(b. Pahiatua, Feb. 1904; d. 8 Dec. 1984) New Zealand; Prime Minister 1957, 1960 – 72, Governor-General 1977 for one term; Kt. 1978 Holyoake left school early and worked on the family farm. He was largely self-educated. When he became an MP by winning a by-election in 1932 for the Reform Party he was the youngest member of the House of Representatives. This began a political career which lasted for nearly fifty years. He lost the seat in 1938, was re-elected in 1943, and in 1946 became deputy leader of the opposition National Party. Three years later his party replaced Labour in office and he was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture.

He became Prime Minister after Holland was persuaded to stand down in 1957, only to lose office in the following elections. The Nationals returned to power in 1960 with a majority of twelve which at three subsequent elections was strong enough to withstand whatever attacks a broken Opposition could manage.

A master of consensus-making, he happily ran a Cabinet where he listened, quizzed, and quietly commanded for eleven years. Holyoake's style was represented by his handling of right-wing pressure from National Party membership for an end to compulsory unionism. Hearings into a proposed bill to amend existing legislation showed that organizations representing employers, manufacturers, farmers, and unions were against change. The subsequent legislation had provisions for qualified or unqualified preference being given to unionists. Formally compulsory membership was abolished but in practice the situation remained the same with union membership maintained undisturbed.

A far greater threat developed when overseas prices for produce plunged. As Minister for Finance, Holyoake was faced with the possible necessity of introducing a "Black Budget" similar to that which had contributed to the defeat of the previous Labour government. However, the government did nothing spectacular and eventually prices rebounded. He was able to go to the 1963 election with the slogan "Steady Does It", which suited his style perfectly. By the late 1960s New Zealand was running into a recession with unemployment and industrial unrest increasing. In the 1969 election the National majority was reduced to six. Cabinet faltered as it tried to cope with Britain's entry into the Common Market, with inflation, and with farmer discontent. In February 1972 a reluctant Prime Minister was persuaded to stand down in favour of his deputy John Marshall. Ten months later the government was defeated by a resurgent Labour Party.

In 1975 Holyoake became a Minister of State in the first *Muldoon government. In 1977 Muldoon moved Holyoake out of his ministry to the Governor-General's chair.

Keith Jacka Holyoake (1904-1983) was a New Zealand prime minister and leader of the National Party who subsequently became his country's governor general. An astute politician, he led his party to four successive electoral victories and presided over material prosperity and rising social expectations from 1960 to 1972.

The Right Honourable Sir Keith Jacka Holyoake was born near Pahiatua in the lower part of New Zealand's North Island on February 11, 1904. He was the third of seven children and descended from settlers who had migrated to New Zealand from England in 1842. Holyoake's father ran a small general store before eventually taking over a mixed hops, tobacco, fruit, and dairy farm at Riwaka near Motueka in the South Island.

At the age of 12, when his father became ill, Holyoake left school to help on the farm. His ex-schoolteacher mother continued to teach him at home in the evenings. Although he later in life joined the Presbyterian Church, Holyoake was raised in the Plymouth Brethren religion, and his social life as a child was very restricted.

As a young man "Kiwi Keith" Holyoake became much more involved with the wider community as a tennis and rugby football player and rugby administrator. He also served on the executive committees of various farming organizations, eventually becoming the president of the Nelson Province of the Farmer's Union (later known as Federated Farmers) and then that organization's New Zealand vice-president. In 1938 for a time he was acting dominion president of the Farmers' Union.

At the age of 28 Holyoake was elected to the House of Representatives in a 1932 by-election for the seat of Motueka, following the suicide of the member of Parliament from that district. Holyoake had contested the seat unsuccessfully as a coalition government supporter at a general election the previous year. Following the landslide Labour Party victory of 1935 various antisocialist groups and parties formed the National Party, and Holyoake joined it. He held the Motueka seat until 1938 when, following extensive boundary changes and the influx into the electorate of hundreds of relief workers employed on public works, he lost to a Labour Party candidate.

For the next five years, 1938 to 1943, Holyoake returned to farming, first at Motueka. Following Ransom's retirement in 1943, Holyoake was selected unopposed as the National Party's candidate and was re-elected to Parliament as the representative for Pahiatua at the 1943 election. He held that seat until his retirement following his appointment as governor general in 1977.

Holyoake and his wife Norma (nee Ingram) had two sons and three daughters, and Holyoake always treasured the occasions he could escape from public life and spend time with his family on the farm or later at his holiday home on the western shore of Lake Taupo.

