Dominion status
Becoming a dominion - Dominion status
What's in a name?
What does ‘dominion’ mean?
New Zealand became a dominion in 1907. The Latin word 'dominium' means property, ownership, authority, or territory subject to a king or ruler. Britain’s first North American colonies were ‘His Majesty’s Dominions beyond the Seas’ (though most people called them colonies). In 1867, to appease the United States' dislike of the word ‘kingdom’, the British North America Act used ‘dominion’ to create ‘one dominion under the name of Canada’.
Why was ‘dominion’ preferred to ‘colony’?
The first Dominion Day
Mixed reactions
The first Dominion Day in 1907 was a holiday for public servants. All government offices closed to mark the occasion. An aluminium Dominion Day medal was struck for every school child in New Zealand.
The government wanted to make 26 September a public holiday, but employers wouldn’t play along. There was intercity bickering about the date as some people thought that an existing statutory holiday should be used rather than introducing another public holiday. Some Aucklanders wanted Auckland Anniversary Day (in January) made Dominion Day as the weather was bound to be better.
Demise of Dominion Day
A short-lived celebration
Dominion Day, 26 September, never really took hold in New Zealand. Wellington was one of the few places that kept up ceremonies after 1907.
In 1908 over 20,000 people went to the Wellington suburb of Newtown to watch a parade and see 5000 children form a living flag. Parliament Buildings were lit up as they had been the previous year.
What changed? - Dominion status
Dominion status: what changed?
What changed when dominion status began in 1907?
Just the name: New Zealand stopped being a colony and became a dominion. There was no tangible political or legal shift.
From this date, the premier was styled as prime minister, and the term ‘Members of Parliament’ replaced ‘Members of the House of Representatives’.
Dominion Day, 2007
A feature of the centenary celebrations of New Zealand's adoption of dominion status was the illumination of the Parliamentary Library. In 1907 Parliament Buildings had been illuminated with lights spelling out the words ‘Advance New Zealand’. For the centenary in 2007, the arches and roofline of the Library were illuminated on the evenings of 25 and 26 September. This was the first such illumination since 1937.
Ministry for Culture and Heritage
Classroom ideas - Dominion status
This page gives a broad outline of how the feature on New Zealand being granted dominion status could be used by teachers and students of social studies and history.
Dominion status
On 26 September 1907 the colony of New Zealand ceased to exist. New Zealand became a dominion within the British Empire. Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward read the proclamation of dominion status from the steps of Parliament, and he marked an important symbolic shift in New Zealand’s perceptions of nationhood. However, the shift from colony to dominion was a change of name only. It had no practical effect. New Zealand was no more and no less independent from Britain than it had been before.
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