page_title: Norman Kirk
section_title: Illness and death
hierarchical_section_title: Norman Kirk / Illness and death
caption_attribution_description: On the 31st of August 1974 Norman Kirk, the then Prime Minister of New Zealand passed away at the age of 51. It is said that there “followed an outpouring of grief paralleled only by that which had followed M J Savage’s death” (Te Ara). Born in Waimate, South Canterbury in 1923 to devout Salvation Army parents, Norman Kirk was the eldest of three children. When almost 13, he left school with his proficiency certificate and began work as an assistant roof painter. On the 17th of July 1943, with only ₤7.10s in his pocket, Kirk married Lucy Ruth Miller with whom he had five children. Around the time of their marriage Kirk joined the Labour party and by October 1953, at the age of 30 he became the youngest mayor of the country as mayor of Kaipoi. . A man who commanded attention and a skilled debater, he was described as having ‘a resolute chin, a twinkling eye, a charming smile and an impish wit’ (Te Ara). Only four years later he was elected to Parliament and in 1965 at the age of 42 he became leader of the Labour Party. After years of tireless campaigning on the 25th of November 1972 Kirk led Labour to victory and became the 29th Prime Minister of New Zealand. Over this period the government refused visas to the South African Rugby team the Springboks on the grounds the sport was not racially integrated and applied considerable pressure on the French to stop testing nuclear weapons in the Pacific. Kirk followed a gruelling schedule and over the Christmas New Year period of 1973-1974 in his role as Minister of Foreign Affairs he toured New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, India and Bangladesh. Pictured above is Norman Kirk at the High Commissioner’s Reception for him in New Delhi on the 29th of December. He is pictured with Indira Gandhi, the fourth Prime Minister of India and the only woman to hold the office and Mrs Cunninghame, the wife of the New Zealand High Commissioner. It was while in New Delhi that Kirk developed a heart problem. July of 1974 brought a worsening industrial scene with strikes and soaring inflation as well as considerable media attention on abortion and homosexual law reform, both of which Kirk opposed. On Wednesday the 28th of August a heart specialist persuaded Kirk to enter Our Lady’s Home of Compassion hospital in Island Bay. On the following Saturday Norman Kirk passed away. This photograph is held at Archives New Zealand and is a part of the series 625: Photographs – Politicians which was transferred from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Archives New Zealand also holds the record group Kirk 1 which is comprised of miscellaneous political and personal records of the Rt. Hon. Norman Eric Kirk and cover a broad range of topics including: foreign affairs, race relations, nuclear testing, electorates and elections, political parties, speech notes, congratulator messages and messages of condolence for his family at the time of his death. Archives Reference: AAEG W2879 625 Box 1 (R20833567) www.archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=20833567 For updates on our On This Day series and news from Archives New Zealand, follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/ArchivesNZ Material supplied by Archives New Zealand Source: Michael Bassett. 'Kirk, Norman Eric', from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 30-Oct-2013 URL: www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/biographies/5k12/kirk-norman-eric
context_page_description: Norman Eric Kirk PC was a New Zealand politician who served as the 29th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1972 until his sudden death in 1974.
  Kirk joined the New Zealand Labour Party in 1943. He was mayor of Kaiapoi from 1953 until 1957, when he was elected to the New Zealand Parliament. He became the leader of his party in 1964. Following a Labour victory in the 1972 election, Kirk became Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He stressed the need for regional economic development and affirmed New Zealand's solidarity with Australia in adopting a foreign policy more independent of the United States. In 1973, he strongly opposed French nuclear tests in the Pacific. He promoted racial equality at home and abroad; his government prevented the South African rugby team from touring New Zealand during 1973.
context_section_description: During his time as Prime Minister, Kirk kept up an intense schedule, refusing to reduce his workload by any significant degree and rarely taking time off (the Chatham Islands was his favourite retreat). Kirk ignored advice from several doctors and from Bob Tizard and Warren Freer to "take care of himself" and to reduce his heavy consumption of Coca-Cola and alcohol (beer, plus later whisky or gin), saying he would have a "short but happy life".  Though a non-smoker, he had diabetes and dysentery.
  By 1974 he had difficulty in breathing, eating and sleeping. In April he had an operation to remove varicose veins from both legs at once despite advice to have two operations. Doctors and colleagues were urging him to take time off; on 26 August Social Credit leader Bruce Beetham advised him to take a couple of months off to recover. His final public appearance was on 18 August to open St Peter's Catholic College in Palmerston North, when he stood in the rain for the whole ceremony, and he missed a proposed debate with Robert Muldoon before interviewer David Frost.
  On 15 August 1974 he decided to take two days off, and on 26 August he decided to have six weeks of complete rest. He had been checked over by many doctors, and an examination by Professor Tom O’Donnell on 27 August confirmed that he had an enlarged heart gravely weakened by embolisms, and which was not pumping regularly enough to get sufficient oxygen into his bloodstream; one lung was two-thirds incapacitated by the clot; and his stomach was very sore as his liver was swollen with retained fluid. He went into the Home of Compassion Hospital, Island Bay, Wellington on 28 August. He was photographed going in the boilerhouse door to avoid the media at the front. He rang and reminisced with close colleagues, and his bed was covered with official papers. On Saturday 31 August he told his wife Ruth, who had been told of his serious situation and came to Wellington, "I am dying .. please don't tell anyone". Soon after 9 pm, while watching a police drama on television (Softly, Softly: Taskforce with Stratford Johns on NZBC TV), he slowly slid from a sitting position. He died of a pulmonary embolism when a blood clot released from a vein into his heart cut off the blood flow and stopped the heart. O'Donnell signed his death certificate. Upon Kirk's death, Bill Rowling succeeded him as Prime Minister.
  While colleagues had been urging him to take some time off, none were aware of the seriousness of his last illness. Bob Harvey, the Labour Party President, said that Kirk was "a robust man" with the "constitution of a horse".  He proposed a Royal Commission to investigate rumours that he had been killed, perhaps with contact poison, by the CIA. This story returned during the 1999 visit of American President Bill Clinton to New Zealand.
caption: Kirk at the High Commissioner's Reception, New Delhi, 29 December 1973, with Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
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