Tag Archives: ANZUS treaty

June 1987: This month last century

29 June 2012 – 6.51pm

25 years ago the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act is passed (8 June 1987).

Badge, ’Keep New Zealand Nuclear Free’, 1980s, New Zealand. Maker unknown. Gift of Ken Thomas, 2008. Te Papa

Badge, ’Keep New Zealand Nuclear Free’, 1980s, New Zealand. Maker unknown. Gift of Ken Thomas, 2008. Te Papa

This legislation was a flash point in the history of New Zealand’s international relations. It derailed New Zealand’s defence alliance with the USA and Australia known as Anzus.

The Anzus Treaty, which had come into force on 29 April 1952, drew the three parties together over shared defence interests. Under Article II in the Treaty, they had agreed that ‘separately and jointly by means of continuous and effective self-help and mutual aid’, they would ‘maintain and develop their individual capacity to resist and attack’.

Still life, 1984. Pam Debenham (Australia, 1955- ). Purchased 1988 with Harold Beauchamp Collection funds. Te Papa

Still life, 1984. Pam Debenham (Australia, 1955- ). Purchased 1988 with Harold Beauchamp Collection funds. Te Papa

Increasingly, nuclear weapons and nuclear-powered military apparatus became integral to defence. The 1980s saw a proliferation of nuclear weapon, especially in the arsenals of the two major Cold War super powers, the USA and the Soviet Union. With this, fears increased about the potential global fall-out of nuclear war.

David Lange (1942-2005), 'New Zealand - Lange Family', 1980s, New Zealand. Brian Brake photographer. Gift of Mr Raymond Wai-Man Lau, 2001. Te Papa

David Lange (1942-2005), ‘New Zealand – Lange Family’, 1980s, New Zealand. Brian Brake photographer. Gift of Mr Raymond Wai-Man Lau, 2001. Te Papa

Locally, there were also specific concerns about the impact of nuclear testing in the Pacific. Anti-nuclear sentiments gained popular and political support, and saw New Zealanders elect a Labour-led anti-nuclear government, under David Lange, in 1984.

In 1985, the government said no to an American request for a visit to the country by the guided missile destroyer USS Buchanan. The basis for the refusal was that the Buchanan could potentially be carrying nuclear weapons. The US government, which would not confirm or deny this, retaliated by severing military ties and downgrading diplomatic ones.

Badge, ’Please leave Me A green and Peaceful Planet’, 1980s, New Zealand. Greenpeace. Gift of Ken Thomas, 2008. Te Papa

Badge, ’Please leave me a green and peaceful planet’, 1980s, New Zealand. Greenpeace. Gift of Ken Thomas, 2008. Te Papa

Visits by vessels carrying weapons, or those that were nuclear powered, were specifically banned by the 1987 Act. Under section 11, ‘entry into the internal waters of New Zealand by any ship whose propulsion is wholly or partly dependent on nuclear power’ was prohibited. The statute also vetoed the acquisition, storage and testing of nuclear explosive devices.

The legislation finally ruptured the Anzus Treaty. The US suspended military cooperation with New Zealand, and demoted New Zealand to the status of ‘friend’ rather than ‘ally’. But four years after this expulsion, more than half of the New Zealand population still believed this sacrifice was worth it.

Read more about New Zealand’s changing foreign ties on the Slice of Heaven exhibition minisite

 Read about Wellington becoming  nuclear free on Te Papa’s blog

 Watch material about New Zealand’s nuclear-free movement at NZ OnScreen

By Kirstie Ross | Posted in Collections Online, Exhibitions, Slice of Heaven: 20th Century Aotearoa | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

May 1965 – This month last century

14 May 2012 – 4.30pm

47 years ago  Keith Holyoake announced that New Zealand would send a combat unit to Vietnam to support the US-led coalition fighting there (24 May 1965).

The Right Hon. Keith J. Holyoake C.H. circa 1965, New Zealand. William Dargie (1912-2003). Gift of Sir Henry Kelliher, 1967. © Te Papa.

The Right Hon. Keith J. Holyoake C.H. circa 1965, New Zealand. William Dargie (1912-2003). Gift of Sir Henry Kelliher, 1967. © Te Papa.

