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Takaka war memorial library

admin — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:53:58 +1300

The new Takaka memorial dedicated in 2008. The wall of names sits outside the Takaka Memorial Library. See also the original Takaka war memorial.

Images and information: Penny Griffith, 2008

Robert Makgill

admin — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:11:34 +1200

Robert Makgill was a key figure in the development of New Zealand's public health system. He was one of the country's first district health officers, at a time when central government took on greater responsibility for public health. He was to play an important role during the 1918 influenza pandemic and its aftermath, notably as ‘the chief architect' of the ‘the most useful legacy of the 1918 influenza pandemic’: the 1920 Health Act.

Armistice Day parade in Masterton

admin — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:58:04 +1200

Armistice Day parade in Masterton, probably 12 November 1918. See another image of this parade on Timeframes.

Local businessman Charles Edward Daniell described the day in his diary:

Armistice Day parade in Levin

admin — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:54:31 +1200

Armistice Day parade in Levin, 13 November 1918. Shows Rere Nicholson leading a Maori group in the front, followed by the Levin Brass Band and uniformed soldiers.

See more images of this parade on the Kete Horowhenua website.

Armistice Day in Greymouth

admin — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:06:33 +1200

Armistice Day procession along Mawhera Quay, Greymouth, 12 November 1918. See another image of this parade on Timeframes.

The following day's edition of the Grey River Argus describes this event:

NZ soldiers showing off captured field guns in London

admin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:52:19 +1200

Guns captured by the New Zealand Expeditionary Force on display in London. Probably taken at the time of the Lord Mayor's Show just before the armistice that ended the First World War on 11 November 1918. Australian, British and American soldiers pose with the New Zealanders. The sign reads 'Field guns captured by the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.'

New Zealand servicemen marching after Armistice Day

admin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 08:58:32 +1200

An army band leads New Zealand troops marching through a city after the Armistice – probably Verviers in Belgium where they were welcomed on 19 December 1918. These troops were en route to Germany having left from Beauvois, France, on 28 November. On 20 December, the first New Zealand formation, the 2nd Brigade, crossed the Rhine River into Cologne as part of the Allied Army of Occupation.

Over 24,000 New Zealand troops were still in France at the time of the Armistice. Most of the New Zealand Division were sent home in batches from January–March 1919.

Armistice Day celebrations in Christchurch

admin — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 09:26:29 +1200

Crowd gathered in Cathedral Square, Christchurch after the Armistice procession on 12 November 1918. Gatherings such as this were later believed to have helped spread the influenza pandemic which gripped the country and the time.

Steve Sumner at the 1982 Soccer World Cup

admin — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:19:56 +1200

William Sutch

admin — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:38:23 +1200

Economist Dr William Ball Sutch, back at work after being acquitted of a charge under the Official Secrets Act.

He is seated at a desk with copies of the newly published book Spirit of an age: New Zealand in the seventies: essays in honour of W. B. Sutch, edited by John L. Robson and Jack Shallcrass. This photo was taken on 24 February 1975, seven months before Sutch's death on 28 September.

First World War casualties by month

admin — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:16:38 +1200

This graph shows the monthly New Zealand casualties (including those killed, wounded, missing and taken prisoner) during the First World War. Note that the date refers to when the casualty was reported in New Zealand, so there is often a delay - eg the first Anzac casualties (from 25 April 1915) are not reported until May.

Ernest Rutherford stamp

admin — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:43:29 +1200

Ernest Rutherford, one of the world's greatest scientists, features in The A to Z of New Zealand stamp series produced by New Zealand Post in 2008.

His biographer, John Campbell, claims Rutherford 'is to the atom what Darwin is to evolution, Newton to mechanics, Faraday to electricity and Einstein to relativity.' Although he was a physicist, Rutherford was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1908 for his work on the transmutation of elements and the chemistry of radioactive substances. Campbell summarises his achievements:

Women's suffrage stamp

admin — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:03:47 +1200

As well as appearing on our $10 note, women's suffragist Kate Sheppard features in The A to Z of New Zealand stamp series produced by New Zealand Post in 2008.

New Zealand Post

Interislander stamp

admin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:56:54 +1200

The Interislander ferry features in The A to Z of New Zealand stamp series produced by New Zealand Post in 2008.

New Zealand Post

Duck hunting in New Zealand

admin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:57:37 +1200

The push-out mobile hide is one solution to dealing with the tidal flats of the Invercargill estuary. Greg Blomfield's family has been hunting there since the 1940s and have 'a trump card' for dealing with low water – a manuka-thatched metal frame with a suspended plank for the hunter to sit on. Add plastic wheels and some steady pushing from determined hunters and you have achieved step one of the six steps to successful wildfowling: 'Go where the birds are.'

