In-time for 150 years, New Zealand marks a moment in history

It’s been 150 years since New Zealand became the first country in the world to bring in one time zone across the entire nation.

“The time was set by the town clock in each town, and the town clock was synchronised on the movement of the sun, and every province in New Zealand had its own time zone - sometimes like just a few minutes apart,” says Measurement Standard Laboratory Director Dr Fleur Francois.

Wellington became the capital in 1865 and the reference point for the country's time zones.

New Plymouth was three minutes ahead of Wellington, while Napier was behind by nine.

Down south Christchurch was eight minutes ahead, and Dunedin 17 minutes.

These multiple time zones caused confusion particularly when sending telegraphs, so it was proposed that Wellington would become the standard time - causing outrage.

“Over two-thirds of New Zealand’s population lived in the South Island and there was no way they were living under Wellington mean time,” says Dr Francois.

In the end convenience triumphed - and now time keeping duties for the whole country lie with Adam Dunford, senior research scientist at the Measurement Standard Laboratory.

“Some people call me the time lord, and my job really is to ensure New Zealand has the most accurate time,” he jests.

As well as receiving plenty of 'Doctor Who' jokes he works with three atomic clocks making sure New Zealand is in sync with the world.

“Using a co-ordinated time is about stopping things bumping into other things. In the early days it was trains running into each other - now a-days it’s about things like financial transactions and GPS.”

As time moves on the clock opposite parliament's no longer as relevant as it was in the 1800s.

“People didn't necessarily have a watch, or they might not have had a clock at home... so they relied on municipal public clocks to be able to tell the time,” says Paulette Wallace of Heritage New Zealand.

It'll glow pink this month to celebrate a big change 150 years ago - that put New Zealand ahead of its time.