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 […]
Last week I talked about the giant water chute that was a star attraction at the 1906/7 N.Z. Exhibition in Hagley Park, Christchurch. This is a follow-up post of sorts, but mostly just an excuse to share some seriously awesome photos of one of the Exhibition towers being […]
There is something about Edwardians that makes me smile. It doesn’t help that their world is one that is far too easy to romanticise – a world filled with pageantry, fancy hats, brass bands in rotundas, pocket watches, amusing moustaches and in Christchurch they even had a giant […]
At the start of the year I posted this series of summer snapshots taken by English tourists passing through sunny Nelson in 1933. Here are a few more snapshots from their New Zealand holiday, this time showing what they got up to that winter. Eighty years ago the […]
This week two television documentaries I worked on premiered in the United States as part of Discovery Channel’s high-profile ‘Shark Week’. My job on these shows was to track down and get permission to use any video footage or photographs that we wanted to include. I don’t blog […]
