New Zealand Centennial Exhibition, Wellington 1939 - 1940

 

 New Zealand Centennial Exhibition sticker, 1929-1940

The First Labour Government, elected in 1935, saw the centennial of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1940 as an opportunity to celebrate New Zealand's national identity. But by September 1939 with the British declaration of war against the Germans, New Zealanders once again found that "where Britain goes, we go". It was a bitter pill to swallow decades later in the early 1970s, that where Britain went - the European Common Market, New Zealand couldn't. So much for dumb loyalty.

When the Sesquicentennial rolled around in 1990, New Zealand had moved on. The event itself turned out to be a damp squib. Assigned an area along the Wellington waterfront a free market Labour government 180 degrees turned around from the ethos of the First Labour government put up a half-hearted effort to celebrate given its policy platform of full cost recovery, outsourcing to the private sector, and the contentious public debate of the continuing role of the Treaty in modern New Zealand life. Attendance was abysmal. Auckland got the Commonwealth Games.

Some more advertising images for the 1940 Centennial - click on images for larger view:

 

 Travel poster pitched to overseas tourists

 

For those who wanted amusement rides - a map of the Fun of the Fair, 1940

Benge & Pratt Store Fire and Explosion, 28 March 1914, Upper Hutt #5

 

The Benge & Pratt Store Fire & Explosion. The body of William Flynn, 35, railway guard, was recovered approximately where the man is standing on the footpath in the middle of the picture. The Provincial Hotel may be seen in the background. A garden hose was deployed from the upper landing on the staircase in a futile effort to hold the flames back. Click on image for larger view. Photo: Joseph Zachariah, "Zak", 1914. Alexander Turnbull Library

Renowned Wellington photographer, Joseph Zachariah, was quickly on the scene of the Benge & Pratt store fire and explosion in the days following. In the early 1900s, photographs were not yet printed in daily newspapers. By 1914, they were starting to appear as seen in yesterday's post from the Evening Post of 30 March 1914. 

Residents of a community instead relied upon local photographers to capture images of local happenings such as parades, sports events, and disasters. Typically, these would be sold as real photo postcards by photographers and buyers would either keep them in their personal collections or send them to family & friends elsewhere to keep them up to date on the local happenings. The emphasis was on timeliness so photographers such as "Zak", who became a master at the art, would appear on the scene smartly to take photos and within just a few days have copies for sale from their premises, newsagents, bookstores and the like.

J A Hazelwood Grocery Store #2 - 1900c - Upper Hutt, Wellington

This is probably J A Hazelwood's Second Store on Main Street, Upper Hutt, circa late 1890s to early 1900s. Alexander Turnbull Library.

James Alfred Hazelwood is on the right with a bicycle. The man with the child is probably Mr Gillies. Bill Wilkie is one of the other men. A group of children and a dog stand in the centre. They stand with tools of the trade around them - bicycles for deliveries and a hand cart  for heavier loads, such as the parcels pictured, is on the right.

The Hazelwoods vacated these premises around 1904, moving into a larger brick building in that year. 

Must dig deeper...

J A Hazelwood Grocery Store #1 - 1890s - Upper Hutt, Wellington

James Alfred Hazelwood's first grocery store, Upper Hutt, circa 1890s. J A himself stands outside his store with a young man, perhaps a son. Alexander Turnbull Library

The family business of J A Hazelwood was a mainstay of the retail establishment of Upper Hutt for well over fifty years. At least from the photographic record, Hazelwood stores can be seen on Main Street in Upper Hutt from the 1890s to the 1940s.

 

J A Hazelwood's First Bake House, Upper Hutt, circa 1890s. Alexander Turnbull Library

 Must dig deeper... 

A & W Keys, Butcher, Upper Hutt, Wellington, 1910s

A & W Keys, Butcher's Shop, circa 1910. Alexander Turnbull Library

Digging further, on the left hand side of the Troops Marching picture, (see previous post), is the butcher's shop of A & W Key. Here, a wool wagon brings bales down from the hills and on to the stores of Wellington prior to shipping out through the port.

