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January 26 Public Holiday

January 26 Public Holiday

Posted on 8th January 2015 by Russell Phillips

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January 26 is Auckland Anniversary Day and a public holiday is observed in the northern half of the North Island of New Zealand, Automotive Employment NZ will reopen on the next business day.  inquiries received between 5 pm Friday 23rd of January and 8 am January the 27th will be dealt with as quickly as possible on our return.

For the interest of offshore applicants following this news column a short history is provided:

Although Auckland Anniversary is assumed by many to relate to purely to the city and its foundation, it actually has its genesis three hundred kilometers north in the Bay of Islands.

At the beginning of 1840 New Zealand, though having been recently annexed by New South Wales, was under Maori Sovereignty. Britain wished to acquire the country as a colony separate from New South Wales but faced a roadblock in the form of a ruling by the House of Commons that stated that such an acquisition would be illegal unless Maori voluntarily surrendered their sovereignty.

In order to effect the transfer of sovereignty from Maori to the British, William Hobson, a Commander in the Royal Navy, was sworn in as Lieutenant-Governor and dispatched to New Zealand from Australia. He arrived in the Bay of Islands on the 29th of January 1840 and very shortly thereafter drafted the Treaty of Waitangi.

In November 1840, after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, the Queen declared New Zealand to be a Crown colony separate from New South Wales. On the 3rd of May 1841, Hobson was made Governor of the new colony.