New Zealand Listener – August 10, 2019

46 LISTENER AUGUST 10 2019

June 21, 1964. In the month that The Beatles made their only visit to

New Zealand, young Christchurch reporter Sue McCauley, not yet

a novelist, wrote to the editor of this magazine, pointing out the

“unforgivable error” of mislabelling Ringo as Paul in a reversed order

photo caption. Those heady days, when 7000 fans waited at Welling-

ton Airport and another 7000 stood in the rain in Auckland, gave us

a first-hand dose of a new pop hysteria. Youth triumphed and, with

The Beatles as spiritual figureheads, a generation of New Zealand-

ers grew its hair, picked up guitars, dabbled in drugs and mysticism,

gave peace a chance and ultimately bred pop icons of their own.

December 14, 1966. Once, the country’s economy could be

described as depending on processed grass. After the wool price

collapse, that was never going to be enough. On December 14, the

auction price of wool tumbled, eventually to levels comparable to

those of the Depression, bar a brief respite in the early 1970s. At that

time, wool and sheepmeat combined earned more than half of all

export revenue. The resulting rupture to the economy included

a devaluation in 1967, the infamous “nil-wage order” of 1968, and

the beginning of more than a decade of inflation. The economy

stopped growing as fast as those of the rest of the world. Exporters

were forced to diversify. Wool now earns less foreign exchange than

tourism, dairy, meat, forestry, horticulture, fish or machinery exports.

concerts and gigs. More people
now go to museums and gal-
leries than to rugby games,
and even rugby has become
an urban entertainment, with
improved food, all-seating
stadiums, loud music and
performances by well-paid
professionals.
Auckland and Wellington

transformed their waterfronts

from industrial docks to sites

of urban recreation. Welling-

ton pumped itself up as the

world’s “coolest little capital”.

Peter Jackson, film-maker

and thoroughly city person,

replaced Edmund Hillary,

outdoor bloke, as arguably the

country’s best-known person.

Cities bring diversity of

cultures and a tolerance of

difference. Small-town social

controls weaken. The result

has been a revolution in social

behaviours. Beginning with 10

o’clock closing in 1967, there

have been progressive changes

in drinking laws. Patrons are

drinking wines, cocktails and

craft beers. There is a greater

tolerance of sexuality. Homo-

sexuality was decriminalised in

1986 and prostitution in 2003.

New Zealanders have not

wholly lost their admiration

for outdoor skills. City culture

is not universal. The old

suspicion of cities is sometimes

reflected in anti-Auckland

July 10, 1967. After a long

argument over what it

should be called (poet Denis

Glover wanted the “zac”),

the dollar replaced the

pound as the nation’s unit of

currency on DC Day. Under

the tutelage of Finance

Minister Rob Muldoon and

Mr Dollar, we replaced the

system of 20 shillings and

240 pence with the simplic-

ity of 100 cents.

The pound didn’t

cease to be legal

tender until 1982.

The Beatles arrive

Wool price collapse

The end of

the pound

80 YEARS