Pages tagged with: protest

On 12 December, 1987, two years after it was blown up in Auckland Harbour, the Rainbow Warrior was scuttled to become a dive site. The boat was sunk off Matauri Bay, quite close to the Cavalli Islands.

The homosexual law reform campaign moved beyond the gay community to wider issues of human rights and discrimination. Extreme viewpoints ensured a lengthy and passionate debate before the Homosexual Law Reform Act was passed 25 years ago, in July 1986.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the 1951 waterfront dispute, the biggest industrial confrontation in New Zealand’s history. Although it was not as violent as the Great Strike of 1913, it lasted longer – 151 days, from February to July – and involved more workers.

For 56 days in July, August and September 1981, New Zealanders were divided against each other in the largest civil disturbance seen since the 1951 waterfront dispute. The cause of this was the visit of the South African rugby team – the Springboks.

Blue Squad member Pete Carrington gives a police view of the first test against the Springbok rugby team in 1981.

The sinking of the Greenpeace protest ship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland in July 1985 shocked the nation. The incident galvanised an anti-nuclear movement that had emerged in opposition to both French nuclear tests at Mururoa and American warship visits to New Zealand. 

On 'Black Tuesday', 12 November 1912, in the midst of a bitter six-month strike by miners in the small New Zealand goldmining town of Waihi, striker Fred Evans was killed - one of only two fatalities in an industrial dispute in New Zealand's history.

There is a long history of opposition to sexual activity between men and an equally long history of legislation that criminalised this activity.

Since rugby went professional in 1995 countries like Australia, England and France have challenged New Zealand and South Africa's claims to be the two powerhouses of world rugby.

After the Second World War the United States, along with their French and British allies, frequently tested nuclear weapons in the Pacific region.

Supporters of the marchers during the Waihi Strike, 1912

Social and political groups for homosexuals in New Zealand began with the Dorian Society in the 1960s. By the next decade, sexual and social liberation was in the air.

The visit of the nuclear-powered frigate USS Texas in 1983 sparked protest in New Zealand.

South Africa's apartheid policies and attitudes created obvious problems for New Zealand rugby, given the prominence of Māori in the sport.

Merle Hyland and Archibald Charles Barrington stand beside the 'Peace Caravan', a car covered in anti-war slogans, c.1946. Barrington was a prominent peace campaigner and wartime conscientious objector.

New Zealanders generally accepted the hardships and restrictions of the war years as necessary in the fight against fascism. After the war, though, many began to demand a greater share in the spoils of victory.

Keeping sport and politics separate was becoming increasingly difficult. In July 1969 HART (Halt All Racist Tours) was founded by University of Auckland students with the specific aim of opposing sporting contact with South Africa.

To bring about change in the law, the gay movement needed a parliamentary champion. It found one in Member of Parliament Fran Wilde.

March of strikers and supporters during the Waihi Strike, 1912

In 1985 New Zealand was basking in its position as leader of the anti-nuclear movement. Then, on 10 July two explosions, set by French Secret Service agents, ripped through the hull of the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior, preventing it leaving for another protest campaign at Mururoa Atoll.