Rowling << RAW lihng >>, Wallace Edward (1927-1995), was prime minister of New Zealand from September 1974 to December 1975. Rowling took office at the age of 46, becoming one of the youngest prime ministers in New Zealand history. Commonly known as Bill, he was a member of New Zealand’s Labour Party. The Labour Party is a center-left political party that generally favors socially liberal policies. Rowling became Labour Party leader and prime minister following the death of Prime Minister Norman Kirk. Rowling served 22 years in New Zealand’s Parliament, and more than 8 years as Labour Party leader.
Early life and family
Wallace Edward Rowling was born on Nov. 15, 1927, in Motueka, on New Zealand’s South Island. He was the son of Arthur Rowling, a farmer and an early member of New Zealand’s Labour Party, and Agnes Davy Rowling. Many important Labour politicians of the day visited the Rowling farm. Young Bill went to school, attended political meetings with his father, and worked in the family orchard. He attended Nelson College, a high school for boys in Nelson, New Zealand. Rowling graduated from Christchurch Teachers’ College (now part of the University of Canterbury) in 1950. He earned a master’s degree in economics from Canterbury University College (now the University of Canterbury) in 1955. 
Rowling worked as a teacher in Motueka and in other towns. There, he met a music teacher named Glen Elna Reeves, whom he married in 1951. Together, they joined the Māori Education Service, which educated New Zealand’s Indigenous (native) Māori people. The couple spent several years teaching together in different parts of the North Island. They had three daughters and two sons: Jane (also spelled Janee), Gay, Kim, Carl, and Andrew. Gay died in infancy in 1957. Kim took her own life in 1978 at the age of 18.
In 1955, Rowling was a Fulbright New Zealand scholar. The Fulbright scholarship program arranges for people of various countries to study or work in the United States and for Americans to study or work overseas. Rowling served as an exchange teacher in Seattle. Today, the Fulbright New Zealand program includes an internship named in Rowling’s honor, the Sir Wallace Rowling Memorial Award.
In 1959, Rowling entered New Zealand’s army as a teacher. He served briefly in Malaysia and gained the rank of captain. He became assistant director of the Royal New Zealand Army Education Corps and was stationed in Christchurch at the Burnham Army camp.
Political career
Rowling became active in politics while living in the North Island, where he chaired the Labour Party’s Hobson Electorate Committee. In 1960, he ran for the seat representing Fendalton, a suburb of Christchurch, in New Zealand’s Parliament. He lost that election, but he made another run for Parliament two years later. On Nov. 26, 1962, Rowling won the seat representing his hometown electorate (voting district) of Buller (now West Coast-Tasman).
Rowling and his family moved to Westport, a river town on the South Island’s west coast. He became one of the most promising younger Labour members and in 1970 became president of the party. When Labour leader Norman Kirk became prime minister in 1972, Rowling was appointed minister of finance. In 1973, New Zealand’s economy declined rapidly due to falling export prices and the global energy crisis.
Prime Minister Kirk died suddenly on Aug. 31, 1974. Kirk’s deputy, Hugh Watt, acted as prime minister until the caucus of the Labour Party chose Rowling as its leader and prime minister on September 6.
Prime minister.
As prime minister, Rowling continued many of Kirk’s policies, particularly the strong opposition to nuclear weapons. Rowling pushed in the United Nations (UN) for a nuclear-free South Pacific and supported a ban on nuclear-powered warships. However, Rowling differed with Kirk on other issues. For instance, Rowling supported abortion rights and decriminalizing homosexuality, both of which Kirk had opposed.
Rowling had a modest, soft-spoken political style. As the 1975 general election approached, the outspoken National Party leader Robert Muldoon harshly criticized Rowling for apparent weaknesses. Muldoon dominated television appearances with his aggressive personality, and he led the National Party to victory on Nov. 29, 1975. Muldoon took over as prime minister on December 12.
Rowling narrowly missed returning to the prime ministership in 1978 and 1981. In both elections, the Labour Party won more total votes than the winning National Party, but failed to secure enough electorates in Parliament.
Rowling had difficulty adjusting to a changing political climate in which younger Labour parliamentarians wanted more radical economic reform. Rowling resigned as Labour leader in early 1983. Elizabeth II, queen of New Zealand and the United Kingdom, knighted him that same year, and he became Sir Wallace Rowling. He retired from Parliament in 1984.
Ambassador.
David Lange took over leadership of the Labour Party and became prime minister in 1984. Lange announced in 1985 that New Zealand would ban ships carrying nuclear weapons or powered by nuclear reactors from entering its ports. This ban brought New Zealand into disagreement with the United States, a military ally. That same year, Lange appointed Rowling as New Zealand’s ambassador to the United States.
Rowling sought to explain the ban to the American people. However, in 1986, the United States suspended its military obligations to New Zealand under the ANZUS defense treaty. The ANZUS treaty had been signed by Australia, New Zealand, and the United States in 1951. In 1988, Rowling’s term as ambassador ended. The United States partially lifted its suspension of its ANZUS obligations in 1999.
Later years
Rowling took an active part in a number of businesses and organizations in the early 1990’s. From 1990 to 1995, he served as president of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs (NZIIA). The NZIIA promotes discussion and understanding of international issues that affect New Zealand. Rowling served as national vice president of the New Zealand Society for the Intellectually Handicapped (now IHC New Zealand, Inc.), a disability rights group.
Rowling chaired the Port of Nelson and helped plan the town’s sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) celebration in 1992. In addition, he oversaw the creation of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, a national museum on the waterfront in Wellington. The museum opened in 1998.
Rowling was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 1995. He died in Motueka on October 31 of that year.
