page_title: Dominion Day
section_title: New Zealand
hierarchical_section_title: Dominion Day / New Zealand
caption_attribution_description: English: Front cover shows title words, with a decorative border at the top. Back reproduces a song &quot;The Empire flag&quot;. Quantity: 1 colour art print(s) on cover of silk programme.. Physical Description: Letterpress on silk, 212 x 180 mm. Dominion Day. Wellington Town Hall, 26th September 1907. Programme. [Cover of silk programme].. Dominion Day. Wellington Town Hall, 26th September 1907. Programme. [Silk programme]. Printed at the Government Printing Office.. Ref: Eph-A-HISTORY-Dominion-Day-1907-02-cover. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. natlib.govt.nz/records/23074645
context_page_description: Dominion Day was a day commemorating the granting of Dominion status in certain countries. It was an official public holiday in Canada from 1879 to 1982, where it was celebrated on 1 July; that date is now known as Canada Day. In the Dominion of New Zealand, the anniversary of the granting of Dominion status, on 26 September, was observed as Dominion Day; it was never a public holiday.
context_section_description: A Dominion Day was occasionally celebrated in New Zealand to commemorate the anniversary of New Zealand becoming a Dominion on 26 September 1907. It was never a public holiday, although the first Dominion Day was a day off for public servants. The first Dominion Day was celebrated with a parade and other festivities in the capital, Wellington. Electric lights decorated Parliament Buildings, spelling out the words "Advance New Zealand". In late morning, the Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward read the proclamation from the main steps of Parliament Buildings. Outside of the capital, there were popular military parades in cities such as Auckland. Other places "declined the government’s invitation to be enthusiastic".
  Dominion Day soon "faded away as a public event" – there were occasional celebrations in the first few years after 1907, mostly in Wellington, but they were mainly formal events that did not capture the attention of the public. There was no strong emotional attachment to the anniversary, because New Zealand's granting of Dominion status passed largely unnoticed as a symbolic change. In 1907, the Otago Daily Times called the day "a finger-post in the history of this land, but it is no land-mark". New Zealand historian Keith Sinclair later remarked: "… the change of title, for which there had been no demand, produced little public interest. It was largely regarded as Ward's personal show … it was merely cosmetic".
  Today, the Canterbury (South) anniversary day celebration is the fourth Monday in September, corresponding to Dominion Day; the holiday is otherwise unobserved in the rest of the country. There has been support in some quarters for the day to be revived as an alternative New Zealand Day, instead of renaming Waitangi Day, New Zealand's current national day.
caption: Programme for the Dominion Day service at Wellington Town Hall
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