The Vogel era
New Zealand in the Korean War
New Zealand was involved militarily in Korea from 1950 to 1957, first as part of the United Nations ‘police action’ to repel North Korea’s invasion of its southern neighbour, and then in a garrison role after the armistice in July 1953.
The longest lifeline - The Merchant Navy
New Zealand in 1870 - the Vogel era
Three decades after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s two main islands were like two different countries. The 1860s had been a turbulent decade. Much of the North Island had been ravaged by war. Gold and pastoral farming had made the South Island rich and attracted tens of thousands of settlers. But by 1870 the gold boom was waning, and the wool- and wheat-based pastoralism of the South Island was not yet a major export earner (refrigerated meat exports were still more than a decade away).
Overview - NZ in the 1960s
Population
Economic impact - US Forces in New Zealand
Servicing the military machine
Vogel's vision
In 1869, when Julius Vogel became Colonial Treasurer in the government led by Premier William Fox, he observed that:
New Zealand is a peculiar country. You cannot get over its geographical configuration. You cannot bring together the two ends nearer than they are. There will always be a certain amount of isolation in different parts until the iron horse [railway] runs through the two islands.
Building Vogel's railways
Julius Vogel wasn’t the first colonial politician to promise public works and immigration on the back of borrowed money. But the early 1870s offered better prospects for success. War in the North Island was all but over. The main British railway network was largely complete, so English contracting firms like John Brogden and Sons were looking for new opportunities overseas. An outbreak of rural unrest in Britain also encouraged some farm labourers to undertake the long and difficult sea voyage to New Zealand.
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