Mayor of Auckland City

The Mayor of Auckland City was the directly elected head of the Auckland City Council, the municipal government of Auckland City, New Zealand. The office existed from 1871 to 2010, when the Auckland City Council and mayoralty was abolished and replaced with the Auckland Council and the Mayor of Auckland.

History

Auckland obtained its first local government in 1851, when the Borough of Auckland was created, covering an area of 58,000 acres (230 km²). This short-lived entity, which existed for about one year, had only one mayor, Archibald Clark.

When the City of Auckland was formally incorporated in 1871, it covered a much smaller area of 623 acres (2.52 km²). Its municipal council was led by a chairman, Walter Lee. Soon afterwards the office of Mayor of Auckland was created. At first, the mayor was elected by the councillors. In 1875, Benjamin Tonks was the first mayor elected at large, i.e. by the ratepayers. There were 39 holders of the position. The longest-serving was Sir Dove-Myer Robinson, who held the post for 18 years, and was the first person to serve non-consecutive terms. There were two female Mayors; Catherine Tizard in 1983 and Christine Fletcher in 1998.

The city council was abolished on 31 October 2010. The area has since been governed by the Auckland Council, which also governs the rest of the Auckland Region.

List of mayors of Auckland City

Key

  Independent   Citizens & Ratepayers   Labour

†: Died in office

List of deputy-mayors

Key

  Independent   Citizens & Ratepayers   Labour   City Vision

†: Died in office

References

Further reading

• "Auckland mayors". Auckland Libraries. Auckland Council. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
• Bassett, Michael (2013). City of sails: the history of Auckland City Council, 1989–2010. Upstart Press. ISBN 978-1927262009.
• Bush, Graham (1991). Advance in order: the Auckland City Council from centenary to reorganisation, 1971-1989. Auckland City Council. ISBN 0908834039.
• Bush, Graham (1971). Decently and in order: the Government of the City of Auckland, 1840-1971. Auckland City Council. ISBN 9780002111676.