Historedia
Episode 4 of 4

First Parliament Session

When
24 May 1854
Where
Auckland
Part of
New Zealand acquires self-government

The first session of Parliament met in Auckland in May 1854, dominated by issues regarding Māori districts.

The Parliament under the act met in Auckland, the capital at the time, in May 1854. The first session was dominated by the issue of Māori districts, which were allowed for under the Constitution Act but never implemented by the Crown.

Sources

  1. New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-20
  2. Colony of New Zealand Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-26

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.