A crowd celebrates the Coronation of George V in 1911 outside the premises of A & W Keys and H R Gibbs, chemist, Main Street, Upper Hutt. Alexander Turnbull Library.

Could Upper Hutt get anymore exciting than a coronation celebration? Dig deeper...

Main Street, Upper Hutt, Wellington, Town Hall & Post Office

Post Office, Upper Hutt, with Town Hall to the right, circa 1910s. Photo: Tanner Bros. Alexander Turnbull Library.

The problem with historical images is you start digging. Deeper and deeper you go...

Above, the Upper Hutt post office, visible in the previous post below, pictured there on the right hand side of the street as the military procession passes by. By its side, the Upper Hutt town hall, doubling as the Cosy Theatre and home to People's Pictures.

Upper Hutt Town Hall, circa 1910. Alexander Turnbull Library

The local venue for entertainment in small town New Zealand in the early twentieth century, pictures one night, a dance the next. Weekend after weekend.

Keep digging... more to come on this stretch of small town, Upper Hutt.

Troops Marching Through Upper Hutt, 1915

 Troops Marching Through Upper Hutt, Wellington, 1915.

click on image for larger view.

This image of troops marching through Upper Hutt haunted me through the month of December as it was that month's offering on a calendar that had as its theme New Zealand history.

A long column, seemingly endless, freshly minted at the nearby Trentham army camp, marching off to God knows what on the other side of the world as part of the Great War, the War to End All Wars (sic). Young lads running alongside the brass band heading up the column, the commanding officer on his steed, the stray dogs, and a few passers-by stopping to watch the parade.

Of the 103, 000 New Zealand troops who served overseas, 18,500 died in combat or as a result of the war, with 50,000 more wounded.

Little did they know what they were marching into.

 

Infantry from the 2nd Battalion, Auckland Regiment, New Zealand Division in the Switch Line near Flers, taken some time in September 1916, after the Battle of Flers-Courcelette. 

Source: Wikipedia using a photo from the Imperial War Museum Collections.

Where Did You Get That Hat? Part III - Charles Hill & Sons, Wellington

 Charles Hill & Sons, Catalogue, 1897

Alexander Turnbull Library

 

Charles Hill & Sons, Catalogue, 1897

 Alexander Turnbull Library

Where Did You Get That Hat? Part II - Charles Hill & Sons, Wellington

 Hill & Sons Catalogue, showing Stetson Co hats. 

Alexander Turnbull Library

 

Hill & Sons Catalogue - showing navalofficer and seamen's caps, mortar board, and others.

Alexander Turnbull Library

Where Did You Get That Hat? Part I - Charles Hill & Sons, Wellington

Charles Hill & Sons Catalogue Title Page

Alexander Turnbull Library

Charles Hill & Sons, Hatters, Hosiers, and Gentlemen's Mercers, were located at 61 Lambton Quay, Wellington.

Charles Hill learned his trade with Dundo and Sons, of Castle Green, Bristol, England before emigrating to Melbourne, Australia where he set up business. After some years, Hill established the business of Hill, Fenton, and Hulbert in Auckland in 1871.

The Wellington firm, Charles Hill & Sons, was opened in 1877 with both manufacturing and retail facilities. By the early 1900s, the firm was acting as agents for hat firms such as Henry Heath, Woodrow and Sons, James E. Mills, I. and R. Morley, Tress and Co., Fownes Bros. and Co., Christie and Co., Ld., Dent Allcroft, and Welch Margetson and Co.

The firm's trade extended throughout New Zealand, with sales agents in various centres including Wanganui, Napier, and Nelson.

Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District], 1897, p. 638.

Charles Hll & Sons Catalogue, List of Agents.

 Alexander Turnbull Library

Have Piano, Will Travel - Oriental Parade, Wellington circa 1950

A Bradford truck owned by Howell Piano Co of 40 Taranaki Street, 

on Oriental Parade, Wellington, circa 1950. 

Photo: Gordon Burt. Alexander Turnbull Library.

