overview
trends
to 1968
from 1968
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New Zealand
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This page offers a brief chronology of censorship in Australia.
It covers -
It
is indicative only. Context is provided by the multi-page
communications & media timeline
on this site.
colonial
1819 'Six Acts' in England (inc Newspaper & Stamp
Duties Act and Blasphemous & Seditious Libel
Act)
1824 daily newspaper censorship ceases in New South Wales
1827 NSW enactment against "publication of Blasphemous
and Seditious Libels"
1828 Places of Public Entertainment Act 1828
in NSW colony
1832 Governor Bourke formalises licensing of theatrical
performances in colony of NSW
1841 New Zealand colony detached from NSW
1857 Obscene Publications Act 1857 in UK
1858 Customs regulations about "obscene and indecent"
imports in place in colony of New Zealand
1868 Hicklin case in UK
1876 Victorian Obscene Publications Act 1876
1882 Places of Public Entertainment Act 1882
in South Australia
1889 Customs officials in Victoria seize imported books
to protect Melbourne from "subtle and deadly infection
of French literary vice"
1890 five Christchurch booksellers plead guilty to selling
novels by Zola
1892 New Zealand Offensive Publications Act 1892
1893 New Zealand Post Office Act allows opening
and destruction of suspected "indecent" mail
1894
New Zealand Offensive Publications Act 1894
1900 sending "indecent" content by mail becomes
offence in New Zealand
1900 Crimes Act 1900 in New South Wales
federation
1901 Commonwealth Post & Telegraph Act empowers
Postmaster Generals' Department to impound and destroy
offending material
1901 NSW Obscene & Indecent Publications Act 1901
1902 Western Australia Indecent Publications &
Articles Act 1902
1905 New Zealand Offensive Publications Act 1895
1906 amendment to Offensive Publications Act 1892
in New Zealand allows searching of premises for indecent
material
1906 'art versus obscenity' case in New Zealand
1907 Victorian Chief Secretary bans screenings of The
Kelly Gang in Benalla and Wangarratta
1908 NSW Theatres & Public Halls Act
1908 New Zealand Police Offences Act 1908 replaces
Offensive Publications Acts
1909 Harry Holland jailed for sedition
over advocacy of violent revolution during Broken Hill
miners' strike
1910 International Agreement for the Suppression
of the Circulation of Obscene Publications
1910 New Zealand Indecent Publications Act 1910
1911 exhibition of The Kelly Gang film banned
in Adelaide
1913 Harry Holland jailed in NZ during 1913 waterfront
dispute
1914 federal War Precautions Act 1914
1915 Australian newspaper censorship under War Precautions
Act
1916 federal Unlawful Associations Act 1916
1916 New Zealand Cinematograph-film Censorship Act
1916
1916 'Sydney Twelve' case in Australia against IWW
1916 establishment of office of the Chief Film Censor
in New Zealand
1917 Commonwealth Censorship Board established to regulate
import of film
1917 print of Giorgione's
1510 Sleeping Venus found indecent in New Zealand
1917 New Zealand bookseller convicted for selling de Maupassant
novella
1919 James Joyce's Ulysses banned by Commonwealth
1919 Customs (Cinematograph) Regulations 1919
establish office of Commonwealth Chief Film Censor
1919 Red Flag Riots in Brisbane
1920 Ewing Inquiry reports on whether IWW 'Sydney 12'
engaged in conspiracy of a seditious nature
1923 International Convention for the Suppression of
and Traffic in Obscene Publications
1923 New Zealand government committee established to advise
on imported literature
1926 Jean Devanny's The Butchers Shop banned
in New Zealand as "sordid, unwholesome and unclean"
1927 Royal Commission on the Moving Picture Industry in
Australia
1928 new Commonwealth Film Censorship Board and Appeal
Board established
1928 Commonwealth Customs (Cinematograph Films) Regulations
1928
1929 Australian Customs bans import of Joyce's Ulysses
1929 Devanny's The Butchers Shop banned
in Australia
1929 Commonwealth introduces 'average householder
test'
1930 New Zealand Advisory Committee on Literature replaces
Censorship Appeal Board
1930 Norman Lindsay's
Redheap banned by Commonwealth but available in
NZ, UK, Canada and US
1930 film of Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front
temporarily banned in New Zealand
1931 Queensland Vagrants, Gaming & Other Offences
Act
the age of anxiety?