This is a portrait of the National party Prime Minister Keith Holyoake who, at the end of May 1965, announced that a combat unit from New Zealand would be deployed to Vietnam. This was the 161st Battery RNZA, a four-gun field artillery battery. Originally comprising of around 120 men, the battery’s strength was increased to six guns in 1966.

Although medical staff and military engineers had already been posted to Vietnam, this represented New Zealand’s first military commitment to what would be the country’s longest and most controversial military engagement of the twentieth century.

Between 1964 and 1972, a total of 3,500 New Zealanders served in what amounted to  Vietnam’s civil war.

Yet it was the Cold War, and containing communism in South East Asia, that partly explained New Zealand’s presence there. The Prime Minister  had to balance this objective with the country’s existing and ongoing military commitment to the Malayan Emergency. The number of New Zealand combatants was kept to a minimum, while also meeting the expectations of the USA and Australia, New Zealand’s partners in the ANZUS defence treaty.

Anti Vietnam war demonstration, Early 1970s, Wellington. Ans Westra. Purchased 1993 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds. Te Papa

Anti Vietnam war demonstration, Early 1970s, Wellington. Ans Westra. Purchased 1993 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds. Te Papa

Protests escalated as Holyoake responded to increased pressure from the United State by expanding New Zealand’s military commitment in 1967. Photographer Ans Westra documented many of the street protests that demonstrated this growing opposition to the war, and New Zealand’s involvement in it, including the image shown above.

Read more about the broad diplomatic context of New Zealand and the Vietnam War on the exhibition website: Slice of Heaven: 20th Century Aotearoa.

There are also further details about the war on NZHistory.net.nz and a related website dedicated to memories of New Zealand and the Vietnam War

Reference:

Roberto Rabel, ‘’Vietnam War’, in Ian MacGibbon, ed., The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Military History, Oxford, 2000.

By Kirstie Ross | Posted in Collections Online, History, Slice of Heaven: 20th Century Aotearoa | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

April 1982: this month last century

24 April 2012 – 6.11pm

Thirty years ago, Wellington is voted nuclear weapons-free by the city council (14 April 1982).

In 1981, New Zealand peace groups began campaigning for sites around the country to become nuclear weapons-free. This initiative was supposed to highlight the dangers of nuclear weapons and to change national policies related to them. The following year, Wellington became nuclear weapons-free.

No nukes in the Pacific. 1984. Pam Debenham. Purchased 1988 with Harold Beauchamp Collection funds. © Pam Debenham. Te Papa

No nukes in the Pacific. 1984. Pam Debenham. Purchased 1988 with Harold Beauchamp Collection funds. © Pam Debenham. Te Papa

This anti-nuclear position had evolved from environmental protests over French nuclear testing in the Pacific in the early 1970s. As the decade progressed, protests were also directed at visits to New Zealand by US vessels that were either nuclear-powered or -armed. The poster below advertised a protest that took place in Auckland in 1976.

Poster, ’No Nuclear Warships in N.Z. Ports’, 1976, New Zealand. Campaign Against Nuclear Warships. Gift of Robyn Anderson, 2004. Te Papa

Poster, ’No Nuclear Warships in N.Z. Ports’, 1976, New Zealand. Campaign Against Nuclear Warships. Gift of Robyn Anderson, 2004. Te Papa

Opposition to visiting American ships more than doubled between 1978 and 1983, even though these visits were part of maintaining ANZUS, the defence treaty that New Zealand had entered into with the USA and Australia after World War II.

By 1984, nuclear weapons and where the government stood in relation to this issue became a critical election issue. Some say that it caused the downfall of Prime Minister Robert Muldoon and the National government.

Badge, ’ANZUS’, 1980s, New Zealand. Maker unknown. Gift of Anne Else, 2004. Te Papa

Badge, ’ANZUS’, 1980s, New Zealand. Maker unknown. Gift of Anne Else, 2004. Te Papa

The newly elected Prime Minister, David Lange, was openly opposed to nuclear weapons. He declared that ‘there’s only one thing worse than being incinerated by your enemies, and that being incinerated by your friends’ (Frontier of Dreams, p. 367).

