Photo: The Federation’s relationship with ‘Kiwi’ Keith Holyoake and the Second National Government (1960-1972) that included Robert Muldoon was also clearly a golden age for the Federation. From left: Alf Stevenson; A Tarr; Keith Holyoake; Robert Muldoon; D Steath; and Wally Pearce – taken in 1967.
Last month I covered the 1950s’ post-war boom – an era that set the stage for what we look back on as our Golden Era – the 1960s. But, as with a summer’s end, there were signs of our economic golden weather ending. By Peter Tritt.
The 1960s decade was an era of tumultuous change around the globe and much has been written about it.
“The Age of Affluence” is in full swing, set against the backdrop of the Cold War, which heats up with the Berlin Wall being built in 1961; the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962; and another communist invasion in Asia – this time in Vietnam. The Cold War Arms Race threatens apocalyptic destruction and a nuclear winter, its Space Race puts men on the Moon and the “Winds of Change” that are decolonising Africa supply fertile ground for Cold War rivalry.
There are striking similarities with today’s world: Russia invades a European country (Czechoslovakia) to overthrow its government causing violent riots and protests to erupt around the world; there is another Arab-Israeli war in which Israel defeats the combined armies of Egypt, Jordan and Syria in just six days; the existential threat of the day is nuclear war and its winter and climate experts are also warning of ‘The Coming Ice Age’; there is even a pandemic, the 1967-68 Hong Kong Flu, which has a mortality rate of two percent and will kill up to four million people worldwide – but the world carries on as usual.
Major disasters befall our country causing widespread destruction and loss of life: Giselle, our worst cyclone in recorded history, kills 56 people including 51 on the Wahine; a West Coast coal mine explosion kills 19; a major flood in Opotiki kills two; two shipwrecks kill 38; a plane crash kills 23; a bus crash kills 15; and a major 7.1 magnitude earthquake kills three, destroys 50 bridges and ruins SH6. Looking back at media coverage of these disasters, there’s a stoic, ‘keep calm and carry on’ approach and a notable absence of ‘wrap-around’ support services and trauma therapists.
Our economy nevertheless continues to grow in the 1960s, but our longest period of sustained economic growth (1935- 1966) is ending.
In 1960 we rank third in GDP per capita, only behind the US and Switzerland, but our ranking begins its downward slide and by1969, we have slipped to 19th place (ninth in the OECD) – 10 places behind Australia.
Our heavy dependence on just three farm-based commodities and our excessive economic controls are by now an even greater outlier in the developed world.
In late 1967, a 40 percent collapse in wool prices (wool is one-third of our export income) brings spending cuts and registered unemployment numbers leap from 200 to nearly 4500. The days of people joking that the Minister of Labour knew every unemployed person by name are over and unemployment will keep growing until it peaks in the 1990s.
Meanwhile, our access to the British market is threatened by Britain’s decade-long plan to join the European Economic Communality (EEC) that begins in 1961 and ends with Britain formally joining the EEC in 1973; its share of our exports falls from 50 percent in 1965 to 36 percent in 1970. Our first ever free trade agreement in 1966 – a partial one with Australia – is our first step towards diversifying our export markets.
The population also continues to grow strongly. It’s up 17.5 percent, from 2.36 million in 1960 to 2.77 million in 1969, due again to the baby boom and migration. The post-war baby boom lasts longer (1946-1972) and is more intense here than anywhere else in the world. It peaks in 1961, with us having the world’s highest fertility rate – 4.1 children per woman, compared to 1.56 in 2023.
The assisted migration scheme (1947-1975) continues to bring migrants from Europe, and the Pacific Islands become a new source of migrants with nearly 50,000 Polynesian migrants arriving in the decade. But the end of the golden weather can be seen here too – from 1960-1967 the average yearly net migration inflow is 15,100, but in 1968 and 1969 there is a net outflow of 11,000 migrants. It’s the first net outflow since the war – and a foretaste of things to come.
Infrastructure development continues at pace. As in the 1950s, it’s focussed on electricity generation and infrastructure for land, sea and air transport. Industry development remains focussed on reducing our reliance on dairy, meat and wool and protecting manufacturing through import licensing and tariffs.