1932 Aldous Huxley's Brave New World banned by
Commonwealth
1933 Commonwealth government establishes Book Censorship
Advisory Committee (aka Book Censorship Board)
1934 Book Censorship Abolition League formed in Melbourne
1935 New Zealand bookseller convicted for displaying Balzac's
Droll Stories
1936 Book Censorship Abolition League becomes Council
for Civil Liberties
1936 Odets's anti-Nazi Till the Day I Die banned
in NSW, on advice of Commonwealth Attorney-General RG
Menzies, under Theatres & Public Halls Act 1908
1936 Reed's Ten Days That Shook The World banned
by Commonwealth
1937 Commonwealth Book Censorship Advisory Committee becomes
Literature Censorship Board under Customs (Literature
Censorship) Regulations 1937
1937 Joyce's Ulysses unbanned by Commonwealth
1939 Boccaccio's Decameron found to be decent
after legal appeal in New Zealand
1939 Commonwealth Department of Information established
1939 Commonwealth censorship of cablegrams and radio broadcasts
under War Precautions Act (ceases 1945)
1941 Joyce's Ulysses re-banned by Commonwealth
1942 newspaper Advisory Committee on Censorship established
by Prime Minister
1942 Commonwealth Parliamentary Joint Committee on Wireless
Broadcasting
1944 'Ern Malley' Angry Penguins case in South Australia
1944 Daily Telegraph protest against newspaper
censorship in Australia
1945 Forever Amber banned in New Zealand
1946 Robert Close's Love Me, Sailor banned by Commonwealth
and Victoria
1946 Glassop's We Are The Rats banned by Commonwealth
1946 Christina Stead's Letty Fox, Her Luck banned
by Commonwealth
1947 Brian Penton's Censored! pamphlet
1947 Western Australia Censorship of Films Act 1947
1947 Queensland Picture Theatre & Film Act 1947
1948 Christina Stead's A Little Tea, a Little Chat
banned by Commonwealth
1949 Western Australia, Queensland and Tasmania sign agreement
delegating film censorship functions to Commonwealth
1949 first Kinsey report in US
1949 Tasmanian Censorship of Films Act 1949
1951 New Zealand Official Secrets Act 1951
1952 Australian D Notice system introduced
1954 Mazengarb Report on Moral Delinquency in Children
& Adolescents
1917 New Zealand Indecent Publications Act requires distributors
of printed matter to register with Secretary of Justice
1954 Queensland Objectionable Literature Act 1954
1954 Queensland Literature Review Board established
1954 The Wild One banned in New Zealand
1955 Rebel Without A Cause allowed into New Zealand
on appeal
1956 Eugene Goossens incident at Sydney airport
1956 new Commonwealth Film Censorship Board established
under the Customs (Cinematograph Films) Regulations
1957 Commonwealth Customs seizes copies of Catcher
in the Rye intended as gift from US Ambassador to
federal government
1958 New Zealand print registration requirements abandoned
1960 New Zealand Supreme Court agrees that Nabokov's Lolita
is indecent
1960 New Zealand Court of Appeals confirms Supreme Court
ruling re Lolita
1961 New Zealand Crimes Act prohibits "indecent"
performances
1963 New Zealand Indecent Publications Act 1963
1963 New Zealand Indecent Publications Tribunal established
1963 NSW Council of Civil Liberties established
1964 Oz censorship trial in Australia
1966 Masters & Johnson's Human Sexual Response
1967 Corbishley case
1967 Nation reveals Australian D Notice system
1967 Crowe v Graham case
convergence
1968 uniform State-Commonwealth censorship laws
1968 America Hurrah! banned in NSW under Theatres
& Public Halls Act 1908
1969 Minister for Customs Don Chipp (later founder of
Australian Democrats) bans Tynan's Oh! Calcutta book
1969 Roth's Portnoy's Complaint becomes prohibited
import
1969 performance of Crowley's The Boys in the Band
censored by Victorian state government
1970 NSW, WA, Qld and Victorian governments prosecute
local publishers or retailers of Portnoy's Complaint
1971 ACT Film Classification Act 1971
1971 South Australia Classification of Films for
Public Exhibition Act 1971
1972 Cohen's Beautiful Losers published in
Australia despite import ban
1972 New Zealand jury rejects charges against
producers of Hair musical
1973 National Times breaches D Notice by revealing
existence of Defence Signals Directorate (DSD)
1974 South Australia Classification of Publications
Act 1974
1975 NSW Indecent Articles, Classified Publications
Act 1975
