New Zealand Listener – August 10, 2019

34 LISTENER AUGUST 10 2019

in numbers were those from

the Pacific islands, who came

from the 1960s to fill labour

shortages in Auckland’s manu-

facturing sector. Then, in 1974,

a year when the first New Zea-

land Day was commemorated

by a festival of different ethnic

groups, the third Labour

Government ended racial

discrimination in admitting

migrants. The following year,

assisted immigration from

Britain was ended. In 1986, the

fourth Labour Government

based migrant selection on

personal skills, not national

or ethnic origin, and this was

confirmed by the National

Party’s points system in 1991.

80 YEARS

September 3, 1939. When

World War II broke out and

Prime Minister M J Savage

declared, “Where she [Britain]

goes, we go”, it was the first

time this country had actually

declared war on anyone. The

public swung in behind the

fight against fascism, with

12,000 men signing up in the

first week. Over the next six

years, 11,625 New Zealand-

ers sacrificed their lives for

victory, while three times as

many were wounded. The

first few months of war were

deceptively quiet, however,

and no one quite knew what

to expect. When the Listener

questioned people in the

street, it got some tight-lipped

replies. “It’s a pretty rotten

business,” opined a police-

man. And someone described

as a typiste said primly: “You

don’t think I am thrilled about

it, do you?” Footnote: There is

no truth in the common belief

that, because of the time dif-

ference, NZ declared war on

Germany before Britain did;

but we weren’t far behind.

New Zealand

declares war

The Listener was first published on June 30, 1939, as a weekly

broadcasting guide for radio listeners and the first issue was dis-

tributed free to 380,000 households. But since the early days, the

magazine has pushed much further into the life and times of our

nation and its people. Now, with the help of historians Jock Phil-

lips, James Belich, Bronwyn Dalley and David Thomson, we look

back on the events that have shaped and defined New Zealand

since its launch. Listener staff past and present contributed to this

timeline of events and provided compelling copy. They include

Jane Clifton, Russell Baillie, Lauren Buckeridge, Nick Russell,

Anthony Doesburg, Alison Mudford and Rod Pascoe.