The pianos probably served as ballast to hold this small vehicle to the road in the strong westerly winds that Wellington is famous for. One can imagine a clench-fisted driver perspiring as he struggled to get a full load up some of the steeper gradients around Wellington. Wonder if a verse of "Roll Out the Barrel" was ever sung as a piano cannon-balled back down a hill? And, for those who know Wellington, imagine home delivery of a piano up a 100 step flight of steps!

Soaking Up The Rays - Tuatara at Karori Wildlife Sanctuary

Soaking Up The Rays - something every self-respecting, life-loving reptile must do. Tuatara at the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, Wellington, NZ, January 2009. copyright Kuaka.

More pics here.

Lest We Forget - National War Memorial & Carrillion - Wellington - ANZAC Day

National War Memorial & Carrillion Tower, Wellington, 2009
Formerly the National Museum & Art Gallery, the site has become the Wellington campus of Massey University.

US Navy Fleet Visit to Wellington, New Zealand 1925

The USS Seattle fires a salute off Oriental Bay as it enters Wellington's inner harbour. August 1925. Real photo postcard

Over at Canterbury Heritage, Mr. CH has a post on the US Navy's Pacific Fleet visit to the Port of Lyttelton in 1925.

This photo essay is a companion piece to CH's, based on a series 0f 7 real photo postcards recording the Fleet's visit to Wellington, New Zealand, headed up by the battleship USS Seattle, flagship of Admiral Robert E. Coontz, Commander in Chief of the United States Navy.

The real photo postcards were likely photographed & printed by the photographers accompanying the Fleet as happened during the 1908 Great White Fleet visit to Auckland on that fleet's around the world tour to show the Stars and Stripes to the world. Of interest to the real photo postcard collector is the stamp box on the reverse - a triangle with Gevaert within.

New Zealand Army Honour Guard presents arms at Pipitea Wharf, Wellington.
A movie camera can be seen mounted on the wall behind the guard adjacent to the sheds.

Official Welcome of the 1925 US Fleet at Parliament Buildings, Wellington

Top military brass turn out for the official welcome.
Unidentified individuals, ranks, and national origins.

The Californian dealer on eBay who offered these items for sale a couple of years ago didn't seem to know the difference between New Zealand and Australia so views of Melbourne and Wellington visits of the Fleet were intermixed. It is possible that the unidentified dignitaries in the above image are actually ones who were in attendance at the Melbourne welcome at the state legislature there.

Official reception for the 1925 US Fleet at the Wellington Town Hall.



Officers of the US Fleet attending a function or visiting some facility - given the HB Clothing Factory sign, this is most likely a visit to a Hallenstein Brothers Clothing Factory somewhere in New Zealand - Our good acquaintance the Canterbury Heritage blogmeister suggests in the comments below that the location is actually the Lyttelton railway station. Admiral Coontz is possibly the man 2nd from right, and woman immediately to left, Mrs Coontz (see photo below for further info.)

Since there is no caption or message on the reverse, the above event or visit is unidentified. In a touch of early sponsorship (?), signs for Buchanan's Whisky and HB's Clothing Factory. HB most likely is Hallenstein Brothers, a long established clothing manufacturer and retailer in New Zealand.

Admiral Coontz (most likely) in Maori cloak receives a hongi from a Maori guide while Mrs Coontz (in cloak) and US naval officers look on. Probably taken at Rotorua in the central North Island.

Wilkins and Field, Ironmongers, Manners St, Wellington, circa 1895

Wilkins & Field, Manners Street, Wellington.
litho by F W Niven & Co., Ballarat, Victoria, circa 1895

The ironmongers of Wilkins & Field located their New Zealand headquarters in Manners Street, Wellington in 1889. The business had started out in the early 1860s in Westport on the West Coast during the gold rush era under the ownership of Thomas Field. Around 1880 Field entered a partnership with W C Wilkins relocating the business to Nelson. Although Wilkins left the business because of ill health after just a few years, the firm continued to trade under the Wilkins & Field name.

The Wilkins & Field premises on Manners Street actually occupied the whole block bounded by the then named Manners, Farish, St Hill, and Customhouse streets, with a retail shop on the Manners street frontage with wholesale and manufacturing premises behind it. Some 50-60 employees were on the payroll in the mid 1890s.

