{"id":"bill-rowling","type":"person","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/bill-rowling","language":"en","name":"Bill Rowling","name_en":"Bill Rowling","name_ne":null,"description":"Prime Minister of New Zealand, politician, teacher (1927-1995)","headline":"Prime Minister of New Zealand, politician, teacher (1927-1995)","also_known_as":[],"summary":"Sir Wallace Edward \"Bill\" Rowling was a New Zealand politician who was the 30th prime minister of New Zealand from 1974 to 1975. He held office as the leader of the Labour Party.","summary_more":[],"facts":[{"key":"born","label":"Born","values":[{"text":"15 November 1927","date":"1927-11-15"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q862430#P569"}},{"key":"birthplace","label":"Place of birth","values":[{"text":"Motueka","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q489458"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q862430#P19"}},{"key":"died","label":"Died","values":[{"text":"31 October 1995","date":"1995-10-31"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q862430#P570"}},{"key":"deathplace","label":"Place of death","values":[{"text":"Nelson","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q206687"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q862430#P20"}},{"key":"citizenship","label":"Citizenship","values":[{"text":"New Zealand","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q664"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q862430#P27"}},{"key":"occupation","label":"Occupation","values":[{"text":"politician","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q82955"},{"text":"diplomat","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q193391"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q862430#P106"}},{"key":"party","label":"Political party","values":[{"text":"New Zealand Labour Party","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1048192"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q862430#P102"}},{"key":"education","label":"Education","values":[{"text":"University of Canterbury","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q432475"},{"text":"Nelson College","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1976962"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q862430#P69"}},{"key":"spouse","label":"Spouse","values":[{"text":"Glen Rowling","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q131603619"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q862430#P26"}},{"key":"positions","label":"Positions held","values":[{"text":"Leader of the Opposition (12 December 1975 – 3 February 1983)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6508547","start":"1975-12-12","end":"1983-02-03"},{"text":"Prime Minister of New Zealand (6 September 1974 – 12 December 1975)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1071117","start":"1974-09-06","end":"1975-12-12"},{"text":"Minister of Foreign Affairs (6 September 1974 – 12 December 1975)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6866148","start":"1974-09-06","end":"1975-12-12"},{"text":"Minister of Finance (8 December 1972 – 6 September 1974)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6866129","start":"1972-12-08","end":"1974-09-06"},{"text":"Member of the New Zealand Parliament (1962–1972)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18145518","start":"1962","end":"1972"},{"text":"Member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q28841847"},{"text":"ambassador","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q121998"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q862430#P39"}},{"key":"awards","label":"Awards","values":[{"text":"Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12177415","date":"1983-06-11"},{"text":"Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2059227"},{"text":"New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16933211"},{"text":"Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1861904","date":"1992"},{"text":"honorary doctor of the University of Canterbury","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q131837527","date":"1987"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q862430#P166"}}],"office":null,"sections":[],"cited":[],"cited_from":null,"videos":[],"last_reviewed":null,"organizations":[],"same_as":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Rowling","https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q862430"],"faq":[{"q":"When was Bill Rowling born?","a":"Bill Rowling was born on 15 November 1927 in Motueka."},{"q":"What positions has Bill Rowling held?","a":"Positions held by Bill Rowling include: Leader of the Opposition (1975–1983); Prime Minister of New Zealand (1974–1975); Minister of Foreign Affairs (1974–1975); Minister of Finance (1972–1974); Member of the New Zealand Parliament (1962–1972)."},{"q":"Where did Bill Rowling study?","a":"Bill Rowling was educated at University of Canterbury, Nelson College."}],"related":[{"name":"David Lange","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/david-lange"},{"name":"Mike Moore","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/mike-moore"},{"name":"Walter Nash","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/walter-nash"},{"name":"Robert Muldoon","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/robert-muldoon"},{"name":"George Forbes","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/george-forbes"},{"name":"Norman Kirk","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/norman-kirk"},{"name":"John Hall","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/john-hall"},{"name":"William Hall-Jones","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/william-hall-jones"},{"name":"Richard Seddon","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/richard-seddon"},{"name":"Keith Holyoake","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/keith-holyoake"},{"name":"Gordon Coates","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/gordon-coates"},{"name":"Francis Bell","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/francis-bell"}],"places_in":[],"nearby":[],"image":{"url":"https://diginpl.com/kb-img/bill-rowling-aae2fdd635.jpg","width":500,"height":650,"license":"CC BY 2.0","credit":"Archives New Zealand","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bill_Rowling,_1974_(crop).jpg"},"sources":[{"label":"Wikipedia (English): Bill Rowling","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Rowling","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"},{"label":"Wikidata item Q862430","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q862430","license":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},{"label":"Image: Bill Rowling, 1974 (crop).jpg by Archives New Zealand (CC BY 2.0)","url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bill_Rowling,_1974_(crop).jpg","license":null}],"license":{"text":"CC BY-SA 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","facts":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},"attribution":"Text from the Wikipedia article Bill Rowling, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: Bill Rowling, 1974 (crop).jpg — Archives New Zealand, CC BY 2.0.","cite":"\"Bill Rowling\". DigiNepal. Last updated 2 November 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/bill-rowling. Retrieved 14 November 2026.","date_modified":"2026-11-02T09:02:14Z","facts_checked":"2026-11-13","alternates":{"html":"https://diginpl.com/people/bill-rowling","en":"https://diginpl.com/people/bill-rowling","ne":"https://diginpl.com/people/bill-rowling?lang=ne"}}