Auckland Province


The Auckland Province was a province of New Zealand from 1853 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876.

Area

The province covered roughly half of the North Island of New Zealand. It was the largest of the six initial provinces, both by area and population. The southern boundary was mostly along the 39th latitude, which was an arbitrary line, as the country's interior was little known by Europeans. It was not subdivided during its existence; the Taranaki Province was the other one that kept its boundaries.

History

The six original provinces were established in 1853. At that time, about 30,000 Europeans were living in New Zealand, and a third of them were based in the Auckland Province. An estimated 70% of the Māori population was within the Auckland Province. Although the population of Otago Province and then also the Canterbury region surpassed Auckland's, the northernmost area of the country became most populous again by 1901.
The provincial system was abolished in 1876. Auckland Province was from then used as an administrative district by the Department of Lands and Survey, but the area was later subdivided into the North Auckland, South Auckland, and Gisborne land districts. The 39th latitude was subsequently replaced by boundaries that took landforms into account, and as a consequence, parts of the former Auckland Province are now in the Wellington and Hawke's Bay land districts, and part of the former Wellington Province is in the South Auckland Land District.

Anniversary Day

New Zealand law provides a public holiday for each province's anniversary day. Auckland Anniversary Day generally occurs in late January and is still observed throughout the historic province.

Auckland Provincial Council

Auckland Provincial Council was the elected body of Auckland Province. From its second session onwards, the council used the General Assembly House for its meetings. It shared the use of this building with the New Zealand Parliament from 1854 until 1864 during the time that Auckland was the capital of New Zealand. From 1858, the province owned the building, but continued to make it available to parliament.

Superintendents

The Auckland Province had nine Superintendents:
No.fromtoSuperintendent
112 Jul 18535 Jan 1855Robert Wynyard
215 Mar 1855Nov 1855William Brown
315 Nov 185517 Sep 1856Logan Campbell
411 Nov 1856Dec 1862John Williamson
511 Dec 186222 Sep 1865Robert Graham
625 Oct 18652 Mar 1867Frederick Whitaker
18 Apr 1867Dec 1869John Williamson
72 Dec 1869Nov 1873Thomas Gillies
20 Nov 187316 Feb 1875John Williamson
8Feb 1875Mar 1875Maurice O'Rorke
924 Mar 18751 Jan 1877George Grey

Speakers

The Provincial Council had three Speakers:
No.fromtoSpeaker
118531857Thomas Bartley
218571865William Powditch
318651876Maurice O'Rorke

Legislation