Prior to 1876, there was no official definition of a city or uniform system of local authorities in New Zealand. There is thus some argument over which settlement was the first city in New Zealand.
Letters patent Traditionally in the United Kingdom (the former colonial power of New Zealand),
city status is a special status granted by the
monarch, usually by the issuing of
letters patent. Between the 16th century and
1888, city status was associated with the presence of a diocesan
cathedral. In 1841 the
Diocese of New Zealand was established, based in Auckland, however no letters patent were ever issued. The Diocese of New Zealand was split in 1856 with the southern part becoming the
Diocese of Christchurch. Christchurch was subsequently issued letters patent by
Queen Victoria and became the "City of Christchurch". Despite the formation of other
dioceses in New Zealand, the only other city to be subsequently issued letters patent was Nelson in 1858.
Electorates Under the Provincial Councils Act 1851, the
Governor had the right to establish
electorates for provincial legislative councils. On 21 May 1852, Governor
George Grey proclaimed electorates for
New Ulster. Although the proclamation explicitly defined Auckland as a "town" for the purpose of
property franchise, it later defined the electorate "
City of Auckland". This ambiguous proclamation was the first official use of the term "city" in New Zealand legislation. The electorates of New Munster were also declared a short time later on 1 June. Likewise, Wellington was described as a town for property franchise, but more ambiguously established an electorate referred in different parts of the proclamation as either "
City of Wellington" or "Town of Wellington". The provinces of New Ulster and New Munster were disestablished only a month later by the
New Zealand Constitution Act 1852, however, the electorates of both "City of Auckland" and "City of Wellington" were carried forward to the
first nationwide election of 1853. Following the election of an anti-taxation
superintendent in March 1855,
William Brown, the Auckland City Council was dissolved and formally disestablished 1856. The
Christchurch City Council was formed by an act of the
Canterbury Provincial Council which received
Royal assent on 31 January 1863. The council has been active since and is therefore the longest continuously operating city council in New Zealand. resulted in the central government stepping in and confirming its powers. Consequently, Dunedin City Council was the first council recognised in central government law. Furthermore, the central government passed legislation in 1868 to better regulate municipal councils across the country. Dunedin was already under the provisions and was therefore unaffected. The new act brought all other "city councils" in New Zealand under the central government regulations as "borough councils". The name change, however, was only due to an oversight in the language of the act and an amendment was made in November 1868 allowing some councils to revert to using the title of "city council". As the act, and therefore the brief name change, did not apply to Dunedin, Dunedin City Council can claim to have the longest continuous use of the title "city council".
Summary of claims as New Zealand's first city Cities, 1877 to 1989 The schedule of cities in New Zealand was brought under central government control in 1867, This value was increased to 50,000 in 1989. Up to October 1989, the Local Government Commission undertook reorganisations of local government. As a result, some cities were reorganised into other larger cities or changed to districts, and some of these areas are still considered cities by many New Zealanders. This is a list as at . •
North Island •
Whangārei (1964) •
Auckland •
Auckland (1871) •
East Coast Bays •
Takapuna •
Birkenhead •
Waitemata (1974) •
Mt Albert •
Papatoetoe •
Manukau (1965) •
Papakura •
Tamaki •
Hamilton (1936) •
New Plymouth (1949) •
Tauranga (1963) (lost city status 1989, regained 2004) • Bethlehem • Mount Maunganui • Papamoa • Welcome Bay •
Rotorua (1962, merged into Rotorua District, 1979) •
Gisborne (1955) •
Napier (1950) •
Hastings (1956) •
Wanganui (1924) (merged with surrounding counties to become Whanganui District, 1989) •
Palmerston North (1930) •
Wellington •
Wellington (1870) •
Upper Hutt (1966) •
Lower Hutt (1941) •
Porirua (1965) •
South Island •
Nelson (1874) •
Christchurch (1868) •
Timaru (1948) •
Dunedin (1865) •
Invercargill (1930) ==See also==