Zonta International is an organisation of business and professionals who work together to empower women worldwide through service and advocacy. Zonta first arrived in Australasia in 1929 with the establishment of a club in Sydney. There is no record of this club surviving past 1935.
In 1965 Dorothy Thompson, from Canada, made the first of her epic visits to New Zealand and Australia. By 1971 she had organised clubs in five New Zealand cities and seven in Australia. The first clubs in Australasia formed Area 3 until 1972 when the Area designation became a Region. Permission was granted for District 16 to be formed in 1974. The Auckland Club was the first Zonta club to be formed in Australasia and was chartered on 15 November 1965, with Cherry Raymond QSO. appointed as Auckland’s Charter President and Anne Gambrill CNZM. as Club Treasurer.
District 16 continued to cover Australasia until September 1989 when the 8th District Conference was held in Auckland. At that conference it was proposed, because of the wide geographical area of the District and the growth in clubs, that it be divided into three districts. After much discussion this proposal was accepted and the new districts commenced at the Dallas Convention in 1990. New Zealand remained as District 16, in recognition that the first club in Australasia was Auckland. Cherry Raymond was the first Governor, with Joan-Mary Longcroft the first Lt Governor and Jan Bowman the first District Secretary.
Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia formed District 23. New South Wales, Queensland and A.C.T. formed District 24. In 2008 District 22 (Queensland) was formed.
Over the years since, District 16 has evolved from a small gathering of Auckland women, who took a brave ‘leap of faith’ into the world of Zonta, to the election of Wellington Zontian, Lynne McKenzie ONZM., as Zonta International President in the 2012-2014 biennium. In 2024, Past Governor Souella Cumming ONZM. (Wellington) is Treasurer/Secretary of the Zonta International Board and has served as Chair of the Zonta International Finance Committee.
ESTABLISHMENT OF ZONTA IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
1965-1973
With its Charter issued on November 15th 1965, the Zonta Club of Auckland, organised by remarkable Toronto Zontian, Dorothy Thompson, was established as the first New Zealand Zonta club, with Cherry Raymond elected as Charter President and Anne Gambrill as Treasurer. Current Auckland Zontians, Joan-Mary Longcroft and Lillian Chrystall, were also Charter members.
Dorothy Thompson also helped to establish Zonta clubs in Wellington, (1969), Hamilton, (1970), Christchurch (1970) and Dunedin (1970).
In 1973, Cherry Raymond, Regional Representative, organised the first Regional Conference in Auckland.
1974-1989
Australian and New Zealand Zonta clubs were formed into District XVI at the Zonta International Convention in Boston in 1974, with Dr Judith Dey (Sydney) installed as the first District Governor (1974-1976) followed by Beverley Shore Bennett (Wellington), the first New Zealand District Governor (1976-1978).
At the second District Conference in Wellington in April 1977, District XVI was divided into four Areas with Valerie Webster (Hawke’s Bay Area) and Ann Mallinson (Wellington) appointed as the first New Zealand Area Directors.
Until 1990, Australian and New Zealand Zontians worked closely together and shared an alternating governorship. The organisation of the Zonta International Convention in Sydney in June 1984 became a major District XVI responsibility, with Jeanne Edgar appointed as New Zealand co-ordinator. The Convention saw the formal introduction of the Zonta Rose.
1990 to the Present
At the District XVI Conference in Auckland in 1989, Governor Susan Laidlaw (North Christchurch Area) oversaw the division of District XVI into three smaller Districts, with New Zealand, now District 16, retaining the original name in recognition of its foundation status. Cherry Raymond, Charter President of the Zonta Club of Auckland, became the first District 16 Governor (1990-1992).
The current Governor is Phillippa Jacobs-Lory (Christchurch-Canterbury) 2022-2024.
A detailed history of Zonta District 16 New Zealand can be located in Empowering Women: A History of Zonta International in New Zealand 1965-2016, pub. 2017, written by Jennifer A Loughton, Past District 16 Historian & Archivist, (Christchurch South). Obtainable through clubs and in some libraries.
New Zealand Zonta Clubs in charter date order
(Includes all clubs current and historic, listed together)
Auckland: (1965)
Wellington (1969)
Hamilton-Waikato (1970)
Christchurch-Canterbury (1970)
Dunedin-Otago (1970)
Whangarei: (1973)
Manawatu (1975)
Hutt Area (1976)
Auckland West (1976)
Bay of Plenty (1977)
North Christchurch Area (Now Christchurch North) (1977)
South Auckland (1977)
Nelson Area (1978)
Tokoroa-Putaruru (1979)
Mana Area (Now Mana) (1979)
South West Christchurch Area (Now Christchurch South) (1979)
Auckland North Shore (1979)
Wanganui (1980)
Auckland 2 (1984)
East Auckland (1986)
Tauranga Area (Now Tauranga) (1988)
Timaru (1989)
Hibiscus Coast (1989)
Bay of Islands (1991)
North Canterbury Area (Now Waimakariri) (1991)
Port Nicholson (1992)
Thames Valley Area (Now Thames Valley) (1992)
Hamilton-Waikato 2, (1992)
New Plymouth (1992)
Hatea-Whangarei (1993)
Ashburton (1994)
Christchurch West (1994)
Marlborough (1995)
Christchurch East (1996)
Metropolitan Dunedin (1997)
Waimakariri (2002)
Oamaru (2008)
Mangawhai (2010)
Whakatane (2019)
Invercargill (2019)
