History of Auckland City

Introduction | If at first you don't succeed (1840-1871) | Building a solid city (1871-1918) | On the trail of the modernising city (1919-1945) | Thinking and being metropolitan (1945-1971) | The 1971 centenary (occasion and setting) | Progressing towards abolition (1971-1989) | Writ large: the 'new' City Council from 1990 | Selected Auckland City chronology (1840-1998) | Mayors | City and metropolitan population 1841-1998 | Graham Bush

Mayors

Auckland Borough Council 1851-52

Auckland City Council 1854-55

Auckland City Council 1871-

The first two mayors were appointed by the council and those thereafter popularly elected. Until 1915 the mayors' term was annual; for the next twenty years there was a biennial term and from 1935 it was triennial.

• The longest serving mayor was Sir D-M. Robinson (eighteen years).
• Sir Dove-Myer Robinson and John Banks have been the only mayors to regain office after being defeated.
• Dame Catherine Tizard has been both the first woman mayor and the only Labour Party mayor.

For more detail of mayors for the Auckland Isthmus and Hauraki Gulf boroughs, have a look at the Auckland City Libraries website.

Updated May 2009