1962 in New Zealand

Population

• Estimated population as of 31 December: 2,515,800.
• Increase since 31 December 1961: 54,500.
• 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'''

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 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.

November

• 12 December: The Flag of Wellington is adopted.

Arts and literature

• R.A.K. Mason wins the Robert Burns Fellowship.

Music

Radio and television

• New Zealand Broadcasting Service 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.

Film

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

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

• Men's singles champion – Jeff Barron
• Men's pair champions – Frank Livingstone, Bob McDonald
• Men's fours champions – W. Humphreys, S. Barlow, H.W. Todd, R. Brown

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 : 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.

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.
• 28 October: Bill Schramm, Labour politician and 11th Speaker of the House of Representatives.