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The History of NZRA
 

1963

Auckland council of IRA formed

1968

Wellington council formed

1969

Warwick Elley (NZCER) led research into children's
reading interests (Wellington)

1970

Introduction of 'country memberships'

1971

Hawkes Bay & Canterbury councils formed

1972

Establishment of national co-ordinating committee
Marie Clay Area Co-ordinator
Invercargill & Hamilton councils formed

1974

Palmerston North, Dunedin & Timaru councils formed

1978

Rae McIver became IRA co-ordinator
Marie Clay awarded IRA International Citation of Merit

1979

1st official NZ study tour of USA

1980

IRA co-ordinator - Ken Foster (attached to Otago)
John Slane & Ken Foster developed framework for NZRA constitution
and council consultation

1983

Decision made for NZRA to become IRA affiliate

1984

1st NZRA meeting in Nelson
Ro Griffiths President, Shirley Jack sec/treasurer

1985

Received affiliation charter from IRA

1992

Marie Clay became president of IRA
Warwick Elley awarded IRA International Citation of Merit

1993

1st IRA International Leadership conference

1995

NZRA expanded executive initiated

1997

2nd IRA International Leadership conference

2001

Tai Tokerau council affiliated with NZRA
3rd IRA International Leadership conference
NZRA leadership workshops initiated

2003

Tauranga Moana council established and affiliated with NZRA
Reading Forum NZ becomes a refereed journal

2005

4th IRA international leadership conference

2008

Heather Bell awarded IRA Maryann Manning outstanding volunteer
service award.

2009

Aorangi South Canterbury council established and affiliated with NZRA

Citations of Merit

1985

 Doug Helm
Margaret Mooney

1987

Dame Marie Clay
Warwick Elley
John Slane

1989

 Ken Foster
Barbara Watson

1990                

Ro Griffiths
Marilyn Macey

1992     

Heather Bell
Helen Lamont

1993


Harry Hood

1994


Libby Limbrick

1996
Barbara Moore

1998
Cath Roberts

2001
Shirley Nalder

2003
Sheena Hervey

2007
Pene Burridge
 
 
 

NZRA PRESIDENTS

                                                                                                                            
                   
Ro Griffiths 1984 - 1986
Peter De'Ath 1986 - 1988
Heather Bell 1988 - 1990
Joy Wiseman 1990 - 1992
Shirley Jack 1992 - 1994
Cath Roberts 1994 - 1997
Sheena Hervey 1997 - 1998

Libby Limbrick              

1998 - 2000
Peter Hopwood 2000 - 2002
Christine Jeffs 2002 - 2004
Heather Bell 2004 - 2006
Sharon Ross 2006 - 2008
Wendy Carss 2008 - 2010
              
              
 

NEW ZEALAND CONFERENCES


 
Conference Year Host Location Theme
!st NZ Conference 1970 Auckland Auckland
  
2nd NZ Conference 1971 Auckland Auckland  Reading: A Local and International Challenge
3rd NZ Conference 1972 Auckland Auckland  
Reading: Books and Children
4th NZ Conference 1973 Wellington Wellington Reading is Everyone’s Business 
5th NZ Conference 1974 Canterbury Christchurch New Directions for Teaching Reading
6th NZ Conference 1975 Waikato Hamilton

The Need is to Read

7th NZ Conference 1976 Southland Queenstown Reading Through Children’s Literature
8th NZ Conference 1977 Manawatu Palmerston North Reading Through Process and Success
9th NZ Conference 1978 Otago Dunedin Understanding Reading: Reading to Understand 

10th NZ Conference

 1979 Auckland Auckland Reading: The Great Expectation
11th NZ Conference 1980 Wellington Heretaunga
Reading ’80 
Regional
Conferences		 1981 Bay of Plenty Rotorua Literacy in the Eighties
  1981 Hawkes Bay Taradale Reading: A Family Affair
  1981 Otago Dunedin Readers by Reading

12th NZ Conference

 1982 Canterbury Christchurch
Reading by all means

13th NZ
Conference           

1984 Wanganui Wanganui Reading Towards Tomorrow

14th NZ Conference           

1985 Wellington, Canterbury & Nelson combined Nelson The Common Experience: A Team Effort

15th NZ Conference           

1987 Waikato Hamilton The Wonder of Words

16th NZ Conference           

1989 Otago Dunedin Reading to Learn

17th NZ Conference           

1990 Manawatu Palmerston North Nurture the Culture

18th NZ Conference           

1992 Wellington Trentham Getting the Message

19th NZ Conference           

1993 Canterbury Christchurch Readers and Writers Towards 2000

20th NZ Conference           

1994 Auckland Auckland On Being Literate

21st NZ
Conference

1995 Southland Invercargill Reading - the Key

22nd NZ Conference            

 1996 Taranaki New Plymouth Literacy for Lifelong Learning

23rd NZ
Conference

 1998 Waikato/Bay of Plenty Hamilton Literacy: The Heart of Learning

24th NZ Conference             

 1999 Otago Dunedin Something to Crow About

25th NZ Conference           

2001 Nelson Nelson Celebrating 25 Years

26th NZ Conference              

 2002 Canterbury Christchurch Open the Other Eye and Read

27th NZ Conference           

2003 Wellington Wellington From Mansfield to Middle Earth

28th NZ
Conference           

 2004 Manawatu Palmerston North Magic of Literacy

29th NZ
Conference

2005 Southland Invercargill Across the Border - your passport to literacy

30th NZ
Conference  

 2006 Tai Tokerau Bay of Islands Nga Kete - Focused teaching, focused learning

31st NZ
Conference

2007 Taranaki New Plymouth Nga Taonga - From the mountain to the sea

32nd NZ
Conference

2008

Waikato

 Hamilton Bridges to Literacy
33rd NZ
Conference		 2009 Otago Queenstown Literacy, a remarkable adventure

 

 

 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES

Conference Theme Location Year

1st South Pacific Conference on Reading in collaboration with the Australian Reading Association

 Our Heritage of Books Auckland 1983

3rd South Pacific Conference on Reading in collaboration with the Australian Reading Association

 Making Connections Rotorua 1991

18th IRA World Congress on Reading 
in collaboration with the International Reading Association
            

Once Upon a Millenium: the past, the present, the future  Auckland 2000

23rd IRA World Congress on Reading 
in collaboration with the International Reading Association                                       

 Leading and Learning in Literacy Auckland 2010