1962 - key events

Peter Snell breaks world record for mile and 800 metres

Snell set a new mile (1609 m) record of 3 minutes 54.4 seconds at Whanganui’s Cook’s Gardens in late January. He followed this up with a new 800 m record a week later in Christchurch. He won gold in both the 1500 and 800 m at the 1964 Olympics, establishing himself as not only the greatest middle-distance runner of his generation but one of the greatest of all time.

Pioneering heart surgery

In August New Zealand heart surgeon Brian Barratt-Boyes became only the second surgeon in the world to replace a heart valve, using one from a cadaver. The first such operation had been completed only a month earlier. At Auckland's Green Lane hospital Barratt-Boyes assembled a team that was at the forefront of heart surgery. In 1958 he performed New Zealand's first cardiopulmonary bypass using an imported Melrose Heart-Lung machine. He pioneered new surgical techniques involving the replacement of defective heart valves.

Soviet spies expelled

The spying and espionage which were a feature of the Cold War came to New Zealand in July. Two members of the Soviet Union’s Legation in New Zealand were expelled for spying. Attempts by Commercial Counsellor V.S. Andreyev and Second Secretary N.I. Shtykov to gain information from New Zealand citizens had been reported to the Security Intelligence Service. Their expulsion was the first of its kind in New Zealand. The New Zealand Herald reported that some MPs were ‘white-faced with shock’ when Prime Minister Holyoake announced the expulsion of the two men for attempting to bribe ‘New Zealanders with offers of gifts and money in return for secret information affecting defence and external relations.’

Mass vaccination against polio

An outbreak of Paralytic Poliomyelitis (polio) in 1961 saw 214 people infected and seven die from the virus, which caused paralysis and permanent crippling. In response the Health Department launched a mass vaccination campaign in 1962. Nearly 80% of adults and 97% of school children received an oral vaccine. Outbreaks of polio had occurred on a regular basis since the 1930s. An effective vaccine developed by Jonas Salk was used in New Zealand for the first time in 1956. New Zealand was declared Polio Free in 2000.

Other 1962 events

• George Wilder achieved almost folk-hero status following the first of his three high-profile prison breaks in May. The Howard Morrison Quartet celebrated his exploits with their song George the Wilder Colonial Boy.
• The country's first roll-on roll-off (RO-RO) ferry, New Zealand Railways' Aramoana entered service between Wellington and Picton on 11 August 1962.
• Sir Guy Powles was appointed as New Zealand's first Ombudsman. The office was created to investigate complaints about central government departments and organisations.
• Sir Bernard Fergusson arrived as the new Governor-General in November. He followed his grandfather and father in holding the position. He also had the distinction of being the first holder of this office since George Grey to be a fluent speaker of Maori.
• Barrie Davenport spent a little over 11 hours in the water to become the first European to swim Cook Strait. The first person to have crossed the strait was reputedly Whakarua-tapu, who was fleeing from Te Rauparaha, some time around 1831.
• New Zealand-born Maurice Wilkins and his colleagues James Watson and Francis Crick won the Nobel Prize the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work on the structure of DNA.
• The Maori Welfare Act 1962 established the New Zealand Maori Council. Criticised by some for being dominated by conservative Maori leaders, it became the government's main source of advice on Maori policy.
• The speed limit was raised to 55 miles per hour (88.5 km per hour)
• Using the ‘native bush, mountains, rivers and seaways of Marlborough’ as its classrooms Lord Cobham opened the Outward Bound School at Anakiwa in Queen Charlotte Sound. The school promotes the realisation of individual potential through outdoor challenge and adventure.

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