Ashburton, Canterbury, New Zealand - The Band Stand

Band Rotunda, Ashburton, New Zealand, early 1900s.

Communities around the world built band stands in the second half of the nineteenth century into the early twentieth century as objects of civic pride and to support the brass band concerts that were important elements of social life.

Ashburton's bulbous-topped band rotunda serves as a platform for speech making on some civic occasion in the early 1900s. The band appears to have been banished from the stand for this occasion but troops or cadets in both Scottish uniforms and naval garb are lined up to left and right of the rotunda. A good number of Ashburton's population appears to have turned out for the event. The railway station located on the southern line can been seen in the distance.