← 1870 1869 1868 1871 in New Zealand → 1872 1873 1874
Decades:	1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s
See also:	History of New Zealand List of years in New Zealand Timeline of New Zealand history

The following lists events that happened during 1871 in New Zealand.

Incumbents

Regal and viceregal

• Head of State – Queen Victoria
• Governor – Sir George Ferguson Bowen

Government and law

The 1871 election takes place between 14 January and 1 February. The 5th New Zealand Parliament commences.

1 February – Māori elections are held for the first time in conjunction with a general election, although the first Māori MPs had been elected in 1868.

• Speaker of the House – After the election Sir Francis Dillon Bell becomes Speaker replacing Sir David Monro who stood down at the end of 1870.
• Premier – William Fox
• Minister of Finance – Julius Vogel
• Chief Justice – Hon Sir George Arney

Main centre leaders

• Mayor of Auckland – Philip Philips
• Mayor of Christchurch – Andrew Duncan followed by James Jameson
• Mayor of Dunedin – Thomas Birch followed by Henry Fish
• Mayor of Wellington – Joseph Dransfield

Events

• 1 February: The Daily Telegraph begins publishing in Napier. It continues until 1999, when it merges with The Hawke's Bay Herald Tribune to form Hawke's Bay Today.^[1]
• 5 July: New Zealand's first university, Otago opens its doors. It was absorbed into the University of New Zealand three years later.^[2]
• The Westport News begins publication. The newspaper continues to publish Monday-Friday.^[3]

Sport

Athletics

The first amateur club is formed, in South Canterbury. Professional athletics is already well established.^[4]

Horse racing

Major race winners

• New Zealand Cup: Peeress
• New Zealand Derby: Defamation

Rugby union

• 12 May: Founding of the Wellington Rugby club, the second rugby union club in New Zealand.^[5]

Shooting

Ballinger Belt: Captain Wales (Otago)

Births

• 10 January: Hoeroa Tiopira, rugby union player
• 10 March (in Europe): George William von Zedlitz, professor of languages
• 6 June: Freeman Wright Holmes, jockey, horse driver, trainer and breeder^[6]

Deaths

Date unknown

• Helen Ann Wilson, nurse and community leader (b. 1793)