North Island Main Trunk Line centenary stamps

admin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:27:30 +1200

The boys of Puhawai

admin — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:55:20 +1200

The boys of Puhawai

In the baby-boomer years following the Second World War, the state education system struggled to meet the needs of a rocketing young population. Trained teachers were in desperately short supply, and locally relevant reading material even more so. So the publication in 1960 of a collection of stories about the day-to-day adventures of three young Kiwi boys was a welcome addition to the limited range of quality children's literature.

Hairy Maclary

admin — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:19:24 +1200

Cover of Lynley Dodd's Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy (1983).

Tales of a Skye Terrier

Out of the gate
And off for a walk
Went Hairy Maclary
Of Donaldson's Dairy

The publication in 1983 of Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy skyrocketed Lynley Dodd to the status of picture book legend. She and author Eve Sutton had won the prestigious Esther Glen award in 1975 for the classic My cat likes to hide in boxes.

Te Ua Haumene

admin — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:34:26 +1200

Portrait of Pai Marire prophet and founder Te Ua Haumene.

Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand
Reference: PA2-2275
Further information and copies of this image may be obtained from the Library through its 'Timeframes' website, http://timeframes.natlib.govt.nz
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image

Sports writing

admin — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:52:19 +1200

Cover of Alex Veysey’s Colin Meads All Black (1974).

Buller's birds

admin — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:29:50 +1200

A plate from A history of the birds of New Zealand by Walter Buller, showing a pair of huia perched on a branch, the female to the left (marked with a small female symbol), the male (marked with a small male symbol) to the right. A Dutch artist, J.G. Keulemans, was responsible for the illustrations in all of Buller's books. His illustrations are remarkably lifelike considering he never stepped foot in New Zealand, and rarely saw living examples of the birds he drew.

Chertsey war memorial

admin — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:30:45 +1200

Chertsey war memorial showing names.

Lesley Gilder, August 2008

Allen Curnow and friends

admin — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:51:51 +1200

Allen Curnow, Denis Glover, Bob Lowry (displaying his inky thumbs) and Captain Donald McWilliam, seated in front of a movie hoarding in Christchurch in 1948.

New Zealand Book Month 2008 logo

admin — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:36:39 +1200

New Zealand Book Month logo for 2008.

To celebrate NZ Book Month we've provided 30 reasons to love New Zealand books and writing.

See more logos on the New Zealand Book Month site

Geoffrey Cox

admin — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:45:34 +1200

Geoffrey Cox in 1932, the same year he left New Zealand for Britain on a Rhodes scholarship. Cox forged a successful career as a journalist and authored several books based on his experiences in Europe during the 1930s and 40s, notably Defence of Madrid (1937). During the war he was responsible for the ill-fated paper the Crete News.

Edmonds stamp

admin — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:18:07 +1200

The Edmonds cookery book features in The A to Z of New Zealand stamp series produced by New Zealand Post in 2008.

Read more about Edmonds cookery book.

New Zealand Post

Edmonds cookery book

admin — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:22:38 +1200

Cover of the 3rd edition of The 'Sure to rise' cookery book (1914), published by baking manufacturer T.J. Edmonds.

Littledene

admin — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:31:49 +1200

Google map showing location of Oxford, the village that Littledene is based on.

Patterns of change

Crawford Somerset's Littledene: a New Zealand rural community (1938) was a groundbreaking sociological study of a typical New Zealand small town - Oxford in North Canterbury. According to commentator Brian Easton, the book 'combines the wry insights of a sociologist and the lyric observations of a poet'.

The Esther Glen Award

admin — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:21:00 +1200

Cover of Stella Morice's The book of Wiremu (1945), the first winner of the Esther Glen Award.

The writing of John A Lee

admin — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:33:00 +1200

John A. Lee, who lost his left arm in the First World War, strikes a light-hearted pose in 1936, when he was a parliamentary under-secretary in the first Labour government.

Reminiscences of a wanderer

admin — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:18:28 +1200

'Before the mast'

R.C. Bruce spent many years in the 19th century sailing on British, colonial and American merchant ships, interspersed with spells on the Otago and Queensland goldfields. His 1914 memoir, Reminiscences of a wanderer (written under the name 'Able Seaman' and published by Whitcombe & Tombs), is a ripping yarn of a nomadic labouring life at sea and on land.

Tutira

admin — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:24:54 +1200

Sketch of birdlife at Tutira by Herbert Guthrie-Smith.

A study of the 'soil and those who touch its surface'

An internationally acclaimed classic of ecological writing, William Herbert Guthrie-Smith's Tutira: the story of a New Zealand sheep station (1921) was New Zealand's first major environmentalist publication.

Te Ao Hou

admin — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:12:06 +1200

Cover of the first edition of Te Ao Hou The New World.

The New World

Te Ao Hou (1952-76) was a bilingual quarterly published by the Maori Affairs Department and printed by Pegasus Press. According to its first issue, its intention was 'to provide interesting and informative reading for Maori homes … like a marae on paper, where all questions of interest to the Maori can be discussed'. Now available online, it serves as an invaluable resource for anyone interested in researching Māori topics.