The New Zealand Labour Party, also known simply as Labour, is a centre-left political party in New Zealand. The party's platform programme describes its founding principle as democratic socialism, while observers describe Labour as social-democratic and pragmatic in practice. The party participates in the international Progressive Alliance. It is one of two major political parties in New Zealand, alongside its traditional rival, the National Party.
Members of the Labour parliamentary caucus, 1922. Prominent members are Harry Holland (seated, left of centre), Peter Fraser (seated, right of centre) and Michael Joseph Savage (back row, rightmost).
Michael Joseph Savage, the first Prime Minister from the Labour Party
Members of the First Labour Government on the steps of the Parliamentary Library in Wellington, 1935
Leader Norman Kirk opening Labour's election campaign in 1966
Migration to New Zealand began only very recently in human history - with Polynesian settlement in New Zealand, then uninhabited, about 1250 CE to 1280 CE. European migration provided a major influx, especially following the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. Subsequent immigrants have come chiefly from the British Isles, but also from continental Europe, the Pacific, the Americas and Asia.
A poster of the Shaw Savill Line promoting immigration to New Zealand in the 1870s, featuring the flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand.
Plaque commemorating the first meeting of the Canterbury Association in Charing Cross, London. The association would go on to found Canterbury, New Zealand in 1850.