Badge, 'Greenpeace’, circa 1985, New Zealand. Greenpeace. Gift of Ken Thomas, 2008. Te Papa

Badge, ’Greenpeace’, circa 1985, New Zealand. Greenpeace. Gift of Ken Thomas, 2008. Te Papa

The bombing of the Greenpeace protest vessel, Rainbow Warrior, in Auckland harbour in 1985 strengthened New Zealanders’ anti-nuclear stance. In 1987, the Labour-led government passed the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament and Arms Control Act. As the badge illustrated below put it, New Zealanders had all the arms they needed.

Badge, ’All The Arms We Need’, 1980s. Maker unknown. Gift of Ken Thomas, 2008. Te Papa

Badge, ’All The Arms We Need’, 1980s. Maker unknown. Gift of Ken Thomas, 2008. Te Papa

The USA responded to this situtation by downgrading New Zealand’s status from ‘ally’ to ‘friend’.

But this demotion did not affect local attitudes, and New Zealanders held to their anti-nuclear ideals. By 1988, 72% of the population was living in a total of 105 areas that had been declared nuclear weapon-free zones. And, by 1989, over half the country indicated that it would sacrifice formal defence ties, such as ANZUS, rather than admit nuclear-armed ships into the country.

Go to the Slice of Heaven exhibition website to read more about the background to this story.

Read further details about ‘Nuclear-free New Zealand’ on nzhistory.net.nz

Reference:

Bronwyn Dalley and Gavin McLean, eds, Frontier of Dreams: The Story of New Zealand, Auckland, 2005.

By Kirstie Ross | Posted in Collections Online, Exhibitions, History, Slice of Heaven: 20th Century Aotearoa | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

December 1972: This month last century

21 December 2011 – 2.52pm

Thirty-nine years ago, the last New Zealand forces withdraw from Vietnam (22 December 1972)

New Zealand combat troops were in Vietnam from 1965 until 1972. This military support was underpinned by New Zealand’s defence obligations to the USA, an ANZUS treaty partner from 1951.

Fewer than 4000 New Zealanders were in Vietnam over this period of seven-and-a-half years. It was New Zealand’s longest war, yet the number of people involved in it was minimal compared to the two world wars.

Official political support remained consistent for the duration of the war, until the election of Norman Kirk’s Labour Government in 1972. Beyond political, diplomatic, and military circles, the war had increasingly generated heated public debate. One of the questions asked was: did the USA have the right to intervene in Vietnam, in what essentially was a civil war?

Protest flag, 1967, Wellington. Jeremy Lowe. Gift of Jeremy Lowe, 2007. Te Papa

Protest flag, 1967, Wellington. Jeremy Lowe. Gift of Jeremy Lowe, 2007. Te Papa

Like advocates of civil and human rights, opponents to the war were not afraid to make their views visible in public through demonstrations. The flag pictured above was made and used in a protest by Jeremy Lowe, a member of the Committee on Vietnam, in 1967. The image below shows anti-Vietnam War protesters, one of a number taken by photographer Ans Westra.

Anti Vietnam war demonstration, Early 1970s, Wellington. Ans Westra. Purchased 1993 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds. Te Papa

Anti Vietnam war demonstration, Early 1970s, Wellington. Ans Westra. Purchased 1993 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds. Te Papa

However, historian Roberto Rabel notes:

‘the debate precipitated by the Vietnam War was not merely about a tragic conflict in a distant Asian country or the correctness about American policy, but brought to prominence competing visions of the role New Zealand should play in the world’. (Oxford Companion to New Zealand Military History, p. 564).

In the 1980s, a nuclear-free vision would pose a serious threat to New Zealand’s ally, the USA.

Badge, ’ANZUS’, 1980s, New Zealand. Maker unknown. Gift of Anne Else, 2004. Te Papa

Badge, ’ANZUS’, 1980s, New Zealand. Maker unknown. Gift of Anne Else, 2004. Te Papa

Find more details about the Vietnam War, including its details, on New Zealand History Online (nzhistory.net.nz).

Visit the Ministry for Culture and Heritage’s website dedicated to the memory of New Zealand and the Vietnam War.

Read more about New Zealand’s late 20th century international relations and foreign policy, on the Slice of Heaven mini-site.

By Kirstie Ross | Posted in Collections Online, Exhibitions, History, Slice of Heaven: 20th Century Aotearoa | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)
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