Norman Kirk

• Born: 6 January 1923

Prime Minister of New Zealand

Place of birth: Waimate, New Zealand

Place of death: Wellington, New Zealand

Education: Linwood Avenue Primary

Significance: Norman Kirk was the fourth Labour prime minister of New Zealand. Kirk is remembered for his progressive domestic and foreign policies as well as his persuasive and eloquent public speaking.

Background

Norman Eric Kirk was born in the Canterbury town of Waimate on 6 January 1923 to Norman Kirk, a cabinet maker, and Vera Janet Jury, a homemaker. Kirk was the oldest of three children. The family moved from Waimate to Christchurch when Kirk was five years old. Kirk's family suffered during the Great Depression, which began to significantly affect New Zealand in the early 1930s. As a result of the Depression, Kirk's father was forced to work on government relief schemes, and the family struggled to provide anything more than the bare necessities of food and shelter.

Kirk left school when he was thirteen years old to begin working as an assistant roof painter. The same year he left school, the Labour Party, under the leadership of Michael Joseph Savage, won their first parliamentary election. Kirk's family had voted for Labour, and he was beginning to take an interest in politics even as a teenager. Kirk jointed the New Zealand railways in October 1940, but he had to take sick leave for a case of goitre, an illness that would also restrict his mandatory military service. In 1943 he moved to the Bay of Plenty to work as a boiler engineer; he joined the Labour Party the same year.

Political Career

Kirk achieved his first political appointment when he moved to the Canterbury town of Kaiapoi. Kirk ran for mayor of Kaiapoi in the 1953 election and won. At the age of thirty, he was the youngest mayor in New Zealand. Kirk fulfilled his political duties while continuing to work in a tire factory in North Christchurch. Kirk stood for Parliament in 1954 in the Hurunui electorate and lost. In 1957 Kirk won the Labour nomination for the Christchurch seat of Lyttelton, a traditional Labour electorate. Kirk was elected in 1957, after which he promptly resigned as mayor of Kaiapoi and moved to Christchurch.

Kirk believed the state could improve the wellbeing of the poorest citizens. He did not identify as a socialist but supported government programmes that improved employment opportunities for ordinary people while providing them with housing, health care and equal opportunities. Kirk climbed the ranks of the Labour Party during its time in opposition to the ruling National Party in the 1960s. In December 1964 Kirk mounted a challenge for the party leadership. Kirk successfully defeated Arnold Nordmeyer and became the parliamentary leader of the Labour Party.

The first election during Kirk's tenure as Labour Party leader was held in 1969. Labour campaigned under the slogan Make Things Happen, arguing that a planned economy would produce economic growth for all New Zealanders. Kirk lost the election but maintained leadership of the party, vowing to win the next election in 1972. The three years between 1969 and 1972 saw Kirk develop as a public speaker and as a policy expert. Kirk turned the 1972 election campaign into a battle of personalities between himself and incumbent prime minister Jack Marshall. Labour won the election, and Kirk became prime minister of New Zealand on 25 November 1972.

An image of Kirk holding the hand of a young Māori boy, on the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on 6 February 1973, became a symbol of a more racially harmonious New Zealand. Kirk's foreign policy was more outward looking than that of his National Party predecessors. Kirk established a relationship with China while refusing to grant the South African rugby team entry to New Zealand on the grounds that their team was not racially integrated. Kirk also pressured France to stop nuclear weapon tests in the South Pacific, sending a ship to the nuclear testing zone to bring international attention to the tests.

The economy was strong during Kirk's first year in charge, but steep rises in oil prices and government expenditure began fuelling inflation. Kirk's health began to fail at the end of 1973 after he developed heart problems and contracted dysentery in India. Kirk's health continued to worsen throughout 1974. Kirk continued to work despite his failing health, putting his energy into the government's superannuation scheme. His doctor convinced him in late August to enter hospital, and on 31 August 1974 Kirk died of heart failure.

Impact

Kirk represented a new generation of New Zealand politics. He was a commanding public speaker who argued eloquently for the benefits of government intervention in the lives of citizens. As a prime minister, he is remembered most for his progressive foreign policy. His premature death, at the age of fifty-one, resulted in a period of national mourning similar to that seen when the first Labour prime minister, Michael Joseph Savage, died.

Personal Life

Kirk married Lucy Ruth Miller on 17 July 1943 in Devonport, Auckland. The couple had three sons and two daughters. One of their sons, Norman John Kirk, went on to represent the Labour Party in the Christchurch electorate of Sydenham.

Bibliography

Bassett, Michael. "Kirk, Norman Eric." Te Ara—The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, Ministry for Culture and Heritage, New Zealand Government, www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/5k12/kirk-norman-eric. Accessed 18 June 2024.

Clark, Margaret, editor. Three Labour Leaders: Nordmeyer, Kirk, Rowling. Dunmore Press, 2001.

Grant, David. The Mighty Totara: The Life and Times of Norman Kirk. Penguin, 2014.

Hayward, Margaret. Diary of the Kirk Years. Reed, 1981.

McLean, Gavin. "Norman Kirk: Biography." NZ History, nzhistory.govt.nz/people/norman-eric-kirk. Accessed 18 June 2024.