1854 in New Zealand

Population

Incumbents

Regal and viceregal

• Head of State – Queen Victoria
• Governor – Sir George Grey resigns on 6 January. Colonel Thomas Gore Browne is appointed later in the year, but does not arrive to take up his position until 6 September 1855.

  Government and law

• Speaker of the House – When the 1st Parliament opens on 24 May Sir Charles Clifford is unanimously elected as New Zealand's first Speaker of the House.
• Chief Justice – William Martin

  Events

• 4 May: The Māori language magazine, The Maori Messenger or Ko te Karere Maori, which started in 1849, stops publishing. In 1855 it will be revived with a different Māori title.
• June: The Canterbury Standard begins publication. The Christchurch newspaper continues until 1866.

  Sport

Horse racing

• 2 December – The Canterbury Jockey Club is formed, the first club of its kind in New Zealand. It holds its first meeting, at Riccarton Racecourse, in 1855.

  Births

• 15 February: Peter Webb, rugby union player
• 8 April: George Carter, rugby union player
• 11 May: Westby Perceval, politician
• 12 December: Alfred Brandon, Mayor of Wellington.
• : William Thomas Wood, politician

  Deaths

• April: Robert Fyffe, whaler and runholder
• 5 May: Te Ruki Kawiti, tribal leader
• 23 June: John Deans, Christchurch pioneer
• 19 October: Joseph Zillwood, policeman, farmer and innkeeper

  Unknown date

• Te Aitu-o-te-rangi Jury, tribal founding mother, landowner and farmer
• Ngātata-i-te-rangi, tribal leader