Mayor of Hamilton, New Zealand

The mayor of Hamilton is the head of the municipal government of Hamilton, New Zealand, and presides over the Hamilton City Council. The incumbent is Paula Southgate, who was first elected in the 2019 local government elections.

Hamilton had East and West Town Boards until it was constituted under the Municipal Corporations Act 1876 on 24 December 1877 as a Borough Council, with a mayor. Mayoral elections were originally held annually but have been triennial since 1935. Elections were initially held in December, in April or May from 1901–1947, and have most recently taken place in October. In 1989, Evans was the first woman to be elected Mayor of Hamilton. Following her retirement in 1998, all subsequent incumbents were defeated at their next election until Julie Hardaker's 2013 re election.

Name PortraitTerm of office Reason for leaving office 1 Isaac Richardson Vialou February 1878 December 1878 Did not contest the following election 2 John Blair Whyte December 1878 December 1879 Did not contest the following election 3 Thomas Dawson December 1879 March 1880 Resigned 4 Bernard Charles Beale March 1880 December 1880 Did not contest the following election 5 John Knox December 1880 December 1883 Did not contest the following election 6 Robert Peat December 1883 December 1884 Defeated 7 William Australia Graham December 1884 May 1887 Resigned 8 Charles Barton June 1887 January 1888 Resigned 9 Isaac Coates January 1888 October 1889 Resigned 10 William Jones October 1889 December 1889 Did not contest the following election (9) Isaac Coates December 1889 December 1892 Did not contest the following election 11 John Parr December 1892 December 1893 Did not contest the following election 12 William Dey December 1893 December 1899 Did not contest the following election 13 George Edgecumbe December 1899 May 1901 Did not contest the following election 14 Robert William Dyer May 1901 May 1903 Did not contest the following election (8) Charles Barton May 1903 October 1903 Resigned (12) William Dey October 1903 May 1905 Did not contest the following election 15 James Shiner Bond May 1905 May 1909 Did not contest the following election 16 Alexander Young May 1909 May 1912 Did not contest the following election (was elected as MP for Waikato, 1911) 17 Arthur Edwards Manning May 1912 November 1915 Resigned 18 John Edwin Hammond December 1915 June 1916 Died in office 19 John Robert Fow June 1916 May 1917 Did not contest the following election 20 John William Ellis May 1917 August 1918 Died in office (19) John Robert Fow August 1918 May 1919 Did not contest the following election 21 Percy Harold Watts May 1919 April 1920 Resigned (19) John Robert Fow May 1920 May 1931 Defeated 22 Francis Dewsbury Pinfold May 1931 May 1933 Defeated (19) John Robert Fow May 1933 May 1938 Did not contest the following election 23 Harold David Caro May 1938 November 1953 Defeated 24 Roderick Braithwaite November 1953 December 1959 Did not contest the following election 25 Denis Rogers December 1959 October 1968 Defeated 26 Mike Minogue October 1968 May 1976 Resigned 27 Bruce Beetham May 1976 October 1977 Did not contest the following election 28 Ross Jansen October 1977 November 1989 Defeated 29 Margaret Evans November 1989 November 1998 Retired 30 Russ Rimmington November 1998 November 2001 Defeated 31 David Braithwaite November 2001 November 2004 Defeated 32 Michael Redman November 2004 May 2007 Resigned to take up position as CEO of Hamilton City Council 33 Bob Simcock 23 May 2007 31 October 2010 Named interim Mayor until local government elections in October, then elected. Defeated in 2010 Elections. 34 Julie Hardaker 1 November 2010 October 2016 Did not contest the following election for re election 35 Andrew King October 2016 October 2019 Defeated 36 Paula Southgate 24 October 2019 Incumbent