* The Chatham Cup is won by Hamilton Technical Old Boys who beat Northern of Dunedin 4–1 in the final.
* Provincial league champions:
** Auckland: Eastern Suburbs AFC
** Bay of Plenty: Rangers
** Buller: Waimangaroa Utd
** Canterbury: Western
** Franklin: Manurewa AFC
** Hawke's Bay: Napier Rovers
** Manawatu: Thistle
** Marlborough: Woodbourne
** Nelson: Rangers
** Northland: Otangarei United
** Otago: Northern AFC
** Poverty Bay: Eastern Union
** South Canterbury: Thistle
** Southland: Invercargill Thistle
** Taranaki: Moturoa
** Waikato: Hamilton Technical OB
** Wairarapa: Lansdowne United
** Wanganui: Wanganui Athletic
** Wellington: Northern
** West Coast: Runanga
* The inaugural Rothmans Cup was played between the champion clubs from Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago as a de facto national championship. The final was won by Northern AFC of Dunedin 3-2 on aggregate.

## Births

* 12 January (in England): Terry Wiles, thalidomide survivor.
* 4 February: Frank Bunce, rugby union player.
* 17 February: Tony Blain, cricketer.
* 1 March: Russell Coutts, yachtsman.
* 4 March: John Young, composer.
* 15 March: Trevor Franklin, cricketer.
* 6 June: Grant Fox, rugby player.
* 8 June: John Cutler, yachtsman.
* 16 June Jonathan Temm, lawyer.
* 22 July: Rena Owen, actress.
* 5 August: Richard de Groen, cricketer.
* 13 September: Brian Fowler, cyclist.
* 21 September: Kelly Evernden, tennis player.
* 22 September: Martin Crowe, cricketer.
* 27 September: Gavin Larsen, cricketer.
* 9 October: Paul Radisich, racing driver.
* 12 October: Mark S. Olsen, painter.
* 7 November: Debbie Hockley, cricketer.
* 29 December: Wynton Rufer, soccer player.
* Tim Chadwick, artist and writer.
* Jon Stevens, singer.
Category:1962 births

## Deaths

* 26 April: Jerry Skinner, Labour politician.
* 20 June John Houston, historian and writer.
* 14 July: Janet Mackenzie, New Zealand teacher
* 18 July: G. H. Cunningham, mycologist and plant pathologist.
* 18 September: Clyde Carr, Labour politician.
* 8 October: Donald Charles Cameron, Mayor of Dunedin
* 20 October: Cora Louisa Burrell, politician (MLC).
* 28 October: Bill Schramm, Labour politician and 11th Speaker of the House of Representatives.