The retail showroom premises were originally built to serve as an arcade but were modified by Wilkins & Field to provide some 20,000 square feet of retail space. The layout of the interior is shown below.

Interior of Wilkins & Field's retail showroom.
Cyclopedia of New Zealand, vol. 1, 1897, p. 720.

The business manufactured spouting, ridging, wire mattresses, and prams, among other items, where it could compete with imported iron goods, acting as importer for many other items that it could then retail such as kitchenware, stoves, toys, firearms, and the like.

A representative range of items to be found at Wilkins & Field can be found in their classified ads run in the Evening Post during the 1890s:

Classified advertising in the Evening Post, 1895.
Source: Papers Past, Alexander Turnbull Library.

The Cyclopedia of New Zealand, 1897, reports that Wilkins & Field's business ranged throughout much of the country, although it appears much of the trade was concentrated in the lower North Island - as far as Taranaki, throughout Wellington province, and Hawkes Bay - and the upper South Island including Nelson, Marlborough, and Westland.

In April 1901 Wilkins & Field relinquished their business in Manners Street pending the retirement of Thomas Field. The premises were taken over by Craig & Co. importers by 1902.

Evening Post, 5 March, 1901.



Evening Post, 16 April, 1901.

Thus, as with so many owner-operated, family businesses lacking a line of succession or interest within the next generation, Wilkins & Field, despite a business history dating back as far as 1807 (see Evening Post business closure report above), disappeared from the Wellington landscape.

But do not despair, fair reader, for a remnant of Wilkins & Field lives on: a quick search online finds Wilkins & Field Ltd Mitre 10 at 232 Hardy Street in Nelson (though it may have been replaced by a MEGA Mitre 10 on Quarantine St). There is also a Wilkins & Field Mitre 10 in Motueka at 235 High Street.

The name lingers on in the hardware industry after more than a century since the Wellington closure.

Gone, but not quite forgotten.

The Interisland Ferry - The Rotomahana

Postcard view of the Rotomahana at anchor in Wellington Harbour

Built in 1879 by the Dennys Shipyard, the Rotomahana was the first mild steel ocean-going merchant steamer in the world. On its voyage out to New Zealand it broke records for sailing times for various ports. Capable of carrying 195 first class (saloon) passengers and 105 2nd class passengers, its crew complement numbered 53.

Upon arrival in New Zealand, the Rotomahana entered the intercolonial service - the trans-Tasman trade in today's parlance - until it was transferred to the interisland service between Wellington and Lyttelton.

Its speed & reduced sailing times combined with the rakish style of its funnel, sail yards, and its bow figurehead quickly made the Rotomahana a popular vessel with passengers and within the Union Steamship Company. While expensive compared to slower, iron ships it turned in strong profits immediately.

The Rotomahana entered the interisland ferry service between Wellington and Lyttelton in 1899 and stayed on the run until 1910. Subsequently it entered the Union Company's Tasmanian coastal service running to Launceston. It was scrapped in 1926.

According to the electoral rolls, in 1905, Joseph McLean was third engineer on the Rotomahana and was based in Lyttelton. Within a year or two he was promoted by the Union Company to chief engineer on its vessels operating in the New Zealand coastal trade such as the Kini and the Hawea.

In 1908 his skills as a marine engineer were tested to the limit by the Hawea's drifting dead-in-the-water for more than a month in the Tasman Sea before effecting sufficient repairs to the stern shaft to get the Hawea under power to return to port. This was followed barely two months later with the Hawea striking the bar at Greymouth and being dashed on North Head by breakers, eventually breaking apart.

Perretts Corner, Wellington, 2009

Perretts Corner Cafe on the site of Perrett's Chemist shop,
corner of Manners & Willis Street. All photos this page: copyright, Kuaka, 2009.

And so to Perrett's Corner, 2009.

Perrett's Corner - straight ahead.

