View Details - First Chinese Reach Aotearoa
Chinese/Aotearoa History
1833: First recorded Chinese reach Rēkohu/Chatham Islands, Aotearoa.
1842: Chinese man Appo Hocton (c. 1819-1920) settles in Nelson.
National
1840: Te Tiriti: 500+ rangatira sign treaty with British Crown.
1848: Otago Colony established.
Global
1845-52: Irish Potato Famine leads to 1 million deaths.
View Details - Politics
Chinese/Aotearoa New Zealand History
1850s: First recorded Chinese female, living on Rēkohu / the Chatham Islands.
National
1852: New Zealand Constitution Act establishes parliamentary system.
1858: First Māori King chosen.
View Details - Population Growth
Chinese/Aotearoa History
1865: Chinese in Australia invited to work Otago goldfields.
1866: Aotearoa Chinese population reaches 1219.
National
1860s: Land Wars begin.
1861: Otago Gold Rush begins.
1868: First Māori members of parliament.
Global
1861-5: American Civil War.
1869: Suez Canal opens.
View Details - Growing Prejudice
Chinese/Aotearoa History
Chinese mining population reaches 4200.
Chinese excluded from Lawrence township form a camp on the outskirts.
1876: Abolition of provincial system removes protection of Chinese by Otago Provincial Council.
Late 1870s: Gold running out - Chinese move into other occupations.
National
1876: First Trans-Tasman telegraph cable laid.
1879: Male voting over age of 21.
Late 1870s: Otago economy begins to decline.
Global
1875-84: Statue of Liberty built.
1879: Lightbulb invented.
View Details - Immigration Restrictions
Chinese/Aotearoa History
1880s: Chinese begin moving to New Zealand cities.
1881: Poll Tax introduced to restrict Chinese immigration.
1881: Chinese population reaches 5004.
National
1881: Invasion of pacifist settlement at Parihaka.
1882: First refrigerated meat shipment leaves Port Chalmers.
1885-1900: Long Depression: economic rivalry against Chinese grows.
Global
1887-9: Eiffel Tower built.
View Details - Poll Tax Increased
Chinese/Aotearoa History
1896: Poll Tax increased to £100 and one Chinese migrant per 200 tonnes of shipping cargo.
1898: Introduction of Old Age Pensions Act excludes naturalised Chinese.
National
1893-1906: Premier Richard Seddon’s anti-Chinese rhetoric seeds white nationalism.
1893: Women receive the vote.
Global
1893: Diesel engine invented.
View Details - SS Ventnor
Chinese/Aotearoa History
1902: Remains of 499 Chinese sink with the SS Ventnor.
1907: New Zealand arrivals required to sit an English language test.
1908: Chinese not permitted to be naturalised as citizens.
National
1899-1902: Second Boer War.
Global
1903: First powered airplane flight.
1912: Declaration of Republic of China.
View Details - World War I
Chinese/Aotearoa History
World War I: 55 Chinese serve with New Zealand Armed Forces.
National
1918-19: Influenza pandemic kills c. 9000 New Zealanders.
Global
1918-19: 50 million die in Influenza pandemic.
View Details - White New Zealand Policy
Chinese/Aotearoa History
1920: Start of White New Zealand Policy.
National
1920s: c.2000 Chinese workers indentured on NZ-controlled Samoa.
Global
1929: Wall Street Crash.
View Details - Concessions for Chinese
Chinese/Aotearoa History
1935: First Labour Government reinstates social welfare for Chinese.
1935: New Zealand Chinese Association established.
National
1930s: Economic depression hits New Zealand.
Global
1930s: Great Depression.
View Details - World War II
Chinese/Aotearoa History
1941: Dominion Federation of New Zealand Chinese Vegetable Growers established.
1944: Poll Tax abolished.
National
1939-1945: World War II.
Global
1945: United Nations established.
1947: Cold War begins.
1949: Chinese Communist Party controls mainland China.
View Details - Naturalisation
Chinese/Aotearoa History
1952: Right to naturalisation restored to Chinese.
1954: Naturalised Chinese permitted to marry in Hong Kong and bring wives back.
National
1951: Waterfront dispute.
1957: New Zealand opens Scott Base in Antarctica.
Global
1957: Sputnik 1 satellite launched by Soviet Union.
View Details - Vietnam War
National
1965-72: New Zealand forces fight in Vietnam War.
Global
1969: Astronauts walk on the moon.
View Details - Diplomatic Ties
Chinese/Aotearoa History
1972: New Zealand switches diplomatic recognition from Republic of China to People’s Republic of China.
1975: Chinese refugees from Indo-China begin arriving.
National
1971: Race Relations Act prohibits discrimination on the grounds of race, nationality or ethnic origin.
1973: Population reaches 3 million.
1973: First colour television transmission.
1973-9: Dawn Raids target Pacific Island workers.
1975: Land March led by Dame Whina Cooper
Global
1979: Cellphone invented.
View Details - Uprising
Chinese/Aotearoa History
1987: White New Zealand immigration policy dropped.
National
1981: Springbok protests.
1986: Decriminalisation of homosexuality.
1987: New Zealand becomes nuclear and biological weapon-free.
Global
1980: Smallpox eliminated.
1983: Internet created.
1986: Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
1989: Berlin Wall falls.
View Details - New Frontiers
Chinese/Aotearoa History
1990s: Chinese community launches campaign for a poll-tax apology.
1994: Dunedin signs Sister-City agreement with Shanghai.
1996: Pansy Wong becomes first ethnically Chinese member of New Zealand parliament.
National
1990: Commonwealth Games held in Auckland.
Global
1990-91: Gulf War.
1991: Collapse of Soviet Union.
1994: Nelson Mandela becomes President of the Republic of South Africa.
View Details - New Beginnings
Chinese/Aotearoa History
2002: PM Helen Clark apologises to Chinese New Zealanders and their families for the Poll Tax.
2004: Poll Tax Heritage Trust established.
2006: 139,728 people identify as having Chinese ethnic origins, and 5,451 as Taiwanese Chinese.
2008: Lan Yuan, Dunedin Chinese Garden opens.
National
2008: New Zealand signs free trade agreement with People’s Republic of China.
Global
2001: World Trade Tower attacked by terrorists.
2003: Human Genome project begins.