1862 in New Zealand
The following lists events that happened during 1862 in New Zealand.
Incumbents
Regal and viceregal
Government and law
The 3rd Parliament continues.- Speaker of the House – David Monro
- Premier – Alfred Domett replaces William Fox on 6 August after Fox loses a vote of no-confidence.
- Minister of Finance – Reader Wood loses the post on 6 August with the fall of the Fox government, and is replaced by Dillon Bell, but is reappointed just 15 days later on 21 August.
- Chief Justice – Hon Sir George Arney
Events
- 27 January - The Auckland Register, which started in 1857, ceases publication.
- 1 July - The first telegraph transmission in New Zealand is made from Lyttelton Post Office to Christchurch.
- 7 July - Parliament meets in Wellington for the first time.
- 15 August - Horatio Hartley and Christopher Reilly arrive in Dunedin with 87 pounds of gold from the banks of the Clutha river in Cromwell George leading to the Dunstan Gold Rush.
- 12 November - The Invercargill Times publishes its first issue. It changed its name to The Southland Times two years later, and became a daily in 1875. It continues to publish.
- Otago gold rush
Undated
- The Nelson Intelligence is a short-lived newspaper in the Nelson, New Zealand area.
Sport
Cricket
The second inter-provincial game is played. Nelson defeat Wellington.Horse racing
Major race winner
- New Zealand Derby – Emmeline
Lawn bowls
The Auckland club is now playing on its own green.Rowing
1 January – The first recorded rowing regatta takes place on Lyttelton Harbour.Later in the year the Canterbury Rowing Club is formed to row on the Avon River in Christchurch.
Shooting
Ballinger Belt – Private HoltBirths
- 15 June: George Helmore, rugby union player
- 21 October: John Findlay, politician
Unknown date
- Albert Pitt, politician
- Charles Kendall Wilson, politician.
Deaths
- 16 May: Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a driving force behind New Zealand's colonisation
- 5 June: Charles Kettle, surveyor of Dunedin
- October: Iwikau Te Heuheu Tukino III, tribal leader