2 August 1918 – This isn’t an average Friday afternoon. Workers down their tools and diners abandon their lunch to rush to the waterfront and see what all the fuss is about. Motorists and cyclists stop along the Hutt Road. There is a commotion in the harbour – […]
12 October 1917 – Machine guns poked over the parapets and bayonets were at the ready. Soldiers in khaki approached tentatively, but this wasn’t a battlefield – it was a military-themed ballroom. This is the little-known story of a grand ball that was held in Wellington at the […]
It isn’t often that one gets the opportunity to solve a secret message written over a century ago. I’ve been collecting vintage postcards for more than twenty years and this is the only one I’ve personally come across that has a message on the back actually written in […]
These previously unpublished photographs of the Home Guard offer a rare candid view of an often-overlooked part of New Zealand’s experience during the Second World War. Far from being a safe sideshow, with limited resources these men bravely faced a genuine threat and were prepared to defend their […]
At the top of the South Island a sandspit stretches out with the wild Tasman Sea on one side and kilometres of mud flats on the other. This is Farewell Spit, New Zealand’s most notorious “whale trap”. It acts as a formidable obstacle for pilot whales, which frequently […]
The destruction of the White House is a scene most commonly associated with fictional alien invasions or terrorist plots on the big screen, but today marks two hundred years since an enemy force marched on Washington and set fire to the famous residence. This is the relatively unknown […]
It is a warm summer day and the young city of Wellington is celebrating its anniversary. A military band entertains crowds on the shore as waka and whaleboats compete in races out on the water. After the musical performance finishes a group of soldiers and band members from […]
One hundred years ago today the Fairfield Freezing Works held a fancy dress ball in the Orange Hall in Ashburton. The men paid three shillings and sixpence each and the women provided the food. They were entertained by the tunes of Terris’s band, local favourites who played everything […]
This evening marks one hundred years since curious spectators in Auckland craned their necks to witness one of the first flights in New Zealand made by a Government owned aircraft. Joseph Joel Hammond of the Royal Flying Corps was at the controls of the ‘Britannia’ and in the […]
As a collector of interesting old things it is natural that Christmas related items frequently fall into my hands. I often find examples that fit well in my collections of maritime, military and New Zealand historical ephemera, photos and postcards. This Christmas postcard happens to also be from […]
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