Building dams and power stations keeps contractors busy throughout the decade, with nine major hydro projects in the construction pipeline: (1) construction of the Matahina dam and power station begins in 1960 and is completed in 1967; (2) the dams and power stations at Ohakuri and Waipapa are both completed in 1961; (3) construction of the Aviemore Dam begins in 1962 and is completed in 1968; (4) construction of the Manapouri Power Project (intended to power the proposed new aluminium smelter) begins in 1963; (5) Stage one of the 19-year, four-Stage, Tongariro Power Project begins construction in 1964, followed by Stage two starting in 1966 and Stage three in 1969; (6) construction of the Aratiatia dam and power station is completed in 1964, (7) the Benmore Hydro Scheme is completed in 1965 and a national electricity network is formed with the Cook Strait cable – a 610 kilometre long, 1200 megawatts, high-voltage, direct current (HVDC) transmission system connecting the new Benmore Power Station with Wellington. It’s the largest, longest and most technologically advanced HVDC in the world and it has the world’s largest submarine cable; (8) construction of the Ohau A hydro station gets underway with the establishment of Twizel in 1968.
Building new transport infrastructure also keeps civil contractors busy, with government’s annual spending on roading averaging 2.55 percent of GDP throughout the decade, with two thirds spent on construction and one-third on maintenance.
Our two major cities are transformed as new motorways make their way through them. Auckland’s motorway expands in stages: (1) in 1961, the opening of the Victoria Street viaduct extends it from Fanshawe Street to Cook Street; (2) in 1963, its southern motorway extends north to Green Lane East and south to Takanini ; (3) in 1965 – the year Auckland passes the half-million mark – its motorway extends north to St Marks Road and south to Runciman; (5) in 1966, the Newmarket Viaduct opens and extends its motorway north to Khyber pass and Symonds Street; (6) in 1969, its southern motorway extends north to Wellesley Street, its northern motorway extends north from Northcote Road to Tristram Avenue and its harbour bridge is widened from four to eight lanes when its ‘Nippon Clip-on’ opens.
Wellington’s motorway also makes its way in stages towards and through the city. In 1968, a 4.3 kilometre section from Ngauranga to Aotea Quay is opened and a year later it extends to Murphy Street (just a stone’s throw away from the new Federation headquarters bought in 1964) – which goes on to make its way through the city (and via the Terrace Tunnel) in the 1970s.
In the South Island two major roading projects are completed, Christchurch’s Lyttleton Road Tunnel (1964) and the Haast Pass road (1965). The tunnel, which was built by contractors on-time and under-budget, is funded (like Auckland’s Harbour Bridge) by a two shillings toll – the equivalent of $5.20 in today’s money. The opening of the Haast Pass road finally allows road travel from Westland to Otago, but it will not be fully sealed until 1995.
Other major projects completed in the decade are the Marsden Point Refinery, which opens in 1964; the new Auckland International Airport, which opens in 1965; and the Glenbrook steel mill, which begins producing iron and steel from local ironsand in 1969. Planning is underway for the advent of containerised shipping.
A prospering association
Both the contracting industry and its national organisationcontinue to grow and prosper during the 1960s. The Federation cements its place as the industry’s national organisation and develops close relationships with the new National Government.
The Federation hires its first full-time director in 1962, buys its own Wellington headquarters in 1964, celebrates its ‘coming of age’ conference in Christchurch in 1965 and changes its name to New Zealand Contractors’ Federation in 1966.
Its 1964 Roading Conference, opened by Percy Allen (who succeeded the retiring Stan Goosman as Minister of Works in 1963), is a resounding success and marks the Federation’s central role in bringing together all government officials and contractors involved in roading.
Its 1969 25th Annual Conference in Invercargill is the first to include a field trip – they go to Te Anau and Deep Cove to view the still uncompleted Manapouri Power Project. But, Invercargill in 1969 is also the birthplace of New Zealand’s first ever environmental campaign – the ‘Save Manapouri Campaign’ – to halt the raising of the lake levels of Te Anau and Manapouri.
Looking through Ron Tarr’s A Strange Breed of Men, the Federation’s relationship with ‘Kiwi’ Keith Holyoake and the Second National Government (1960-1972) was also clearly a golden age for the Federation. His book is sprinkled with photos of Holyoake and his ministers (including future Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon) and leading members of the Labour Opposition enjoying Federation hospitality in its new headquarters at 21 Fitzherbert Tce – a grand art deco house in leafy Thorndon, just a few minutes’ walk from Parliament; a statement that the Federation has arrived in style in the nation’s capital and is here to stay.
The 1960s is the last time the nation will experience the stability of a four term government, with Keith Holyoake winning four election victories in a row before retiring in February 1972.
Despite the looming economic clouds, the decade ends with optimism in 1969 over our first major oil strike at the Maui I well off the Taranaki coast, and exploration begins in the Maui II field later that year.
Next month’s column will take a look at the 1970s – where global oil crises and recession prompt “Think Big”.
Parting words from Jeremy Sole- a final column