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Story: Labour Party

'Citizens for Rowling', 1975

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'Citizens for Rowling', 1975

The third Labour government (1972–75) was marked by tragedy when Prime Minister Norman Kirk died suddenly in 1974. His successor, Bill Rowling, was strongly criticised by political opponents as failing to measure up to Kirk. Some considered this criticism unfair and a group of well-known New Zealanders fronted a support organisation called Citizens for Rowling. The cover of their pamphlet, shown here, names some of the members. Rowling's government was defeated in the 1975 general election.

Courtesy of the New Zealand Labour Party

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: Eph-A-NZ-Labour-1975

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Peter Aimer, Labour Party – Second and third Labour governments, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/ephemera/34039/citizens-for-rowling-1975 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Peter Aimer, published 31 October 2011, updated 1 January 2023.