Rise of the National Party

When the National Party became the Government of New Zealand for the first time following the 1949 elections, Holyoake became deputy prime minister and minister of agriculture and marketing, negotiating minimum prices for wool in 1952, meat in 1955, and dairy produce in 1956. At the age of 53 he succeeded an ailing Sir Sidney Holland as prime minister three months before the 1957 election. Unable to establish himself sufficiently in the short time available, Holyoake and his party were defeated by the Labour Party, which won the election with a working majority of one seat in Parliament. For the next three years Keith Holyoake effectively led the Opposition.

In 1960, after Holyoake had stumped the country criticizing the new Labour government's economic management and "the Black Budget" of 1958, the National Party swept back into office and Holyoake again became New Zealand's prime minister. He won four elections in succession and remained the country's leader for over 11 years. During that time he also held the foreign affairs portfolio and frequently travelled overseas to attend conferences and meet other world leaders.

A realistic tactician and pragmatic and effective manager of both cabinet and caucus, Holyoake created the public image of a government that was reluctant to intervene in the economy or in the affairs of the individual New Zealanders and that practiced cautious but liberal government by consensus. His 1963 election slogan "Steady Does It" summed up his approach to politics. Only the corrosive controversy of New Zealand's limited involvement in the Vietnam War in the mid-1960s divided the electorate seriously during that time.

Holyoake was not an innovator, but he presided over a period in New Zealand history during which there was considerable economic growth, material prosperity, and upward social mobility. It was also a time of considerable social and technological change during which the country only partially started to recognize that it had to become economically and diplomatically more self-reliant. The seeds of serious future conflicts over foreign affairs, defense, and race relations were being sown, though they did not become major issues until after Holyoake relinquished office.

In February 1972 Holyoake, who had been knighted in 1970, stepped down as prime minister and leader of the National Party. Only two New Zealand prime ministers had served longer - Richard John "King Dick" Seddon (1893-1906) and William Ferguson "Bill" Massey (1912-1925). Holyoake stayed in Parliament as an "elder statesman, " and his experience and advice became essential to the National Party when it again tasted a bitter electoral defeat in November of that year. Within three years the National Party, under a new leader, Robert Muldoon, admirer of Holyoake, had won back the treasury benches, and in late 1975 Holyoake became minister of state in a new National Party government.

Becomes Governor-General

Tradition was broken in 1977 when the government appointed Holyoake as governor-general of New Zealand. Despite the controversy surrounding the nomination of an active politician as the queen's representative, Holyoake's three year term in the post passed without incident and he occupied the position with distinction and impartiality.

In 1980, shortly before retiring as governor-general, Holyoake became the only resident New Zealander ever to be honored by the queen as knight commander of the Order of the Garter. (Holyoake replaced the queen's uncle, Lord Mountbatten, who had been recently assassinated.) In addition to Knight of the Garter, Holyoake also could claim several other (lesser) honors.

Holyoake appeared somewhat aloof and sounded a little pompous in public. In fact he was a sensitive man who was remarkably modest about his role in New Zealand politics. Throughout his long public career - of over half a century and 16 election campaigns - Holyoake rarely if ever indulged in personality politics. He demanded and received from his National Party colleagues loyalty, "an ounce" of which, he frequently stated, was "better than a ton of cleverness." As prime minister Holyoake certainly earned for himself a place in New Zealand history as one of its greatest political figures. He died on December 8, 1983.

Further Reading

The only biography is by Ross A. Doughty, The Holyoake Years (1977). Keith Jacka Holyoake will be listed in the New Zealand Dictionary of Biography being prepared for publication during New Zealand's 150th anniversary in 1990. Holyoake is also discussed in two books by a successor as the National Party's leader, R. D. Muldoon: The Rise and Fall of a Young Turk (1974) and Muldoon (1977). See also B. S. Gustafson, The New Zealand National Party: The First Fifty Years (1986).

Additional Sources

Doughty, Ross Alexander, The Holyoake years, Fielding: R. Doughty, 1977.

(hō'lē-ōk', hōl'yōk) , 1904–83, New Zealand statesman. A farmer, he was active in agricultural organizations in the 1930s and 40s. He entered Parliament in 1932. A member of the National party, he became deputy leader in 1947. In 1949 he was named deputy prime minister and minister of agriculture in the National party government. He served briefly as prime minister in 1957, when Sidney G. Holland resigned, and was subsequently leader of the Nationalist opposition. When his party won the 1960 elections, he became prime minister, serving until 1972. He resigned the post to deputy prime minister John Marshall in order to revitalize the party for the upcoming elections (which the Nationalists lost). He was minister of state (1975–77) and then became the first politician to be appointed governor-general (1977–80). He was knighted in 1970.

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