1976 Pasolini's Salò banned in Australia
1977 New Zealand Contraception, Sterilisation &
Abortion Act 1977 restricts publications with contraception
information
1982 New Zealand Official Information Act 1982
1982 Commonwealth Freedom of Information Act 1982
1984 Commonwealth enacts Classification of Publications
Ordinance 1983 (COPO) in the ACT as model legislation
1984 NSW Film & Video Tape Classification Act 1984
1984 Victorian Films Act introduces X-rating
1984 Tasmania Classification of Publications Act 1984
1984 Penthouse banned in New Zealand
1984 Western Australia Censorship of Films Amendment
Act 1984
1985 Northern Territory Classification of Publications
& Films Act 1985
1986 Rev Ogle and Rev Father O'Neill attack Je
Vous Salue Maria under blasphemy
provisions
1987 Queensland Literature Board of Review lifts ban on
international edition of Playboy
1987 New Zealand Video Recordings Authority established
under Video Recordings Act
1987 Western Australia Video Tapes Classification &
Control Act 1987
1988 Report of Federal Parliament Joint Select Committee
on Video Material
1988 Commonwealth Office of Film & Literature Classification
established
1989 New Zealand Ministerial Committee of Inquiry into
Pornography
1989 New Zealand Broadcasting Act 1989
1989 ACT Publications Control Ordinance 1989
1990 New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990
1990 Victorian Classification of Films & Publications
Act 1990
1991 Queensland Classification of Films Act 1991
and Classification of Publications Act 1991
1991 Australian Law Reform Commission Censorship Procedure
report
1992 Nationwide News v Wills
1992 Australian Capital Television Pty Ltd v Commonwealth
1993 Mature Adult (MA) film classification in Australia
1993 Australian ban on Pasolini's Salò
lifted
1993 New Zealand Films, Videos & Publications Classification
Act 1993
1994 New Zealand Office of Film & Literature Classification
established
1994 report of the Commonwealth Computer Bulletin Board
Task Force
1995 Commonwealth Consultation Paper on the Regulation
of On-line Information Services
1995 Commonwealth Classification (Publications, Films
& Computer Games) Act 1995
1995 New South Wales Classification (Publications,
Films & Computer Games) Enforcement Act 1995
1995 Victorian Classification (Publications, Films
& Computer Games) Enforcement Act 1995
1995 ACT Classification (Publications, Films &
Computer Games) Act 1995
1995 Queensland Classification of Computer Games
& Images Act 1995
1995 South Australian Classification (Publications,
Films & Computer Games) Act 1995
1995 Tasmanian Classification (Publications, Films
& Computer Games) Enforcement Act 1995
1995 Senate Inquiry into the Regulation of Computer On-Line
Services
1995 Australian Broadcasting Authority Issues Paper on
the Investigation into the Content of On-Line Services
1995 Rabelais 'Art of Shoplifting' issue banned
in Victoria
1996 Western Australian Censorship Act 1996
1996 South Australian Racial Vilification Act 1996
1996 Pasolini's Salò again banned in Australia
1996 Northern Territory Classification of Publications,
Films & Computer Games Act 1996
1997 Pell v Trustees of NGV ('Piss Christ' case)
1997 Commonwealth Chief Censor John Dickie says that despite
stringent codes for offensive material such as child pornography
"it will not be possible to ban material from the Internet"
Online Services
1999 Commonwealth Broadcasting Services Amendment (Online
Services) Act 1999
2000 South Australian police seize book of Mapplethorpe
photos
2000 Australian Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission
rules that Toben site
breaches Racial Discrimination Act
2001 community and industry criticism of NSW Classification
(Publications, Films & Computer Games) Enforcement
Amendment Bill 2001
2001 Victorian Racial and Religious Tolerance Act
2001
2001 Queensland Anti-Discrimination Amendment Act
2001
2003 Ken Park film banned in NSW
2004 federal Crimes Legislation Amendment (Telecommunications
Offences and Other Measures) Act
2005 Batty case in NZ - Auckland District Court rejects
defence that NZ has no jurisdiction over site administered
from Auckland but hosted in the US
2005 New Zealand Films, Videos, & Publications
Classification Amendment Act 2005
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