author
Sir Julius Vogel
1835–1899
A bold politician, journalist, and financier, he helped reshape 19th-century New Zealand with an ambitious program of railways, roads, and public works. He is also remembered as the country’s first Jewish premier and as a writer whose interests reached beyond politics.
1 Audiobook
Anno Domini 2000; or, Woman's Destiny
by Sir Julius Vogel
About the author
Born in London in 1835, he made his way to Australia during the gold-rush years before settling in Dunedin, where he built a name for himself in journalism and public life. He went on to become one of the most influential figures in colonial New Zealand politics, serving as premier and pushing a large borrowing and public-works program that aimed to speed up settlement and economic growth.
Sources consistently describe him as energetic, imaginative, and politically daring. Alongside his work in government, he was also active as a newspaper editor and businessman, and he remains a notable figure in New Zealand history for the scale of his ambitions and for being the country’s first Jewish premier.
His life also had an unexpected literary side: he wrote Anno Domini 2000, or, Woman’s Destiny, a speculative novel often remembered for its unusually forward-looking ideas about politics and society. He died in England in 1899, but his name is still closely tied to a formative period in New Zealand’s development.