← 1952 1951 1950 1953 in New Zealand → 1954 1955 1956
Decades:	1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
See also:	History of New Zealand List of years in New Zealand Timeline of New Zealand history

The following lists events that happened during 1953 in New Zealand.

• Estimated population as of 31 December: 2,074,700.^[1]
• Increase since 31 December 1952: 50,100 (2.47%).^[1]
• Males per 100 females: 101.1.^[1]

• Head of State –Elizabeth II,Queen of New Zealand, from 6 February 1952
• Governor-General –Lieutenant-General The Lord NorrieGCMGGCVOCBDSOMC, from 1952-1957^[2]

The30th New Zealand Parliament continued. TheNational Party was in its second term in office underSidney Holland.

• Speaker of the House –Matthew Oram from 1950 to 1957
• Prime Minister –Sidney Holland from 13 December 1949 to 20 September 1957.
• Deputy Prime Minister –Keith Holyoake from 13 December 1949 to 20 September 1957.
• Minister of Finance –Sidney Holland
• Minister of Foreign Affairs –Clifton Webb from 19 September 1951 to 26 November 1954
• Chief Justice — SirHumphrey O'Leary (until 16 October), SirHarold Barrowclough (from 17 November)

• Leader of the Opposition –Walter Nash (Labour).^[3]

• Mayor of Auckland –John Luxford from 1953–1956
• Mayor of Hamilton –Harold David Caro (from 1938 until his defeat in November) thenRoderick Braithwaite (until 1959)
• Mayor of Wellington –Robert Macalister from 1950–1956
• Mayor of Christchurch –Robert M. Macfarlane from 1938–1941 and again from 1950–1958
• Mayor of Dunedin –Leonard Morton Wright from 1950–1959

• 6 January:Godfrey Bowen sets a worldsheep shearing record, shearing 456 sheep in nine hours.^[4]
• 10 January: TheSocial Credit Political League is formed from the earlier Social Credit Association.^[5]
• 29 May –Edmund Hillary andTenzing Norgay reach the summit ofMount Everest, the first known time this has been done. Hillary is knighted the following day.
• 2 June –Elizabeth II crowned asQueen of New Zealand atWestminster Abbey in London
• 23 December – The newly crownedElizabeth IIarrives in New Zealand for a royal tour scheduled to last until 30 January 1954. It is estimated that three in four New Zealanders would make an effort to see her during the tour.^[6]
• 24 December –Tangiwai disaster: A railway bridge collapses atTangiwai in the centralNorth Island, sending a fully loaded passenger train into theWhangaehu River, killing 151 passengers on board. The disaster remains New Zealand's worst rail accident.
• Police horses are retired from New Zealand.^[7]

See1953 in art,1953 in literature,Category:1953 books

See:Public broadcasting in New Zealand

See:Category:1953 film awards,1953 in film,List of New Zealand feature films,Cinema of New Zealand,Category:1953 films

• Arthur Lydiard wins his first national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:41:29.8 inDunedin.

• The 60th National Chess Championship was held in Timaru, and was won byOrtvin Sarapu of Auckland (his second title).^[8]

• New Zealand Trotting Cup – Adorian^[9]
• Auckland Trotting Cup – Thelma Globe^[10]

The national outdoor lawn bowls championships are held in Auckland.^[11]

• Men's singles champion – R. McMaster (Stanley Bowling Club)
• Men's pair champions – J.F. Benson,Richard Pilkington (skip) (Balmoral Bowling Club)
• Men's fours champions – W.G. Thornally, C.B. Shine, N.A. Fletcher, N. Orange (skip) (Balmoral Bowling Club)

• Ballinger Belt –Maurie Gordon (Okawa)^[12]

• TheChatham Cup is won byEastern Suburbs (of Auckland) who beatNorthern (of Dunedin) 4–3 in the final.^[13]
• Provincial league champions:^[14]
  • Auckland:Eastern Suburbs AFC
  • Bay of Plenty:Mangakino Utd
  • Canterbury:Western
  • Hawke's Bay:Hastings Wanderers
  • Manawatu:Palmerston North United
  • Nelson:Woodbourne
  • Northland:Otangarei United
  • Otago:Northern AFC
  • Poverty Bay:Eastern Union
  • South Canterbury:Northern Hearts
  • Southland:Brigadiers, Thistle (shared)
  • Taranaki:City
  • Waikato:Huntly Thistle
  • Wairarapa:Carterton
  • Wanganui:New Settlers
  • Wellington:Wellington Marist

• 3 February:Steve Maharey, politician.
• 5 February:Deborah Coddington, journalist and politician.
• 17 February:Steve Millen, motor racing driver.
• 23 March:Denis Aberhart, cricket player and coach.
• 25 March:Paul Ballinger, long-distance runner
• 25 May:John Z. Robinson, artist, printmaker and jewelmaker.
• 14 June:Janet Mackey, politician.
• 22 June:Phil Goff, politician.
• 5 September:Murray Mexted, rugby player and commentator.
• 7 September:Marc Hunter, musician.
• 9 September:Edmond ("Sonny") Schmidt, bodybuilder.
• 12 September:Ramesh Patel, field hockey player.
• 2 October:Colin Wallace, cricketer
• 6 November:Brian McKechnie, rugby player and cricketer.
• 19 December:Paul McEwan, cricketer.
• Jonathan Dennis, film historian.
• Bill Ralston, journalist

• 20 January:Benjamin Robbins MLC; Mayor of Hawera, Tauranga (born 1857)
• 29 July:Richard Pearse airplane pioneer (born 1877).
• 16 October:Humphrey O'Leary, 7th Chief Justice of New Zealand.

• List of years in New Zealand
• Timeline of New Zealand history
• History of New Zealand
• Military history of New Zealand
• Timeline of the New Zealand environment
• Timeline of New Zealand's links with Antarctica

Media related to1953 in New Zealand at Wikimedia Commons

• 1953 in New Zealand
• Years of the 20th century in New Zealand

• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from February 2020
• Commons category link from Wikidata