From New Zealand’s Jewish past – Sir Julius Vogel KCMG – New Zealand’s Eighth Premier

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Julius was born in London on 24 February 1835, the son of Albert and Phoebe.

Julius Vogel

His parents separated by the time he was six, and he remained with his mother.  His tertiary education was at University College and Imperial College and he later studied chemistry and metallurgy at the Royal School of Mines.  He emigrated with a friend to Victoria in 1852 and became the editor of several newspapers on the goldfields.  After an unsuccessful attempt to enter the Victorian Parliament, he moved in October 1861 to Otago, New Zealand and continued as a journalist with the Otago Witness and in November of that year, he founded and became the editor of the Otago Daily Times.

Julius became an extraordinary man of vision, ideas and ambition.  He believed in himself as a man of destiny who could bring a great deal to New Zealand and transform it into a great land. Many thought him “unstable as water’’ because of his schemes and his private passion for playing cards, but actually he was realistic, inquisitive, a brilliant financier when others would speak in terms of pence, he would talk in terms of pounds.

In 1862, Julius won election to the Provincial Council of Otago and within four years, he became the head of the Provincial Government – a post which he held until 1869.  Unfortunately, in the 1863 by-election for Dunedin and Suburbs South Julius was not successful but, later that year was elected as a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for the same electorate.  On retiring from the Provincial Government in 1869, Julius joined Sir William Fox who was the second premier of New Zealand, and took on the role of treasurer, following which he took up posts of postmaster-general, commissioner of customs, and telegraph commissioner at various times.

In April 1869, Julius visited Auckland, returned to the world of newspapers and became editor and general manager of the Daily Southern Cross. Soon after, he retired from provincial politics and in mid-May 1869 the family left Dunedin and moved to Auckland.  He continued with his political journey and by 1870 in his role as treasurer.  Whilst his colleagues were planning for public works in thousands, Julius was planning in millions and, in fact, borrowed the massive sum of ten million pounds from overseas, enabling his ‘’Great Public Works Policy’’ to revitalise and develop the country by building roads, railways and communication links in order to attract immigrants.  Throughout his political career, Julius also worked successfully for reconciliation with the Maori people.

Before 1870, New Zealand was a country largely dominated by provincial interests and ‘’pork-barrel’’ politics and it was Julius and his administration which is best remembered for the issuing of bonds to fund railway construction and other public works.  His politics, described by historian Warwick Armstrong, were like his nature – imaginative, occasionally brilliant, but reckless and speculative.  He was an excellent policymaker, but he needed a strong leader to restrain him.  He did, however, have great vision and saw New Zealand as a potential ‘Britain of the South Seas’, strong both in agriculture and in industry and inhabited by a large and flourishing population.

By September 1872, the Fox Ministry was forced to resign and Julius proposed a vote of no confidence in the successors.  In October 1872, Julius returned to power as leader in the Lower House and took on the role once again as treasurer and postmaster-general as well as representing several electorates throughout the colony.  He became the eighth Premier of New Zealand, serving from 1873 to 1875 and again in 1876 when he was assigned as Agent-General for New Zealand in London, a position he served until 1881, returning to New Zealand in 1884 and joining the government as a member.  In 1887, Julius introduced the first Women’s Suffrage Bill to Parliament but it was not granted until 1893.  He finally gave up office in 1887 and returned to live in England, continuing as the Agent-General for New Zealand. In 1875 he was knighted by King Edward VII for all he had achieved.

Julius achieved brilliantly in whatever he chose to champion.  One very great achievement was becoming one of the few practising Jewish leaders outside of Israel.  Another was in 1889,  as the first New Zealander to write a science-fiction novel – Anno Domini 2000: Or Woman’s Destiny – which projected his ideas on empire and finance to the year 2000 and where women held many positions of authority.  As a result of this book, the Sir Julius Vogel Awards for New Zealand speculative fiction were established in his honour.

As we know, New Zealand went on to be the first country to give women the vote and, from 1997 to 2008, continuously had a female Prime Minister and from 2005 to 2006 – albeit it a short period – women held all five highest government positions – Monarch, Governor-General, Prime Minister, Speaker of the House and Chief Justice and more recently Jacinda Ardern who was Prime Minister from 2017 to 2023.

Julius did not enjoy good health in his later years, having been an invalid for several years.  He passed away on 12 March 1899 in London and was buried in Willesden Cemetery.  He was survived by his wife and three sons and a daughter. Even though he married out, he always remained a Jew, never renounced his faith, and stated quite openly that he favoured a religious upbringing.  When living in Auckland, he gave two prizes to the synagogue school for the best pupils in Hebrew.

Julius was a short, stocky, with a squarish face and a large black beard and certainly did not attract friends by his appearance.  Yet he won friendship easily in spite of his dogmatic views.  He was fond of jovial company and was a pleasant and true companion himself, speaking each man’s language, attracting people to him by his suavity, good humour and his magnetic eyes and voice.  He was, in fact, hard of hearing and would be conveniently deaf when occasion demanded it.  Julius had many friends but also acquired foes.  As a Jew, his enemies called him ‘’Jew-ilus Rex’’. One described him as a ‘’startling figure of a little Jew from Otago’’.

William Gisborne, the historian who knew Julius well, described him as ‘’sensational, autocratic, endowed with great force and strong will, persistent, fertile in resources, ambitious, adventurous and remarkable for general ability’’.  George Rusden, another historian, disliked Julius intensely and showed prejudice against all Jews.  He suggested that the Government was “like a young spendthrift in the hands of a Jew on a wild career, it trampled on maxims of prudence and ungrateful compunctions of conscience”.

Julius left an incredible legacy from his named book award; suburbs and streets named after him in Wellington, Plymouth and Dunedin; Vogel House – the former official residence of New Zealand Prime Ministers for most of the twentieth century and Vogel Building in Wellington built for the Ministry of Works which now is known as the Justice Centre.

The AJHS acknowledges the following references in the preparation of this story:-

Dictionary of New Zealand Biography; New Zealand History; National Library of New Zealand; Te Papa Collections; Jewish Encyclopedia

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