The intersection has been transformed over the nearly 170 years since European paintings and photography began recording its image but it would still be recognizable to earlier Wellingtonians. They might well feel somewhat claustrophobic (of the outdoor variety) because of the vertical height to later buildings and the increase in both vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The glass mirror facades might also be off-putting. At least some of the earlier images may have a wide-angle effect to them giving a false impression of spaciousness.

Perrett's Corner, 2009

Pollen House is to the immediate left of the photographer, off camera. Across Willis Street likes Dukes Arcade on the site of the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel. Perrett's corner lies diagonally across the intersection from the camera position while the Hotel St George, now a residence hall of Victoria University, is at the right edge of the photo.

Perrett's Corner, looking up Manners St

with Willis Street running across the picture left to right, 2009

And so ends - or does it - this extended photo essay of one of Wellington's most well-known corners.

Duke of Edinburgh Hotel - Last Call - Perrett's Corner - Wellington - 1975

Duke of Edinburgh Hotel, corner of Willis and Manners Streets, 18 March 1975. The Roxy Theatre's arch entrance can be seen to the right of the Duke. Perrett's corner is offstage right across the street. Photo is taken with Hotel St George immediately to photographer's back.
Dominion Post collection, Alexander Turnbull Library

Last call for the Duke of Edingburgh hotel came in 1973 when it served its last round having provided beverages to Wellingtonians for over a century.

In 1975 when these pictures were taken, the building's days were numbered and it was replaced by a low rise, two storey shopping arcade of small retail stores. The name lingers on in part in the arcade's present name: Duke's Arcade.

Duke of Edinburgh Hotel, corner of Willis and Manners Streets, 9 July 1975
Dominion Post collection, Alexander Turnbull Library

Like rock group Splitz Enz - a handbill plastered over a Duke's window - the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel is no more. Perhaps these passerbys remember a time when they had a drink in the Edinburgh or, perhaps, they yearn for yet another shopping arcade.

Perrett's Corner, Wellington - 1960s

Perrett's Corner looking down Manners St, 4 October 1966
Dominion Post Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library

Traffic is not yet controlled by lights at Perrett's corner in this 1966 view, zebra crossings performing the task of getting pedestrians organised and slowing motorised transport.

The by now familiar electric trolley bus turns from Willis into Manners Street heading in an easterly direction. Perrett's is on the extreme far right of the intersection. The Duke of Edinburgh hotel with less than 7 years to go before "last round" is on the far left corner, the neon sign of the Roxy Theatre just past that (see previous post on the Roxy - successor to the Britannia).

Pollen House Moves Down The Hill - Perrett's Corner Wellington

Pollen House at the corner of Willis and Boulcott Streets.
Immediately behind the photographer lies Perrett's corner.
Wellington City Council Heritage site

Built in 1902, the Pollen House served as both home and surgery for Dr Henry Pollen a medical practitioner until his death in 1918.

Designed by architect Thomas Turnbull in a revivalist style, the Wellington City Council Heritage site describes the house as being:

"in a French Second Empire style which includes French Renaissance and Post-Renaissance decorative motifs, as well as elements of High Victorian Gothic. The building has no real equivalent in the Capital and the overall design is exceptional in its originality. The house is three stories high, with double-bay windows carried through two floors.... The Mansard roof, with a projecting turret, is another outstanding feature of the building, along with balconies on two levels."

"Stylistic links to Antrim House (1905) at 63 Boulcott Street are clear. Both were designed by Thomas Turnbull in the grand manner, employing French Renaissance motifs, turrets and Mansard roofs, and the imitation of stone elements in timber."

Originally located on a small triangular patch of land a few doors up the hill on Boulcott Street, in 1988 the house was moved down to the Willis Street - Boulcott Street corner, site of Victor Brownson's jewellry store in the 1930s, as part of the Majectic Tower Centre redevelopment. (See previous post for views of the construction site). While internal walls have been removed or relocated and other substantial internal alterations have been made, the dining room and 'best' bedroom remain relatively intact as spaces.

Today Pollen House serves as the premises for The General Practitioner, a restaurant and wine bar, with a street front patio which was populated with a lively lunchtime crowd when visited in January 2009.