Daylight Savings

Tonight in New Zealand we move our clocks forward at 2am one hour to make better use of the daylight, especially during the summer months.

* Interestingly daylight saving actually originated in Aotearoa and was written into law in 1927 as the Summer Time Act.

The concept was first formed in the 1890’s by a New Zealand bug collector called George Hudson. He was a British-born entomologist and astronomer, during his evening leisure time he collected insects and he presented his initial idea of a two-hour daylight saving shift to the Wellington Philosophical Society.

This idea gained some traction when taken up by MP Sir Thomas Kay Sidey, who put forward an annual daylight saving bill in 1909.

Finally in 1927, when Hudson was 60, the Summer Time Act succeeded and came into being.

However, despite the Summer Time Act being passed in 1927, the change in hours wasn’t very popular in New Zealand and it took quite some time to come into effect.

It has been revised, amended and changed a number of times over the years and was even abandoned for quite some time before being reintroduced in the 1970’s.

The concept of daylight saving time as we know it today didn’t come into effect until 1974, when it was trialled again for a year, and the following year it was officially introduced running from the last Sunday in October to the first Sunday in March.

While the 1974 trial proved popular with most Kiwis, the shift in time didn’t suit everyone and it has since been extended several times.

In April 2007, the government announced that daylight savings would be extended by three weeks, for a 27-week period.

Therefore, we now have 27 weeks of daylight saving, from the last Sunday in September to the first Sunday in April and the main purpose of daylight saving time is to provide an additional hour for outdoor activities.

So, bring on the sun and let’s have some fun 🙂

* Adapted from a Radio New Zealand’s article and a Stuff article

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