← 1858 1857 1856 1859 in New Zealand → 1860 1861 1862
Decades:	1830s 1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s
See also:	History of New Zealand List of years in New Zealand Timeline of New Zealand history

The following lists events that happened during 1859 in New Zealand.

Incumbents

Regal and viceregal

• Head of State — Queen Victoria
• Governor — Colonel Thomas Gore Browne

Government and law

The 2nd Parliament continues.

• Speaker of the House — Sir Charles Clifford
• Premier — Edward Stafford.
• Minister of Finance — William Richmond is briefly replaced by Henry Sewell between 25 February and 26 April.
• Chief Justice — Hon George Arney

Events

• 10 January: Pencarrow Head Lighthouse becomes the first permanent lighthouse in New Zealand. Its first keeper is Mary Jane Bennett, the only woman to hold the position.^[1]
• 13 April: The New Zealand Advertiser starts publishing in Wellington. In 1867 it is incorporated into the New Zealand Times, but it is restored for six months in 1868.^[2]
• 3 October: The Auckland Independent begins publishing. It barely survives into the following year.^[3]

Undated

The first wharf is built at Onehunga.^[4]

Births

• 1 January (in England): John Dumbell, rugby union player.
• 18 November (in Scotland): James Nairn, painter

Unknown date

• Thomas Field, politician.
• Charles E. Major, politician.

Deaths

• 7 April – John Gray, soldier, politician (born 1801)
• 20 April – James Kelly, Australian explorer who was involved in a feud on Otago Peninsula (born 1791)
• 30 April – Henry Despard, soldier (born c.1784)
• 20 July – Alexander Shepherd, public servant and second Colonial Treasurer (born c.1797)